Do you deviate from the owner's manual?

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Do you follow the owner's manual for gas octane? For oil change intervals?

I am answering this poll.
97
29%
For gasoline octane grade, I exceed the owner's manual recommendation because I think it does the engine good or increases the power.
0
No votes
For gasoline octane grade, I exceed the owner's manual recommendation because I can't get the precise grade it recommends.
2
1%
For gasoline octane grade, I follow the owner's manual recommendation carefully.
82
24%
For gasoline octane grade, I follow their "requirement," which is lower than the recommendation.
20
6%
For gasoline octane grade, I use a lower grade than recommended, because I'm convinced they exaggerate and a lower grade seems to work fine.
8
2%
For gasoline octane grade, I use a lower grade than recommended because it's an old beater car and I don't care if I shorten the engine life.
0
No votes
For oil change interval, I change more often than the manual recommends.
19
6%
For oil change interval, I follow the manual's recommendation carefully.
55
16%
For oil change interval, I change less often than recommended because I believe it is OK because I use synthetic oil.
19
6%
For oil change interval, I change less often than recommended because I believe they exaggerate and you don't really need to change it that often.
23
7%
For oil change interval, I change less often than recommended because it's an old beater car and I don't care if I shorten the engine life.
1
0%
I don't change the oil, I just keep topping it up to the "add" mark.
0
No votes
Other, discuss
14
4%
 
Total votes: 340

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nisiprius
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Do you deviate from the owner's manual?

Post by nisiprius »

Following up xzhou's intriguing poll and thread What octane gas do you use to fill your car?. As I expected many of the answers were "I follow the owner's manual." So now I'm curious. In order to get the most bang for the poll buck I've made the questions a little complicated, hope it doesn't confuse anyone.

You can choose more than one answer as appropriate and you can change your answer.

Everyone please check "I am answering this poll" as it seems to be the only way to get the total number of responses when multiple answers are permitted.
Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness; Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.
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Epsilon Delta
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Re: Do you deviate from the owner's manual?

Post by Epsilon Delta »

I use the recommended octane, but I wouldn't say I do it carefully. I just can't be bothered to drive to Colorado to get something that doesn't meet the manufacturers spec.
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Re: Do you deviate from the owner's manual?

Post by chaz »

A good poll - many choices.
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Sidney
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Re: Do you deviate from the owner's manual?

Post by Sidney »

For oil changes, if I am putting a lot of highway miles on the car, I will usually push the mileage beyond the recommended interval.
I always wanted to be a procrastinator.
Buysider
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Re: Do you deviate from the owner's manual?

Post by Buysider »

electric car, haven't changed oil or visited a gas station in a year ... don't think I will ever again, except rentals.
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Re: Do you deviate from the owner's manual?

Post by Bungo »

I wouldn't say I follow the owner's manual recommendation "carefully" - I would probably use 87 octane even if they recommended otherwise. But as it happens, 87 octane is what they recommend.

I change the oil somewhat less frequently than recommended, both because I don't think it's all that important to match the interval precisely, and because I use synthetic oil.
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Re: Do you deviate from the owner's manual?

Post by mhc »

I don't know what my owner's manual says for either. I change the oil once or twice a year. Basically, I change it when I get around to it. For gas, I buy the lowest octane when I fill up locally. In the midwest, the lowest cost is sometimes a higher octane ethanol mix I believe. I basically fill up with the lowest cost gas. My car is 11 years old with less than 100k miles. If I take too good care of it, I'll never get a new car again. :D
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I am a deviant

Post by davebarnes »

2007 Audi A3
Driven 4500 miles per year.
Premium is recommended and that is what I put in. In Denver premium is only rated at 91 and cost 15¢ more per gallon or $30/year.
Oil change every 18 months. Fancy VW synthetic oil. $87.
A nerd living in Denver
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JoMoney
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Re: Do you deviate from the owner's manual?

Post by JoMoney »

I've never even thought to check an owners manual to see what octane was recommended. I've never owned a car where I thought it would make a difference.
My only experience with anything other than regular 87 octane unleaded is the corvette my dad owned required higher octane (which he strictly used), and when I rented a car while visiting Colorado I used their lower 85 Octane that's supposed to be equivalent at that altitude...

The last car I owned I followed the oil changing guidelines of 7500 miles - but that occurred every 3 months with the amount of driving I did.

