[getchapull]

My car is not a daily driver so I have very few miles on it. I put 1103 miles on it since my last oil change (1 year next week). The oil monitor tells me I need to change the oil soon because its a year since my last change.

Has anyone sent their low mileage oil in for analysis just to see if age will break down the additives? I run very good oil and would rather not my waste time and money if not needed.

[Vigilante375]

What's been said throughout the decades has been to change the oil every x,xxx miles or once a year.

Once a year is for the fact that oil starts to get more impurities in it that'll hurt the engine. Moisture builds ip and contributes to this.

Changing the oil is cheap insurance on making sure that the life line of the engine is going to be good when it's needed. Spend the money and change the oil once a year. Your engine will thank you.

[Plasar]

getchapull:

* I really applaud your use of the SCIENTIFIC METHOD approach to get the oil tested to see if this is really necessary rather than rely on 1,000 conjecture posts - any oil topic thread brings out the real kooks on the interweb!

* Having stated the above, some conjecture by citing what is perhaps a related situation with brake fluid changes every 2 years regardless of mileage. Brake fluid is hygroscopic - it absorbs water - and that affects braking performance and corrosion of components. I don’t know if oil is hygroscopic and/or if it depends on if the oil is synthetic or not.

* If the manufacturer is recommending it and it’s not too expensive, I say that it’s a good prophylactic maintenance item.

* This post is sponsored by the words «*Hygroscopic*» and «*Prophylactic*»!

[mlee]

No need to toss out good oil.

[The Chief (tm)]

I'm sure a lot of folks would be interested in what the analysis would say, given those circumstances. Go Fund Me? ;-)

For my part, I'm just now realizing that I let all my oil "go down the drain" earlier today, on only the second oil change since I got the car (~13.5K miles), whereas I *should* have sent some to Blackstone (sp?) like I did after the first change about 7K ago, just to see how the intervals compared. DOH!

[SnakeEyeSS]

I'm a bit annoyed right now because my SS because the Oil monitor has always gone to zero in about a year. Since my last change, it dropped in jumps, as in 7% on my last drive which was 8 miles.

It's now looking at 0% in 7-8 months, 1000~ miles. I didn't drive it hard or anything, just a normal drive, but about 1% per mile, on a nice day?

Seem ridiculous to anyone else?


I use Mobil 1 Extended on my last change, so not sure I'll follow its recommendation this time.

[MR2620]

The last 2 years I have put very little miles on mine (2,332 in 2021 and 626 in 2022). I always change the oil at 1 year and get it tested and it's always come back with excellent results. I actually spoke with Blackstone last year and according to what they told me, they don't typically see a need to change oil after 1 year if the miles are low. Attached is my report from 2022. My report from this year was pretty much a repeat.

Sent from my Pixel 6a using Tapatalk

[ctrlz]

Brake fluid is predominantly glycol ether. Since the glycol part has an -OH group, it can attract water. Motor oil probably has some contaminants from blow-by gases which will include unburned alcohols from fuel. So older oil probably can absorb some water. One of the main jobs of oil is to absorb the crap from blow-by gases which will be removed every time you do an oil change.

Go for the oil analysis. I bet you can go 18 months or 2 years between changes. My strategy is a bit different. I put 7500 mi/yr on my 2SS. I change when the OLM times out at 1 yr with cheap 5w-30 and filter from amazon (usually valvoline or castrol full synthetic, ~$27/5 qts.) So my full oil change with filter is <$70 per year.

[CalgaryZL1]

When the oil colour changes to the point where you’re not comfortable then change it. The monitor goes by time and distance, so it’s not really relevant unless you daily drive it then it will be very accurate.

[getchapull]

Originally Posted by MR2620

The last 2 years I have put very little miles on mine (2,332 in 2021 and 626 in 2022). I always change the oil at 1 year and get it tested and it's always come back with excellent results. I actually spoke with Blackstone last year and according to what they told me, they don't typically see a need to change oil after 1 year if the miles are low. Attached is my report from 2022. My report from this year was pretty much a repeat.

Sent from my Pixel 6a using Tapatalk

This is what I speculated.

Thanks for the info.

[Gunkk]

Originally Posted by getchapull

My car is not a daily driver so I have very few miles on it. I put 1103 miles on it since my last oil change (1 year next week). The oil monitor tells me I need to change the oil soon because its a year since my last change.

Has anyone sent their low mileage oil in for analysis just to see if age will break down the additives? I run very good oil and would rather not my waste time and money if not needed.

I run OEM spec Dexos 0w40 in The Mistress, a 6-1/2 year old garage queen show car with 9k miles. My last oil analysis is in the Blackstone Labs thread here: https://www.camaro6.com/forums/showt...6#post11114266

Plenty of TBN left and all the other numbers were fine.

[getchapull]

Originally Posted by Gunkk

I run OEM spec Dexos 0w40 in The Mistress, a 6-1/2 year old garage queen show car with 9k miles. My last oil analysis is in the Blackstone Labs thread here: https://www.camaro6.com/forums/showt...6#post11114266

Plenty of TBN left and all the other numbers were fine.