Thread: Oil Life after 240K..... how many miles between oild changes?

My car have near 245k on it and I've noticed that oil life seems to be shorter than before. I used to change my oil every 3500 miles about 6 years ago, after few years I changed oil every 3000... But I started noticing that my oil seems to get "dark" quicker after I hit 200K to the point where I changed my oil every 2500 miles, now before I hit 2000 miles my oil looks dark/dirty... is this normal? I've been changing my oil a little over 2000 miles past couple times because of this. What do you guys think? I guess when I hit 280K (I hope my engine last that long) I will change my oil every 1000 miles? lol

Originally Posted by mechguy

Oil color doesn't really equate to lubricity. Yet, early darkening might suggest a failure could be approaching.

And I really hope that is not my case :/

Originally Posted by Fivefingerdeathpunch

Ever replaced the PCV?

Its possible its not doing its job correctly.

You could try switching filter brand or buying a little better filter.

I haven't checked the PCV valve, But I know it hasn't been too long since the last time I changed it. I always use ACdelco filter with Quacker State high mileage

Originally Posted by scottydoggs

im up to 225,000 on mine and by 2000 miles after a oil change my oil gets pretty dark looking. if i let it go till 3500, the lifters will start to tick upon start up after over night.

so im just using what ever's on sale, and changing the oil every 3000 miles.

I used to do that, buy whatever is on sale at my local autozone, but what I never liked is the fact that they offer good brand oil with a not-so-good brand filter, always! or a good filter with a crappy oil. So I started to buy Quacker state and acdelco everytime, from walmart, its around 20 bucks total. Not a big difference from those oil/filter special they have at autozone

After 200 miles blackstone still says my 6k interval is fine, even though it gets dark as night it's just a little carbon.

Originally Posted by BillBoost37

When my motor had 200+ on it, I used the cheap crap and cheap crap filter w/o issues. Changed every 3K, upon pulling the motor after a valve seems to have stuck, the motor was nice and super clean inside. Looked great, even though at 3K the oil would be dirty.

I'd stick to the 3000-3500 changes and smile as you drive.

Thank you for sharing that info. I guess I need not to worry too much about it, seems like my car runs great so far (knock on wood) I haven't notice any lost of power or any other problems.