Oil Change

[cetro993]

I was just going through the owners manual and they state that you need to change your oil every 3K miles or 3 months. I doubt I will be doing more then 3K a year, but every 3 months

Should I be changing the oil every 3 months?

 

[01sapphirebob]

That is just normal maintenance schedule if you were driving you car every day. I normally change my oil once a year. At the end of the driving season whether i've driven 3k miles or not.

 

[PDCjonny]

I am of the approx once a year school whether I put on 300 or 3000 miles.
I think every 3 months under "normal" Viper use miles is a complete waste of money there is no way the oil has broken down in that time period.

 

[Phun70]

The three month time frame is due to moisture build-up I believe. Condensation from hot/cold/hot ambient temperature swings. Could be wrong though.

 

[Lespauldude]

Jon,

Does once a year satisfy the warranty requirements? The buyer that sold me the vert yesterday said that he does the once-per-year oil change as well. He said it's due this spring. This car (2009) only has 3,300 miles on it. Thanks.

Scott

 

[Martin]

Three months is probably overkill, and depending on how the car is driven, one year is kind of stretching it in my opinion. I do mine about every six months - typically in April (beginning of driving season) and October/November (end of regular driving season). Since I drive rather infrequently in the winter months, but still start the cars up every weekend, even though there aren't many miles being put on the car, the oil gets contaminated pretty quick and the additives get used up pretty fast. I'm sure plenty of people will have opinions on this.

 

[PDCjonny]

We need Fuel and Lube Tom in on this.
He will have the definitive answers.

I'm willing to bet that modern synthetic oils in modern engines don't need to be changed nearly as often as three month intervals. How can it break down and lose it's lubricating and corrosive protecting properties that quickly? (We assume normal driving conditions, not tracking the car or unusual climates).
I remember a thread a while back on this topic where someone had two year old (or more?) used synthetic oil tested in the lab and it still was perfectly fine.
Obviously, changing the oil can't hurt and it's cheap enough insurance but is it really doing anything other than helping out oil companies sell more oil?

 

[Camfab]

Changing your oil every three months is a waste of money, unless of course you were putting on the actual interval mileage. If you do nothing but really short trips where the operating temps never reach the normal range then more frequent changes are required.