7vette2

I am a bit confused as to when the life of motor oil begins to diminish. I have always changed mine every six months or 3000 miles. (I only drive about 1500 miles a year so the mileage isn't an issue forme) But a friend of mine told me that when I winterize the car, as I am doing now, as long as I don't start the engine and develop condensation the additive properties will remain intact and therefore the oil will be "new" in the Spring and will not need to be changed again until six months or 3000 miles from that time. Any thoughts? Thanks guys. :flag

ScubaJKD

Without getting to technical because I am no oil engineer, I have always been advised to change my oil every 3000 miles or 90 days. You can never go wrong by changing your oil to often. Oil is cheaper than a motor every single time. :seeya

flynhi

With good filtration and use at normal temperatures, oil will lubricate well beyond 3,000 miles. However, I still change about every 3 to 4,000 to get the corrosive by products of combustion out of my engine by changing.

73 LS-4

My step-fathers 86 has a similiar life to your 72, it normally sees less then 1k per year. Therefore it spends mucho time sitting pretty in the garage and not much else. Since synthetic oil is much more resitant to breaking down over time and chemically, I simply change the Mobil 1 in it first thing every spring when I get it out. Haven't got the mileage anywhere close to 3k a year on that car for the last 7 years. I do occasionally start it during the winter and drive it around the block 8-9 times, enough to get the engine temp up and the oil temp up to at least 180 before I put it away, enough to hopefully burn all the moisture out of the system and enough to get the exhaust plenty hot so the moisture isn't so bad in it.

:cheers:
Pat Kunz

69er

I only put about 2K-3K miles a year on my '69 and use synthetic.
I change it every spring.
3 times a year when I used dino oil.

LT1driver

Every 3-4000 miles on driver cars, once a year on vette since miles are always less than 1000 a year. Moisture can build up if not used so best to change on little used cars IMHO. :cheers:

lou

In my 80 owners manual it say every 12 months or 7500 miles, except under adverse conditions like: Towing, stop and go traffic, short distances in the cold that never let the car warm up, or dusty areas, and right away after a dust storm. I change mine every 3000 regardless. I just can't keep my foot of the floor board. :D lou

Biker

7Vette2, your friend is correct about not starting the car durng the storage. Doing so willl introduce condensation into the oil, unless of course, you take her out for a long ride.

I'm the original owner of an '81 with 30k miles. I drive my car less than 1k miles per year. I change the oil and filter before I store the car for winter. I use plain 10w-40 and have never had a problem.

81VETTOM

I use Mobile 1/and prolong in my 81, and during the resto it has not been driven hardly at all, but will see rountine service when out of shop. So far I have not had any problems, but usually run 7000k on my other vehicles with mobile1 (5k on VET when I was driving with some frequency)....cheap insurance to me.