You Can't Change Your Oil Too Much!

[billt460]

+1 Although I think you might have meant DECREASE the OCI. Fuel dilution [20% in this example] and extending the OCI because you are using a premium oil might just be the perfect formula for a shorter engine life.

Yes. I should have said, more often.

 

[SavetheRimBrake]

If you have fuel dilution, (regardless of make or engine type), throw away the owners manual in relation to OCI. You had better increase the OCI if you plan on having any type of a long engine life......

Regardless of the oil you choose. The best oil money can buy, diluted 20% with gasoline, isn't going to perform anywhere near as effectively as the cheapest non diluted dino oil.

You keep quoting 20% with no analysis showing 20%. Why not make it a cool 40% then if we’re going to pull numbers out of thin air

 

[billt460]

You keep quoting 20% with no analysis showing 20%. Why not make it a cool 40% then if we’re going to pull numbers out of thin air

Watch the video I posted. Do you think he's the only guy?

 

[SavetheRimBrake]

Watch the video I posted. Do you think he's the only guy?

The video where the guy shows his dipstick with no additional context? Yea I’d call that at least 50%

 

[teddyboy]

You Can't Change Your Oil Too Much!

Or at least this was the conventional wisdom when I was a kid back in the 70s. I have followed this for all of my adult life and I can say that it has always worked for me.

If a vehicle's recommended OCI was 4k miles, i would almost always change it before 3k. If oil was on sale and I was doing one vehicle, I would sometimes change multiple vehicles just to take advantage of the sale.

These days it's not unusual to see recommended OCIs of 8k or 10k miles... I have a hard time believing that oil and engines have improved that much.

Apparently there's an idea floating around out there now that frequent OCIs can contribute to engine wear due to the additive package not being allowed to dissolve or break down sufficiently.

With racing machines, it's fairly common to change the oil after every race. However racing vehicles aren't intended for longevity, the goal is speed.

So is it still true? Is it possible to change your oil too often? Or is this marketing malarkey from engine manufacturers?

Or both?!

The claim "it's always worked for me" using frequent oil changes appears to be based on the fact that you never had an engine failure. Undoubtedly there are longer ocis that would have produced the same result for the engine at lower out of pocket cost, less time devoted to oil changes and less impact on the environment. So unless you have no alternative use for the money or time and no regard for the environment, changing your oil more than necessary really doesn't work for most people.

 

[benjy]

very long times between oil changes + lifetime fluids are MARKETING to sell the vehicle + NOT good for said vehicle!!

 

[billt460]

The claim "it's always worked for me" using frequent oil changes appears to be based on the fact that you never had an engine failure. Undoubtedly there are longer ocis that would have produced the same result for the engine at lower out of pocket cost, less time devoted to oil changes and less impact on the environment. So unless you have no alternative use for the money or time and no regard for the environment, changing your oil more than necessary really doesn't work for most people.

Trying to tie more frequent oil changes into disregard for the environment is complete nonsense. Oil is recycled and rerefined, period. The more oil that is used, the more that is reused. Stop talking as if it's all going into the landfill.

 

[SavetheRimBrake]

Trying to tie more frequent oil changes into disregard for the environment is complete nonsense. Oil is recycled and rerefined, period. The more oil that is used, the more that is reused. Stop talking as if it's all going into the landfill.

Implying that recycling and re-refinement of oil has no impact on the environment is complete nonsense. Recycling anything takes a toll on the environment, that's why its called "REDUCE, Reuse, Recycle"

 

[Jay Freddy]

The claim "it's always worked for me" using frequent oil changes appears to be based on the fact that you never had an engine failure. Undoubtedly there are longer ocis that would have produced the same result for the engine at lower out of pocket cost, less time devoted to oil changes and less impact on the environment. So unless you have no alternative use for the money or time and no regard for the environment, changing your oil more than necessary really doesn't work for most people.

As a youngster I had a bunch of mopar slant six vehicles. Never had to worry about oil changes with those. Just put in a quart every time I'd fill up on gas, it changed itself. Yes, it was terrible for the environment, but they passed the state inspection. And started everytime.

 

[billt460]

Implying that recycling and re-refinement of oil has no impact on the environment is complete nonsense. Recycling anything takes a toll on the environment, that's why its called "REDUCE, Reuse, Recycle"

We reuse and recycle more today than we ever did before. Shade tree mechanics performing a few additional oil changes, while properly disposing of their oil, are not creating, "a total disregard for the environment". Stop exaggerating. The sky isn't falling.

 

[Nesterenko]

Shade tree mechanics performing a few additional oil changes,

Throw out a number say 10,000 daily, which is probably a conservative estimate. Multiplied by 7 is.70,000, could be as much as 100,000 weekly shade tree oci's is not a few. Also probably more spillage from changing oil in the driveway which would obviously have the potential to contaminate lots of stuff. Just saying.

 

[Redhawk454]

Cone type filters that seal onto the intake tube tend to do better than your regular drop-in style filter; the seal around the air filter box deteriorates overtime, unless you apply Shin-Etsu grease on a very regular basis. But even then, the seal will eventually harden, crack and tear apart over time whereas cone filters, such as those found in GM applications, have a built-in seal that does very well because it always gets replaced with the air filter.

When it comes to filter media, regular paper filters do not last very long; by the time you hit 3,000 miles, you'll find you are due for a replacement. They also do not filter very well and have the tendency to clog up; the biggest issue I had with paper filters was fine particles of dust making it into the intake tract. In my experience, the best filter is one that is very lightly oiled; the FRAM Tough Guard has done extremely well for me in multiple applications.

