One oil change in 11000 miles?

soren wrote:

afidel wrote:

Busdriver wrote:
6000 miles is not that bad , your heading says 11000, that is 2 many

For a motorhome, probably, but the wife's Grand caravan has gone 11-12k miles between oil changes. It has an oil quality sensor and we change it when indicated. The first time I was a bit sceptical but we sent a retain sample out for analysis and the oil at ~11,400 miles had 20-30% additives left and a fairly low breakdown percentage (was still redish when you looked through it, not blackened)

It's your money, but you might want to give this a bit more research. I've got a good friend who is a top notch independent mechanic. His shop gets at least one engine replacement job, and/or a $3-5K repair job to valve gear, timing chains, heads etc.... that they can directly attribute to changing oil at 10-15K intervals, at least once a week. Manufacturers, including GM and BMW and others, are quietly backing off the 10-15K intervals, by reprogramming software, and issuing TSBs. BMW made a very big deal of extended intervals, then discovered that it made for engines that self-destructing at the 100-125K mile range. I do DIY changes with Mobil 1 Synthetic and an OEM filter, every 5K on my vehicles. When looking for any used vehicles, I will not touch anything without documented changes at the 7K mark, or less. Subaru, GM and many euro luxury brands have all found that extended changes are less than optimal.

Yep, the Oil Life Monitor was designed to make it seem like the vehicle you bought requires very little maintenance. I too have seen the effects of following the oil life monitor. I wouldn't go beyond 6k miles. and that is pushing it. As a technician myself I don`t go over 5k miles on a vehicle with synthetic oil. and 4k max on traditional oil. $40 for a regular oil change is cheaper than any engine repair related to poor oil change schedule.