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Oil & filter change intervals


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I have covered just under 2000 miles since the last oil/filter change 18 months ago (TR4). Although it is 18 months the quality oil (Millers) used still shows a golden colour & it seems crazy to have to throw this away after only 2000 miles of non competition driving. What are people's thoughts on oil/filter change intervals? The books say 12 months but do not seem to take into account the low mileages many of us cover in a year!

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1 hour ago, Fireman049 said:

Hi Monty ~

When I had a Morris Mini as a daily runner I used to change the oil and filter every 6,000 miles. The Mini was perfectly happy with this arrangement.

Tom.

 

1 hour ago, Fireman049 said:

Hi Monty ~

When I had a Morris Mini as a daily runner I used to change the oil and filter every 6,000 miles. The Mini was perfectly happy with this arrangement.

Tom.

Hi Tom,

How many years or months to do the 6000 miles?!

Monty.

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Hi Monty,

even taking into account milages today and modern oils, you are running an old engine.

Personally every twelve months or 3000 miles, whithout fail, whats an oil change cost £20 - £30,?

for me anything else is pennywise and pound foolish.

John.

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At a minimum once a year/3000 miles as if your doing even less miles its not doing it any good as you wont be burning any moisture out of it.

Stuart.

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9 minutes ago, AndyR100 said:

Change oil once a year or every 3k miles, whichever comes first. 

....... Andy 

Thats what i do

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3 hours ago, John Morrison said:

Hi Monty,

even taking into account milages today and modern oils, you are running an old engine.

Personally every twelve months or 3000 miles, whithout fail, whats an oil change cost £20 - £30,?

for me anything else is pennywise and pound foolish.

John.

+1

That's what I do.

Clean oil will make an engine last. My GT6 had regular oil  and filter changes all its life as far as I know (owned for the last 20 years and new oil at least every year in my ownership). When I stripped the engine at 112,000 miles, it only needed new bearing shells, piston rings and valve guides. The standard size bores and crank were good to go again after light honing and polishing. Following its budget rebuild,  oil consumption is next to nothing and the oil pressure is well within specification when hot.

A full six cylinder engine rebuild with rebore, crank grind, camshaft, valve guides etc can cost upwards of £2,000 when all parts and machining are taken into account, based on building it and installing it yourself. That's almost 100 years worth of oil and filter changes. No brainer to change the oil and filter often!

Nigel

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I am sure you will get many responses about owners and engines being happy with regular changes...but the important data point would be the case of engine damage caused by *not* changing the oil.

I have an (abused) Alfa Spider , didn't change the oil between 1995 and 2009, driven intermittently over this period...no issue.

You will find discussions online about driving with no oil, which obviously causes immediate heat- and lube- related damage...but old oil?? Fewer stories.. especially low mileage old oils..

https://jalopnik.com/i-found-out-what-happens-when-you-dont-change-your-oil-1762314484

The oil itself wont't "go bad": it's full of antioxidants and stabilisers to protect it from damage at operating temps...at cool temps these additives will protect the oil for many tens of years, especially with limited exposure to oxygen inside the engine.

So, as long as the oil has seen 'proper' usage cycles, running up to operating temperatures (meaning not loaded with water and combustion products due to short start-stop cycles), I expect you'll be ok with 5 year/5000 mile intervals with no damage.

You could monitor this with oil analysis as in the above link, to ensure the oil/engine is really happy.

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