Do you need an oil change once a year?

05-18-2023, 09:05 AM

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#1

Bigbuster1
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Do you need an oil change once a year?

Only been 5k miles since my last oil change but I heard you should change it once a year regardless.

What does the misc say

05-18-2023, 09:08 AM

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#2

CellyTech
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I change every 6k miles.

You could do 50,000 miles in a year or you could do 1000 miles in a year. Time is not relevant. Milage is.

05-18-2023, 09:09 AM

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#3

Ironmanlet
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I used to do it around 3K, but 5K is about where I am now.

I would not worry about the time exclusively. Normally people put around 10K miles/year on a car. I usually don't meet that, but I do go over five so it is about once a year or so.

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05-18-2023, 09:10 AM

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#4

cobhc
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If you have a direct injected engine, you should be doing it every 5k miles anyway.

If you have a port injected engine, you can do it every 10k on a daily non-sporty driver.

But yeah, you should change your oil annually regardless if you care about the car.

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05-18-2023, 09:11 AM

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#5

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Originally Posted By CellyTech⏩

I change every 6k miles.

You could do 50,000 miles in a year or you could do 1000 miles in a year. Time is not relevant. Milage is.

Time is relevant for oil. Condensation slowly dilutes the oil, and time allows more pollutants from combustion and blowby to develop into acids which degrade the oil.

Oil has a shelf life even when still bottled.

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05-18-2023, 09:14 AM

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#6

Bigbuster1
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Originally Posted By Ironmanlet⏩

I used to do it around 3K, but 5K is about where I am now.

I would not worry about the time exclusively. Normally people put around 10K miles/year on a car. I usually don't meet that, but I do go over five so it is about once a year or so.

I was thinking of holding until 10k. I think that’s what’s recommended. But a friend of mine said time does matter and to just get in the habit of changing once a year

05-18-2023, 09:16 AM

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#7

Ironmanlet
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Originally Posted By Bigbuster1⏩

I was thinking of holding until 10k. I think that’s what’s recommended. But a friend of mine said time does matter and to just get in the habit of changing once a year

That aligns with the average miles/year we drive. Might as well.

Won't hurt anything to be early. I wouldn't go past that. But I am a pussy when it comes to stuff like that.

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05-18-2023, 09:18 AM

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#8

87dman
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I change mine every 5k miles which typically ends up every 7-8 months just depending on how much I drive

05-18-2023, 09:18 AM

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#9

EnderG60
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My rule of thumb is 5k or once a year.

Oil absorbs water and other crap over time so even if its not driven you should still change it out. But this is usually only a problem if the car sits for LONG periods.

05-18-2023, 09:19 AM

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#10

CellyTech
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Originally Posted By Jacobcapra⏩

Time is relevant for oil. Condensation slowly dilutes the oil, and time allows more pollutants from combustion and blowby to develop into acids which degrade the oil.

Oil has a shelf life even when still bottled.

Well yes ofcourse, but brah is talking about changing between 5k and 1 year.. after 1 year oil is not past its use by date. Hence why I said its not relevant.

05-18-2023, 09:23 AM

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#11

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I do mine every month on my work van

I use the old oil to kill weeds in my gravel driveway

05-18-2023, 09:28 AM

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#12

cobhc
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Originally Posted By elterrible987⏩

I waited 2 years once which is not ideal. Nothing bad happened and the oil flowed out nicely, wasnt a sludge or anything like those videos. Only had maybe 4-7K miles in that time.

It won't turn into sludge but overtime all of the additives that protect your engine are completely diluted/destroyed/gone.

Sludge is a huge issue.

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05-18-2023, 09:33 AM

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#13

Robmnrd
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Originally Posted By Jacobcapra⏩

Time is relevant for oil. Condensation slowly dilutes the oil, and time allows more pollutants from combustion and blowby to develop into acids which degrade the oil.

Oil has a shelf life even when still bottled.

Originally Posted By EnderG60⏩

Oil absorbs water and other crap over time so even if its not driven you should still change it out. But this is usually only a problem if the car sits for LONG periods.

These are fairly accurate answers.

There are a lot of variables, OP. It's too hard to put an exact number on the amount of time a car can go between oil changes without detriment, but those that are saying that time is irrelevant are incorrect.

Whether that amount of time is 6 months, a year, 2 years.... can't really say. But don't ignore the passing of time as a variable when deciding when to change your oil.

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05-18-2023, 09:44 AM

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#14

cobhc
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Originally Posted By elterrible987⏩

Yeah I dont like that I waited 2 years on a newer car. Oil change is only maybe 50-60 dollars in material. Much cheaper than a new engine. I would worry about damage that you cant see. I dont think any damage happened in 2 years but I wouldnt do it again. Also think 1 year is fine these days with modern oils and 3-6 month interval changes for normal use is a waste of money.

It's not a big deal unless it's a high performance engine. High temperature operation tends to chew up the oil - whether it's hot valves cooking oil in a DI engine or additives getting cooked.

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05-18-2023, 09:47 AM

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#15

bsmit107
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I work from home, have to drive to jobsites 2x/month and maybe put 5-7k miles a year on my truck......I change the oil every 5-6 months so like 2x year.

Why not....it takes me about 40 minutes to do and cost like $70.

Ill also change the wipers, blow out the air filter, wipe out the throttle body, top off the wiper fluid, check the coolant and test the battery.