When should I get an oil change 3000 or 5000 miles?

I went to synthetic at 1000mi mainly to have an excuse to change the diffs and t-case over as well.

You also might want to check your air filter at the first oil change to see how it's holding up....dusty out there in AZ.

 

I went according to the manual and did it at 5000, but the engine was feeling rough by 3000. Next new truck I'm doing it at 3000.

 

Thank u all for all that info ---so with the oil change in mind ---should I install my cold air intake before or after the oil change ---i dunno --would it make a difference if I do before or after?

 

yea i knew that i couldve run on that oil for another 2K but i just wanted to be safe. from now on though every 5K

 

i change my oil at every 2500 miles w/o changing oil filter and my dealer changes it every 5000miles with oil filter. I owned a 02 mini cooper and bmw requierd oil changes every 10000 miles! of course I did it sooner than that.

 

Because....BMW doesn't know anything about cars?

 

Actually some Porsches have 20,000 mile oil changes. They also have multiple oil coolers and hold alot of oil. Synthetic only ofcourse. The new Corvette Z06 has 10,000 mile oil changes, but personally if I owned one of these cars I would change the oil once a year.

 

Doesn't matter. You can do it now or when you change your oil since you have the hood open anyway. Which intake?

 

A BMW isnt much after 5yrs specially a 4bannger.My friend works for BMW, He says BMW does the 10000miles oil change cus they know there engines can last the 50000miles or 5yr warranty they offer.Better to lease!

 

The oil companies want you to get it changed every 3,000k.They make more money that way.
Doing it every 3,000k wont hurt the truck.
But the manual does say 5,000.

 

#1 reason to change oil is contamination.
Blow by gasses condense, along with carbon in the oil. These are not good for the engine. Synth oil may last longer in terms of maintaining surface film and viscosity - but they get dirty at the same rate.

With highway miles, you can go further.
Hauling loads, and city driving, change it more often.

Keeping clean oil in the engine is way more beneficial than the brand or synth/dino debate. Heavy service and temp extremes benefit from synth.

Spend the extra $ changing it more often is my motto.

Synth can damage seals in vintage car engines, is the only negative I've ever heard about it. If money was no object, I'd use synth, but I change it every 5000km, which is about 3500 miles.