Anecdotaly, I've been told that "good" oil (especially synthetics) holds up much longer than the recommended changes, but the oil filter is what needs more periodic changing - and if you're going through the effort to change the filter - might as well change the oil... I don't know if there's any truth to this ... ? ...
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sscritic
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Re: Do you deviate from the owner's manual?

Post by sscritic »

5000 miles or 6 months, whichever comes first.

Since I only drive 30,000 every four years, I am careful to change oil at exactly 4,285.71 miles, giving me 7 changes in four years rather than 6 or 8. This is every 6 months and 26 days. I have it carefully marked on my calendar so I don't go a day over.
Calm Man
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Re: Do you deviate from the owner's manual?

Post by Calm Man »

I just did a test. I have in the last two years driven so little (and it will continue that way) that from my 75,000 oil change to 78,000 miles, it was 18 months. I've been warned to do it every year or even 6 months. So I brought it in to Toyota. I did an experiment. I asked them how often it should be changed if low mileage since normally it is 5000 or 7500 miles. (2004 Camry). She said 6 months because the oil would go bad. I told the service lady at the no appointment oil change desk that I needed an oil change and would she have the guy check how the oil looked and whether it drained well. All good she said. Anyway, I expect about 1500 miles in the next 18 months, maybe 2000 miles so I will do it in 18 months again. At that point, if it has been 5000 miles or more since the last tire rotation (did it at 75,000 miles) I will rotate the tires to.
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Re: Do you deviate from the owner's manual?

Post by munemaker »

I have a 2009 Honda CRV with a built in "maintenance minder" that tells you when to perform various maintenance.

The CRV calls for 5W20 oil, but I had a bunch of 5W30 synthetic oil on hand, so I used it for over 50,000 miles (with 10,000 to 12,000 mile change intervals). Guess what? Worked fine. The CRV now has well over 100,000 miles on it and the engine is fine.

Discussing this with others, they say "You have to follow the owner's manual. If you use oil other than 5W20, you will damage the engine. Honda knows what is best for your car.

With my driving, the maintenance minder says to change the oil every 12,000 miles and the filter every 24,000 miles. I change the filter when I change the oil, over-maintaining I guess you would say. Discussing this with others, they think the 10,000 to 12,000 mile interval is way too long and, depending on who you talk to, think it should be changed every 3,000 to 5,000 miles. When I mentioned Honda's recommendation, they say Honda wants your engine to wear out. Here again, engine is working great with well over 100,000 miles on it and 10,000 to 12,000 mile oil change intervals.

So...I have to wonder...why is the consensus that Honda knows best what grade of oil to use, but they are incompetent when it comes to the oil change interval?

I think some older people remember 3,000 mile oil change intervals from the distant past, and don't realize how much engines and engine oil have improved over the years.
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Re: Do you deviate from the owner's manual?

Post by Stonebr »

Yes, and no.

Owner's manual says 91 octane for optimum performance, 87 minimum. I did some tests early on and determined that fuel economy and performance were the same regardless of the octane rating of the gas used. So I use 87 now.

Oil changes twice a year. Full synthetic oil. I don't even look at the mileage.
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Re: Do you deviate from the owner's manual?

Post by gkaplan »

I donated my 2008 Honda Fit this past April 30th, so I answered other. When I did have a car, however, I tried to follow the owner's manual.
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Re: Do you deviate from the owner's manual?

Post by Frans »

And what, may I ask, is the use of this and many other BH polls?
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Re: Do you deviate from the owner's manual?

Post by CABob »

I use 87 octane which I believe is the manufacturer's recommendation.
Oil on the other hand is not so straight forward. One of my vehicles has a dashboard readout that indicated the usefull life remaining on the oil and I generally have it changed when it gets to 10-15% remaining. I don't know how that compares with the recommendation, but, I suspect that it gets changed more often than the mileage recommendation. My other vehicle is a bit more complicated since it gets very low mileage. I tend to have the oil change yearly which is usually less than 2000 miles.
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Re: Do you deviate from the owner's manual?

Post by 4ransom »

Worked for a logger about 20 yrs agso-he had a fleet of about 12 pickups. Never changed the oil, only topped it off and traded them in at 100k. Said it was the cheapest way to go, just told his friends not to buy used truck that he traded in!!
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Re: Do you deviate from the owner's manual?

Post by cheese_breath »

Change the oil more frequently than recommended due to past experiences requiring expensive engine work on two cars where I followed the manual's recommendation. These were 1970's vehicles, but I have a long memory about some things, and oil changes aren't that expensive anyway.
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Re: Do you deviate from the owner's manual?

