No it doesn't hurt the car. I'm talking about general wastefulness.

Along with gasoline, oil isn't getting any cheaper. The more oil you use, the more petroleum that DOESN'T get turned into gasoline. Supply& demand?

 

gotcha. yes sir

 

I've always been a believer that oil should be changed by time intervals and not mileage. For example, a salesperson might drive 3K in one month. It's mostly freeway driving, and the oil is still good. But it might take Grandma a year to drive 3K, and it's all short trips. Her oil was shot way before 3K.

BTW, I just sent for a test-kit from Blackstone Labs. They test for all kinds of elements and give advice if those numbers are high and where the stuff in the oil is coming from, maybe helping you replace stuff before it goes bad and blows something up. They'll also report on the TBN, or total base number, which tells how much life was left in the oil. I say it's worth the price of an oil change.

 

Yeah, Blackstone is what I've been thinking.

I'm a believer in the oil-life monitors on many new cars. You don't have to wait until is actually says to change oil (especially if UOA says differently). But it's a good tool because it keeps track of total revs, cold starts, WOT runs, all the stuff that causes oil life to deviate from simple miles, revolutions, or time. It combines the book-keeping of all that stuff.