End of season oil change

What do you guys do with your seldom driven fun car at the end of the season if it won’t be driven for a few months? Change the oil, run it and put it to bed or wait till Spring and then change it? The car only sees a few hundred miles per year. I know there is a time element to oil changes as well as mileage with acids and other contaminants. Thanks!

I wrote up this article for my car club: Winter Storage

Before putting away in the fall, run the vehicle so that the engine oil, transmission fluid and differential oil are up to normal operating temperature (normally 20 minutes at highway speed). Put the car in the garage, pull a battery cable, put the sun visors in the down position (so that mice don't have a platform to stand on while they eat your headliner), make sure manually operated outside vents are closed (to keep mice out), lock the car, close the garage door. Done. Been doing it this way for 30 years with no problems. No fuel additives required, no last minute oil changes, no jack stands to keep the tires off the ground, the list can go on and on..........

Here come the big spenders! I can hear their footsteps.

So let's get some questions answered. What is this vehicle? How much is it worth? How is it used for the few hundred miles driven per year? Is it a Diesel? Do you run an air filter?

IF: It's a Hemi Cuda
It's a particular collectible
The 500 miles per year are spent competing in the Daytona, Indy or Baja 500
The 500 miles are put on 1/8 or 1/4 mile at a time
You drive on country roads without an air filter
It's a Diesel.
THEN: You may want to worry about engine oil

If none of the above statements apply to you, my advice would be to use the oil year after year until you've hit 3,000 miles and then change it, or 5,000 miles for a synthetic. ExxonMobil says Mobil 1 has a shelf life of 5 years. I look at that number as being very conservative.

If you are really curious about the condition of your engine oil on October 1, buy an oil analysis kit and get a sample tested. It used to cost me $18.00. Blackstone Labs will send you a free sample kit and charge you $28.00 for the analysis. What you'll get back is a report that gives the specific of your particular sample, how it fits in the manufacturer's acceptable range, and how much/what kind of particles you have in your oil. You will most likely see that everything about the oil is suitable for continued use. The reports do all the interpreting for you, telling you if the value is good, so-so, or bad.
Maybe you remember my '93Suburban story. It was used more than half time as a delivery vehicle, delivering kids to practice. Occasionally we'd take a long trip. I was using conventional oil and forgot to change the oil after 5,000 miles. I changed it at 12,000 miles and sent in a sample. The analysis report showed that the oil still met specifications after 12,000 miles.

It is a FACT that there are over a million particles larger than 4 microns in every liter of new motor oil. So changing the oil doesn't necessarily mean you are reducing the number of particulates. The largest source of particulates in the oil is road dust. There are also wear particles present. There may be particles from a chemical reaction causing their formation. Acids in motor oils are produced by moisture in the oil. Doing lots of low speed driving or stop and go driving increases the chances of moisture to accumulate in the oil. Not driving does less.

For most automobiles, oil is much less important than we'd think, as long as it is present and meets minimum specs. How can I say that? Think about the causes of engine failure. I don't believe lubricating oil is in the top five of the list. Overheating, head gaskets, detonation, are a few of the causes.

Several years ago Quaker State ran a program where if you used only Quaker State oil and possibly filters in your car, they'd warranty the engine against oil related failure for a lot longer than factory. The reason they could dare to do this is because oil related failures in engines are relatively rare. This excludes running out of oil, of course.s

I know oil is like religion to most of us, but we really should start taking the longer view. That money I saved on an unnecessary oil change will buy dinner and a movie for two. Keep the marriage strong, it can cause you to lose your special car much more certainly than an oil related engine failure!

R.

If it feels good? Do it! Certainly help keeping things clean in there.

I don't schedule my oil changes around storage. End of season, car gets parked with some fuel stabilizer added. Beginning of season car comes out. Some guys spend a lot of energy sweating over changing oil, filling/draining fuel, putting cars on blocks, taking off tires, the list goes on. I only focus on putting the car away somewhere that moisture and rodents are controlled.

It's all good and part of the fun of owning a collectable or hot rod. I just do whatever I want pretty much. If it's not fun for me I walk away.

