Jump to content
Create New...

Oil changes


Recommended Posts

How much does the TIME between oil changes matter? Its been about 4 months since my last oil change, but I've put less than 2000 miles on the car since then. I plan on getting it changed this week, but I was just curious how much of a factor time was in the life of oil if the miles are low and not very hard.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For a car that accumulates VERY low miles in a year (less than the amount normally recommended until your next change), the rule of thumb is change it every 12 months anyway. I believe this is supposedly because combustion develops acids in the oil that are detrimental over longer periods of time. If the car goes zero miles in a year, the oil probably can sit in there indefinately.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For a car that accumulates VERY low miles in a year (less than the amount normally recommended until your next change), the rule of thumb is change it every 12 months anyway. I believe this is supposedly because combustion develops acids in the oil that are detrimental over longer periods of time. If the car goes zero miles in a year, the oil probably can sit in there indefinately.

Cool, thanks. I doubt I'll go a year between changes, but I just wanted to make sure waiting 4-5 months wasn't going to cause any serious problems.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For a car that accumulates VERY low miles in a year (less than the amount normally recommended until your next change), the rule of thumb is change it every 12 months anyway. I believe this is supposedly because combustion develops acids in the oil that are detrimental over longer periods of time. If the car goes zero miles in a year, the oil probably can sit in there indefinately.

the last part... depending on what kind of car it is i bet the gas sitting in the tank would be worse to use in the engine than the oil. hehe.

personal habits make me change mine every 4 months, at least, unless i somehow drive a whole lot more in 3 months than i do now, or obviously the oil is bad looking.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yup- gas goes bad very fast. You are supposed to use fuel stabalizer if the vehicle is going to sit (I believe) 6 months. I bought a car that had sat 15 years; the gas had.... solidified into an inch-thick layer of cracked crustiness. I had it boiled out, used a length of chain, tried coating it- could not get it to stop oozing Slurpee mix into my fuel filter. Ultimately had to find another tank.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, true.

But as crazy as it sounds my Super 88 started and drove on

the 23 year old gas in the tank, not well but it did run & drive.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



×
×
  • Create New...

Hey there, we noticed you're using an ad-blocker. We're a small site that is supported by ads or subscriptions. We rely on these to pay for server costs and vehicle reviews.  Please consider whitelisting us in your ad-blocker, or if you really like what you see, you can pick up one of our subscriptions for just $1.75 a month or $15 a year. It may not seem like a lot, but it goes a long way to help support real, honest content, that isn't generated by an AI bot.

See you out there.

Drew
Editor-in-Chief

Write what you are looking for and press enter or click the search icon to begin your search

Change privacy settings