15th Nov 2013, 05:34
People will skimp on a small car that takes only 4 quarts of oil and filter. And then not bat an eye for a 4 grand new kitchen backsplash for their home as an example.
My family does a lot of rebuilds. For something that is used everyday and is expected to do many things, it is amazing how nonchalant people can be about proper maintenance. Then many have to wait til Friday to have the money to pick them up. Or they are babysat for a week til they can pay for repairs. Not all have credit cards. It's a good study about human nature and priorities, seeing this in real life. Changing oil and filters is really a no brainer. A classic case of pay it now or pay more later. Many drive their vehicles into the ground. But overspend on a lesser priority. Pretty amazing to hear.
8th Nov 2013, 07:52
Part of what you said may be true if you are doing every 3000 miles. But dusty roads, short stop start drives that never fully warm the engine, extreme temperature areas like Az, I would change often. Oils can breakdown with heat.
I don't run synthetic in my old cars. I change my synthetic every year on my Corvettes, even at 1000 miles driven. You can never make a mistake changing your oils more often, and stay away from cheapo generic oil filters. And the same goes with air filters. No mention has been discussed on clean filters. You suck in dirt right to your engine. I have dual filters on mine, and even blow off my drive with pine needles, leaves, etc that get sucked up on my low profile cars. Every mile driven on the open road, there is dust that may or may not be stopped by your air filter. Doing that 20000 miles, even with synthetic, seems like bad advice.