CityNG:
The best way to know when it's tiem to change yoru oil is from previous lab results that tested yoru old oil.

Not many people do this so the next best method is go on your own interval based on a combination of issues such as owners manual and your running condition.

I hardly ever follow my owner manual. Teh owners manual is written not by engineers (they did give an input) but the accountants also have a say in it.

So the owners manual range is for average people driving in average conditions, it includes your lead footed uncle bill and also your slow a$$ grannie Mildred who only takes her car out on Sundays to go to church and bingo. They have to have a balance somewhere since both types of drivers needs to change their oil.

Of this I know, changing your oil at one month and/or 3,000 miles is a waste o f money and resources.

In my example, even if the manual says 10,000 miles interval, Uncle Bill with his jack rabbit starts and always taking the car to red line before changing gears is best advised to change his oil sooner than the 10,000. Grannie Mildred can have a geriatric lapse of forgetfulness and delay her oil change to 12,000 miles.

As far as asking questions, ask all you want. None of us are paid to answer questions and no one is forced to answer your question. Sometimes new discussions brings up new thoughts.

In any case the forum has a moderator, we should stop playing moderator.

I'll now slink back under the bridge.

9icetoo:
I am not forcing anyone to accept this post. Just read and waka pass.
Oil change interval has always been a difficult point to agree on by car manufacturers and users.
If using the recommended oil by your manufacturer, stick close to their recommended OCI. You can never go wrong there.
Changing oil by the number of months it has stayed in your engine for me is a bloody waste of money and oil. Are you aware that standby generators (in big hospitals, establishments, factories, ships, boats etc), can spend six months or more idle before they are ever put to use. They are started with the same oil in them. These engines have equipment check-sheets that must be signed off when in use and nowhere does it state there that the oil must be changed after six months or one year of non use. The oil is changed after a certain number of hours and not a certain number of months. These are heavy engines that churn out more power than most cars can ever imagine and run for hours on end if need be. Boat owners who do not use their boats during the winter still crank their engines in the summer (after about six months), with the same oil in them as long it hasn't exceeded the hour limit and ride off to wherever they fancy.
Mechanics want you to keep coming back so they spew that 2-3 months, 3000 mile/kilometer garbage.
I personally do not drive up to 500 miles in a month these days as i have moved very close to my office and most times walk to work. Sometimes my car sits parked for more than 3 weeks. Are you now telling me that I should throw away my perfectly good oil after 3 months when i have not even covered up to 1000 miles?
That an engine oil looks black doesn't mean it has gone bad.
Some of my friends who use synthetic oil, drive their cars for a year before changing their oil and their connecting rods have not jumped out of their engine blocks just yet. These guys are not poor or broke by any means just that they know better.
Abeg make we stop to dey waste money joor.
Buy the grade and quality of oil recommended by your manufacturer, and stick to the change interval that is in your manual.
They cannot be wrong. Our Tokunbo cars (most over 200,000 miles), stuck to those recommendations and got to us here in one piece. If they were wrong, the tokunbo cars would all be needing engine transplant by the time they get here.

ogawisdom:


It all depends on d type of engine oil one is using. I use total quartz 5000 dt means I can't exceed 5000km on it. I think there is total quartz 9000 which can b used for up to 9000km. My main concern with this thread is for ppl who use their car only for city driving and travell sparingly wit it. For this group of ppl they may nt even use up to 2000km on an oil in 3months, so I guess they can continue using same oil for 6months n cover lik 4000km before an oil change. Although 3000km ll b ok for me to b on d safer side

Coldplay007:

Well you can't keep telling people to read manuals or google the issues they have on a car forum like this..
If you can't advise them appropriately you should ignore and let people who can advise them do..

ZIMDRILL:


thats all wrong information

on average oil change starts from 9000km going to 20000km this kilometre based as per period starts from a year or 1 and half years to 2 years

check the picture for an example

earthrealm:
I STILL REPEAT.....OIL IS ENGINE..AUTOMOBILE ENGINE ISNT!

better be safe than sorry, 3months or 3000miles is ok for the avg nigerian car user using conventional 20w 50 oil

In th e western world, they have labs where you can send the oil for analysis, assuming such a facility exists in nigeria, i would have willingly sent in my oil at 6/7/8/9 months interval since i use synthethic so i can be sure and change my oil change interval accordingly................but since such a lab doesnt exist in nigeria.......i rather play safe and change my oil every 6months/6kmiles......

I have been a victim of sludge in engine, caused by leaving the conventional oil in my car for more than 4months...cos i was yet to cover 2k miles. i know the heartache and regret i suffered then...and it was only by the grace of GOD that the engine was salvaged
3months oil interval = 4 x per yer @ 3k per gallon, thats 12k per yr on oil......compared to car engine of 100k and above, its a no brainer playing a game of chance

justcallbuki:
I can only talk of honda cos that's my area of specialisation.