Second to your home, a vehicle is generally the largest investment that a person makes. At Performance Autowerk it is our goal to help you maximize the lifespan of your vehicle and prevent costly repair of major mechanical parts of your vehicle. Over the last decade the trend of extended oil change intervals and “lifetime” fluids has become the norm in the automotive industry.  Here are a few reasons why:

1] The manufacturers provide “free maintenance” for the duration of the vehicle warranty. By extending the periods between services the manufacturer has effectively saved themselves money.  Figure that a vehicle with a manufacturer recommended 16-20k mile oil change interval will only be back to the dealer 3 times while covered by their “free maintenance”. They will change 1 cabin air filter and flush your brake fluid 1, maybe 2, times (bi-annually). When you purchase your vehicle it would seem that “free maintenance” would be a huge cost saving benefit, but you are actually only saving yourself approximately $500 over 4 years. 
 
2] There has been a huge push by the EPA to limit the amount of “waste” that a manufacturer’s product creates. By “waste” they are referring to used engine oil, transmission fluid, differential fluid, filters, spark plugs, and consumable parts. Effectively the EPA would like to prevent vehicle service items from finding their way into landfills. Construction techniques and oil/fluid technology is vastly better than it used to be. The construction techniques used on today’s motor vehicle parts are much more advanced. Vehicles are built with more precision and with better materials. This helps eliminate waste products inside of a motor. Both waste products that result from manufacture and waste products produced during operation (tighter tolerances and technology create cleaner running motors). It also happens that new fluid technology has created products that are capable of running cleaner and with less breakdown than fluids of the past. This stability has provided the ability to extend service intervals beyond what you would have imagined just 20 years ago. Based on that information you might be inclined to champion the idea of extended oil change and service intervals. There are several failings with that logic.  

3] The manufacturers are interested in two things: getting the vehicle out of warranty without a major failure and keeping the first owner happy so that they come back and buy another vehicle. They know that an oil change every 15-20k miles will suffice to keep the motor turning. They also know that eliminating the cost of maintenance to the customer will make them happy. They simply do not care that those oil change intervals will cause sludge and wear inside of their motors that will likely result in failure that could have been easily prevented. They also know that “lifetime” transmission fluid will go what they consider to be the lifetime of the transmission (out of warranty). 

The EPA is happy as they are preventing waste products from entering landfills. We agree that this is a major benefit of extended service intervals. At Performance Autowerk we support a clean environment and gladly recycle as many waste products as possible (cardboard, engine oil, filters and other fluids).

4] Lastly, although technology has provided superior fluids, techniques and materials, these items are now stressed far beyond what they were a decade ago. Motors now run warmer to achieve EPA standards.  They turn more RPM’s and produce more horsepower per liter than ever before. All of this while the EPA is pushing to eliminate heavy metals and additives from the oils inside. Synthetic fluids today have reduced additives from what they had just 10 years ago. The EPA is constantly pushing for products that are more organic and can be easily recycled with less waste as a byproduct. The end result is that oils are just not as “slippery” and shear resistant as they used to be.  

We recommend a 5k mile oil change interval with synthetic fluids. In the long term this means that you’ll spend approximately $100-200 per year more on vehicle maintenance than if you observe manufacturer intervals. Broken out over the life of your vehicle you’ll be much better than break even if you add even 20-30k miles to its life. We recommend changing transmission fluid at 60k miles or earlier. Differentials do not get ignored either. We will recommend a fluid change at 60k or 100k miles depending upon the use your vehicle is subjected to. 

Changing your fluids regularly extends the life of your vehicle and also allows us to take a look under and around your vehicle. This complimentary, cursory look can frequently catch a potential failure before it leaves you stranded or at least allows us to advise you of a potential service item so that you’ll be prepared the next time that you have your vehicle at the shop. Our goal is your confidence in your vehicle. We’d prefer to not ever have it come in on a tow truck. 

If you have specific questions regarding service intervals or would like to create your own service interval solution please give us a call to discuss.  We’re sure that we can come up with a service program that will suit the needs of you and your vehicle.