Chuck wrote:
>
> C. E. White wrote:
> >
> > Waste of money.
> >
> Maybe - but an oil change costs me about $12.50 and a half-hour of my
> time.
> Can't be any easier than on a VUE.

For most of my life I have been a 3000 mile oil change guy.
However, except for Jiffy Lube advertising, there is no
reason to think this is really extending the life of your
engine. The 3000 mile oil change recommendation has been
around since I can first remember (1967 or so). Cars and oil
are far better now, so I can't see that the old
recommendation is sensible. I have family examples that
indicate to me that I have always been too conservative. I
have two Sisters who really don't care about cars. My older
Sister is particularly disinterested in automobile
maintenance. In the past she had her oil changed whenever I
complained about her lack of car care (and I actually did
the change). Her current Honda at least reminds her to
change the oil with an odometer driven indicator. It goes
red every 7500 miles. When this happens, she will actually
tell me that her oil needs changing. Despite this, and her
mostly stop and go driving pattern, she has never had any
sort of engine problem related to oil (current 8 year old
Honda's is over 110,000 miles). My other Sister does follow
the published maintenance schedules and has the work done at
the dealers. Likewise, she has never had any sort of problem
related to engine oil. Her previous cars all made it well
past 130k miles. Finally, we have a small farm. I have
always changed the oil in the farm tractors based on engine
hours, at the manufacturer's recommended intervals. Two of
the three tractors specify 150 hours. I think this is
roughly equivalent to 5000 miles (150 hours at 35 mph = 5250
miles). The engines in farm tractors are worked much harder
on average than automobile engines (but they are also well
built diesels). Despite this none of our tractors has ever
had an oil related engine failure. The older tractor (24
years old) now has over 7000 hours (roughly equivalent to
250,000 miles) and still runs well (and has the original
turbo).

I really like the idea that my Vue has an indicator that
calculates oil life based on more than just miles. I've
always though the normal and severe service definitions were
fuzzy and open to a lot of interpretation. This is why I
change the oil in my Ford every 3000 miles (Ford severe
service schedule). I honestly do not think I am doing severe
service, but the line is fuzzy. The Vue handles this for me.
I am confident that as long as I change my oil at least as
often as the light tell me to, I am fulfilling my warranty
requirements and not reducing the life of my engine.

I do agree that the Vue is one of the easiest cars I've ever
had to change the oil on. I can do it in 15 minutes or so.
Still, if it is not saving you any money in the long run,
why double up on the oil changes? Assuming you are going to
keep your Vue for 150,000 miles, 3000 mile oil changes
instead of 6000 mile oil changes will cost you an extra $300
and 6 hours of your life. Unless there is some saving
associated with this, which I doubt there will be, is the
feeling of accomplishment or peace of mind really worth and
extra $300 and 6 hours every few years? If the answer is
yes, then I can understand why you change the oil so often.
For me the 3000 mile oil changes is a hard habit to break,
but at least in the case of the Vue, GM gave me a good
reason to break it.

Ed