Here’s a somewhat amusing trivia. While most of us consider frequent short trips and stop-and-go city traffic driving as “normal” driving, these are actually “severe service” driving. And so the recommendation from most vehicle manufacturers to change oil once a year or every 7,500 miles will usually not apply. Instead, oil change is recommended to be every 3,000 miles or six months which applies to diesel engines and turbocharged gasoline engines as well.
To be on the safe side, most oil companies suggest changing the oil every 3,000 miles or three to six months regardless of what type of driving you do. A brand new engine with minimal or no wear can probably get by on 7,500 mile oil changes.
But as your engine accumulates miles, blowby increases, dumping more unburned fuel into the crankcase, eventually diluting the oil. This then causes the oil to break down. If the oil is not changed as frequent as needed, you can end up with accelerated wear and all the engine problems that come with it such as, decreased performance and fuel economy and increased emissions and oil consumption.
In order to lessen the costs of vehicle ownership and maintenance, many carmakers would recommend the oil filter to be replaced at every other oil change. Nowadays, oil filters on most engines have been downsized. This is mainly to save weight, cost, and space. The quart-sized filter that used to be common on most engines has been replaced by a smaller, pint-sized filter. Now these tiny filters should be alright for a 3,000 mile oil change interval, but may need to be replaced before a second oil change at 6,000 or 15,000 miles. And so the ideal routine actually is to replace the oil filter every time the oil is changed.
Good thing there are discount coupons to help ease the budget, right? These Valvoline Instant Oil Change coupons are good up to 5 quarts of oil and includes filter, lube and maintenance check. Make sure your engines are in tip top shape all the time and save up with these discounts.