low mileage oil change question
Recovery Vehicle
Joined: May 2017
Posts: 1,135
Likes: 823
From: Boston, MA
The Ingenium family of engines in our Defenders are not sourced from BMW. Modern engines have extended oil change intervals due mainly to emissions regulations. The quality of synthetic oil is a lot more advanced now, so manufacturers are pushing longer and longer to get emissions incentives. Do some research on the term "fully synthetic". Surprisingly, it does not mean no Dino oil. In this case, th incentive is creating less waste oil. The less you change the oil, the less waste oil is created and risk of spillage during oil changes. Manufacturers are given emissions points for things like long interval oil changes. These engines are tested to survive at these intervals, so you can follow the manufacturers recommend intervals and it should be ok. A similar situation would be the transmission oil and filter. Jlr says that the the fluid is a lifetime fill. But if you check with the manufacturer of the transmission, there is a service interval. Again, jlr kits incentivized to not change fluids. I agree with you, it will never hurt to change fluids more often. However, I definitely do not believe it's a waste of money. If you want to minimize mechanical issues in the long term well beyond manufacturers warranty and/ or what they consider lifetime of the vehicle, I would suggest to get some unbiased advice and create your own service schedule versus just listening to the manufacturer. They typically want you to buy a new Land Rover to replace the one you have, not keep the one you have for the long term.
Rock Crawling
Joined: Mar 2021
Posts: 407
Likes: 316
From: South Jersey
[QUOTE=PaulLR;848059]Manufacturers can't predict the upcoming engine issues when they create the maintenance schedule.[/QUOTE]
Though there may be unexpected issues they damn well can predict if the majority of owners will be fine with the oil change interval.
Last edited by Kev M; Dec 12, 2022 at 07:18 PM.
Winching
Joined: Jul 2020
Posts: 545
Likes: 565
From: San Gabriel, CA USA
See:https://www.ownerinfo.landrover.com/.../proc/G2726115 for the officially sanctioned maintenance schedule of 2.0 and 3.0-litere Ingenium petrol engines.
Winching
Joined: Feb 2022
Posts: 692
Likes: 642
^^^ This ^^^
Would be awful if JLR refused a warranty claim because they determined my use profile was "arduous conditions". It's cheap insurance on multiple fronts for me to have an oil service performed 5K-7K range.
Would be awful if JLR refused a warranty claim because they determined my use profile was "arduous conditions". It's cheap insurance on multiple fronts for me to have an oil service performed 5K-7K range.
Three Wheeling
Joined: Nov 2021
Posts: 89
Likes: 79
I tow from time to time (probably 20% of the mileage on the truck) and change the oil every 5k miles, which is when I rotate the tires (including spare). I did the filter on the first change @ 5k but only the oil @ 10k. I plan on that same schedule going forward, oil every 5k, oil/filter every 10k.
Rock Crawling
Joined: Dec 2020
Posts: 391
Likes: 291
No OEM is going to make a maintenance schedule recommendation that is going to tank their motors during OR AFTER warranty period. Their reputation is worth much more than any perceived "convenience" of low maintenance.
No dealer wants motors to blow up on their new or used vehicles or lease turn ins. Unhappy customers and a bad reputation can effect them almost as much as the OEM.
And if you look at the Defender mechanically I mean the damn crankcase is NINE FRIGGIN Liters on the P400. That's a lot of oil and a lot of additives to deal with byproducts of combustion. I'm sure that played a roll in their maintenance decisions. Maybe it's a chicken and egg thing - "make sure it has a 2 year oil change schedule" - "ok,,then we're doubling the amount of oil in the crankcase" or something like that. <shrugs>
Circumstances vary, and even I (who has been working in the industry for decades and was an early adopter of a 1 year/10k mile oil change on synthetics as far back as the 90s) have a tough time with a 20K+/2 year oil change. I had every intention of doing it that way though.... till 12 months came and we had ~10k miles on it...and I though OH WHAT THE HELL.
So I guess I'm going to stick with 1 year changes, it's easy and doesn't hurt me, and we do about 10k miles a year on it so WTH... But I do go longer on some of our vehicles when they are no where near the mileage.
If our mileage was 3k or 5k per year, unless it was really severe service (super short runs in freezing temps and/or nothing but desert heat) then I would probably go 2 years and not worry about it.
No dealer wants motors to blow up on their new or used vehicles or lease turn ins. Unhappy customers and a bad reputation can effect them almost as much as the OEM.
And if you look at the Defender mechanically I mean the damn crankcase is NINE FRIGGIN Liters on the P400. That's a lot of oil and a lot of additives to deal with byproducts of combustion. I'm sure that played a roll in their maintenance decisions. Maybe it's a chicken and egg thing - "make sure it has a 2 year oil change schedule" - "ok,,then we're doubling the amount of oil in the crankcase" or something like that. <shrugs>
Circumstances vary, and even I (who has been working in the industry for decades and was an early adopter of a 1 year/10k mile oil change on synthetics as far back as the 90s) have a tough time with a 20K+/2 year oil change. I had every intention of doing it that way though.... till 12 months came and we had ~10k miles on it...and I though OH WHAT THE HELL.
So I guess I'm going to stick with 1 year changes, it's easy and doesn't hurt me, and we do about 10k miles a year on it so WTH... But I do go longer on some of our vehicles when they are no where near the mileage.
If our mileage was 3k or 5k per year, unless it was really severe service (super short runs in freezing temps and/or nothing but desert heat) then I would probably go 2 years and not worry about it.
Not to mention all the motors they have to replace or rebuild under the extended warranty!
This whole theory/narrative about car makers would engineer cars that will start breaking down after the warranty is absurd.
I bought my Audi A3 2.0 TSI new in 2006. I followed the factory recommended schedule maintenance and when I sold it more than 10 years later, it had over 200k miles and the motor never had any issues
Mudding
Joined: Jun 2022
Posts: 215
Likes: 132
From: Brooklyn, NY
+1
Not to mention all the motors they have to replace or rebuild under the extended warranty!
This whole theory/narrative about car makers would engineer cars that will start breaking down after the warranty is absurd.
I bought my Audi A3 2.0 TSI new in 2006. I followed the factory recommended schedule maintenance and when I sold it more than 10 years later, it had over 200k miles and the motor never had any issues
Not to mention all the motors they have to replace or rebuild under the extended warranty!
This whole theory/narrative about car makers would engineer cars that will start breaking down after the warranty is absurd.
I bought my Audi A3 2.0 TSI new in 2006. I followed the factory recommended schedule maintenance and when I sold it more than 10 years later, it had over 200k miles and the motor never had any issues
I’m sure LR want to make reliable engines since reliability is such a high priority for them, if they acquired a reputation (deserved or otherwise) for making unreliable cars people would SURELY stop buying them…
Their strategy is lease for 3 years and then sell it to someone who is happy to get an LR at such a deep discount. Those that lease are generally happy as long as there are minimal problems and all problems are covered under warranty.