Oil prices going up? No problem... just procrastinate that oil change!

Here are some thoughts and recent finds on car care, or more specifically, oil changes. A while back I rambled on about gasoline prices. And due to a complaint that my posts were sometimes long, here's a two-point summary of what the rest of this post says (so you don't have to read it all):

1. Oil changes can be done at 4,000 or 5,000 miles instead of 3,000 (unless you've really been driving in rough, dirty conditions). I usually change mine at about 4,000 miles, sometimes later. Also, your oil filter also doesn't NEED to be changed at every oil change, but considering they are between $3 and $6, it is not really a big deal to change it, and most places do (make sure they do). A study found that oil change places like Jiffy Lube were not doing a lot of what they said they were. I change my own oil and just don't like the idea of having that clean oil I just put in my car running through a used filter.

2. A few eco-friendly, oil-free transportation options and some fun links. The solar car is quite interesting. I'm telling ya- we'll all be driving something like this in about 20 years.

Here are the details:
I can remember reading in the auto manual of the first car I owned (a light blue "Calvin & Hobbes-ish " Nissan Stanza Wagon- an awesome car- I could fit 4 mountain bikes upright in the back of it if I took off their front tires). The manual recommended oil changes at least every 7,500 miles. I was a little surprised. This morning I came across an article at KSL.com on oil changes- that we don't have to do it every 3,000 miles. It states that "Toyota recommends getting a change between 5,000 and 7,500 miles, or every six months, and under certain circumstances, the closer to 5,000 miles the better."


The KSL article reminded me of a study on oil brands that I read in Consumer Reports (CR) several years ago (I couldn't find it on-line). The Consumer Reports team was researching the quality of different brands of oil and testing how they protected the engines of several taxi cabs with newly-rebuilt engines. They chose to do their testing with taxis because of the sheer number of miles they put in each day, the fact that they are running most of the day, and that they are used in what is considered the most wearing type of driving- city driving (lots of stops, starts, constant accelerating/decelerating). Anyway, the rebuilt engine parts were measured before they were put back together and then after a significant period of wear, were taken out and measured again. As I remember, a different brand of oil, including synthetic oil varieties, were used on different group of cars. And each group using a specific oil type had cars that had its oil changed at either 3,000 or 6,000 miles. They hoped to determine whether it made any difference. Well, to make a long story short, they drove and drove all of the taxis for what I think was 60,000 miles. At this point they took all of the engines apart and found no measurable difference in the engine wear of all the cars and the oil types they tested. They concluded that for 60,000 miles of wear, changing your oil at 3,000 miles or 6,000 miles didn't really make a difference. The only difference in the oil brands were that some started breaking down on a molecular level earlier than others, but all still seemed to protect fine.

The only significant difference that a synthetic oil makes is that it "bonds" better to the engine parts due to its finer molecular structure. It also can increase your mileage by 1-2 miles per gallon. This works, both myself and a friend have tried it, though it does cost between $3 and $5 per quart of synthetic oil as compared to $1 or $2 a quart for regular oil.

Here are a few useful and fun links:

John's Tool Box:
A simple FAQ's page from a Consumer Reports Auto Mechanic
This is a great 1-web-page summary on basic car care. I'd recommend browsing through it. It has information on all of his recommendations on basic car maintenance. Yes Ladies, this one is for you!

On another note, the city of Seattle is seeing "greener" taxis nowdays. I understand that Vancouver, Canada has had hybrid taxis for a few years now. NYC has some hybrid Ford Escape hybrids as well.

But who needs gasoline and oil? Here you can read and view footage about a solar-powered taxi on its trip around the world...


and also a prototype of a wind-powered car:

Of course you can just ride your bike- but don't forget to put a little oil on the chain.