Post by IlliniDave »

On the oil change I've varied a lot over time. For a number of years I had a pretty significant oil leak that had me adding about 1.5 qt per month, so I just just changed oil/filter a couple times a year (about 8500 miles) since I was getting a lot of changeover. I've since had the issue repaired and I change the oil a little more frequently than recommended (about 4000 versus 6000 recommended).

For gas I use exactly as recommended, 87 octane.
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Re: Do you deviate from the owner's manual?

Post by lululu »

mhc wrote:I don't know what my owner's manual says for either. I change the oil once or twice a year. Basically, I change it when I get around to it. For gas, I buy the lowest octane when I fill up locally.
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Re: Do you deviate from the owner's manual?

Post by Busting Myths »

nisiprius wrote:Following up xzhou's intriguing poll and thread What octane gas do you use to fill your car?. As I expected many of the answers were "I follow the owner's manual." So now I'm curious. In order to get the most bang for the poll buck I've made the questions a little complicated, hope it doesn't confuse anyone.

You can choose more than one answer as appropriate and you can change your answer.

Everyone please check "I am answering this poll" as it seems to be the only way to get the total number of responses when multiple answers are permitted.
What do you expect to learn from this poll?
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Re: Do you deviate from the owner's manual?

Post by cheese_breath »

Busting Myths wrote:
nisiprius wrote:Following up xzhou's intriguing poll and thread What octane gas do you use to fill your car?. As I expected many of the answers were "I follow the owner's manual." So now I'm curious. In order to get the most bang for the poll buck I've made the questions a little complicated, hope it doesn't confuse anyone.

You can choose more than one answer as appropriate and you can change your answer.

Everyone please check "I am answering this poll" as it seems to be the only way to get the total number of responses when multiple answers are permitted.
What do you expect to learn from this poll?
In previous polls we learned that some people aren't very attentive to instructions as some categories had more answers than people participating in the polls.
The surest way to know the future is when it becomes the past.
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Re: Do you deviate from the owner's manual?

Post by sscritic »

Frans wrote:And what, may I ask, is the use of this and many other BH polls?
They are cleverly designed reading tests. Take a look at how many people think they have two different "newest" cars.

I find them very useful.
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Re: Do you deviate from the owner's manual?

Post by Busting Myths »

sscritic wrote:
Frans wrote:And what, may I ask, is the use of this and many other BH polls?
They are cleverly designed reading tests. Take a look at how many people think they have two different "newest" cars.

I find them very useful.
I just figured that we hit market euphoria so instead of debating fundamentals, valuations, trend, etc. we get the BH version of "first-world" problems.
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Re: Do you deviate from the owner's manual?

Post by grabiner »

I drive a Honda Civic, which has a maintenance minder to tell me when service is needed, rather than a fixed interval. I follow the maintenance minder in determining when to bring the car in for service; this is every 7500 miles here in MD, and was every 6000 in NJ, where I made more short trips and drove much more on surface streets (living ten miles from the nearest freeway).

When I do bring the car in, I ask for the service recommended by the maintenance minder, although I have had a few things fixed out of schedule because they were needed early. Thus, I would say that I follow the owner's manual.
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Re: Do you deviate from the owner's manual?

Post by tuningfork »

When I bought my new car, the owners manual recommended premium but said regular was ok. So I did an experiment. I used premium during the break-in period. After break-in, I used premium for two tanks, mid-range for the next two tanks, then regular for two tanks. I tracked fuel efficiency and subjectively evaluated the ride. This was 6 years ago, and as I recall acceleration was slightly zippier with premium, but it was not at all sluggish on regular. If there was a difference in fuel economy, it was insignificant given the different in fuel cost, so I have been using regular ever since.
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Re: Do you deviate from the owner's manual?

Post by denovo »

My manual on VW Passat 06 says to change the oil every 10,000 miles. After the car was more than 6 years old, my mechanic (an independent) said he recommends it to be done more often, especially when the car is getting older. I trust my mechanic. He's low-cost and I doubt he was giving this advice to make a buck. I always bring my oil and filter, and he only charges $15 for the labor. I do it every 5-7k miles.
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Re: Do you deviate from the owner's manual?

Post by bottlecap »

sscritic wrote:
5000 miles or 6 months, whichever comes first.

