How often should you change your oil if little or no miles put on car?

1998GT · 02-09-2003

You know how like if you took you car to get an oil change, they put that sticker up in the top left corner? It says a date and milege...Well my question is, is it bad if you leave the oil in there for a long period time? Its only been like 2000 miles since last oil change but its been a long time. Its driven every once and a while but i was just wondering if i should get the oil changed or not...Thanks

bloodyshin · 02-10-2003

The oil in your engine will break down regardless of the mileage. Thats why owners manual always says change oil at certain miles and months which ever comes first.

ChronSmoke · 02-10-2003

You are recommed to change your oil every 3000 miles but,if you
want to keep your engine cleaner and with least deposit's
in your Cylinder wall's I would get a oil change every 1000-2000
miles on be safe and keep better running pistons and rods plus
will prolong the live of your rings of course.As far as oil selection
go's I would use synthetic oil because they WILL protect your
Modular 4.6 better that regular oils because you have less wear
and tear useing synthetic oil's on your engine.Valvoline synthetic
and Castrol synthetic are great to use in your 98 GT Luke.I
change my own oil because I simply do a better job than anyone
that can do it for me of course! A good oil filter will prolong the
live of your engine too belive me or not there is a difference between
cheap oil's and oil filter's compared to quality oil's and fitler's!

milw96cobra · 02-10-2003

Unless you run synthetic oil,

Synthetic oil will not break down.

Mana4Real · 02-10-2003

I change my oil every 3000-3500 miles with mobil 1 synthetic or royal purple synthetic with a K&N oil filter. Whatever oil is more readily avalible at the time I use to change my oil.

BlueStreak03 · 02-12-2003

Castrol synthetic and mobil 1 filter for me. I've put a total of 100,000+ miles on this combination in several vehicles and not a single oil related problem so far.

4.6Liter · 02-12-2003

Go with Amsoil. You only have to change the filter @ 12k miles and the oil @ 24k miles. Performance is much better than other synthetics also. I could tell a big difference when I switched from Mobile 1 to Amsoil. DON'T FEAR THE OIL

stang2_3 · 02-18-2003

You need to change the oil according to the manufacturers date specs as well as the mileage specs. the blow by gasses from the combustion chamber cause acids to develop, or whatever and that is not good for your engine even if you don't drive it much.

Twister · 02-18-2003

no mater what, change your oil at least once a year

Glen · 02-23-2003

I am a big fan of Mobil 1! I'm not saying it is the best, because I have never used any other. I just know that I pulled engines apart with little to no wear when using it. And it seems to keep things cool, plus it adds a few ponys and better cooling. This may be the same with other full synthetics, but I can only say from my experience.

The common wisdom seems to be that you can let synthetic go for up to 10K plus miles. But I don't feel comfortable doing that. I change mine every 6K miles (ok, maybe 7K because I get lazy), but I DO change my Oil Filter every 3-4K miles. The Oil Filter is really the key.

One of my mustangs that sits in the garage and gets driven only about 600-700 miles per month. This car I DON'T use synthetic, because I change the oil every 90 days, rather then miles. And it's just to expensive to do that with Mobil 1. But if you have the money, go for it.

Oh, and the reason I have been changing my oil in the Mustang that sits in the garage, in 90 day intervals is my own schedule. It gets a lot of fuel in the oil. Most likely from being started cold so often and many short trips, with stop and go traffic. could be a leaky injector, but either way, it ain't good for lubrication.

Glen

Emery · 02-24-2003

Quote:

Originally posted by Glen

The common wisdom seems to be that you can let synthetic go for up to 10K plus miles. But I don't feel comfortable doing that.
Glen

Yes Glen.......the common "wisdom"

BUT THE FACTS REMAIN. AMSOIL is formulated for 25,000 to 35,000 miles in gasoline applications and 200,000 to 400,000 miles in diesel applications. This is due to a superb AMERICAN engineered product with excellent FILTRATION.....the diesel filtration applications using a 1 micron filter (changed at 20k intervals)....hence removing all particles that contribute to engine wear.....just like you eluded to in your post.

Glen....why not get another 21000 miles out of your oil change by spending an extra $1.25/qt. Makes perfect sense to me. Try it and then make your decision..........Cant knock it till you try it!

Stang85 · 02-24-2003

Castrol GTX!

Blown95GT · 02-25-2003

I change my oil once a year. My reasoning is, I use Mobile 1, all my trips are over 25 miles, most are over 50 miles, and I only put on 4 to 6 thousand miles a year. I NEVER start the engine cold for just a few minutes and turn it off.

If I had low mileage because of many short trips I would change it much more often because the blow by into the oil would never get hot enough to burn off.

1998GT · 02-25-2003

I've heard that i should change synthetic everywhere from 3k miles to 20k miles...How often should i change it?? Not to early and not too late? THanks

~luke

JUSTNLX · 02-25-2003

Quote:

Originally posted by Glen
The common wisdom seems to be that you can let synthetic go for up to 10K plus miles. But I don't feel comfortable doing that. I change mine every 6K miles (ok, maybe 7K because I get lazy), but I DO change my Oil Filter every 3-4K miles. The Oil Filter is really the key. Glen

I'm with Glen on this one. I just started using synthetics with my dad's 88 Interceptor. I plan the 6k-oil change with the 3k-filter change. Every 3k oil change would be $$$$$ and unnecessary with synthetics