I guilt tripped myself into an oil change.

[Winger Ed.]

I spent my young formative years turning wrenches on Fighter Jets and helicopters.
I know all about routine and preventative maintenance.

Not driving much, I've shortened the schedule for routine things like oil and trans. fluid changes.
Some of the modern oils say they're good for 10,000 miles, and maybe they are.
I think our cars say change the oil at 6,000.

I can't bring myself to that. I'm old school and always changed it at 3,000 with the old style oils of the day.
I never got out of that habit when the new synthetic stuff came along.

Another thing I do on the 1/2 schedule is trans. fluid change.
I was really dreading doing it on the 2006 F250's 6-speed manual, as it is coming up on 62,000 miles.
It holds almost 2 gallons of fluid and I have to put it in with one of those pumps you see catsup in at fast food places.
It says do it at 60,000. I got it at 30,000, and meant to do it again at 60,000 last time I changed the oil.

I finally got around to it, knowing I had another 1,000 before I was due to change the oil.
I recorded the trans. fluid change, and noticed the last time I changed the oil,,,
2,000 miles ago was March of 2021.

I know most of the problems folks have with one of these 5.4 Tritons messing up the cam phasers
can be traced back to the wrong oil or people never changing it. Even with only 2,000 miles since the last change,,,
I felt guilty for not doing it for 2 & 1/2 years.

[Recycled bullet]

Mighty vac makes a tool for adding transmission oil it's a little pumper thing it works a lot better. I use it on Ford F-150 transfer cases and BMW transmissions it works fine.

Sent from my moto g power (2022) using Tapatalk

[Winger Ed.]

Thanks.
No more than I drive the beast, I don't think I'll ever change it again.

[15meter]

Wow, 2000 miles in 2 1/2 years. I do that in a month. And I'm retired. Too much fun stuff not enough time.

When I was working, doing industrial sales and technical support on metrology equipment in SE Michigan/NW Ohio/NE Indiana I could do that in less then 2 weeks.

[Winger Ed.]

In later years I drive a small fraction of what I used to.
My last job- for 11 years, was 3 miles from home, and I'd pretty much quit traveling to go hunting.

A guy I worked with had gotten a new 1/2 ton full size truck. He lived something like 40 miles away, maybe more.
He asked one day how much I spent on gas. I told him I really didn't want to say and make him mad.

He pushed and I told him I didn't really keep track of the money, but every month or so, I'd get down to
1/3 tank or so and fill it back up. Then it was, "Wow. What kind of gas mileage does that F250 get"?

I told him about 12, maybe 10 mpg I'm not sure. Then,,, "How big is the fuel tank"? I told him, "It's a 26 gallon".
"Wow......... I'm filling up twice a week".

[Brassmonkey]

And here I’ve been fussin myself about changing mine cause I need to change the external filter as well since it’s seeping but it really isn’t due yet. Thing is I just change it when the light comes on and every other gets three fresh qts of trans fluid.

I have no idea when the light is going to come on. It could be tomorrow. It could be a month from now. I just need to suck it up and change the fluid early before I don’t have any to change.

vehicles that don’t have a minder I just tear a tab off the oil filter box and write the mileage and date stick it up in the window. I tried keeping a spreadsheet of all vehicle maintenance but it’s just too much to keep after.

[Winger Ed.]

I'm not much on spread sheets.
I have a small/thin blank book that I scrounged somewhere and log in what I do.
I keep it up on a shelf in the shop.

Today it was 62,000 --- 6 Oct 23 -- changed oil & trans fluid.

I didn't include the filter since it is pretty new and a good FoMoCo one.
I've cut them open before and never find anything in them so I didn't change this one with 2,000 miles on it.
I just empty it out and put it back on.

We had a car that would tell ya it needed an oil change, but I never trusted it.
I always change the oil at mileage reading of thousands of miles that can be divided by 3.
12,000, 15,000...etc...36,000,,,,,, 99,000, 102,000 & so on.

[fastdadio]

I'm an oil changing fool right now. I have a pick up truck, 4 cars, a garden tractor and two motorcycles. All are getting fresh oil before the hunting season and the snow starts.

[Hannibal]

I don't pay much attention to mileage. I just go by the appearance. I check the level every other time I fill up and when it gets dirty by my determination then I change it. Somewhere between 3K and 5K miles depending on appearance.

[dverna]

On vehicles I used the built-in oil change monitoring system.

On the tractor, Mule, ZT mower and wood processor use the hour meter. Even if the oil looks good I change it. Oil is cheap.

[alamogunr]

I quit changing my own oil when I turned about 75 YO. I've got a 2013 Tundra and a 2017 Avalon. I take them to the dealer once a year or so, regardless of mileage. Like the OP, I don't drive as much as I used to. Average about 5K per year on the Avalon and somewhat less on the Tundra. I figure over a years time, various things are going to build up in the oil and it needs to be replaced. The dealer always uses Toyota Genuine synthetic oil. I've been using synthetic oil for about 20 years. When I changed it myself, I regularly drove about 10K miles before changing. That worked out to about once a year at the time. I drove distances enough to burn off moisture so less contamination of the oil.

