I am storing my car for the winter and i was wondering is i needed to change the oil before I did so. The oil has just under 1000 miles on it and most of that being in town stop and go driving. I will start it once or twice a month and drive it around the neighborhood if the weather permits. Do I need to do a oil and filter change?

Thanks

 

Synthetic oil or regular?

Personally I try to not store the car with oil that has more than a few hundered miles on it. 1000 won't kill it, but I'd change it out if you used conventional oil.

See this thread for further storage tips:

https://ls1tech.com/forums/general-maintenance-repairs/416584-things-do-before-storing-your-vehicle.html

 

thats a good list. Personally, I change the oil and filter once every spring and thats it because i only put 3000 to maybe 6000 miles on it a year and i use semi-synethetic (valvoline durablend) I know when my 69 sits in the winter its a solid cam for racing so I release all the rockers to remove the load off of the valve springs (which you dont have to do with hydrolic lifters) and every spring when i pull the valve covers off to reset the valve lash there is white creemy **** all inside the valve covers. IMO if the oil is relitivly clean when you put it away, just wait till the spring to put fresh oil in it anyway to get rid of all that white condensation, why waist money on fresh oil thats just going to sit around all winter and get contaminated with water, I know the water will eventualy burn off when the engine reaches operating temp but im ****, and thats just me. I also had a 91 camaro with a TPI and if that sat around too long in the cold if I did go to start it and it was really cold, it wouldnt without any dry-gas added to the tank because water concensation would get into the gas, someone told me to store the car with a topped off tank of gas and it wouldnt happen, and it worked, no water was able to get into the tank because it was full of gas. I also take my current ls1 car out at least once a month in the winter when there is no salt on the road just to lubricate all the seals which are only 1/2 submurged with oil when the car is sitting like axle seals for instance, this will keep any seals from getting dry and brittle due to lack of oil spashing on them, it also keeps the tires from getting flat spots and it charges the battery as there is no electric in my apartments garages for a trickle charger. I only go around town for like 10-15min, just enough to get the thermostat open and all warmed up.

 

Oh and another thing that list has that is good advise is mouse traps, my buddy had his 1996 Lt4 vette in storage, couldnt get it started in the spring, brought it to the dealer and it cost him like $1400 between parts and labor to replace all the stuff teh mice ate through under the dash, last i heard that car is still experiancing wierd electrical problems.

 

Thanks guys