Oil Change Once a Year?

[tmark]

I took a closer look at the Mobil 1 container. It said this annual oil is good for one year or 20k miles whichever comes first.

[slumlord44]

Wife's Mini Cooper gets changed once a year based on time. The computer never calls for a change before that. Full synthetic. Older cars with carb's are different. My collector cars I still change once a year with very few miles just because it makes me feel more comfortable.

[tmark]

My 2017 Toyota Tundra guide says to change 0-20 synthetic oil every 10k along with the filter.

[noslack327]

My 2017 Jeep bought last Oct just passed 5k miles, My computer says there is 42% oil life remaining, I will change when the computer says to.

[Sako]

I was in Lowes looking at trimmers and they have a wheel type trimmer with a Briggs engine and they advertise never change the oil again just check and add.

https://www.briggsandstratton.com/na/en_us/campaigns/just-check-and-add.html

[gwp]

Newer cars just do not make sludge like that any more! But I still change oil & filters according to manufacturers recommendation! They know what they are doing and you will not go wrong doing what they recommend!

In the 50s non-detergent oil was readily available because poured Babbitt bearings were common in engines. Today's lubricants and manufacturing techniques are far superior to those of the last century. Today's vehicles are capable of over 100,000 miles with little maintenance and over 200,000-300,000 miles with normal maintenance.

To clean the Pontiac we used fuel oil to clean the rocker arms, added a quart of fuel oil, removed the oil filter, let the car idle for a while, and changed to detergent oil with a new filter. The next weekend the oil and filter were changed again. After that the oil and filter were changed when the oil got black. The only noticeable damage was a noisy valve train.

[S.A. Boggs]

My Jeep just turned over 374,000 miles with an oil change @ 4,000 miles. Living in the country I do a minimum of 20 miles per trip, often more.
Sam

[dave]

Newer cars just do not make sludge like that any more! But I still change oil & filters according to manufacturers recommendation! They know what they are doing and you will not go wrong doing what they recommend!

[gwp]

At around 200,000 miles, I decided to heck with frequent oil changes. Money saved on that is best put to a new engine or vehicle. Now I have 319,000 miles on it and have never been inside the engine, 1999 F150 5.4L. If it blows up tomorrow, I can't fault it.

The key is to get the oil hot by driving more than 10 miles in a trip. That boils off the crankcase condensation from shutdown that mixes with the oil making acids. I just top it off.

Ya pays your money and takes your chances!

I agree with you limiting the money you spend on an older vehicle. You already have the miles on the truck that many vehicles will never reach.

My brothers friend purchased a low mileage (30,000 or so miles), one owner, 10 year old 1957 Pontiac station wagon. The old woman he purchased it from never changed the oil. She only had the gas station attendant add oil as needed. When we took of the valve covers off, there was so much crud in the engine it was solid and you could barely see the rocker arms.

[PhillipM]

At around 200,000 miles, I decided to heck with frequent oil changes. Money saved on that is best put to a new engine or vehicle. Now I have 319,000 miles on it and have never been inside the engine, 1999 F150 5.4L. If it blows up tomorrow, I can't fault it.

The key is to get the oil hot by driving more than 10 miles in a trip. That boils off the crankcase condensation from shutdown that mixes with the oil making acids. I just top it off.

Ya pays your money and takes your chances!

[togor]

I have a Dodge Dakota that gets about 3K miles/year on its 4.7L V8. I use Mobil-1 for it's anti-sludge properties and change the oil once/year.

[Former Cav]

with a modern vehicle with FUEL injection, your fuel is metered so well that you never rinse down your cylinder walls with gasoline like you would do with a carburetor, especially in a COLD climate like MN where the CHOKE would be on and really give you a rich mixture.
If you are in a very cold climate and drive SHORT mileage trips (the motor NEVER gets up to operating temps), I'd change it due to condensation. Otherwise, you are good to go.
Personally, I change mine every 5K miles. I figure 20 oil changes (100,000 miles worth) is less then what a new motor costs.
Besides, I like being "a GLOBAL WARMER" !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[dave]

Any synthetic motor oil is good for longer oil change intervals, that is its only advantage over an organic oil based product. If you go by the SAE rating there is no difference between a synthetic and any other oil with the same rating---except for how long you can use it. My car (a 08 Malibu) change oil lite comes on at about 80 thou. miles (twice a year for me) so there is no advantage to a synthetic for me. In a modern car I think a synthetic would be good for more then a year (average miles driving).
I understand some manufacturers are now recommending synthetic, I would go by what they say! (for warranty, if no other reason)

[barretcreek]

Bought a brand new S-10 in '95, started using synthetic at 10k, c/o once a year, roughly 25K a year. When I got rid of it at 274K it still used a quart every 5 or 6K. Former boss bought his wife a 2003 Beemer. Factory called for first change at 15K. Porsche Boxter goes 100K between filter changes. Synthetic oils plus reduced sulfur in fuels means oil changes are way extended. Mineral oils oxidize before they break down from contamination. Big diesel industrial engines (100k h.p.) go forever with out changing their 30 tons of lube oil, but it is constantly purified.

I use an oil monitoring service on all my diesels.

[jon_norstog]

I always used SE graded detergent oil, 10-40 grade and changed it when it started looking dirty - opaque. Also changed air and fuel filters regularly. When I was a tribal official at Navajo Nation I typically drove over 30k miles a year on bad roads. I looked for good used cars and used them up pretty fast, but I never had engine problems and typically got 60-100K miles out of a car before selling it off at well over 200K. Changing oil is the cheapest thing you can do to extend the life of any vehicle.

I'm using a "synthetic blend" in my current vehicle, a low-mi9leage Kia Sportage I've had for about 30K miles. Don't see any benefit at all from it.

YMMV

jn