sheepdawggerry

​​​​ Is it necessary to change oil Every Spring in my Corvette on C3, 350, when I only put under 500 miles on it a year and run it on weekend during the winter months in the garage?
Thanks for any repy

doorgunner

I would think a yearly oil change before storage would be even better by having uncontaminated fresh oil circulated through a new filter. If you waited for 1,000 miles/2 years the amount of moisture built up inside the engine would be harmful EVEN though you run the engine in winter months to keep the gaskets
, rings, lifters, and oil seals lubricated. My .02 cents.

Rodnok1

Weekend sitting in garage running harder on it than driving... Oil changes twice a year cheap insurance and hey it gives you an excuse go fart around in garage and actually get something done.

Bills17n72

No but dont start it during the winter

resdoggie

500 mile per year? Change your oil every year or two. You'll still get 25000 miles or 50 years out of the engine before you have any major issues with the internals, maybe. If it were me, once a year before putting it away for the winter.

revitup

My routine is to change the oil just before putting it away for the season. Put a dose of Stabil in the tank and drive to the station to to top it off. All the oil passages and cylinder walls get coated with the new uncontaminated oil. I remove the battery, don't start it at all while in storage. Starting it for short warm ups in the garage does more harm than good.

C3-PO

my 1980 350 L48 has 78k original miles. I rode motorcycles for the first 23 years of ownership and let it sit for years in the garage and pulling it out for a few weeks at a time during the year round. I put about 2k miles on it a year. so for a 5k mile oil change it would be about 3-4 years between changes. i've even put as much as 10k miles on the newer oils between changes with very good results. even now the motor burns clean with very little smoke. some oils tend to burn quart or 2 every 3-4k miles. topping off and letting it go for a few months longer didn't hurt. well used oil is not a waste, good for gophers. it still runs quite well today. IMHO.

C3 4ME

I change my oil once a year but don't really have a down season, as I'll drive mine on a clear winter day if the roads are clean. Once a year works out to about every 2500 to 3000 miles for me.

flyeri

My experience is about the same for the C3 and C6 except we will put 3500-4500 miles on each car each year. Most of your drives are 200-300 miles and shorter ones are usually long enough for the oil temp to get completely hot. The C6 DIC indicates that oil life is approximately 50% after a year of driving.

So to the op, stop cranking it during the winter unless you are going to drive it and get it hot. If you drive 50+ miles to get that 500/yr you can probably go more than 12 months. If just short trips, then yes, change it each year.

stingr69

You can change it just before storage because the oil is not yet contaminated by many miles of combustion byproducts. It will not hurt anything for fresh oil to be stored that way. Do not start it just for the sake of starting it during the winter season.

You can also throw caution to the wind and change it when you feel like it and probably suffer no ill effects.