Art Supplies from Leslie Lohman

Orig Oil

Car oil question? Appearance and smell. Is brown, not blackish and burnt-smelling, OK?

I’m a chick with an 85 Chevy truck and I try to maintain and replace faithfully. I only put about 7,000 mi. per year on it, if that. A neighbor told me if the oil looks dark brown and smells kinda burnt I need an oil change. So I did that then. Currently the oil is kinda medium brown. Those ‘3,000 mi’ or 3 mo.’ rules of Jiffy Lube seem a little extreme to me, plus they try to sell me everything in the shop, including a radiator flush that totally blew my radiator apart. So, sometimes I use a Jiffy Lube to change my oil, sometimes my car mech neighbor. Can someone tell me the real scoop on car oil– what should acceptable oil look like? Do I follow the 3 month suggestion even if I’ve only driven 1400 miles in 3 months?
PS The truck doesn’t burn any oil. 128,000 orig. mi.
Thanks!!!

Myrmidon … Jiffy Lube is good at one thing: selling everything they can to you in a jiffy.

As another answer said, start with your manufacturer’s recommended maximum mileage as a starting point. For example, if your manual says change the oil when you’ve gone 7,000 miles, try to not exceed that limit. Going over a little is not going to kill anything. HOWEVER, review these additional considerations:
• If you make lots of short trips, you will build-up condensation inside your engine. Take the truck for a long drive (at least 20 minutes) every week, if possible, to eliminate the moisture build-up. If you cannot take this long drive once each week, consider yourself as a “heavy service” driver and change the oil by the 3,000 or 4,000 mile point.
• If you don’t drive the truck much, change the oil after 4 or 5 months whether you’ve driven 7,000 miles or not.
• Other heavy service conditions also mean you should change the oil after 3,000 or 4,000 miles. Heavy service means lots of stop-and-go city-style driving, dusty environment, towing a trailer or other heavy loads.

No, I’m not a mechanic. Just someone who’s able to keep his vehicles for over 200,000 miles with the car still starting first time, every time!

Also, do you listen to the radio program “Car Talk” on National Public Radio? Well, Tom and Ray are a thousand laughs, but they know about cars. See my link below which I think is good, plain English advice on oil changes. Yes, you can find a million web sites that talk about the science of lubricants, but I know you just want to know how often to change it; you’re not trying to PRODUCE it.

Good luck, Myrmidon.

Beds Are Burning – Midnight Oil