Six month changers: do you change the filter too?

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May 7, 2018
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For those of you that change twice a year even if you’ve only put a few miles on your oil, so you always change the filter or do you change it based on mileage? I ask because one of my vehicles maybe only gets driven 2000 miles between annual changes and it feels wasteful throwing away a filter that surely has plenty of filtration capacity left.
 
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I will leave the filter on for two OCI's on my Honda, because that is the factory recommendation. Everything else gets a new filter for each oil change. Having said that you shouldn't have any concerns doing what you are considering with your current use pattern.
 
For those of you that change twice a year even if you’ve only put a few miles on your oil, so you always change the filter or do you change it based on mileage? I ask because one of my vehicles maybe only gets driven 2000 miles between annual changes and it feels wasteful throwing away a filter that surely has plenty of filtration capacity left.
You posted contradictory statements. You're asking those who change oil twice a year, but you are changing once a year. If you're changing the oil once a year, you're not changing the filter twice a year, so what wasteful throwing away of a filter do you mean?
 
You posted contradictory statements. You're asking those who change oil twice a year, but you are changing once a year. If you're changing the oil once a year, you're not changing the filter twice a year, so what wasteful throwing away of a filter do you mean?
I asked a question about one situation and made a statement about a different one.
 
It depends on the filter. A basic Baldwin or something along those lines, yes. A Fram Ultra, no. My concern is less about filtration capacity, and more about the integrity of the components as they sit in oil for a year. This rule of thumb is not based whatsoever on testing or actual evidence of any kind.
 
If I were only doing 2000 miles per year I would use a respected, basic, inexpensive filter and change it every year. At that point I would be more concerned about the backflow valve and anti drain back valve degrading from sitting around than I would the filter capability.
 
My head is still spinning. :ROFLMAO:
It’s complicated and I hate typing long explanations on the iPad keyboard. I’m thinking about multiple vehicles under different circumstances so that’s why there were two incongruent examples. The real question was about the 2X changers.
 
With DI engines and oil dilution bet on it! First OCI comes on the New Mazda in a few months yes its going to have an UOA why I want to get some vehicle history on weather Oil dilution is going to be a problem. My guess is people with New DI engines are clueless about this!
I did a 6k UOA on my Mazda with the 2.5 Skyactiv at around 45k miles and there was no fuel dilution. I’ll probably check it again at around 70k to see if that’s still the case.
 
My 99 minivan takes a large oil filter with a 15,000 mile change interval according to the owner's manual. I use a wire backed fram xg8 filter and I only drive it 6,000 miles/year. Been on there 2 years already, headed for about 4 years. If winter is coming and the oil has some miles on it, I'll drain some oil and replenish it to get through until spring.
 
I'll go a step further. If I drive my Ridgeline only 2,500 miles a year, I leave the oil and Fram Ultra filter in place for another 6-12 months. Of course the truck sits in garage storage for 4-5 months every winter/spring.
 
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