Oil Change Interval for Garage Queen

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Ash

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I have a low mile 964-911 Porsche that I drive about 300 miles per year. Last oil change was about a year ago. I use M1 0W 40.

I tried looking for info specific to my case but its been tough.

Should I go ahead and change my oil or not since technically its barely been used.. if so should I do the filter as well? Thanks-Ash
 
You can get away with a 2 year oil change with M1 0W 40 if you drive less than 1000 miles a year. But As doug said, get a UOA just to be on the safe side.
 
Yeah, I have finally decided to quit the every 3 months Pennzoil YB in my truck that only sees a few thousand miles a year. I filled it with Mobil 1 yesterday and will be sending Blackstone a sample of the last batch of YB. I plan to do a bunch of UOA's until I get a feel for how long I can push it.
 
Change the oil and filter once a year and sleep well. I see no reason to try and stretch the limits of oil in order to save $20.00 a year.
 
Originally Posted By: HyperJinx
Change the oil and filter once a year and sleep well. I see no reason to try and stretch the limits of oil in order to save $20.00 a year.


I agree! 500-1000 miles a year on my old 'vette and once a year oil change and filter.

Why be CHEAP??
 
If the car is stored in a temperature stable environment and you use a decent oil, I believe you could stretch it out to a couple of years. You can determine that, as Doug Hillary said, by a UOA. You'd look at water, insolubles and TBN. No water, low insolubles and high TBN (which is inverse of the TAN - Total Acid Number)... good to go.

We've had a lot of this type of question lately, so I suggest you do a search (both on the site search and on Google specifying BITOG).There are a lot of us (including me) going long time periods on oil. I have been regularly doing two years on some of my vehicles and am headed to three on a couple. Basically oil can't tell the passage of time, or does so slowly, and unless the storage conditions are poor or there are other situational elements, IMO, you are totally safe to a year, very likely safe to two. After that, I hesitate to comment since I'm still experimenting myself. SOme of my UOAs are posted in the UOA section and you can find them by clicking on my name and going to "View Posts." I also suggest you read the posts of some regulars that have recently commented on this topic:

dnewton
Doug Hillary
Gary Allen
 
A UOA is wise. An annual change after a good (hot) drive is probably very conservative and smart. As long as you don't have moisture condensing on the internal metal surfaces (highly doubt that in NV), you have little to worry about with the engine oil.

I personally tend to worry about polymers (rubbers, plastics, etc) stored in heat and light, more than I do about motor oil.
 
I'm still in the conservative group that changes after 12 months regardless. I have one car and one bike that don't reach the mileage in a year to mandate a change (1.5-2k on the bike and 3-4k on the car). Given that an oil change only costs about $25 I feel it is safe insurance. But as you can see some run for 18 months to two years. If this car goes long periods with no operation at all, over winter for example, that would be a factor as well. Most like to change prior to the off season and take one last run to distribute the fresh oil then store. The motorcycle community is a good place to look for the variety of philosophies since they are confronted with this question every year. The product you are using is certainly capable of extending the period if that is what you feel is in your best interest. As stated a good long drive prior to oil change is always a good idea under these circumstances as fuel dilution and moisture may be present.

You might also look into the Pelican Parts site which addresses these issues with 911s specifically in mind.
 
A couple of years ago I sold a restored '69 Corvette I owned for many years.I did around 1500 miles per.
Winter storage would have me doing a few things and one was changing the oil and filter and I used synthetic oil.
Yearly change.
 
It dawned on me since I posted that we are talking about a 911 so the cost of each oil change is significantly more than $25. What does that thing hold, about 12 Quarts?
 
Originally Posted By: HyperJinx
Change the oil and filter once a year and sleep well. I see no reason to try and stretch the limits of oil in order to save $20.00 a year.


+1 Why take the chance on a nice car.
 
Originally Posted By: EagleFTE
It dawned on me since I posted that we are talking about a 911 so the cost of each oil change is significantly more than $25. What does that thing hold, about 12 Quarts?


Yeah, but lots of buyers will want to see maintenance records when you go to sell it. You might lose way more than the cost of an oil change by not doing it. I get the same issue on my Harley when I dump some Redline 20w50 with 2,000 miles on it after it sat for a year. But the corrosion problems you could create by skimping are way worse. I never go more than one year on any oil change. BTW, the cost of a UOA with TBN & TAN is equal to an oil change or close so why bother.
 
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I see no need to change the oil filter with so few miles on it.
The oil? It won't be worn out or depleted either, with such low miles.
 
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