Since I only drive 30,000 every four years, I am careful to change oil at exactly 4,285.71 miles, giving me 7 changes in four years rather than 6 or 8. This is every 6 months and 26 days. I have it carefully marked on my calendar so I don't go a day over.
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Re: Do you deviate from the owner's manual?

Post by Christine_NM »

2002 Corolla

I change oil when it starts to discolor or once a year, usually the latter. I'm lucky if I drive 1000 miles a year so the guidelines are difficult to follow. My Dad said change it at least once a year, so OK Dad, that is what I do.

I use Chevron 87 gas -- the cheap stuff. That's the minimum required, but there is no higher specific octane recommended. Manual says "87 or higher".

Someday I am going to blow some of my Roth IRA on a new car, maybe after I renew my driver's license in 2015. Toyota Highlander? Subaru Forester? I'm dreaming till then.

Sorry, didn't check "I am answering this poll". But I did answer. Ah statistics.
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russellh
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Re: Do you deviate from the owner's manual?

Post by russellh »

I have one of those newfangled Bavarian things that says it is okay to change the oil every 15,000+ miles, or once a year. I don't trust that, so I change it twice a year. But I do put in the 91 octane that is recommended. The incremental cost increase of the 91 is minimal when you are talking $4/gallon gas.
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Re: Do you deviate from the owner's manual?

Post by gatorman »

The engine in my Honda Pilot doesn't knock when I use regular gas, so that is what I use. I don't pay attention to the octane rating on the pump, as it all seems to work fine. if I got a load of gas that knocked, I'd probably cross that oil company off my list. I usually fill up at Sam's Club (Murphy Oil?), sometimes the local Shell station, they both seem to work fine. The octane rating only represents a measure of resistance to detonation upon compression of an air/fuel mix. It is not a measure of the amount of energy the engine can extract from a gallon of gas, so, in the absence of a knock, won't affect mileage. Higher compression ratio engines may require higher octane ratings to avoid knocking. My thought is if the engine knocks, use high octane, if it doesn't knock, lower octane gas should work fine, although one probably wouldn't want to deviate from the manufacturer's recommendation as long as the vehicle is under warranty.

As to oil changes, I usually change it when the indicator says the remaining oil life is less than 10%.

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JPH
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Re: Do you deviate from the owner's manual?

Post by JPH »

I like this poll. I think the central question is, Do you follow the manual as preventive maintenance, hoping to save money in the long run, or deviate from the recommended schedule, gambling that you will save a little money immediately and still be okay in the long run?
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Re: Do you deviate from the owner's manual?

Post by Jack FFR1846 »

87 everywhere except my son's 350z which throw misfire codes on 87. I change oil at 5000 mile intervals. With 5 cars to maintain, it makes it easier to look and know if it's time to change it
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Re: Do you deviate from the owner's manual?

Post by TimeRunner »

JPH wrote:I like this poll. I think the central question is, Do you follow the manual as preventive maintenance, hoping to save money in the long run, or deviate from the recommended schedule, gambling that you will save a little money immediately and still be okay in the long run?
comma, or do you do PM more often than recommended in the hopes that spending a little more money on slightly more frequent-than-recommended oil, coolant, brake fluid changes, etc, saves a little more money in the long run?
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Re: Do you deviate from the owner's manual?

Post by Mudpuppy »

I personally never paid much mind to the octane rating, although I'm sure if I looked, a '99 Civic is just fine on regular gas. I do recall the manual recommending Chevron gas and Chevron happens to be the cheapest gas station directly on the route between home and work, so I do follow that recommendation. My manual is also old enough to still recommend oil changes every 3000 miles or 6 months under harsh driving conditions, whichever comes first. Usually I just do every 6 months regardless of mileage.

This does remind me of an exchange I oversaw while waiting for my car service to be completed. A gentleman came in because it had been 3000 miles since his last oil change.... three weeks ago. The service advisor tried to tell him newer cars don't need oil changes that frequently, and that he was fine waiting until 7000 or 10,000 miles so he didn't have to come in so often. The gentleman was adamant about 3000 miles because that's what he was taught growing up and he wanted the car to last for as long as possible.
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Re: Do you deviate from the owner's manual?

Post by Chicken lady »

Subaru turbo - manual says 'regular' oil is OK. After numerous engine problems Subaru issued a notice to change the oil every 3,500 miles (more frequently than owner's manual). I do that and also use synthetic (100%) oil. No problems. :happy
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