Oil Change

[sLADe781]

There's this 3000GT that hasn't gotten an oil change in over a year (about 14 months), but it hasn't passed the 3,000 mile bench mark since the oil was changed (about 300 miles left). I know you're suppose to get an oil change every 3K miles or 3 months, so how bad is it that the car hasn't received an oil change? For the most part, the car is parked in the garage and taken out once a week to keep it "fresh." I'm looking into buying it but if the lack of oil change has severely damaged it then I would not want to buy it. Thanks again guys.

[talskinyguy]

I would have the oil changed as soon as posible, oil breaks down over time and doesnt do as good of a job lubricating the engine. If its synthetic oil you dont have much to worry about, if its regular the car is most likely fine, but the oil needs to be changed as soon as it can.

[sLADe781]

Originally Posted by talskinyguy

If its synthetic oil you dont have much to worry about, if its regular the car is most likely fine, but the oil needs to be changed as soon as it can.

How do you know if it's synthetic oil or regular oil? The car was taken into the shop and the oil was changed there. Thanks for the help talskinyguy.

[talskinyguy]

If he doesnt know what was put in it then its regualar oil.

[AcesHigh]

An oil change is twenty bucks.
A damaged engine is several thousand dollars.

You get the picture

I get mine changed every 2k miles. But I'm obsessive like that.

[YogsVR4]

The 3 month and 3K oil change is a moneymaker for anyone associated to the oil industry. You will do no harm in changing your oil that often, but the reality is that the car manufacturers do not require that it be changed that often (take a look at the recommendations in the manuals). Unless you drive your car exceedingly hard, the oil will not break down that fast.

Given that, you don’t want to leave the same unused oil in an engine for a year. You’ll certainly want to get it changed. If you have any question as to the type of oil you probably should go with a synthetic. It doesn’t hurt the engine to go from regular to the synthetic stuff, but you do not want to go from synthetic back to regular. The synthetic expands your seals while the regular will shrink them back and potentially cause leaks.

[AcesHigh]

Learning how to do it yourself is also really helpful. It takes only a few minutes, and costs the price of the bottle of oil. It's too cold out right now to do it, but it's quite painless when its warm out.

[talskinyguy]

I currently change mine every 5-6 thousand, this summer im switching to AMS Oil, recommended oil change intervals, 20-25k miles with a filter change 1/2 way.