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I use synthetic oil and I only drive my car about 3k-5k miles per year. It has now been a year since my last oil change as I've only driven about 3k miles and I know with synthetic you can drive up to 10k miles before needing an oil change. Does it matter that the same oil has been in my car for a year? Does synthetic oil "expire"?
Most people will probably still recommend changing it once a year, even with synthetic. Then someone will claim that is stupid and they got X years and Y miles out of Z car doing it differently. When it comes down to it, who is paying for the engine work, you or the internet? I thin I'd change the oil twice a year if it were me.
Most people will probably still recommend changing it once a year, even with synthetic. Then someone will claim that is stupid and they got X years and Y miles out of Z car doing it differently. When it comes down to it, who is paying for the engine work, you or the internet? I thin I'd change the oil twice a year if it were me.
But you have not one objective reason for changing the oil twice a year when the vehicle is driven 4K per year. Your reason is no better than the "that's the way my dad taught me" reason so many use.
For the OP - I would refer to the owners manual. It might say once per x miles or once per year regardless of miles.
I suspect an engineer would know the oil has not broken down over that period with so few miles. The engineer would also know that the oil is probably not "dirty" either.
I would change the oil at least once per year, regardless of the miles. If you are worried about cost, given that you drive very few miles, you might think about going to a less costly synthetic oil blend.
Especially when you drive only a few miles, the engine never really gets warm/hot enough to burn off the contaminants created when the fuel burns. These contaminants collect in the motor oil, and sit in the engine/oil pan, while the car is parked. They have a negative effect (think corrosion) on the parts with which they come in contact.
Changing the oil drains these contaminants out of the engine. Think about it like dirty dish water: the soap is still in there, but it is less effective, and there is a lot of gross stuff floating around the sink after you have done a load of dishes. The same holds true for your cars motor oil, especially when it does not get used frequently, or the trips are of short duration.
Yes, you will get all sorts of opinions. I am just giving you mine. My SO drives her car sparingly. We change the oil once per year regardless of how few miles she travels. Car is eight years old with no issues.
But you have not one objective reason for changing the oil twice a year when the vehicle is driven 4K per year. Your reason is no better than the "that's the way my dad taught me" reason so many use.
For the OP - I would refer to the owners manual. It might say once per x miles or once per year regardless of miles.
I suspect an engineer would know the oil has not broken down over that period with so few miles. The engineer would also know that the oil is probably not "dirty" either.
In my dad's day they changed it every 3000 miles or every 3 mos and used conventional oil, so no, that's not what this is about. However, if he wants to perform an analysis on his own car and oil he is the only one who can answer is question - not you - unless you are going to go there and cut open his oil filter after he is done.
I know with synthetic you can drive up to 10k miles before needing an oil change.
You're wrong on that part. Depending on the engine and its design determines the oil change interval, not the basestock used in the oil formulation. If those few miles are put on the engine with short trips, you need to quit with the synthetic and change at every 2000 miles. The issue is the condensation that forms from a cold startup engine. The water produced is cooked off via the PCV system but if you don't run it long enough, it forms sludge. If the engine is running about 20 minutes AT full operational temps, then the water/sludge is not going to be an issue.
Couple of things about the oils we buy. It generally has a shelf life of about 8 years. I've run numerous samples thru spectroscopy that were fine and the oil cans are from the 1950's but that doesn't mean it's still useable. The add pack may drop out of the formulation from just being weak and engine damage occur. Any oil in a modern engine is about the same in regards to life. It's a lot longer than most want to say. The part that breaks the oil down is free oxygen. Considering our engines are well sealed these days and there is no free oxygen in the crankcase, life is more determined by miles than time with the exception of how the engine is being used, like the short trips. Another misconception is that synthetic is something magical, it's not. There is no more lubricity in a synthetic and it won't add one mile to the life of your engine. ALL API motor oils are tested at 304F for 8 hours. That's a lot longer than your engine will last at those temps that would allow the oil to get that hot. If the oil you generally use has the Ford certification on it, the test is run for 16 hours and any high heat deposits are half that of API. Synthetic based motor oils only bring stability to the game, nothing else. Years back we had the PAO based oil but those are gone due to to them being far too expensive to use as a throw away motor oil. Almost all motor oils these days are made from crude oil. The process is referred to as Severely Hydrocracked and most use the Chevron process called ISO/SYN. That would be a liquid AND a gas to liquid technology. The newer gas to liquid oils that you'll see from Pennzoil are very similar in that it produces a GP III base oil, unlike the Gp IV PAOs. The synthetic based oils have issues just like any other base oil. They do not support the additive package so a binder of some kind is used. Most do not stick to the parts due to polarity issues so a tackifier is used to keep it on the parts. But all of these extra additives to make it work can and do fail. Dry startups are common with a synthetic as the oil runs off of the parts. It's not an issue for an engine that just sits overnight but an engine that sees startup once or twice a week is experiencing accelerated wear from it if using a synthetic. Regardless of the motor oil used, refer to the owners manual, buy the recommended API motor oil, change it under the OCI schedule for your usage and enjoy the ride. In the case of the OP, his would fall under severe duty usage.
I would change the oil at least once per year, regardless of the miles.
Especially when you drive only a few miles, the engine never really gets warm/hot enough to burn off the contaminants created when the fuel burns. These contaminants collect in the motor oil, and sit in the engine/oil pan, while the car is parked. They have a negative effect (think corrosion) on the parts with which they come in contact.
Changing the oil drains these contaminants out of the engine.
That's what I've read on numerous forums and other articles. That's what I've come to accept.
OP,
You'll see that a lot of oil companies will give a mileage or time indicator to change with the caveat: whichever comes sooner.
Oil changes are cheap, problems with contaminants and moisture building up in the oil can cause to really expensive problems.
my amsoil says 10,000 miles or 1 year. what brand oil are you using ? some synthetics clearly state only 6 months .. read the label, the small print on the side.
I personally won't go 10K on oil but of course you can. Synthetic does make oil last longer .The oil does not wearout ;its contaminated and additives wear out. The main advantage of synthetic is its resistance to jelling under high heat. The additives are most a detergent to keep the parts and passage ways clean.
I use synthetic oil and I only drive my car about 3k-5k miles per year. It has now been a year since my last oil change as I've only driven about 3k miles and I know with synthetic you can drive up to 10k miles before needing an oil change. Does it matter that the same oil has been in my car for a year? Does synthetic oil "expire"?
On the unlikely case it actually matters in the details, obtain an Amsoil or similar oil-analysis kit and run your own experiments to find out the best answer for your particular use-case. That is the only answer that even remotely makes sense, moving from the realm of "opinion" to "facts." Given the kits are roughly $35 postage-paid, I assume odds of most people actually doing this are pretty low. Just saying, though.
Exception to the rule: we tested oil on race bikes (motorcycles) in the 1990s, as in "a lot." Knowing when an engine or transmission was about to dynamite itself actually mattered, given we were pushing machinery right to the edge and sometimes beyond. The testing was part of our budget.
In contrast, it seldom matters in that level of detail for passenger cars. I've a few run oil analysis kits on my 911 Turbo out of curiosity, and not very often, to see if expensive parts were slowly self-destructing (did not appear to be). Otherwise, I'm sticking to a certain interval approved by people who actually know what they are talking about (speed shop who race 911s in Seattle metro). The mileage interval is both irrelevant for others and specific to my use scenario, as is both the type and weight of (full-synth) oil.
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