To change the oil or not that is the question

[Steve620]

It's the third anniversary of my ownership of a 3.0 si coupe. It now has 54800 on the clock and I have added 8000 in those three years. It has just spent winter wrapped up in the garage.

Normally on its birthday I take it for a service and MOT and always have done this annually with other Zeds, TVRs and MGs that I have owned over the years.

Now that I am only doing about 2500 miles per year (and likely to do less this year) and oil is synthetic am I wasting money? I am keen to prolong the life of the car and also not have gaps that would put off any future owner.

What do other low mileage users do?

 

[Marlon]

that's very low annual mileage - oil can degrade over time, a 2 year interval on that mileage would probably be fine, however I'd probably go for 18 months between oil change.
I'm changing every 12 months but I'm putting on 9 to 10k per year

 

[srhutch]

I do mine every 2 years as per service schedule. Only doing 2-3k per year.

Just had my oil analysed after 2 years and 6k which showed no issues.

 

[NickDE]

Oil change every year.

 

[patriot66]

I change mine annually irrespective of the mileage.

 

[buzyg]

Can't go wrong with an annual oil Change. But it's possibly a bit over kill on 2.5k a year & as said, the book says by annual, so not adding any provenance, just piece of mind.

 

[buzyg]

Can't go wrong with an annual oil Change. But it's possibly a bit over kill on 2.5k a year & as said, the book says by annual, so not adding any provenance, just piece of mind.

Well I did try to delete the Double post. Guess I'm just too Old & Slow. :wink:

 

[Scooba_Steve]

Annual or 8k for me, whichever comes first. Though I'm sure for low mileage 2 years would be fine with regular use. If it's being laid up then it's a different story.

 

[cj10jeeper]

Annually for a regularly used car, but would not let it go beyond the specified 2 year period or people will see a broken history and increasing risk of water and contaminants damaging the engine

 

[Smartbear]

If your 2.5k usage is comprised of many short journeys it's not good for the life of the oil-I would change it for fresh every year for the cost of it
Rob

 

[Ewazix]

Unlike mineral or mineral/synth oils a BMW LL quality, fully synthetic oil is never going to degrade over 2 years at low mileage in normal use, but if it's tracked, idled for hours on end or you are seeing discoloration due to contamination / wear particulates sooner would be wise.
I've averaged 2-4 k miles per year in my M54 Zed and change every 2 years per schedules to preserve the history. As a matter of interest it literally uses zero oil between changes and the oil has always been visually 'new' when changed.

By comparison my low mileage Cooper S (turbo) needed regular topping up and the the oil was a stinking dark mess only half way through the service period so I doubled up on changes, horses for courses I suppose

 

[85genius]

My feeling is if you have to ask then its probably time to do it. Oil ain't that expensive and even if you only do low miles it cant hurt to slightly over maintain it

 

[Steve620]

Thanks everyone for your thoughts. Most of my runs are long ones (Le Mans, Spa, Silverstone etc.) no commuting.

I think I will stick to the annual plan.

Thanks again.

 

[mr wilks]

Id have it out every springtime regardless of miles

 

[Mike6]

As earlier post I am fairly sure Synthetic oil does not degrade like mineral oil so 2 year should be fine between changes.

 

[Chris_D]

I got 260k miles from Benny (M52TU2.5) and did all my own oil changes every 10k miles on the dot regardless of time intervals.
Yes, oil can degrade but only in terms of the polymer chains lengthening/breaking over inactive time. You'll get a sediment layer forming too which won't help when an engine's cranked back up perhaps but personally I wouldn't worry about any polymer chain shear or viscosity index loss inside 2 years non-use...

 

[Grumpyowl]

As said before annually regardless of mileage, for what 8 litres of castrol and an oil filter cost it's a no brainer for me (my car only did just over 400 miles between mot's last year I was busy and I still did the change )

 

[mr wilks]

As said before annually regardless of mileage, for what 8 litres of castrol and an oil filter cost it's a no brainer for me (my car only did just over 400 miles between mot's last year I was busy and I still did the change )

Dead right , its piffling when you consider what the oil does for the car :wink: condensation can also form through winter months so why not dump the old oil & start the season fresh

 

[Grumpyowl]

As said before annually regardless of mileage, for what 8 litres of castrol and an oil filter cost it's a no brainer for me (my car only did just over 400 miles between mot's last year I was busy and I still did the change )

Dead right , its piffling when you consider what the oil does for the car :wink: condensation can also form through winter months so why not dump the old oil & start the season fresh

my pokey little 6 cylinder 2:2 engine is on 54 k, I've had 4 years and 5 oil and filter changes is as sweet as a nut and smooth as a gravy sandwich

 

[Yorkie Z]

Yearly for me also. Unfortunately I've only done around 1700 miles and the M likes the good stuff £££. But it makes me feel better knowing it's done.