davo2110

2010 GS has to have its winter break in Illinois, so should oil & filter be changed before or after the winter break---and, of course, why is one better than the other. Thanks

ProCycle

Before storage. You get the moisture, acids and contaminants out so they can't work their harm while the motor is sitting.

LMB-Z

Yes, do one either before or after, whenever you have the extra time and money to do it. Makes no difference.

Jeffs82c3

Before storing..

R&L's C6

Gary7

Bingo.

C6 Snowboarder

Drain it in November - Fill it with Mobil 1 in April,., Drive it immediately after filling it with oil...

1bdvet

billyboy47

Just bought a new Ford Edge Sport and my manual states that if the car is stored for a period of a few months, change the oil before storage and then again before using it. Since I'm no expert on oils, is it possible oil can get rancid just sitting around in the engine? I changed the oil in my 012 GS sometime in December and keep it on a tender. I do start it occasionally for 15 minutes or so with the heat set to max temperature setting.

Don-Vette

I change my oil in the Fall before storage, in the Spring you are good to go, no need to change the oil again it doesn't go bad. Lol

Also, once I hook up my battery tender, I don't start the car again until Spring, absolutely no reason to do otherwise.

WW7

I change my oil when it gets 5000 miles on it , time of year doesn't matter to me.. But, I drive my car whenever I get a chance during the winter, so I really don't do what you call "storing" my vehicle.. If my car sat for 4 or 5 months without starting, then I would probably change my oil at end of season.....WW

HOXXOH

Using that reasoning, you would change oil everytime you turned the engine off. Do you also think the engines of all the cars in museums are self destructing, since they may go years at a time without oil changes, yet still get started often?

Although today's engines and oils are vastly superior to those as little as 3 decades ago, GM wisely included a OLM monitoring system to hopefully encourage owners to maintain their car in a timely manner without overuse of finite resources. The system relies on data that is far more involved than ever known before and is continually tested and revised to keep up with current products and consumer usage. The results are shown on the DIC as the remaining percentage of the half-life of the additives in the recommended oils. It's the additives and filtration that keep the engines free of harmful substances.

As far as concerns about moisture, condensation doesn't occur or accumulate on the inside of closed vessels, such as an engine or your car's interior. Any moisture as a byproduct of combustion that possibly remained in the engine after a shutdown from a normal operating temperature, would evaporate upon a restart. If enough of that minimal amount of moisture combined to make a drop of water, it would sink to the bottom of the pan and be covered by oil. Since no air would be present it wouldn't have an opportunity to oxidize the aluminum pan.

The bottom line is to change oil fairly soon after the DIC message "CHANGE ENGINE OIL" is displayed at 4% IIRC. Anytime prior to that is a waste of money and resources.

This photo shows several aluminum alloys and a mild steel plate that were submerged in used oil and then water introduced. The jar is sealed with the exception of a small hole in the lid. It represents thousands of times more moisture than could enter your engine in your lifetime. I'll post up a new photo later this year before the "storage season" begins, just to show there is no corrosion on the parts.

4SUMERZ

Ive done it both ways. Some years I change oil before storage due to the mileage I had from the previous change.
This year, I did not change before storage, but will prior to getting the car out of hibernation. I have the oil and filter, so I can do it anytime before Spring.

AORoads

Before.

K9KUZ

This is an interesting thread. Are there any automotive engineers out there?
Here's my Mobil 1 story:
In the 70s, my wife (mechanical engineer) bought lubrication products for a large manufacturer. The Mobil rep suggested converting to their new synthetic product. Available only in 55 gal.drums. She could even use it in the automobiles and save lots of money by only changing it at 25,000 miles! Rule: change filter at 10,000 top off the oil; change it all at 25,000. And at home we did that too. Our 1970 Volvo lasted a very long time. Once, I thought I had a problem, so we sent a oil sample to a independent lab for testing (it had 20,000 on the sample). The lab comments in the results were "good for 25,000 miles".

ProCycle

The OP asked whether it was better before storage or after storage. Storing with clean oil is BETTER than storing with dirty oil.

And yes, I have seen damaged engine components that were completely covered in old contaminated oil and left to sit for years. Those museum cars don't get 5K or 10K worth of contamination in their oil - ever.

Will dirty oil do significant damage in a few months of storage? Of course not. If a guy is trying to decide whether to change the oil just before putting the car up for storage or doing the change right after taking the car out of storage doing it before is the better choice.

Hebebad

Red08

Always before.

cclive

I agree that before makes more sense but here on the forum, there is a great deal of overthinking...so realistically it probably doesn't make any significant difference. Do whichever is more convenient for you...if there isn't any difference to you, then do it before. The engine is not going to be eaten alive by contaminants if you do it in the spring...

dryadsdad

Do NOT drain and leave empty for the winter. Drain, refill and then enjoy the spring with new oil.