Like so many things, there isn't a single fits-all answer to oil change intervals.
If I had to generalize, if you are running a modern car with synthetic oil, nobody has to change faster than 5,000 miles. I generally start thinking about it at somewhere over 4,000, get around to it somewhere in the high 4's. Contrary to what you were told the automakers aren't evil geniuses that don't care if their engines fail after the warranty. Their recommendations can definitely be followed, but I choose to not push it to the max since in the course of a year changing oil a bit sooner doesn't cost much. On my diesel trucks I'd go 6-7,000 miles. One exception was a Chevy Tahoe that had the cylinder deactivation "feature", they were prone to failure and pretty solid evidence that 3,000 mile changes would tend to avoid that problem.
If you are interested enough to prove the point on a specific interval, you can do used oil analysis (UOA) to see what kind of life your oil has left and what if any wear is happening in your engine.
|