How can you tell it's time to change your car oil?

Confession: I am trying to save money, so I don't want to just change my oil whenever the little sticker from Penzoil says to. But I don't know how to tell when it needs to be changed. Can anyone help me?How can you tell it's time to change your car oil?
Many older cars need to have their oil changed every 3000 miles or 3 months. But it's approximate... If you do more highway driving (long distance) and less city driving (start-stop / short trip), then you can go a little more.





If you want to save more money, try changing the oil yourself - it's usually less than 1/2 the cost of a shop doing it.How can you tell it's time to change your car oil?
if you using conventional oil 3000 miles or 3 months what ever comes first. you let oil get old and it turns into sludge and you don't want that. Sludge will kill a engine. its like clocking your blood vain.





If you running synatiic oil like Mobil 1 you can go for 5000 miles or 5 months. I wouldn't push it past that.. I do mine at 3000 mile no matter what. If you learn to do it yourself its cheaper save you money and it's really easy.
You have a better chance of your car lasting you longer if you do it on time. Plus I think you get better gas mileage. I did notice that when I need an oil change my car doesnt run as well.
I think it is after 1000 miles of driving.
every 5,000 miles sooner if you drive hard.





you can smell it or look at it etc. but $20 is small price to pay to keep your car running.
The number of miles between changes means nothing. Oil changes always were recommended in miles because cars have odometers. What really matters is how you drive it, does it get up to operating temperature every time you drive, or are you taking short trips? If you do the normal driving routine - like most people - change your oil when you have burned 200 gallons of gas. It's the number of combustion events that the oil is exposed to that makes it dirty.





Short trips allow moisture to condense and if the engine doesn't get up to operating temperature for at least a couple of minutes, the moisture won't ever evaporate. The little old lady who only drives to church and back should change her oil every 3 months. The traveling salesman who drives 60,000 miles a year could go 9-10,000 miles between changes.





Just as important as changing the oil is who does the job. You want someone who is capable of taking a look at the whole car and recognizing something that is near failure. That probably rules out most of the quick lube places. Pay a little more and have the work done at a real repair facility. The dealerships in my area are $5 less than the quick lube place, but it takes an hour to get it done.





If your afraid of getting 'ripped off' by a repair place just use the ';no money'; excuse. Say ';I don't have the extra $';. Then go home and seek out a second opinion. If you've been having all your work done at a quick lube it's likely that some of the more involved (and expensive) services on your car have been overlooked because the quick lube guys don't do that sort of work, so they never look for it.
best to do it every 3000 miles, dont take the risk, could be in for more money in the long run, save money and do it yourself.....
think of how many miles a week you drive ..... most drive a round 300 or so miles and some where a round 3000 miles or so is best time to change it...... and about you saving 20 bucks or the price of a car sure you dont have to change the oil at all but then it might last a few miles like that even longer but then it will be good for only junk when it comestime to resell or when it comes to repairing the cost will be a lot more than the 20 bucks oil change..... anyone can do a oil change only two tools needed one for the oil plug sizes vary and one to remove the filter a few differant kinds and sizes but both cheap you might get the oil and filter and the tools to do it for the price of a couple .... ive done my own work mostly on every car ive had saving me big money most of the time most of the thing that do go wrong with most cars are the easiest one to fix most of the time any ways easy as changing a flat tire you can do a oil change