hey fellas,

i have had my car for about a year now; it's been roughly 6 months since my last service (the 3 year maintenance). i know the owner's manual only calls for an oil change every 10K miles or 1 year, whichever is earlier.

however, i feel a bit nervous about keeping the oil in there for that long. just curious about what other folks might be doing and their experiences in this area.

is it a big waste of money (~$500) to change the oil every 6 months instead. i'm on pace to drive my car roughty 3K - 4K miles a year.

 

Absolutly no problem following the manufacturer's recommendation for 10K miles or one year change interval. You have at least 10-quarts of oil in the engine and that's twice as much as most cars. Also you are using the Highest Performance (also the highest cost) Synthetic Oil available. This change interval is not uncommon. My Porsche Boxster had 15,000 mile/1year change interval and the Oil filter was to be changed "every-other oil change". Most modern cars have a 7,500 mile change interval and only have 5 qts in the crankcase.

 

I've talked with several mechanics over the years about oil change intervals, and they all agree that cars using synthetic motor oil can go considerably longer between changes. Apparently, synthetic oil does not break down nearly as fast as conventional motor oil, and provides excellent lubrication far beyond that of regular oil.

I also drive about three to four-thousand miles a year on my 2007 V8V, and change it once a year. I check the oil regularly, and just top off as needed with Castrol 10-60 synthetic. I've probably used about a quart and a half of oil, for topping it off this past year. As long as I keep all the fluids topped off, and the battery charged up when i'm not driving it for long periods, I haven't had any problems to date.

 

I'm going to agree with everyone else. I have used synthetic in several cars, going about 10k (or whatever the manufacturer recommended) between changes without any problems. Synthetic oil maintains viscosity considerably longer, even under extreme temperatures. You should be just fine to follow AM's recommendations.

 

I'm good with the one year time frame (using a good synthetic of course) but I would never go 10k miles b/f an oil change no matter what oil you're using or what vehicle you're talking about. 6-7k miles or one year between oil is the max IMO. Why scrimp or stretch to the max, it's cheap insurance.

If the motors don't wear out, how will the manufacturers sell the new cars.... Not sure they have the owner's who have interest in keeping a car long term in mind with those kind of intervals?