3 month/3000 miles is my standard

'94 SC2 still going strong > 200k miles
Fred


"Shawn" > wrote in message
...
>I own an 2007 Saturn Aura XR with about 59,000 miles. I've had the
> car since July of last year and so far I've put on about 23,000
> miles. I drive on average of about 950 miles per week. I've only had
> the oil changed twice in the nearly 6 months that I've owned it. Both
> times that I've had it changed I've waited until the "oil life"
> reading on the DIC had decremented itself down to 0%. Today, when I
> was in for my most recent oil change, the oil change tech scolded me
> for not bringing in the car sooner. I specified that it had been
> nearly 11,000 miles since my last change but that the oil life reading
> had only very recently went all the way down to 0%. He told me that I
> can't use that as an indicator as to when the oil should be changed if
> I'm using standard oil. He said that I'd need to be using a premium
> type oil in order to go that long without a change. I double checked
> my owners manual and reread the portion that talked about oil
> changes. As I expected, the manual said that the car uses the onboard
> computer to determine when the oil needs to be changed. As well, the
> manual didn't say anything at all about only using high grade
> synthetic oils. My question is this - if I'm using regular grade 10w
> - 30 oil should I "trust" the car and only get my oil changed when the
> life meter decrements itself all the way down to, or near, 0% (even if
> this means that 10 or 11 thousand miles have passed since my last
> change) or should I religiously change my oil every 3 months or 3,000
> miles as has been preached to us since time immeasurable. I think
> that the oil change tech was probably just regurgitating what he was
> told when he was hired - "tell everyone that has gone more then 3
> months or 3,000 miles since their last change that this is a bad
> practice and that it should be done every 3 months or 3,000
> regardless." Thanks for any help!