I was looking at some old shop manuals and saw something wild about oil changes

I was going through a stack of 1970s Ford factory service manuals at a swap meet in Dayton. One of them said the oil change interval for a standard V8 was every 3,000 miles or every 3 months, whichever came first. That's way more often than what most cars need now, even with modern oils. Makes you wonder how much of that advice was just to sell more oil and filters back then. What's the longest interval you guys actually trust with today's synthetics?

3 comments

3 Comments

henry18927d ago

Man, you hit on something that drives me nuts. Those old intervals were absolutely about moving product, it's the only thing that makes sense. I trust my truck's oil monitor system, and with full synthetic it often goes nearly 10,000 miles before it tells me to change. The oil still looks fine coming out, too. It's a huge relief not having to do that messy job so often.

palmer.richard27d ago

Exactly, modern oil and sensors are just that good now.

bethperez22d ago

What about the oil filter, though? Even with great oil, a cheap filter can't last that long.