Oil change interval

P

pvr

Lifer
Was reading an article about engine oil where the conclusion was that oil doesn’t deteriorate by time and only by miles.

Thought that was interesting as I always thought that the annual change of oil on the Golf that might do 300 miles or so, could be excessive so might as well skip every other year.

Will see if I can locate the article
 
I'd like to see that article.

When I was still doing business mileage my BMWs always needed an oil change based on mileage, but now I've stopped working they get done on time so every 2 years which seems to be around 6/7 thousand miles. Any more frequent than that just struck me as overkill so it would be good to see if I may be right!
 
Surely if oil deteriorated over time, each can of oil would have a sell by date. Also if you purchased it towards the end of that date, would that mean an even earlier oil service once you put an oil that's already say 6 months old into your car?

Car booked in for its second service which includes an oil service and plugs, on Thursday with 18K on the clock so will ask.
 
Haven’t found it yet, will check my desktop machine history Monday.

It was showing that an analysis of a 14 year old open oil bottle that nothing had deteriorated.
 
I can see why old fashioned mineral oils might deteriorate over time, but modern oils are synthetic based so I'd hope they wouldn't.
 
Always had the BMWs serviced every two years regardless.

Don't BMW say their gearboxes are sealed for life but if you've seen the state of the oil at 60k miles it's not a pretty sight.

Tim.
 
I think it was this article https://www.reddit.com/r/cars/comments/1b0lh6p/oil_change_interval_myth/ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/105-no-time-to-change/id1492870857?i=1000637442335
 
But if it goes into your car and does a bit of work it then sits in the sump and oil ways potentially holding foreign matter and moisture in it.
Not quite the same as leaving the top off a bottle.
 
pvr said:
Which comes back to how many miles it has done with the oil, the more miles the more pollution
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But if in the first 100 miles it picks up, let's say, some iron particles and gets a bit of moisture in, then that will continue to corrode regardless if it does another 10 miles or 10,000. In fact maybe there's an argument to say it would be worse as with more frequent use the stuff doesn't get a chance to settle anywhere and is more likely to end up in the filter?
Just hypothesising tbh.
 
But that is the good part about the discussion, to see what could be or not be impacted.

I was just thinking that the first 5 years of my lawnmower I used to change the oil every year, and have not done so the last 20 years with no visible impact :lol:
 
pvr said:
But that is the good part about the discussion, to see what could be or not be impacted.

I was just thinking that the first 5 years of my lawnmower I used to change the oil every year, and have not done so the last 20 years with no visible impact :lol:
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Same here
 
Isn’t the simple answer that service intervals based on time with no reference to actual mileage just a way for garages to make more money?

For instance how can it be right that a spark plug needs changing after 2 years regardless of use? Likewise filters.
 
pvr said:
I was just thinking that the first 5 years of my lawnmower I used to change the oil every year, and have not done so the last 20 years with no visible impact :lol:
Click to expand...

That's no way to talk about your 911 :lol: :poke:
 
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