Oil changes

[Riley26]

What's the longest anyone has gone between oil changes?

[ChocolateFrog]

10000 and change.

Up until a few months ago I'd never done anything other than buy my cars with my own money so why wouldn't I look after them.

[finlo]

One of mine last had it changed in 2005 to comply with manufacturers warranty but it has only done 10,000 miles since!

[Jag_NE]

OP - what will you do with this data?

[Gericho]

Time wise I'd say 2 years.
Mileage 10,000.

If you do less than 4,000 miles a year I don't see why it would need changing yearly.

[mcflurry]

For the last 20 years, it's been annually or 10-12k as per the book.

However, in my days of bangeromics I had a Ford Escort that went 60,000 miles without a change.
Don't know if the engine went "bang" as the car was stolen..

[Riley26]

I just do low mileage
Wondered if once yearly or once ever 2 years is enough. Thanks

[Roger Irrelevant]

Timewise it'll only be a year as I've always just got it done at the same time as the MOT. In terms of distance it'll be whatever the highest mileage I've done in a year between MOTs is so I'd guess about 18k miles. On our current car it always seems to coincide nicely with when it says an oil change is due anyway.

[Riley26]

Finlo, so one you haven't changed since 2005?

[Riley26]

Finlo, so one you haven't changed since 2005?

[Fleckers]

every 5000 for my family fleet

keeps me happy

gives me something to do

[Oilchange]

About 10k roughly.

[garypotter]

When the oil light comes on and the dipstick is dry......

[kambites]

When my wife's old Fiat Punto was obviously approaching the end of it's life I stopped servicing it, more out of interest than anything. It lasted another nearly four years and about 20k miles before the water pump failed. Over that time it became steadily more sluggish feeling and fuel consumption rose appreciatively, but it kept going. After the water pump failed I did a full service and, as far as I could tell, it went back to working perfectly again.

It didn't last much longer anyway due to non-engone related issues.

[leyorkie]

29000 miles on long life oil from Škoda with variable servicing, oil costs around £17/ litre from memory.

[anonymous-user]

Annual for the last few years as Skoda diesel is now 10.
Oil & Filter from Amazon
Suck the oil out through the dipstick with the cheap electric pump, to avoid scrabbling about under the car! (filter accessed from above)
Costs about £40 & 30 mins of my time..

[thebraketester]

Riley26 said:

I just do low mileage
Wondered if once yearly or once ever 2 years is enough. Thanks

12 times a year should be fine.

[finlo]

Riley26 said:

Finlo, so one you haven't changed since 2005?

Correct, and another not since 2009 again only a few thousand miles since.

[trickywoo]

finlo said:

Correct, and another not since 2009 again only a few thousand miles since.

Oil has a shelf life even unused in a sealed container. Quality fully synthetic is ok for at least 5 years unused but I’d not want to go that long when it’s been exposed to combustion byproducts.

[Lincsls1]

On my daily Astra diesel, its changed at least annually, but the car is doing 8-10k miles per year.
Weirdly, my pride n joy Monaro V8, the oil is changed every 2/3 years. I changed it last May, but prior to that it was 3 years (2020). The mileage in those 3 years - 1600.
I'm sorry, but draining and disposing of any motor oil, never mind the super duper, super expensive stuff I use, annually, after that sort of mileage is at best, simply daft.

OP, if you truly are doing low miles, assuming you're not doing loads of start/stop journeys and abusing the car in general, every 2 years will be fine.

Edited by Lincsls1 on Thursday 4th April 18:12