[MaryB]

My idiot car puts up a nag, oil change due, at 5,000 miles or 1 year whichever comes first. I only have 1300 miles on it since the change last fall!

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

SNIP>>>

Even with only 2,000 miles since the last change,,,
I felt guilty for not doing it for 2 & 1/2 years.

I'm in a similar boat with my second vehicle. I put 500 to 1000 miles on it in a year, but it's mostly short trips.
Short trips are hard on a vehicle and it's engine oil. That is the reason, I do change it annually even with only 500+ miles. I don't always change out the oil filter, just do a quick change...sometimes, I save the oil if it looks and smells good. I let it settle in a jug for a year or so, then put it in a tiller, snow blower, or lawn mower with a old engine.

[WRideout]

A few years ago, I was driving a used Hyundai Elantra. Never had one before, but I liked it. After a few months it was time to change the oil, so I did it myself. With the front end up on blocks, I looked for the oil drain plug, and saw one right in the middle of what I assumed to be the engine oil pan. When I pulled the drain pan out from under the car, the oil didn't look right. I got under the hood and pulled the engine dipstick; full of oil. Back under the car I discovered that the Hyundai had something I had never seen before, a drain plug on the transmission pan. I did eventually find the engine drain plug.

Now on this particular day, my wife had gone somewhere and wouldn't be back for a while, so I rode my bicycle to the parts store. There I learned that the car only used synthetic transmission fluid for an outrageous cost. Upon returning home, I did get the correct oil in the correct spots, having saved exactly NO money.

Wayne

[Hannibal]

I will change my own until I am no longer able to do so. I used to drive 4K miles per month just to work and back. Did that for 16 years. I went through a bunch of used cars and had several with bad drain plugs or stretched oil pan threads because the idiots at the lube places use power tools on the plugs. Also have personally encountered situations where the filters weren't tight or the drain plugs fell out due to being left loose.

I'm not immune from making mistakes but if it's my mistake at least I've no one to blame but myself.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

A few years ago, I was driving a used Hyundai Elantra. Never had one before, but I liked it. After a few months it was time to change the oil, so I did it myself. With the front end up on blocks, I looked for the oil drain plug, and saw one right in the middle of what I assumed to be the engine oil pan. When I pulled the drain pan out from under the car, the oil didn't look right. I got under the hood and pulled the engine dipstick; full of oil. Back under the car I discovered that the Hyundai had something I had never seen before, a drain plug on the transmission pan. I did eventually find the engine drain plug.

Now on this particular day, my wife had gone somewhere and wouldn't be back for a while, so I rode my bicycle to the parts store. There I learned that the car only used synthetic transmission fluid for an outrageous cost. Upon returning home, I did get the correct oil in the correct spots, having saved exactly NO money.

Wayne

My Toyotas have a drain plug on the tranny pan also. Toyota specs a special tranny fluid (type T), but after a little research I found out that Valvoline MaxLife Multi-Vehicle Full Synthetic Automatic Transmission Fluid is possibly a better choice than factory fluid (per the rambling in the internet forums) and it's less than half price.
I see Hyundai is listed on the Valvoline jug.

[kerplode]

The car I drive frequently gets an oil change at 7500 and I use full synthetic. The rest of the fluids in that vehicle are done on schedule per the manufacturer's mileage requirements. This car is 14 years old with 200k mi

The car I don't drive frequently gets an oil change about once a year and the other fluids at 5yr or at the mileage recommendation, whichever comes first. This car is 17 years old with 90k mi

Maintenance is important, sure, but I don't see any benefit to early changes, especially with modern fluids. IMO it just wastes time, money, and resources. And I don't bother doing oil changes myself anymore...My time is too valuable to kill an entire afternoon getting greasy then driving all over town looking for a place with room in their waste oil bin when the quick lube gets the whole thing done in 20 minutes for a few bucks.

[Scrounge]

A friend in South Carolina, when I was stationed there in the late 80's and early 90's had a 1967 Dodge Coronet, with the 440 & sixpack. He'd bought it new, and changed the oil every time he filled the gas tank. Had just gone over a million miles on it when I left there in 1991. Engine was as tight as it was when he bought it, according to his report.

[Bmi48219]

The wife has a 22 CX-9. Came with 3 year factory maintenance plan. The on board computer and Mazda website say 7,500 miles between oil changes. Of course the dealer says 5,000 miles because of harsh driving conditions in Florida.
We have a basic edition 2012 Mustang convertible in the garage. Less than 18,000 miles on it. I get the oil change every 18 months on average. Dealer says it should be changed 2 x a year. Over the past six years I know the vehicle hasn’t been driven 3,000 miles total. It does get started every month and driven 30 miles. Thinking about selling it since it’s costing $1100 / year for insurance and we don’t need it. I have to research what they’re going for and decide the best way to sell it.

[Electrod47]

All my vehicles get Mobil1 and changed at 3000-3500 tops....I'll never change. I can't hardly sleep if I ignore it.
2021 Honda Passport, 99 Silverado 2500, 2008 Mustang GT, 1970 Camaro. Not to mention my Mowers, off-roaders