Remember how we keep calling the quick lube’s usual suggestion “severe?” Owners’ manuals often list both a “normal” and a “severe” maintenance schedule, with the latter being for harder driving, extreme weather, and other cases where there’s extra stress per mile on the engine, such as hauling heavy loads, towing, and track day use. “Severe” Maintenance Schedule for Oil Changes? If you don’t run your car for very long very often, the engine won’t get hot enough to burn off this moisture, and your oil won’t be as effective at lubricating your engine, eventually leading to shorter engine life. Your oil may be fine, but it’s the moisture in your engine that’s the real enemy. How Often Should You Change Your Oil?Įven if you don’t drive very often and you’re not hitting the recommended mileage interval, it's best to get your oil changed twice a year. Oil that degrades too much can cause engine sludge that can block oil flow entirely. Synthetic oil is designed to break down more slowly over time, which means you can probably stretch its oil changes out a little longer, but it still breaks down like any other oil. The longer it sits, the less viscous it becomes and thus, the less effective it will be at keeping various engine components properly lubricated. Why Are Oil Change Recommendations Given in Mileage and in Time? Different vehicles have different maintenance needs, especially with recent advances in automotive technology that have pushed some newer cars’ oil change intervals out to 7,500 or 10,000 miles, or once every six to 12 months. The real authority you should consult first-if you’re erring on the side of caution and not in the market for a new lawnmower-is the owner’s manual for your vehicle. Their job is to sell oil changes, after all. Your average 3,000-mile quickie-lube sticker gives you a general suggestion of when to change your oil based on a really severe maintenance schedule. Why Do Repair Shops Say I Should Change My Oil So Dang Often? But don’t worry if you miss the date on the Jiffy Lube sticker. So, should you wait 10 years between oil changes? No. How to Pick the Right Motor Oil for Your Car.Here’s What Frozen Oil Looks like in Your Engine.Make sure the air filter is in good condition.” The TBN is okay at 5.0, so the oil actually has additive left in reserve. There’s also some fuel and moisture in the oil. Silicon can also show abrasive dirt contamination, which causes poor internal wear. If so, some of the excess metal is from initial break-in and silicon could be sealer material from assembly. This oil was in use for ten years, and may even be the factory fill. What does that mean? Blackstone wrote it out on my oil’s report card: “Universal averages show typical wear for similar Honda engines with about 65 hours on the oil. Long story short: the oil was dirty, but leaving it there for ten years didn’t really hurt anything. Flashpoint-the temperature when the oil’s vapors ignite, which can signify a contaminant like fuel in the oil-was a little low, at 360 degrees Fahrenheit. Silicon was way high, about four times higher than normal. Hooray! The sample was also spot-on for average values of zinc and calcium, but a little high on sodium. A TBN of less than one is considered bad. Oils contain bases to prevent acidification, so the TBN shows how much additive is left to keep it healthy. I was particularly interested in the TBN (total base number). “The oil was dirty, but leaving it there for 10 years didn’t really hurt anything.” I warmed it up, tilted it over, and drained the oil, saving a few ounces to send to Blackstone Laboratories, an oil-testing company in Fort Wayne, Indiana. I decided that if I pulled the trigger on an electric mower, I could at least give my Troy-Bilt to someone who would use it. I kept mowing my lawn, season after season, the little Honda purring away, until I eventually started feeling bad for the thing. I figured I’d just let the Troy-Bilt go until it blew up-which it refused to do. But, by then, electric mowers were getting cheap, and I really wanted an electric mower. After a few years, I realized I hadn’t changed the oil. Here’s what happened: In 2008, I bought a Troy-Bilt lawnmower with a Honda engine. “What’s six more months?” That’s a good question, and one that I recently answered through semi-intentional negligence. “That oil was in the ground for 100 million years,” he says. I know a guy with a fleet of Ferraris-some of them seven-figure cars-and he goes only by mileage. You probably knew that the 3,000-mile interval was ridiculous, but what about that other deadline? What if you don’t drive much and let your oil sit for six months? A year? You bring your car to the auto repair shop and they slap a sticker on the windshield: change your oil again in 3,000 miles or three months.
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