Do you really need to change oil annually, if driven only 1000 miles a year?

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wowthisexists

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How long can you stretch the interval if you barely drive the car?
Car gets driven to Max temp every time it's driven
Just curious. Can you go 5 years at 1k a year?
 
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The Nissan in my signature will have annual oil changes before it's put away for the winter, and I'll maybe put on about 2,000 miles. My ATV and jet ski gets an oil change in the fall before those are put away and they maybe only see about 30-40 hours of use.
 
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My answer would be yes meaning go longer than 1 year but some say no. Depends on your environment and if car is garaged or not too. Oil in sump should be relatively stable not like in a sealed container but I wouldn't change it unless I suspected water or some contamination.
 
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It seems like more and more automakers are recommending annual oil changes when owners don't drive enough miles to trigger the mileage interval that's wanted. No idea why though.... If the driving that is done is long enough to get the engine up to full operating temperature and stay there for a bit, I can't see how yearly is necessary.
 
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wowthisexists said:
How long can you stretch the interval if you barely drive the car?
Just curious. Can you go 5 years at 1k a year?
Click to expand...

I just asked nearly this exact question two weeks ago:

OCI/FCI of Many Years But With Low Miles

I have searched and found this topic discussed, but the time frames are usually much less (like a year or two) than I am considering (six years). I am recently retired and will be putting lower miles on several vehicles, so I'm looking to decrease the number of oil changes I do. I'll be putting...
bobistheoilguy.com

I got no clear answer to my inquiry, but not for any nefarious reasons-- I think that a firm answer is not really known.

I think the only way that one would be able to answer the question with confidence is if they started out with such a plan and then did regular UOA's to monitor the state of the oil over that long of a time period.

A similar "monitor over time" protocol would need to be implemented to see if the filter was also holding up for that long of an FCI.

I don't think anyone has done all that, so I don't think anyone is able to provide clear guidance as to the feasibility of such a plan.

However, I'll be monitoring this thread in case I'm wrong and someone does have the answer! :)
 
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After 5 years, I'd be more concerned about the oil filter than the oil. There have been examples of some filters rusting through in less than a year of driving in the rust belt. I'd wouldn't trust the oil filter gasket indefinitely either. Anything over 2-3 years seems high-risk, low-reward.

Hall said:
It seems like more and more automakers are recommending annual oil changes when owners don't drive enough miles to trigger the mileage interval that's wanted. No idea why though.... If the driving that is done is long enough to get the engine up to full operating temperature and stay there for a bit, I can't see how yearly is necessary.
Click to expand...
It's mainly because if a vehicle doesn't hit the mileage limit within 6-12 months, it could possibly be because it's short tripped with a cold engine most of the time, which is really hard on oil.

A car that drives 6k every 6 months is averaging 33 miles per day, which guarantees that the engine is getting up to temperature often. A car that drives 3k in 12 months is doing only 8 miles per day. With trips of a few miles, a few times per day, the engine might become a sludge factory.

Oil life monitors are great because can account for short-tripping and can reduce unnecessary oil changes. However, some of them still have a 12 month limit, which might just be to get cars to the dealership more often.
 
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Jim Rogers said:
I just asked nearly this exact question two weeks ago:

OCI/FCI of Many Years But With Low Miles

I have searched and found this topic discussed, but the time frames are usually much less (like a year or two) than I am considering (six years). I am recently retired and will be putting lower miles on several vehicles, so I'm looking to decrease the number of oil changes I do. I'll be putting...
bobistheoilguy.com

I got no clear answer to my inquiry, but not for any nefarious reasons-- I think that a firm answer is not really known.

I think the only way that one would be able to answer the question with confidence is if they started out with such a plan and then did regular UOA's to monitor the state of the oil over that long of a time period.

A similar "monitor over time" protocol would need to be implemented to see if the filter was also holding up for that long of an FCI.

I don't think anyone has done all that, so I don't think anyone is able to provide clear guidance as to the feasibility of such a plan.

However, I'll be monitoring this thread in case I'm wrong and someone does have the answer! :)
Click to expand...
There are likely fifty or more threads on this subject.
 
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Let's put it in perspective. Will that shorten the total mileage it can reach? Possibly but if you are only putting on sub-1K mi/yr then it is unlikely you will put on enough miles to notice a difference before it is destined to a junkyard for other reasons, unless you intend to turn this into a restored classic vehicle someday.

Suppose you terribly shorten the life and the result is it only has 20K mi left in it. At the current driving rate that is 20 years.
 
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I've been doing so for a few decades now. As long as you get the engine up to operating temperature for at least 20-30 minutes once a month or so you should be fine. I've gone over 2 years several times, IIRC the longest was a little over three years. No problems to report in fact the vehicle is still in service and running like a champ. This coming October will be two years since I last changed it and I logged about 900 miles so far.
 
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Jim Rogers said:
On 5-6 years intervals?

There are many threads on long intervals/low miles, but I didn't really find anything recent dealing specifically with that long an interval. Everything I saw dealt with 2-3 years.
Click to expand...
No I agree not on that specific question.

But the principle is the same, oil does not degrade or “become acidic” merely by sitting in the sump. It requires both the products of combustion and water to do that. And then only if the TBN has reached zero since there are buffers in the oil. It completely depends on the operation during that timeframe, multiple and numerous short trips (especially in cold weather) is vastly different to a few longer trips, even if the overall miles travelled is the same.
 
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kschachn said:
It completely depends on the operation during that timeframe, multiple and numerous short trips (especially in cold weather) is vastly different to a few longer trips, even if the overall miles travelled is the same.
Click to expand...

Unless I missed one, the responses (including yours) to virtually every thread on low mile/long time oil and filter change intervals have these things in common:

1) The question always revolves around a 2–3-year time frame.
2) The response is always "short trips make that plan problematic."
3) The responses rarely address the filter life part of the question, certainly not in a definitive way.

Both I and the OP here specifically mentioned that we do not short trip and always get the oil up to temp, and that we're talking about 5-6 year time frames.

I also asked specifically about the filter.

So, if we had a response that moved beyond the three points listed above, we'd be breaking new ground here!

As I said, I think the reason there are no responses beyond those three points is because those points are standard truisms, and no one has actually done this kind of interval and collected the data to definitively answer beyond general truisms.

If so, fair enough!
 
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