GM, California to Bust ‘3,000 Mile Myth’

General Motors and the California Environmental Protection Agency have joined forces to battle the conventional wisdom that oil changes should take place every 3000 miles. The California Integrated Waste Management Board has also set up a website, www.3000milemyth.org, to support the campaign. A recent article from Lubes’n’Greases Magazine called GM, California to Bust ‘3,000 Mile Myth’ discusses the campaign. Apparently 73% of California motorists change their oil more frequently than their vehicle manufacturers recommend. GM is contending that motorists whose vehicles are equipped the GM Oil Life System should change oil according to the information provided by the system, rather than change oil at an arbitrary mileage interval. As most manufacturers are now recommending drain intervals of between 5000 and 15000 miles, premature oil changes at 3000 miles are adding millions of gallons of unnecessary waste oil every year. AMSOIL produced a motor oil capable of destroying this “3000 mile myth” 35 years ago and I suspect that the rest of the world is starting to come around to this way of thinking.