Question on oil changes??

mamadub · 11-23-2011, 04:26 PM

My "other" car is a Suburban that just turned 111,000 miles. It's in great shape. I get the oil changed whenever the change oil light comes on. My mechanic tells me I should change it every 3K miles, and I have a friend who tells me this is true with high milage cars. I have never kept a car past 50K miles, so I don't know what to believe. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheryl

elm3 · 12-12-2011, 05:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mamadub

My "other" car is a Suburban that just turned 111,000 miles. It's in great shape. I get the oil changed whenever the change oil light comes on. My mechanic tells me I should change it every 3K miles, and I have a friend who tells me this is true with high milage cars. I have never kept a car past 50K miles, so I don't know what to believe. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheryl

Hey Cheryl, I would go no more than 5k between oil changes. Especially if you are using regular conventional oil. Remember that regular oil breaks down faster, especially in hard driving conditions (extremely cold or really hot conditions and pulling a trailer). And you do have a lot of miles on your SUV, I would change my oil about 3k-5k, no longer than that. It should tell you the viscosity, but for high miles, I would put something like a 10w-40. It is a little thicker, plus you get a little more protection, because of the rings on your pistons being a little looser. Hopefully this will help you.

Eric

mamadub · 12-12-2011, 05:45 PM

Thank you so much for answering this for me.

elm3 · 12-12-2011, 07:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mamadub

Thank you so much for answering this for me.

No problem anytime.

CJ421 · 12-12-2011, 08:35 PM

My family has a '99 Suburban with 178,000 miles. We change the oil every 5k miles (using synthetic oil). When we had regular oil, we changed it @ 3k intervals.

E90 87ss · 12-12-2011, 08:47 PM

I would never wait until 5k on conventional oil... The standard for conventional oil is 3k miles and does not change with high mileage vehicles... Synthetic every 5000-7500 mile depending on driving conditions in my opinion. I assume you are going by the oil life monitor in the suburban... I would not wait, from my understanding it's an algorithm that determines the life of your oil... There is empirical evidence and testing that disagrees with what I am saying, but there is also evidence that supports what I am saying... I haven't reviewed the methodology of how they tested the oil life monitoring system, so I can't comment on that; but I'm sure there are limitations to their study... Essentially I have no empirical data that will support my claim and this is mostly opinion... yay

Either way it's better to be safe than sorry, an oil change is cheap insurance. I just did an oil change on my AMG at 1500 miles and in the filter there are small flakes of metal which is normal for a new engine... However, MB suggest that you wait 10k miles to change the filter and oil... It's your choice as to when you should change your oil/fluids but I've always preferred to err on the side of caution. If your suburban uses synthetic 5k intervals is fine...

11-23-2011, 04:26 PM	#1
mamadub Captain 96 Rep 825 Posts Drives: Melbourne Red 2011 E93 Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Arizona iTrader: (0)	Question on oil changes?? My "other" car is a Suburban that just turned 111,000 miles. It's in great shape. I get the oil changed whenever the change oil light comes on. My mechanic tells me I should change it every 3K miles, and I have a friend who tells me this is true with high milage cars. I have never kept a car past 50K miles, so I don't know what to believe. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Cheryl __________________ Black Novillo Extended Leather, Convenience Package, Premium Package 2, DCT, DDC, BMW Apps, Custom Stereo upgrade, Eisenmann Sport Black Series Exhaust, 20"HRE's P45SC's. Color matched Brembo 380/345's, KW Coilovers
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12-12-2011, 05:45 PM	#3
mamadub Captain 96 Rep 825 Posts Drives: Melbourne Red 2011 E93 Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Arizona iTrader: (0)	Thank you so much for answering this for me. __________________ Black Novillo Extended Leather, Convenience Package, Premium Package 2, DCT, DDC, BMW Apps, Custom Stereo upgrade, Eisenmann Sport Black Series Exhaust, 20"HRE's P45SC's. Color matched Brembo 380/345's, KW Coilovers
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12-12-2011, 08:35 PM	#5
CJ421 Brigadier General 1550 Rep 4,109 Posts Drives: BMW M3 Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Blue Bell, PA iTrader: (1) Garage List 2024 BMW M3 Sedan [9.50]	My family has a '99 Suburban with 178,000 miles. We change the oil every 5k miles (using synthetic oil). When we had regular oil, we changed it @ 3k intervals. __________________ 2024 BMW M3 Sedan Frozen Pure Grey II/Fjord Blue, 6MT Past: 2021 Z4 M40i Frozen Grey II/Black Alcantara \| 2017 F30 340i Mineral Gray/Coral Red, 6MT \| 2011 E92 335i Le Mans Blue/Black, 6MT
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12-12-2011, 08:47 PM	#6
E90 87ss Captain 37 Rep 608 Posts Drives: ! Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: NJ/Philly iTrader: (1)	I would never wait until 5k on conventional oil... The standard for conventional oil is 3k miles and does not change with high mileage vehicles... Synthetic every 5000-7500 mile depending on driving conditions in my opinion. I assume you are going by the oil life monitor in the suburban... I would not wait, from my understanding it's an algorithm that determines the life of your oil... There is empirical evidence and testing that disagrees with what I am saying, but there is also evidence that supports what I am saying... I haven't reviewed the methodology of how they tested the oil life monitoring system, so I can't comment on that; but I'm sure there are limitations to their study... Essentially I have no empirical data that will support my claim and this is mostly opinion... yay Either way it's better to be safe than sorry, an oil change is cheap insurance. I just did an oil change on my AMG at 1500 miles and in the filter there are small flakes of metal which is normal for a new engine... However, MB suggest that you wait 10k miles to change the filter and oil... It's your choice as to when you should change your oil/fluids but I've always preferred to err on the side of caution. If your suburban uses synthetic 5k intervals is fine...
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