Thoughts on oil changes, hot oil vs cold.

anyone see a benefit of doing an oil change a specific way? hot oil vs cold oil?

there just was a thread on this but I don't remember the jist of it.

I've always changed it hot. Just always thought you would get
more complete drainage.

Changing it cold can allow and solids in suspension to settle out and remain to recontaminate the new oil.

Not to mention hot oil flows better.

I prefer lukewarm. Shaken, not stirred.

Its all about the vw factor.

If you shut it down hot, how long do you wait to pull the plug?

If you drain it cold, you get all the rewards of all the heat thinning the oil, gravity draining and time as well.

I will break the filter loose and the plug while hot and pull the plug when cool, dump 1/2 qt in the top to flush the pan a bit and thats about all I can do.

If its a real busy time in my life, it just dont matter and the fact is I still changed the oil.

But really anyway one does it, is it really going to matter in the end?

Some of the pics are gone because of Photobucket but this cures the hot oil problem

https://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/1380008/1.html

Hot, but not blazing "if you touch the dipstick it's like napalm" hot.

Only because it seems to drain a whole lot faster.

I like burning the crap out of my hand when I pull the drain plug, so...

I have always changed mine cold.
never had an oil related issue.
my cars die of other causes.

The worst is when one takes the car to the dealer or elsewhere for an oil change and it sits for a few hours before pulled in onto the rack.

The engine is cold as is the oil, the tech removes the drain plug and lets oil run for a couple of minutes and replaces the plug.

Adds 5 quarts of oil to a 6 quart capacity pan and calls it a day.

Or possibly worse, puts in the recommended 6 quarts

What could go wrong?

He could forget to put the plug back in, or close the valve it it has that fancy valve. He could forget to put in oil, or the wrong oil. He might or might not replace the filter.

The only substantive case I can make here is, drain it hot while anything in the oil is still suspended, but let drain for awhile to get as much oil drained as possible, I go like 1/2hr, and its still dripping, talking about the oil.

Usually cold.

I always figured with it cold, the oil had time to drain back to the pan from the upper extremes of the engine giving a more complete drain.

Rarely am I in a rush, so, I'll pull the plug and let gravity do its thing for a half hour or longer.

I've always done it this way and have never had an issue.

good idea that I have wondered about for awhile & recently I had oil pan out/leveled (tho most are changed with the front jacked up) I was surprised at the amt of dirty oil left in the bottom (& extended oil changes are getting more common).

I drain mine after work on Friday evening when the motor is still warm, but not hot, and let it drip all night. Next morning I pull the filter off, and because all the oil has settled it doesn't run on me, and put a new one on and start adding new oil.

I researched this years ago and the hot oil change was the best ( as said above) because the "contaminants are held in suspension and drain out with the oil"..

Surprised nobody has mentioned, I also use a qt of generic "oil change flush" additive nearly every oil change, with my typical longer then average intervals. It's probably the most expensive off road red dyed diesel fuel one can buy.

It's also impossible to get all the oil out of the engine as the drain bolt hole is either too high up on the pan, or if it's on the bottom any oil from the top of the stove nut on down won't come out. I guess you could jack the car up, or rock it back and forth to help slosh a bit more out.

If sediment is a major concern, I would think seriously on a better filter. Not sure what most are rated at, but I believe it is only a few microns that is allowed to pass through the filter.

I usually change it fairly warm, and not hot. Cold, it takes forever for the last drop to drip.

Other than you , who said sediment?

No one.

All oil has contaminates in it, that is part of why you change it. It will settle out if left to sit long enough. Change it while it is hot and it doesn't have time to settle out.

You mean when you pull the drain plug,and have to stick a screw driver in to get it to drain sediment?

One thing not brought up is doing it differently on our 45 year old junk vs or new stuff.

The newer rides are so efficient, outwardly the oil coming out looks the same at 30k miles as it does now at 130k miles.

Ever pull a valve cover off a newer car with 100k miles and think, wow this is clean.

Which obviously is not the case with our older junk.

Do you think the newer oil is the difference, not the car make and model? I do
OP, I have work on cars for a long time starting in service stations as a teenager when we serviced the cars back in the early 1960, hot oil drain is the best

Solids, contaminants or sediment, is a all academic.

Words mean things.

Sediment - Sediment is a naturally occurring material that is broken down by processes of weathering and erosion, and is subsequently transported by the action of wind, water, or ice, and/or by the force of gravity acting on the particles.

It's not academic. If you have sediment in your oil your engine is [censored].

Whats a VW?

Sediment in engine oil

https://www.google.com/patents/US6237720

Engine oil pan including sediment basin and baffle configuration
US 6237720 B1
ABSTRACT
A sediment basin and baffle combination for internal combustion engines, which combination includes a sediment basin in the bottom of the engine oil pan for accumulating sediment and contaminants from the engine oil and a baffle positioned over the sediment basin for limiting re-entry of the accumulated sediment back into the oil reservoir from the sediment basin. In a preferred embodiment the baffle includes a baffle grid constructed from one or more layers of elongated baffle elements, each having a triangular-shaped cross-section. Each baffle element is oriented in the baffle grid with a triangle apex of each baffle element facing upwardly to promote drainage of sediment and contaminant deposits through the grid, into the sediment basin and a triangle base of each baffle element facing downwardly toward the sediment basin to retard sediment and contaminant re-entry into the oil. In one embodiment the elements of one of the grid layers are disposed in perpendicular relationship with respect to the elements of the adjacent grid layer or layers, and in another embodiment the single-layered grid is characterized by multiple, intersecting longitudinal and transverse baffle elements provided in a single plane. In still another embodiment the baffle is characterized by a baffle grate having at least one layer and preferably, two layers of parallel baffle elements, and the baffle elements of one layer are staggered or offset and parallel with respect to the elements of the adjacent layer or layers. In a most preferred embodiment the sediment basin and baffle combination includes a baffle ring that overhangs the sediment basin and, with the baffle, retards sloshing of the basin sediment back through the baffle, into the oil reservoir in the pan.