[quote=gzz]Here’s a question for you. When should I change the oil if I drive 3k miles a year?
I am at 1500 and 6mo mark right now.
Years ago I researched this and came up with every 6 months for a consistent lower mileage driver.[/quote]
Well, that depends.
1. Do you put in synthetic? If you don’t, you should. You shouldn’t use anything but synthetic in a direct injection.
2. Are those highway miles or local miles?
Because highway miles are better than local miles.
As a rule of thumb:
* with direct injection engines, I do synthetic oil changes + filter every 6 months regardless if it’s low miles. My mileage is about 5000/year.
* with non-direct injection engines, I do oil changes 1 year with synthetic oil + non-paper oil filters. My mileage is about 5000/year for those cars.
* for cars that I autocross or do a HPDE track event (once each month), I do synthetic oil change + filter after every 2 autocrosses or after 1 HPDE track event, regardless of mileage, which is probably overkill. I also run a front mount oil cooler, which besides keeping the engine cooler, also adds an extra quart of capacity.
For the mazda, I just use 0w20 castrol or valvoline 0w20 full synthetic with the OEM filter, which I get for like $5 in bulk from Mazda Motorsports. The oil is about $23/qt from walmart (some places it’s $28 now).
If you have the dealer do your oil, it might be cheaper if you bring in your own synthetic oil and have them use it. The markup for synthetic at a dealer is kinda high. Labor is the same.
For run of the mill car, you can get the Castrol or Valvoline 5w40 European Spec oil for like $23/quart. That will work in most german car except high performance BMW M-car or Mercedes AMG or Audi S/RS cars or Porsche. You shouldn’t be changing your own oil if you have a Porsche anyway..
