Change engine oil or not. 6 months passed, but only 2500 miles on synthetic oil
#1
Pole Position
Thread Starter
Change engine oil or not. 6 months passed, but only 2500 miles on synthetic oil
Hi, all. It has been 6 months since the last time I changed engine oil. In my area, the winter is cold, below freeze point. According manual, I should change my engine oil. However, I only have 2500 miles on it, and because it is synthetic oil, I have about 2500 miles more to run.
Should I change the engine oil or not at this time?
Should I change the engine oil or not at this time?
#2
Intermediate
Use the engine oil stick to sample and wipe the tip on a white cloth and compare the color with the color of a new synthetic oil. If the engine oil color is close to new, light yellow to light brown, your engine oil is fine. The rule of thumb is that if engine oil color becomes dark brown and smell burnt, you need to change it.
Another trick I learnt is that wipe the engine oil stick tip on white cloth, view it under light or sun and change angles - if you observe any flash reflections from the oil on the white cloth, change the oil as well as the filter. The flash reflections are signs of engine oil containimated by very small metal particles from internal friction.
Engine oil conditions are dependent on driving conditions as well as engine cooling. I use non-synthetic engine oil and my experience with them (mostly Mobile) is that the change-at-3000-miles rule is very close.
Lemex is an expert in engine oil (synthetic and non-synthetic) and his articles/suggestions in this forum have been very helpful to me.
Good luck.
Another trick I learnt is that wipe the engine oil stick tip on white cloth, view it under light or sun and change angles - if you observe any flash reflections from the oil on the white cloth, change the oil as well as the filter. The flash reflections are signs of engine oil containimated by very small metal particles from internal friction.
Engine oil conditions are dependent on driving conditions as well as engine cooling. I use non-synthetic engine oil and my experience with them (mostly Mobile) is that the change-at-3000-miles rule is very close.
Lemex is an expert in engine oil (synthetic and non-synthetic) and his articles/suggestions in this forum have been very helpful to me.
Good luck.
Last edited by chenxingha; 04-17-11 at 02:33 PM.
#3
Super Moderator
Hi, all. It has been 6 months since the last time I changed engine oil. In my area, the winter is cold, below freeze point. According manual, I should change my engine oil. However, I only have 2500 miles on it, and because it is synthetic oil, I have about 2500 miles more to run.
Should I change the engine oil or not at this time?
Should I change the engine oil or not at this time?
I should also ask what kind of oil you are using. On mileage, I generally run mine out to about 7,000 (assuming under a year of use), but my fiance drives the 4Runner and gets a lot of mileage on that thing and we recently ran an Eneos 5W30 up to 10K before changing it and only lost about a quart with that over that amount of mileage.
Last edited by Lexmex; 04-18-11 at 04:29 AM.
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