V70XC Oil Change Interval

[m96ag]

Hi,
I need some advice on an oil change interval for my 2000 V70XC. Some background information: I'm using Mobil 1 High Mileage 10W-30 with a Volvo filter, my daily commute is 4 miles each way on back roads, I live in the Northeast where it can be in the 20's in the winter and hit over 100 in the summer. Thanks for any input.

[abscate]

my daily commute is 4 miles each way on back roads,

Just long enough to disperse water and gunk throughout your engine, but not get it hot enough to burn it out. Try to take the car to 55mph for 30 minutes once a week and then stick with regular intervals per owners manual.

[jpr0204]

m96ag,

Just my opinion here...

Being a technician basically my entire life and seeing a lot of different things come into and go out of the shop I would like to say this....

I go with every 3 months or every 3,000 miles whichever comes first. (Sure, most people will say "That was just a myth the oil companies went with to get you to spend money.")

But, I've seen first hand what the new "extended" oci can do. Example, a new 2012 Ford Focus with a 2.0 DOHC has an oil change interval stating in the owners manual "Once a year or every 10,000 miles!" whichever comes first... I was talked with Brian, a friend of mine who is a service advisor at a local Ford dealer and he said he has already done several motors due to slude build up becuase of the long oci's. He said "Not everybody drives the same so they're are a bunch of factors that come into play here." He said "Even though the manual states every 10,000 miles, I still tell people minumum every 3,000 and maximum evey 5,000."

Sure, Mobil 1 oil is around $25.00 at Wal-Mart for a 5 quart jug anf an extra quart runs about $8 bucks plus the filter, around $8 to $10 bucks give or take? Total = $41 to $43 bucks...

To me, $43 bucks is piece of mind every 3,000 miles knowing that my engine has an endless possibility amount of miles instead of wondering how far I can stretch the oil and possibly causing severe engine damage."

...Era on the side of caution, play it safe and change it every 3 months or 3K miles...

- Joe

[m96ag]

I'm leaning toward the 3,000 mile "standard" OCI. When my dad had his V40 he changed the oil every 2,000 miles and it still had great compression after over 200,000 miles. Plus, at the rate I drive 3,000 miles works out to several months, so the expense isn't that much of a factor.

[jblackburn]

3,000 miles/6 months would be a good OCI for your driving. If you take a long trip or something somewhere in that time, don't worry so much about the 3000 miles anymore.

We've got a "free maintenance package" that came with our Toyota. It's almost a year old, is driven on very short trips where it never really gets a chance to warm up, has 6,500 miles on the car, and the dealer refuses to change the oil (even on a new engine where there were tons of metal shavings in the filter) before 10,000 miles, even though the manual says "severe service (aka stop-and-go/short-trip driving, as about 70% of drivers do anyway): 5000 miles/6 months".

I'll just be doing the oil changes myself every 6-7000. To me, a 10,000 mile oil change is a way to sell a car and say that it's cheap to maintain...for 100,000 miles until you come in and buy a new one.

[m96ag]

3,000mi./6 months sounds great to me. I also have a new Civic and similar to jblackburn's situation they change the oil every 10,000 miles or so and the filter gets swapped out every other oil change.

[instarx]

Gee why not every 1,000 miles? There's just as much evidence for that being the best interval as 3,000 (i.e. none).

[m96ag]

What evidence is there that says running 10,000 mi. is okay? I am planning to do a used oil analysis though. If the results indicate that it's safe to extend to drain interval past 3,000mi. I 'll do so.

[abscate]

Sex, politics, religion, oil change intervals

Any combination of the above words leads to trouble.

[m96ag]

Sex, politics, religion, oil change intervals
Any combination of the above words leads to trouble.

You forgot synthetic vs. natural oil.