[IRSmart]

anyone else nervous about 8,000 mile oil change intervals? that's what the owner's manual recommends now, not 3,000 miles like it used to be. it's my job to make my customers feel secure about those kind of things, but as an owner, i must admit it makes me a little nervous. change oil light came on at 3,500 miles, which i expected. it's been about 4,500 miles since then, no light. i switched it to synthetic from the get-go to help. just wanted to get the thoughts of the other 2011 owners.

 

[gbridge]

Long Oil Change Interval

Hi,

I am not sure yet how to take this drawn out interval yet. I will be running synthetic oil after my first oil change. My concern is more about the oil filter and how effective it will be after that 8000miles/13,000km.

With my previous vehicle (had 220,000kms) on it, I was using synthetic and it had no engine issues with longer interval. I think I went every 10,000 kms/change.

What I will probably find out is if there is a oil analysis facility close and have the first 3-4 changes analyzed, but that may not tell the "whole story"

I mean the dealers/service folks are seeing the vehicles less and making less revenue on this, so I don't know that the motivation is for this.

"G"

 

[ohnoesaz]

I'm sticking to 3000 miles. The fact that the engine is so quiet on start-up after an oil change tells me enough about needing to stick to frequent oil changes.

 

[IRSmart]

I'm sticking to 3000 miles. The fact that the engine is so quiet on start-up after an oil change tells me enough about needing to stick to frequent oil changes.

3,000 miles is a thing of the past, most are 5k-6k now. 8k just made me a little nervous at first.

 

[jeepney_driver]

oil changes

Don't worry about long oil change intervals as long as you use synthetic oil. I change oil only twice a year. Once in summer and once in winter. What you really should worry about is dirt going into your engine via the airways.
Change that air filter often or at least clean it. Since I bought the car I have not changed the air filter but I clean it every week with a powerful blower with air moving in the opposite direction thru the filter. You can use a vacuum to suck up the bigger particles of dirt then blow out the dust. By the way, a clogged up air filter also robs your engine of power as it can't breathe properly. Dust going into your engine will ruin your engine ten times faster.

I drive about a hundred miles each day. I have an '07 and now have 116,488 miles on it. I will soon have the cvt oil changed (before 120,000 miles). Chrysler has two types of cvt oil. One is yellow (original) and the other is green, their most expensive cvt oil. (info from the dealer here in my town)