Oil Change Advice

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I need to do my annual oil change on my 02 Vette that I normally store over the winter. I store it because of salt on the road and also because the small garage it sits in is in the back yard and once the ground freezes I can't open the doors to get it out. The problem I am facing is that in order to change the oil I should drive the car. However, our weather has been full of snow and there doesn't appear to be any end in sight. The nights are very cold and I am no longer sure I can get it out of the garage.

Looking for pros and cons of simply running the car in the garage to heat the oil and doing the change there, rather then actually driving the car to heat it up. The car does have an oil temperature readout, so I would know how hot the oil was during a change. Any tips or experiences appreciated. Oil has been in the car for a year and has about 6K miles on it right now and I would prefer to get rid of it prior to storage.
 
You are stuck between a rock and a hard place. I would drain it as is. Then flush out the pan with a qt. of el-cheapo oil (make sure the new container is as warm as possible)). Let it drain forever. You could also put a light at the pan to get it to drain better or use a hairdrier. The reason I say that is that all the old oil has already drained down off the top end of the engine starting it and letting it circulate won't get any more down.

Next question is whether to startup after filling. Starting it up just to get new oil up there and immediately shutting would be good -except you have all of that moisture in the exhaust system.

My $.02
 
If you do decide to idle the engine before you change the oil, do me a favor and let me know what the oil temperature reading says, and how long it took to reach that temp. My theory is that it will never ever get hot enough of an oil temp as it will when the engine is under load.
 
Patman,

It actually gets pretty hot, as the coolant will go to 225 before the fan comes on. Not sure I like the idea of the exhaust and other parts not getting to temp though. I am going to wait another week and hope that the weather breaks long enough for me to get it out on the road and take care of business. But with my luck, the garage will be buried in snow before next weekend.
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I tend to agree with the 'drain it cold for a week' advice. only thing I would change is I would put a quart of very thin 'cheapo' oil in it and let it drain out for a couple of days to kinda 'wash out' the pan (since most all the old oil has drained to the bottom of the pan anyhow), and install new oil, start and circulate. shut down and finally get a good nights rest.
 
quote:

Originally posted by Patman:
If you do decide to idle the engine before you change the oil, do me a favor and let me know what the oil temperature reading says, and how long it took to reach that temp. My theory is that it will never ever get hot enough of an oil temp as it will when the engine is under load.

So the engine oil never really comes up to temp even if the coolant gets hot enough to kick the fans on? I was under the impression it would get hotter since there will be no air moving around the engine and the coolant will be not cooled any until the fans kick on. Thats pretty weird if thats the truth!

In your case I'd just crank and run it to warm it, change it normally, and let it be. I dont think anything extravagant is necessary, the whole exhaust is stainless or aluminized steel and a little rust won't harm the manifolds.
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What's wrong with waiting until spring to change it? There's several reasons to wait as far as I can see. The condensation issue that was mentioned is a good one. Also working in an enclosed area with carbon monoxide is dangerous.
 
Pull the plug and filter cold, let it drain for a week or two, put in the new oil and run it a minute to get the oil circulated but not get a lot of moisture buildup. Your good to go.
 
I live in a cold climate also. I drain thoroughly, install fresh oil and filter, then drive it until HOT, usually 10-15 miles, park it, and forget it.

My reasoning is you want to get the old oil out due to acids, ect. When you install the new oil, you want to ensure it coats all parts of the engine with the new antioxidents and other additives. You want to get it hot to make sure there's no residual moisture in it. Running it for just a minute after the new oil only makes things worse as far as I'm concerned.

This process worked for me on many vehicles for many winters.
 
You should still be able to get the oil hot enough by idlign the engine. I've done it before in the past and had it hot enough to burn-but not quite as hot as if you drive it hard of course.
 
Maybe some engines can get their oil hot by idling, but I think it might be rare. My mom's 94 Probe GT won't get it's oil nearly hot enough by just idling. I needed to do an oil change on her car once and it was snowing outside so I didn't want to take it out of the garage. The engine was stone cold so I started and idled it for about 20min, thinking this would get the oil semi hot. I also revved up the engine a few times to 5000rpm (I know I shouldn't have!) hoping that would put more heat into it.

When I drained her oil, it just felt a little bit warm, not scalding hot like her oil usually is. Even if I only drive her car 3 or 4 miles around the block, the oil comes out of her engine just burning hot as anything, at least 225 degrees for sure. But this day her oil wasn't even hot enough to bother my hand when I stuck it in the oil stream. It probably was not even 150 degrees.
 
Talked to a friend of mine today who made an interesting suggestion. Canton makes a 90 degree remote filter adapter that fits the LS-1. He suggested a cold drain and then pumping the oil back into the motor through the route it would normally take from the filter by using the Canton adapter. Block off the side that is the output to the remote filter and push the oil in through the hole that is the filter return. This would push the clean oil over the bearings, etc. Then remove the adapter and fill & install the new oil filter.
 
I'm still thinking about the idling situation here, if oil temperature really can get hot enough just by idling, why do so many experts say not to idle the engine during winter storage because the moisture in the oil won't burn off? And my own experience also shows that the oil isn't getting hot enough just by idling also.
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So what's the truth here, does the oil get over 200F just with idling only and not under load?
 
Not sure the oil would hit 200, but I think 190 would be acheivable. Based on my LS-1 experience, the motor will hit 225 and then the fan will bring it down into the upper 190's. I think a few cycles of that would get the oil pretty hot.
 
If your engine won't warm up in idle, push down the accelerator until 2000-2500 rpm and hold it there for a few minutes. Should be no more stressful on the engine than calmly driving down the street.
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It's easier if you imagine yourself driving to the store.

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quote:

Originally posted by OneQuartLow:
In a 95 Camaro, isn't 2500 RPM about 85MPH?
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In my 95 Firebird, with 3.23 gears and automatic, it revs at 2500 at about 80mph. With a 6 speed f-body, or a 2.73 geared automatic, 2500rpm equals out to 100mph. I've had all of these combinations in my cars actually, and more. I had a 95TA with 2.73s and automatic, later changed to 3.42 gears, then I had a 98 Formula with a 6 speed and 3.42 gears, later changed to 4.10s (that was fun!)
 
I'll be able to tell you guys today as that is what I will be doing this afternoon. Yesterday my little brother with his 95 Camaro was going a little to fast for the road conditions and slid into a 6" concrete street retainer and cracked one of his wheels. The wheel is very badly cracked and suprisingly it still held the bead. Anyway's I told him I would teach him how to change his oil today and I do not want to risk driving it to warm it up so I will see if idling will get the oil to temperature. Car is a 95 Chevy Camaro with the 3.4L V6 engine and a 4.5 quart sump capacity. The car's cold oil psi is around 40 and when the oil is hot it stays around 20-25 so I will know when the oils warms up. I'll post here tonight the results
 
quote:

Originally posted by Ryan00TJ:
I'll be able to tell you guys today as that is what I will be doing this afternoon. Yesterday my little brother with his 95 Camaro was going a little to fast for the road conditions and slid into a 6" concrete street retainer and cracked one of his wheels. The wheel is very badly cracked and suprisingly it still held the bead. Anyway's I told him I would teach him how to change his oil today and I do not want to risk driving it to warm it up so I will see if idling will get the oil to temperature. Car is a 95 Chevy Camaro with the 3.4L V6 engine and a 4.5 quart sump capacity. The car's cold oil psi is around 40 and when the oil is hot it stays around 20-25 so I will know when the oils warms up. I'll post here tonight the results

So what are the results Ryan?
 
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