Oil change interval

[whitcre]

I put 4,000 miles a year on my 97 SL500. How should i change oil- at mileage or time.

[Alkraut]

3000 miles is the "standard" for a lot of car people. 4000 is also OK. Go by mileage, but change every 12-18 months if low mileage below interval. On all of my cars with Dino oil I change it with filter whenever the mileage (in thousands) is divisable by 3.

[LUVMBDiesels]

On my cars that don't get driven too much I change the oil and filter every six months. I also use Mobil 1. Even at 30~40 bucks for oil and filter it is still cheap.

[Roncallo]

Originally Posted by whitcre

I put 4,000 miles a year on my 97 SL500. How should i change oil- at mileage or time.

For that low a milage rate I would recomend 1 a year with Mobil 1. Or 2 times a year with Dino.

I generally change my own oil 2 times a year with Mobil 1. These days I'm running my 560SL 13,000 miles per year. I owned my 1993 Ford Taurus since new. It went to 220,000 miles with no precivable engine wear and I was running that one about 16,000 miles a year with changes 2 times per year using Mobil 1.

My F150 truck now has 170,000 miles I use Mobil 1 and change once a year since I'm down to only 7000 miles a year on it.

John Roncallo

[rfpmoxie]

I know everyone seems to have their own take as to what the proper interval is. I use 2500 as it's easy to remember odometerwise. Although I may be lucky, as this approach has yielded 431,000 on my 300DT(daily driver), I use this for all vehicles that I own including my 300SL (2500 mi annually). Surely, this simple DIY becomes extremely economical when looking for maximum protection. For low annual mileage one year seems about right. Ron

[Mike Miller]

Originally Posted by Roncallo

For that low a milage rate I would recomend 1 a year with Mobil 1. Or 2 times a year with Dino.

I generally change my own oil 2 times a year with Mobil 1. These days I'm running my 560SL 13,000 miles per year. I owned my 1993 Ford Taurus since new. It went to 220,000 miles with no precivable engine wear and I was running that one about 16,000 miles a year with changes 2 times per year using Mobil 1.

My F150 truck now has 170,000 miles I use Mobil 1 and change once a year since I'm down to only 7000 miles a year on it.

John Roncallo

I'm with John. Once a year with Mobil 1 is plenty at that mileage rate.