GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

http://www.montereyherald.com/...1.htmQuote »Dear Tom and Ray: The owner's manual for my 2004 Pontiac Vibe lists two maintenance schedules. The long-trip plan calls for the engine oil and filter to be changed every 7,500 miles (or 12 months), while the short-trip maintenance schedule sets a 3,000-mile interval for this service. Although my car meets all the requirements for the long-trip oil-change interval, the dealership where I take it strongly recommends the short-trip schedule in the winter. Is the dealership just looking for more business, or is it correct? -- WayneTOM: Yes, and yes. Of course it's looking for more business. But harsh winter conditions can be harder on your oil.RAY: Most manufacturers now recommend a 7,500-mile oil-change interval for what they call "normal" service. That's the way most people use their cars -- including you, Wayne.TOM: Then they have what's usually called an "extreme duty" or "hard service" interval of 3,000 miles for people who make their engines work the hardest. These are folks who use their cars as taxicabs, drive on dirt roads a lot or tow trailers frequently. Normally, spending a winter in Maine is not considered extreme duty. Not for the car, anyway. For me it would be.RAY: But what tends to happen in the winter is that people drive places they usually don't drive. In the summer, you might walk 10 minutes to the store to pick up a quart of vegan peppermint patties. But when it's 2 degrees out with a 50 mph wind, and your thighs freeze together after your first 10 steps, you'd probably decide to take the car.TOM: Until an engine warms up and reaches full operating temperature, it doesn't burn its fuel efficiently. That means there's unburned gasoline in the cylinders. Some of that gasoline makes its way past the piston rings and into the crankcase, where it mixes with the oil. That mixture makes for a lousy lubricant.RAY: So, it's not the winter temperatures themselves that damage the oil, it's the type of driving people tend to do in the winter.TOM: So if you make a lot of short trips like that in the winter, then it might make sense to change the oil a little more frequently. We recommend 5,000-mile intervals to all but the most extreme drivers. It's a decent balance between protecting your engine and not overburdening the environment with used oil. That should be plenty often, even in the tundra where you live, Wayne.

Those guys are great. Listen to their show every chance I get.First time I've heard the Vibe brought up. A year or more back, they did have a caller with a Matrix asking for advice.. She was trying to figure out if she should get rid of the car since she was having some serious problems with visibility in the rear quarters.

The problem with extended oil change intervals is people do not check their oil in between... I change mine at 3,000 no matter on any car I own. Doing this, the engine has clean oil verses dirtier oil for 2 or 3 thousand more miles, my gas mileage does not drop as much as if I let it go longer and lastly the engine is quieter. To me the benefits of changing sooner out weight leaving it in longer. I used to listen to these guys but they focus more on fun and games then actually taking car questions...

a few years back, the tappet brothers recommended 3500 miles (that was when they first started talking about how oil companies loved --and promoted- the 3000 mi interval).my local mechanic back in NY state was a mechanical engineer by training (and a great mechanic). he also argued that 3000 mi intervals was overkill. i use a 3500mi interval. i figure that with the 1ZZ track record, i should be on the safe side.sylvain

I prefer using synthetic oil and changing oil and filter every 5,000 miles and have been doing that for quite a while. If I weren't using synthetic oil, or if most of my driving was short trips, or if I were a person that didn't check oil level periodically, I would follow the 3,000 mile schedule.