Oil Change Frequency

[Hallowed_point]

Haven't changed the oil in my 97 SS since October 2021. Used to be OCD about changing oil every 6 months or better, seems like a waste on a car that gets driven ~2000 km/season and garaged.

On the Acura, it works out to about every 10 months or so as I change it when maintenance nanny hits 5% life. It also drinks a fair bit of oil at 270,000 kms on the old J37 so that helps keep it decent with adding a liter or so every 2-3 months.

[Thaco]

i typically do mine all in the fall and/or spring, synthetic so i'm fine with 10k but usually dont get there anyway because i have too many vehicles for different purposes and WFH 90% of the time so no commute milage, so none of them get a lot of use.

[BokCh0y]

Yeah a little bit as I like to start the car one every one to two weeks and let it run to full operating temp but not physically drive. Then as soon as the season starts, I will drive the car for around 500km to burn off the old gas but also clean out whatever has been sitting all that time then I will take it for a change. Maybe put on 1k km cuz sometimes oil appointments are like 2+ weeks out.

[ThePenIsMightier]

Does anyone believe that oil filters coalesce water and they need to be changed as a result of that?

Let's take your large displacement diesel engines as an example. You've got 12-16L of synthetic oil in a massive engine that very very likely is never being used to its potential which also likely means that your oil is rarely heating up enough to boil the water out of it. Does that matter to your oil filters? Or, when you prematurely change your oil, is it likely that your filters are totally fine even though your relatively unused oil that had excessive water in it has fucked your filter and if you don't change it/them, they will not function correctly with your fresh oil?

I expect opinions and not answers. Because lubricant.

[vengie]

"the solution to pollution is dilution"

[ThePenIsMightier]

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"the solution to pollution is dilution"

Wrong thread.
Please report back to hot tubs draining tips.

[AndyL]

I keep trying to figure out motorcycle interval... Suzuki says 3600miles (6000km) with filter on 2nd oilchanges.

The only real attainable oil choice - because needs MA rating in a 15/40; is rotella T6 synthetic (has wet clutch CVT... throwing other oils at it is known to be bad for cvt). I've just been doing 6000km with filter (because 6$ filter; why wouldn't I?). But I'm already at 4000km this year, and the oil still looks clean in the sight tube. Maybe I should send a sample off to blackstone and see what they say...

The bike forums aren't helpful as always - You've got the factory service interval types, the every 2 years because synthetic types, the 3x a year types because it's cheap, the commuters, the highway crew and the weekend warriors and no way to differentiate what makes sense. (And clearly I'm already overthinking this because - it really is cheap enough to just do it on schedule)

[spike98]

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Maybe I should send a sample off to blackstone and see what they say...

If its under warranty, follow the manual. Else, see your comment above.

[pheoxs]

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I keep trying to figure out motorcycle interval... Suzuki says 3600miles (6000km) with filter on 2nd oilchanges.

The only real attainable oil choice - because needs MA rating in a 15/40; is rotella T6 synthetic (has wet clutch CVT... throwing other oils at it is known to be bad for cvt). I've just been doing 6000km with filter (because 6$ filter; why wouldn't I?). But I'm already at 4000km this year, and the oil still looks clean in the sight tube. Maybe I should send a sample off to blackstone and see what they say...

The bike forums aren't helpful as always - You've got the factory service interval types, the every 2 years because synthetic types, the 3x a year types because it's cheap, the commuters, the highway crew and the weekend warriors and no way to differentiate what makes sense. (And clearly I'm already overthinking this because - it really is cheap enough to just do it on schedule)

Bike I do once a year since I only get maybe 3k a year on mine. Every spring I change it before it gets taken out. I don't really see the point in changing the oil just for it to sit then change it again.

[ercchry]

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Does anyone believe that oil filters coalesce water and they need to be changed as a result of that?

Let's take your large displacement diesel engines as an example. You've got 12-16L of synthetic oil in a massive engine that very very likely is never being used to its potential which also likely means that your oil is rarely heating up enough to boil the water out of it. Does that matter to your oil filters? Or, when you prematurely change your oil, is it likely that your filters are totally fine even though your relatively unused oil that had excessive water in it has fucked your filter and if you don't change it/them, they will not function correctly with your fresh oil?

I expect opinions and not answers. Because lubricant.

The trick to longevity is to ingest the water via the intake manifold… preferably water filled with sediment, this in turn scores the internals of the engine increasing the amount of oil burned during combustion. To offset this burned oil you must top up the engine with fresh oil… just like a hot tub with a leak this ensures that there is enough new volume added that a full “change” of liquid is never needed. /lifehack

[ExtraSlow]

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Does anyone believe that oil filters coalesce water and they need to be changed as a result of that?

