Non DD Oil Change
02-08-2010, 08:31 PM
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Non DD Oil Change I haven't really been able to drive my car too often the last few months and was wondering about the oil. At what point should I change it out? It looks fine and the car runs fine, but it's been in there for about 6 months. In six months I've put a total of 954 miles on the car. I know I'm going to hear from you guys who feel I should drive it more, but I'm trying to save cash for the big install. So those of you who have a little experience with this please let me know.
Joe
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02-08-2010, 08:38 PM
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honestly as long as its clearish your should be fine. hell BMW and Benz cars say to go 15k miles or 1 year on an oil change running the synthetic mobil 1 or castrol syntec/edge
02-08-2010, 08:46 PM
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I'm running the Mobile 1 Synthetic and she takes it like a champ, but I just wanted to make sure. I'm just wanting to find out how long it can sit in there before it loses it chemical composition and becomes harmful to my engine. I do not believe in the 3,000/ 3 month system. I think it is a scam. Then again I am not a mechanic. I appreciate the feedback Matt, thank you.
02-08-2010, 08:51 PM
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I'm running the Mobile 1 Synthetic and she takes it like a champ, but I just wanted to make sure. I'm just wanting to find out how long it can sit in there before it loses it chemical composition and becomes harmful to my engine. I do not believe in the 3,000/ 3 month system. I think it is a scam. Then again I am not a mechanic. I appreciate the feedback Matt, thank you.
02-08-2010, 10:55 PM
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yea but most of those cars have double the oil capacity, most of the mercedes benz suvs and cars take around 10 quarts of oil. but then again as long as you can see viscosity in the oil it should be fine
02-08-2010, 11:31 PM
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IDKWTHAFAIKM but oil can breakdown over time. I keep mine changed at around 3k if ive had it at the track alot...which I never have so I usually to to 5k miles.
Mobil 1 is supposed to be good for 15k miles. My feeling on that is this: Part of the job of oil is to collect carbon, thats why the oil turns black. So if you change it at 15k instead of 3k you are going to have about 5 times as much carbon floating around in the engine. Aside from that I dont think any filter will go near that long.
Mobil 1 is supposed to be good for 15k miles. My feeling on that is this: Part of the job of oil is to collect carbon, thats why the oil turns black. So if you change it at 15k instead of 3k you are going to have about 5 times as much carbon floating around in the engine. Aside from that I dont think any filter will go near that long.
02-08-2010, 11:48 PM
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IDKWTHAFAIKM but oil can breakdown over time. I keep mine changed at around 3k if ive had it at the track alot...which I never have so I usually to to 5k miles.
Mobil 1 is supposed to be good for 15k miles. My feeling on that is this: Part of the job of oil is to collect carbon, thats why the oil turns black. So if you change it at 15k instead of 3k you are going to have about 5 times as much carbon floating around in the engine. Aside from that I dont think any filter will go near that long.
Mobil 1 is supposed to be good for 15k miles. My feeling on that is this: Part of the job of oil is to collect carbon, thats why the oil turns black. So if you change it at 15k instead of 3k you are going to have about 5 times as much carbon floating around in the engine. Aside from that I dont think any filter will go near that long.
I am going to take a shot at this and see...
I Don't Know What The Hell AFAIK Means.
Well Ryan... I believe it stands for As Far As I Know, but I could be wrong here. I like to think of myself as an acronymn GOD
They are like puzzles for internet retards like myself. Trending Topics
02-09-2010, 11:15 AM
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conventional oil breaks down immediately and quite rapidly... should be used in a regular maintenance system, changed periodically based on mileage and time lapse... synthetics are much more resistant to corrosion/contamination...with a quality filtration system, it can last for a very long time...
heat has the highest bearing on oil breakdown...synthetics tend to last longer since they have a higher flash point than conventional... flash point, is the temperature at which the oil gives off vapors that can be ignited by a flame... the higher the flash point, the better quality base stock is present...
since oil is refined petroleum, the molecule sizes vary... as oil vapor starts to burn off in conventional oil, the smaller molecules will burn first, leaving the larger molecules behind..synthetic is designed so that all the molecules are uniform in size and shape... so in the event off burn off, the remaining oil will have nearly the same characteristics as it did before burning, since there are no smaller molecules to burn off to leave the largewr ones behind...
