That's what I do.
Any reason to run an engine after a oil change?
- Thread starter GON
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I would do it as SOP. I always look at processes like they are controlled. Final check of an oil change is to inspect.
We've all done more than 1,000's of oil changes here, but it's still possible to overlook something. Why not discover it immediately rather than down the road.
Great picture with pretty good depth of field. Did you take that with a cell phone? If so which one.
Bottle has the dexos logo in the lower RH corner.And I always thought AP was DECOS certified
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Why would you change oil & filter & not start it to fill filter & circulate the oil.
That first start after sitting for months will be a dry start.
I agree that starting briefly even for a couple minutes is not good particularly for the exahust system where moisture will condense & corrode it.
When I prep for storage wether I change oil or not I drive it to throughly warm it up & dry the exhaust system then shut it down & I don’t start it until I’m ready to put it into service.
90cummins
That first start after sitting for months will be a dry start.
I agree that starting briefly even for a couple minutes is not good particularly for the exahust system where moisture will condense & corrode it.
When I prep for storage wether I change oil or not I drive it to throughly warm it up & dry the exhaust system then shut it down & I don’t start it until I’m ready to put it into service.
90cummins
GON
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Please help me better understand. Eight liters of oil was extracted from the oil pan. Eight liters oil was refilled through the oil fill opening.
How is a "dry" start after months of sitting any difference is I did or did not start the engine after an oil change?
I poured it in a gas tank in a vehicle that sat for 7 months. But I would agree two years seems longer then it would be effective for.
There is no real advantage to not starting it.
There are some advantages to starting it: pump prime, leak check, fresh oil circulation, etc.
Its your truck and your choice. Overthinking things rarely if ever pays off. Crank and run it for a minute or two, check it all out, rest easy.
There are some advantages to starting it: pump prime, leak check, fresh oil circulation, etc.
Its your truck and your choice. Overthinking things rarely if ever pays off. Crank and run it for a minute or two, check it all out, rest easy.
Winner winner chicken dinner.
What's the reason not to start the engine after an oil change?
Regarding a few tens of milliliters of fuel lost: you can replenish the lost fuel. After 2 years of storage all the fuel in the tank will be unusable anyway. You'll need to drain it all and replace with fresh fuel unless you want detonation to destroy your engine.
Also, I don't see a point in doing an oil change before storing the car. You'll put in fresh oil which will surely oxidise and degrade sitting 2 years in the sump. I'd just drain the old oil out and leave it dry. If you have memory problems, then pull out starter relay fuse and put a warning sticker on steering wheel "do not start - no oil". Onc eyou decide to take the car out of storage, put fresh oil in and motor on.
As for gasoline, I'd use nothing but 98 octane gas WITHOUT ETHANOL for storage. Fuel with ethanol will cause harm to your fuel system components which will be much higher that hypothetical damage from starting the engine and letting it run for 20 seconds.
Regarding a few tens of milliliters of fuel lost: you can replenish the lost fuel. After 2 years of storage all the fuel in the tank will be unusable anyway. You'll need to drain it all and replace with fresh fuel unless you want detonation to destroy your engine.
Also, I don't see a point in doing an oil change before storing the car. You'll put in fresh oil which will surely oxidise and degrade sitting 2 years in the sump. I'd just drain the old oil out and leave it dry. If you have memory problems, then pull out starter relay fuse and put a warning sticker on steering wheel "do not start - no oil". Onc eyou decide to take the car out of storage, put fresh oil in and motor on.
As for gasoline, I'd use nothing but 98 octane gas WITHOUT ETHANOL for storage. Fuel with ethanol will cause harm to your fuel system components which will be much higher that hypothetical damage from starting the engine and letting it run for 20 seconds.
Doubt that. There have been guys here with vehicles that don't drive them much each year (like 750 miles or less per year), and have gone 3-4 years between oil changes. Sent in a sample and the UOA comes back fine. It's most important to get the oil nice and hot when it's driven. Lots of short trips or short run cycles without getting the oil to full operating temperature will cause lots of cumbustion condensation and fuel contamination. You don't want oil like that staying in the engine long term.