Let's take your large displacement diesel engines as an example. You've got 12-16L of synthetic oil in a massive engine that very very likely is never being used to its potential which also likely means that your oil is rarely heating up enough to boil the water out of it. Does that matter to your oil filters? Or, when you prematurely change your oil, is it likely that your filters are totally fine even though your relatively unused oil that had excessive water in it has fucked your filter and if you don't change it/them, they will not function correctly with your fresh oil?

I expect opinions and not answers. Because lubricant.

Back to this, it's my opinion that in a car, on longer trips (over 43.1 minutes) the engine oils DOES get warm enough to boil off most of the water.

Its also my opinion that starting the engine of any vehicle when its in storage is idiotic.

[Darell_n]

A daily driven vehicle should be inspected twice a year at least, regardless the oil change interval. Longer intervals is just gonna lead to less road worthy vehicles around you. (Continuing on my assumption that I can count on both hands the number of guys that do their own work here)

[ThePenIsMightier]

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Back to this, it's my opinion that in a car, on longer trips (over 43.1 minutes) the engine oils DOES get warm enough to boil off most of the water.

Its also my opinion that starting the engine of any vehicle when its in storage is idiotic.

Agree. But I bet an Aventador driven from East Calgary to Bragg Creek doesn't heat its 12+L of oil enough to boil the water, even if the owner doesn't sit somewhere for 3hr eating pie.
So if it has increased oil change frequency to account for that, why would you ever need to change the filters when they've never had a chance to filter any dirty oil?
Unless water coalesces in oil filters...

[Twin_Cam_Turbo]

BMW things

[ExtraSlow]

I don't know what an aventedar is or why it needs twice as much oil as my pickup but I also don't care. Doesn't sound like a situation I need to concern myself with.

[brucebanner]

Typically 10-15k or when the maintenance minder tells me. So once a year.

Summer car gets changed when it's taken out for the season.

[Flexray]

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A daily driven vehicle should be inspected twice a year at least, regardless the oil change interval. Longer intervals is just gonna lead to less road worthy vehicles around you. (Continuing on my assumption that I can count on both hands the number of guys that do their own work here)

I totally agree with this. Back in the day of 5000km oil changes, the vehicle would get an inspection regularly. Worn out parts, leaks, broken things, and maintenance would all be caught fairly quickly and repaired. With extended oil change intervals, the same things wear out and break but only gets inspected every year or two. Then the owner of the vehicle has a meltdown when they find out their car needs a pile of work.

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Agree. But I bet an Aventador driven from East Calgary to Bragg Creek doesn't heat its 12+L of oil enough to boil the water, even if the owner doesn't sit somewhere for 3hr eating pie.
So if it has increased oil change frequency to account for that, why would you ever need to change the filters when they've never had a chance to filter any dirty oil?
Unless water coalesces in oil filters...

I wasn't going to bite on this, but.
My opinion is, there is not a whole lot of naturally occurring water in the engine oil. So this is basically a non-problem.
Engine oil filters filter down to about 30 microns, water is going to pass right through the filter.
Modern day vehicles have multiple cooling systems, with multiple thermostats, and multiple warm up strategies. The goal is to warm up the engine as fast as possible and maintain its temperature.

With extended oil change intervals, I have seen a lot more worn out timing chains. The oil degrades, the links and pins on the chain wear. The chain grows in size because of this, the cams and crank will fall out of sync. Causing rough running and cam/crank correlation codes.

I change my oil at 8000km, with oil that has specification approval.

This is all my opinion, and should not be taken as an answer by any means.

[killramos]

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I don't know what an aventedar is or why it needs twice as much oil as my pickup but I also don't care. Doesn't sound like a situation I need to concern myself with.

Something something twice the displacement.

I mostly view oil changes as cheap and quick insurance.

People put way more thought into the situation that it deserves.

I’d rather people dedicate their thought to their bald tires or broken headlights.

[ThePenIsMightier]

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...
I wasn't going to bite on this, but.
My opinion is, there is not a whole lot of naturally occurring water in the engine oil. So this is basically a non-problem.
Engine oil filters filter down to about 30 microns, water is going to pass right through the filter.
Modern day vehicles have multiple cooling systems, with multiple thermostats, and multiple warm up strategies. The goal is to warm up the engine as fast as possible and maintain its temperature.

I change my oil at 8000km, with oil that has specification approval.

This is all my opinion, and should not be taken as an answer by any means.

Right, but that's not likely the case with large displacement, extremely powerful engines that take a dozen liters of oil. They are designed to tolerate pulling a massive trailer up a mountain on a 40°C day or a few hours at >240km/hr. But, 99% of the time they are really only driven to hockey arenas or Glencoe Golf Club so I believe the water gathers and never gets a chance to flash off. This can be mitigated with more frequent oil changes, but, why change the filters with the same frequency? Maybe they get gummed up with sludge from wetter oil?? That's the part I'm less confident on.

[saiyajin]

I waited for my maintenance minder which is when it hits 15% for it to come up and that didn't come on until my car hit 15xxxkm. It was surprising but I guess most newer cars now can go longer between oil changes