4 years on oil but only 2500 miles - change it?

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This is in my Jaguar S-Type 3.0 V6 with 96K on the ODO. The car sat in a garage for almost 2 years. I began driving it again but put very few miles on it. Only 2500 miles since the last oil change (Oct 2010). This car has 6qt oil fill and does not consume any oil. The oil is a synth blend. Upon inspection the oil appears clean, like maple syrup. Engine runs smoothly.

I'm wondering whether there is any reason to change the oil now. Typically I don't change oil until it has at least 4-5K miles on it. On my other car I've been doing 8K intervals with full synthetic.

So change the oil now or wait another 3 years to get to 5K?
 
Change it every two years in your case. Spend the $25. The oil might be fine but the element in the oil filter could be deteriorating.
 
Originally Posted By: barkingspider
Drive the car more often


This. But I agree about 3 years is the time I would change with very infrequent driving.
 
Without a doubt, change the oil!

That said, save some and send it in for an analysis.. The information you get back from that could prove very useful here. I know I for one would be interested to know how oil that has sat dormant that long has changed.
 
I usually change my oil every 4 years on stuff I don't drive much, they have M1 in them. I doubt another year would hurt it though. Another buddy who uses M1 had 8 year old oil in his Lincoln and it was fine. He finally got around to changing it and put in SuperTech synthetic. It might be another 8 years before it gets changed again. In general, people change oil way too often in low use vehicles. But they "sleep well at night". So do I.
 
Originally Posted By: bigt61
I usually change my oil every 4 years on stuff I don't drive much, they have M1 in them. I doubt another year would hurt it though. Another buddy who uses M1 had 8 year old oil in his Lincoln and it was fine. He finally got around to changing it and put in SuperTech synthetic. It might be another 8 years before it gets changed again. In general, people change oil way too often in low use vehicles. But they "sleep well at night". So do I.


Question, how would you know it's fine? Problems that occur from too infrequent oil changes are hard to notice on a regularly driven car and would be exponentially harder to notice on a vehicle that sits mostly in a garage. Wear, oil consumption, loss of compression, sludge all take quite a long time to develop and even longer to affect engine operation.
In those cases, a UOA would truly be useful in determining a baseline for oil condition.
 
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Thanks everyone for your insights. Sounds like even the bravest here (bigt61) don't go past 4 years on oil . I will change the oil when it hits 3000 miles later this summer although the oil still appears to be very clean.

I still have a big stash of motor oil from the crazy rebate deals (2008-2011) - 5 jugs of G-Oil, 5 jugs of synthetic (QSUD, SynPower) and ~30 quarts of various dino oil.
 
Keep it in there. With the little amount of miles you put on this Jag, you'll have to worry about rust and other factors before the engine [censored] on you.
 
Originally Posted By: deven
Keep it in there. With the little amount of miles you put on this Jag, you'll have to worry about rust and other factors before the engine **** on you.

No rust to speak of but I did have to drop the transmission to change the clutch release bearing/slave cylinder assembly last month:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3IyO_0jlWY

Other than that the car has been surprisingly reliable, knock on wood
grin.gif
 
I would suggest draining the oil into a clean catch pan, taking the old filter off and putting a new one on, and then use the same old oil. I would think the oil would be fine. It's the filter I'd worry about.

Or, as suggested, you could get a UOA and post it here for all of us to see!
 
Originally Posted By: MetalSlug
yes, I change my mustang every 6 month even its not driving.


That is a complete waste. Get a UOA, and you will see...
 
Would be real interested in seeing a UOA for an oil that sat like this.

I recently changed oil since it had hit a year, but with low mileage (short trips mainly though). I should have probably sent mine off.
 
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Originally Posted By: Triton_330
I would suggest draining the oil into a clean catch pan, taking the old filter off and putting a new one on, and then use the same old oil.


Think about what you just wrote. Seriously.
 
I would take it out for a nice long (>25miles) highway drive and forget it. If you need to validate, not to change, then have a UOA done.
 
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