how often do you change your motor oil?

[02cetransam]

iv been changing mine every 3 months even though the oil isnt dirty. I use castrol fully synthetic. Is it nessesary to change it that often?

[BADBLUE02]

I change mine every 4 or 5 months. Depends on how hard I've been running the car. Your driving habits would play a big part in how often you should change it. You can buy an oil analysis kit fom NAPA for $13.00 or so. Send one in, and see how your oil held up.

[Anthracis]

Every three thousand miles.

[NE98LS1]

3000 miles is plenty IMO unless you are just beating the piss out of it. i think with most oils today you could get by pretty easy on normal driving at 5000

[Hot Black Trans-Am]

I change mine when the light comes on.

[02cetransam]

Hypothetical situation: you do an oil change in August, put 400 miles on it until September, put the car away for the winter, bring it out in May, is the oil still good, or should it be changed? You know how they say every 3000 miles or 3 months, which is ever first. I just dont see how oil breaks down when its not being used.

[Hi-Po]

I just get the used oil from autozone and change it every 200 miles. I think its a good deal. I only pay 4.50 per quart. They say its all synthetic.

[thecorrectformula]

Hypothetical situation: you do an oil change in August, put 400 miles on it until September, put the car away for the winter, bring it out in May, is the oil still good, or should it be changed? You know how they say every 3000 miles or 3 months, which is ever first. I just dont see how oil breaks down when its not being used.

You should change it probally if it sits for that long. I don't know if you've ever seen Deisel that's sat for a long time or not but it does the same thing. It breaks down into it's basic chemicals and gels up. Synthetic does a better job of not gelling up but it still will to an extent and plus if it sits for a long time you can have some moisture build up in the oil and that can speed up corrosion.

On the other question, alot of auto manufacturers actually recommend oil beyond 3,000 miles. I think its GM that says on some vehicles up to 8,000 miles depending on how you drive it.

[Nastyfoot]

The oil companies came out with the "every 3000 miles" statement purely for profit.

[Sarge]

A UOA as suggested above will determine the proper OCI.....your looking for how much TBN is left in the oil.....not how "dirty" it is or isnt....I change mine every 3-4 months or 25 hours of engine run time.....if a car sits then moisture builds up in it as it never gets to operating temps to burn it off.......so every 3-4 months or XXXX miles for sure...whichever comes forst....as I said.....you can determine the XXXX miles through a UOA.....I use Terry Dyson http://www.dysonanalysis.com/

[whitelightnin99]

i try to change oil/filter at 2500 miles

[SleeperC5]

when it runs out.....

[nhraformula]

once a year

[SexOnWheels]

I change it after every road race I run in. (about twice a month)

[Blitzed]

on my DD I'm pushing almost 9 thousand miles on the oil with filter changes, using mobile 1. today I'm going to switch to Penzoil plat

[02cetransam]

what about for gas? is it better to store a vehicle over the winter with a full tank or empty tank to prevent moisture?

[310stanger]

i change mine once a day. about every 5k for the jeep and every 5k or 3 to 4 months in the mustang

[thecorrectformula]

what about for gas? is it better to store a vehicle over the winter with a full tank or empty tank to prevent moisture?

In my opinion your probally better off keeping your tank full while storing it. I'd say this because your probally less likely to get high levels of moisture in your gas and the moisture that does enter will be spread thinner throughout the gas. But I may be wrong so don't take my word for it. Anyone with knowledge on this feel free to chime in and tell me wrong.

However if you are storing it you should add fuel stabalizer before hand to keep it from breaking down and sludging up.

[Sarge]

what about for gas? is it better to store a vehicle over the winter with a full tank or empty tank to prevent moisture?

Full with stabilizer in it.........fire it up and let it idle.....every once in awhile.

[TMF]

When my Wife says I can