conventional oil will have a higher ash content than synthetic,that will leave deposits and sludge to coat the inside of the engine.. the detergent and dispersant in the additive package will do its best to keep those depositsits to a minimum, but it can only do so much...there will always be some left over... one of the oils jobs is to also keep said sludge suspended in the oil to be filtered...meaning a good quality oil doing its job WILL get darker in color since it is suspending all the "contaminants" within itself... dont be fooled by someone saying, "look my oil is better, it stays clean longer." that is a misconception... all it means is the additive package is not that effective..
you must also take into consideration, what cold weather does to oil... conventional oil contains paraffin wax... this will cause the oil to thicken up considerably in cold weather..when its extremely cold the paraffins will have the tendency to crystallize, making the oil resistant to flow...so additives called pour point depressants are used abundantly, to keep the paraffins from crystallizing... however, in cold those additives are used up quickly, which causes the oil to thicken up... what that means, is 1. engine will be a lot harder to start and 2. the rate of wear will rise tremendously... the most wear in an engine occurs at start up, and thick/cold oil amplifies it...
synthetics contain NO paraffins, so they do not need the pour point depressants...no additives to break down, means the oil will stay effective longer.
synthetic will maintain its flow characteristics at a much lower temperature than conventional ..meaning less wear on startup as well..
another thing to consider is condensation... as an engine warms up, it will burn off any condensation in the oil... cold weather makes the engine take longer to warm up, thus taking the condensation longer to burn off... if the engine is not given enough time to burn off the condensation (Short Trips), condensation will collect in the oil, which left in an engine will begin to form acids, that will corrode the inside of the engine.. especially the bearings...this will occur in both conventional and synthetic oils..
thats pretty much the tip of the iceberg... theres a lot to oil than most people think..
that being said, you can get a better understanding of why synthetics tend to work better and last longer than conventional...
if the car has been sitting for a while in the cold, I, personally would change it...or at minimum start it up, and drive it immediately for a good amount (20-30 minutes continuously)...
heat has the highest bearing on oil breakdown...synthetics tend to last longer since they have a higher flash point than conventional... flash point, is the temperature at which the oil gives off vapors that can be ignited by a flame... the higher the flash point, the better quality base stock is present...
since oil is refined petroleum, the molecule sizes vary... as oil vapor starts to burn off in conventional oil, the smaller molecules will burn first, leaving the larger molecules behind..synthetic is designed so that all the molecules are uniform in size and shape... so in the event off burn off, the remaining oil will have nearly the same characteristics as it did before burning, since there are no smaller molecules to burn off to leave the largewr ones behind...
conventional oil will have a higher ash content than synthetic,that will leave deposits and sludge to coat the inside of the engine.. the detergent and dispersant in the additive package will do its best to keep those depositsits to a minimum, but it can only do so much...there will always be some left over... one of the oils jobs is to also keep said sludge suspended in the oil to be filtered...meaning a good quality oil doing its job WILL get darker in color since it is suspending all the "contaminants" within itself... dont be fooled by someone saying, "look my oil is better, it stays clean longer." that is a misconception... all it means is the additive package is not that effective..
you must also take into consideration, what cold weather does to oil... conventional oil contains paraffin wax... this will cause the oil to thicken up considerably in cold weather..when its extremely cold the paraffins will have the tendency to crystallize, making the oil resistant to flow...so additives called pour point depressants are used abundantly, to keep the paraffins from crystallizing... however, in cold those additives are used up quickly, which causes the oil to thicken up... what that means, is 1. engine will be a lot harder to start and 2. the rate of wear will rise tremendously... the most wear in an engine occurs at start up, and thick/cold oil amplifies it...
synthetics contain NO paraffins, so they do not need the pour point depressants...no additives to break down, means the oil will stay effective longer.
synthetic will maintain its flow characteristics at a much lower temperature than conventional ..meaning less wear on startup as well..
another thing to consider is condensation... as an engine warms up, it will burn off any condensation in the oil... cold weather makes the engine take longer to warm up, thus taking the condensation longer to burn off... if the engine is not given enough time to burn off the condensation (Short Trips), condensation will collect in the oil, which left in an engine will begin to form acids, that will corrode the inside of the engine.. especially the bearings...this will occur in both conventional and synthetic oils..
thats pretty much the tip of the iceberg... theres a lot to oil than most people think..
that being said, you can get a better understanding of why synthetics tend to work better and last longer than conventional...
if the car has been sitting for a while in the cold, I, personally would change it...or at minimum start it up, and drive it immediately for a good amount (20-30 minutes continuously)...
