oil change interval advice

[A500leroy]

For a car coving lots of really short journeys, would a twice yearly oil change be an advantage?

[227bhp]

Mileage?

[cuprabob]

It certainly won't do any harm.

[A500leroy]

shopping car, 6 miles max each way.

[Coilspring]

A500leroy said:

For a car coving lots of really short journeys, would a twice yearly oil change be an advantage?

Harm, no.

Advantage, not that I can think of, as long as good quality oil, and filter are changed yearly, or at normal mileage intervals if sooner.

[lyonspride]

Once a year will be fine, the concern about low mileage is that many people look at the typical "12000 miles or 12 months" recommended, and take that to mean they can wait 4 years for a service at 3000 miles per year. Same people tend to stick the cheapest nastiest ditch finder tyres on their car too, making spotting cars owned by these cheapskates relatively easy.

[Richard-D]

A500leroy said:

shopping car, 6 miles max each way.

I fear you have missed the intent of his question. How often do you go shopping?

[A500leroy]

twice a week probably

[227bhp]

That's 1250 miles PA, so you're asking if you need to do an oil change at 625 miles?
Are you of this planet?

[Condi]

lyonspride said:

Once a year will be fine, the concern about low mileage is that many people look at the typical "12000 miles or 12 months" recommended, and take that to mean they can wait 4 years for a service at 3000 miles per year. Same people tend to stick the cheapest nastiest ditch finder tyres on their car too, making spotting cars owned by these cheapskates relatively easy.

If its literally just a shopping car, probably worth in the hundreds rather than thousands, I'd be changing the oil ever 4 years and running it on ditch finders too.

In fact, I might not even bother with the oil depending how long you wanted to keep it.

[finlo]

Two of my fleet last had an oil change in 2005 and 2008 respectively, the petrol one's oil is still like golden syrup 2005 the diesel one is understandably black, they both do minimal mileage and still run as good as new!
It's a bit like annual boiler servicing, money for old rope! Awaits flaming!

[bearman68]

finlo said:

Two of my fleet last had an oil change in 2005 and 2008 respectively, the petrol one's oil is still like golden syrup 2005 the diesel one is understandably black, they both do minimal mileage and still run as good as new!
It's a bit like annual boiler servicing, money for old rope! Awaits flaming!

Do as you wish - oil is cheap, turbos are expensive.

[finlo]

bearman68 said:

Do as you wish - oil is cheap, turbos are expensive.

No turbo's involved!

ETA having had a turbo diesel with the oil changed every 6k it still ate it's turbo, never again!

Edited by finlo on Monday 6th May 19:32

[Tony1963]

Its

[bearman68]

Tony1963 said:

Its

[dsgrnmcm]

With a new N47 engine from BMW, I change mine every 6k or 6 months, but I do about 400 miles a week.

[lyonspride]

Let me just point out that engine oil does actually "go off", it turns acidic over time, it becomes less effective, wear accelerates and seals become damaged, this is why it should be change at least at the time interval specified. Low mileage exacerbates the problem, because the car spends more of it's driven time in it's warm up phase, where fuel mixture is rich and combustion gases are higher in carbon (carbonic acid). Small amounts of fuel get past the piston rings when cold, diluting the oil, causing increased wear, which causes more fuel to pass the pistons and further increase wear as well as reduced fuel economy.

Any given car isn't just worth it's book price, it's worth what it would cost to replace with another car.... Given this logical conclusion, it's foolish to simply not bother with maintenance.

Edited by lyonspride on Saturday 11th May 18:47

[E-bmw]

lyonspride said:

Low mileage exacerbates the problem,

Low mileage per se does not exacerbate the problem, short journeys do.

Before you jump down my throat the two are not necessarily the same.

I have a car that has done just 2500 miles in my ownership but in that time it has never done a journey under 50 miles, most over 100.

A taxi might do many, many short journeys but will have very high mileage.