The biggest mistake people make over here is they blow out their air filters with compressed air, which significantly degrades the filter media that was already exposed to multiple heat cycles; average intake air temperature in the summer is between 140°F - 160°F when stationary, which can be significantly higher in high congestion areas. On the freeway, intake temperatures will drop to the 120°F - 130°F range.

Air filtration is essentially a significant factor when it comes to oil changes over here, which is why I do not do extended drains on any application, regardless of how good the oil is. Factor in other considerations, such as high sulfur fuel, and old school full SAPS oil are still cream of the crop.

radial air filters?

 

[OVERKILL]

Cone type filters that seal onto the intake tube tend to do better than your regular drop-in style filter; the seal around the air filter box deteriorates overtime, unless you apply Shin-Etsu grease on a very regular basis. But even then, the seal will eventually harden, crack and tear apart over time whereas cone filters, such as those found in GM applications, have a built-in seal that does very well because it always gets replaced with the air filter.

When it comes to filter media, regular paper filters do not last very long; by the time you hit 3,000 miles, you'll find you are due for a replacement. They also do not filter very well and have the tendency to clog up; the biggest issue I had with paper filters was fine particles of dust making it into the intake tract. In my experience, the best filter is one that is very lightly oiled; the FRAM Tough Guard has done extremely well for me in multiple applications.

The biggest mistake people make over here is they blow out their air filters with compressed air, which significantly degrades the filter media that was already exposed to multiple heat cycles; average intake air temperature in the summer is between 140°F - 160°F when stationary, which can be significantly higher in high congestion areas. On the freeway, intake temperatures will drop to the 120°F - 130°F range.

Air filtration is essentially a significant factor when it comes to oil changes over here, which is why I do not do extended drains on any application, regardless of how good the oil is. Factor in other considerations, such as high sulfur fuel, and old school full SAPS oil are still cream of the crop.

Sounds like a perfect environment for the Donaldson PowerCore air filters, no?

 

[B6_Dolphin]

Just rolled-through 1k miles on my 1 month-old '23 Audi RS5 w/2.9L V6TT. Going to change-out the FF & oil filter with 7.7 qts. of Ravenol 0W30 & OEM oil filter, and submit sample to Blackstone Labs. Will repeat @ 5k mile OCIs.

Will post UOA when I receive it from Blackstone.

 

[billt460]

Throw out a number say 10,000 daily, which is probably a conservative estimate. Multiplied by 7 is.70,000, could be as much as 100,000 weekly shade tree oci's is not a few. Also probably more spillage from changing oil in the driveway which would obviously have the potential to contaminate lots of stuff. Just saying.

And?...... This is what you are actually worried about? Seriously? We should eliminate changing oil frequently, because we might spill some?

 

[02zx9r rev2]

well during the last couple years with everything that was going on if I could find the Exxon Mobil 0w30 for under 25 bucks I ended up in always bought a jug now I'm sitting on like 10 jugs of it. I may go over on this oil change by a week as the technician who does my CVT service won't be available till the following weekend so what I will do is probably siphon a couple quarts out and refill. I think oil changing is important but the more often you do it the better you get at it and the more careless you get and sometimes that's where we forget things like checking to make sure that there's the oil filter gasket has came off or putting on a drain plug gasket was forgotten.

I’m sure if you go over your oil change interval by a week it will be ok. The siphoning and refilling a couple of quarts for a week is not needed.

But is your car. Do as you wish

 

[Nesterenko]

And?...... This is what you are actually worried about? Seriously? We should eliminate changing oil frequently, because we might spill some?

C'mon man, you really downplayed it by saying "shade tree mechanics performing a few additional oil changes. If you believe there's only a FEW done at home oil changes every day, all over this country, then you are sorely mistaken. Maybe the sky is falling.

 

[FordFETruck]

I grew up around older vehicles, so 2000-3000 miles for an oil change was normal growing up changing it with the cheapest oil we could get because we weren't very well off. Most of the vehicles were short tripped, so that wound up being about one oil change per car, per year most of the time. We kept all of those vehicles for 20+ years and the engines inside were always very clean and happy and they all have been serving the new owners well. However, the more modern vehicles I've serviced and done major repairs on for people that have had 5000-10,000 mile intervals, every single one I've smelled something fierce every time I took the oil cap off, brown varnish inside most of them, most of them consume oil so top off oil was added during those OCI's as well. I stick to 2000-3000 miles on my daily drivers, since they are short tripped and typically only get one oil change per year. Here is horrible example. 16,000 mile OCI on my coworkers Chrysler T&C 3.3 V6 van, it had all of its oil capacity replaced with top off oil several times over and it was a sludge fest when it drained out and the oil filter fell off in the driveway when running because the filter seal shrunk/flattened out. No thanks, not for me.

 

[billt460]

C'mon man, you really downplayed it by saying "shade tree mechanics performing a few additional oil changes. If you believe there's only a FEW done at home oil changes every day, all over this country, then you are sorely mistaken. Maybe the sky is falling.

So what? What if there is? Do you really think it matters? And no the sky isn't falling because people are changing their own oil too much. And taking it in for proper recycling after they do.

But if it makes you feel worse that they are, then whatever floats your raft. The way you're going, you are going to have a heart attack if a volcano erupts.

 

[Astro14]

Well, this thread has run its course. Lock time.