It's not rare to see some additive fallout on a used oil container. I checked date of manufacture and they all were bottled within 1-2 years. Yet some additive fallout occurs (especially on cheaper oils). I think oil needs some circulation to prevent that. So even low mileage as 750 miles per 4 years helps this versus 2 years of just sitting still in the oil pan. That's one thing.
Another thing, I'm a bit sceptical about all those VOAs/UOAs being able to reveal 'the truth' about oil's life, composition and performance. Of course, some aspects are inargueable but... Let's UOA shows just Zinc and Phosporus. In report they are shown as 2 elements (Zn, P) but in reality it's complex long-chained molecules. Can you (or the lab) guarantee that those Zn/P molecules are the same length/composition as they are intended to be? I don't think so. But... Even if the oil has been sitting, has oxidised, Zinc and Phosphorus won't evaporate from it, thus it still appears in lab report. I think you get my idea.
Fuel, condensation and oil life degradation due to short tripping/frequent engine (re)starts. Well, my daily trip is 6 km one way. Sometimes even shorter if I need to drive to a shop which is less than 1 km away. Me and hundreds of thousands of other people don't think and actually don't care about that. They just need the car serve to them, not them serving the car.
My TDI has been short-tripped it's entire life (12 years of my ownership). Engine is still good, no turbo shaft play, no noticeable oil consumption. However, the car is almost done due to body rust. I wouldn't overthing about that moisture/fuel dillution too much.
Another thing, I'm a bit sceptical about all those VOAs/UOAs being able to reveal 'the truth' about oil's life, composition and performance. Of course, some aspects are inargueable but... Let's UOA shows just Zinc and Phosporus. In report they are shown as 2 elements (Zn, P) but in reality it's complex long-chained molecules. Can you (or the lab) guarantee that those Zn/P molecules are the same length/composition as they are intended to be? I don't think so. But... Even if the oil has been sitting, has oxidised, Zinc and Phosphorus won't evaporate from it, thus it still appears in lab report. I think you get my idea.
Fuel, condensation and oil life degradation due to short tripping/frequent engine (re)starts. Well, my daily trip is 6 km one way. Sometimes even shorter if I need to drive to a shop which is less than 1 km away. Me and hundreds of thousands of other people don't think and actually don't care about that. They just need the car serve to them, not them serving the car.
My TDI has been short-tripped it's entire life (12 years of my ownership). Engine is still good, no turbo shaft play, no noticeable oil consumption. However, the car is almost done due to body rust. I wouldn't overthing about that moisture/fuel dillution too much.
By good do you mean usable or good as in not harmful to the engine? I've had gas cans with Stabil and years old gas (like 3 years old) that I use in lawn equipment and they run with it. It's probably not good for them but they run fine. It's also 10% ethanol gas in a high humidity climate.
I would *absolutely* start it, drive it once and fully up to operating temperature, and then store it. If you don't, you're leaving all the old, potentially acid-contaminated oil trapped in the bearing spaces and giving them months of time to etch. That's less of an issue now with low-sulfur fuels and especially if you always get the oil hot before shutting off, but acids still form in oil. Fresh oil in the bearing clearance spaces sure doesn't *hurt* anything, and even if you burn 2 gallons of fuel off, so what? That's very little proportional added air space trapped over the fuel... and you also pull your stabilized fuel through the entire system. One other thing... if you store it without running it after an oil change, You're leaving an air space in the filter and pickup tube that gives space for oil to drain back more out of the galleys, and will further delay full oil pressure when you DO re-start.
Honestly, I don't think you'll measurably change the life of the engine one way or the other... but we are all about splitting fine hairs on here.
And how often do you change the oil? Short trips in about every OM equates to the severe service maintenance schedule, which means relatively short OCIs.
When I had a full time job + other activities I was changing it every 15'000 km and it accumulated that mileage in 10-11 months.
However, now I don't have a full time job and much less activities which require a car so I change the oil every 1.5 years. Mileage on oil is low (less than 8'000 km usually; average car speed is 36 km/h per OCI).
Car has 190k km on the clock now.
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