I agree with Dog, why change the oil, there's really no reason to.

I started changing my oil at the beginning of storage a few years ago. If I'm under 500 miles though I let it go. Run my car and fill up the gas tank first, so that the oil is nice and hot before the change. After the oil change I fire it up and shut it down after the oil is primed.

Last tank fill up is non-ethonal gas with some stabilizer which is more for the carb. than the tank.

Put the car on jack stands and disconnect the battery.

I have 5 cars so I move a battery tender once a month between the cars.

Since I have a heated garage I don't do anything for moisture control. Like fogging the engine or putting charcoal in pie pans in the interior, trunk, and putting a bunch of cardboard under the car and in the engine compartment.

I have heard that dryer sheets keep mice at bay but I've never had any mice problems so I don't use them.

I no expert on the subject, but I have heard some folks say that acid can build up in the oil, so its best to have fresh oil in for storage. That would be opposed to changing the oil when it came out of storage. Still just one oil change.

Bill

I would worry more about the quality of gasoline in the tank. Lot of gas has Ethanol in the gas and it has a very short life cycle and separates and can gum up Carb and fuel lines over a short period of time. It can also rot away fuel lines from the inside out if the lines are not ethanol friendly. Like many say do not put your car away wet. Drain or run the fuel system empty.

Oil lasts and lasts. Take a look at how clean it appears and go from there. Oil is cheap if you feel better changing it do it.

Wow, you guys have some knowledge and insight, thanks all!

I agree here with the fuel. Have you smelled that rotten stuff from the pump nowadays? It sucks! I don't know if leaving it dry is any better though. Maybe just get out there and start it once a month and run it for 20 mins. or so.

The acid in the oil etching the bearings while in storage theory is why I change my oil before storage now.

Plus it seems like every small engine manual says to do it before storage.

I add a bottle of seafoam to the gas tank before storage and an oil change is done. I also do an oil change after storage. I know it may be a waste of money, but I do it anyway.

I should add, I recently went from conventional Valvoline 10W30 to Valvoline VR-1 10W30. I am now curious if changing oil for the winter with conventional would be fine? It gets driven 10 minutes to the storage unit in the fall and 10 minutes back home in the spring. Would be way cheaper, just wondering if it would be fine. Ran conventional in the engine for 10 years before switching.

It has a lot to do with what kind of building the car is stored in. If a metal building, then there can be a wide range of temp changes over night and almost everyday. This will cause moisture to form inside the engine, and contaminate the oil, and start corrosion to form. In this case why put new oil in to get contaminated and have to be changed in the spring. But like in my case, my car is in a basement, which the temps hardly vary, and from summer to winter it takes weeks for them to change, so I don't worry about it. I have seen airplane cylinders go bad with corrosion from sitting in a metal hanger, and remember that when you restart up something that has surface rust, then all of the power gets spread through the engine like sand.
If you really would like to store it right, they make these heating pads for airplane engines that stick to the oil pan and block, then you can keep the engine at the same warm temp all winter. They also make blowers that blow hot air through hoses that can be directed into the engine bay, and not only the engine, but everything can be kept warm.

I change in the spring before 1st start. Rarely use gas treatment...use a lot of decon in the garage for Mickey and Minnie. Sun visors down. Car cover on

If it has low miles (under 1000) I would not change it before storage , if it is dirty or over 2000 miles then change it , or if it has a lot of fuel dilution in it change it , winter storage? what's winter storage , move to California lol

I change oil once a year, right before the season starts being nice to drive

So true, especially dependent an what part of the country you live in..

In Florida there is no "bedtime" as we here can use our toys all year round....

Personally I believe in the before I put the car to bed theory of getting the contaminated oil out and clean new oil circulated throughout the system..

Anymore, if the oil is clean I just put it to bed as is, even driving it another season with the same oil.. First good warm up and drive will burn out all of the condensation..

I read a storage post from an oil expert and they suggested to chance oil when putting car in storage and not to start the car at all until removing from storage.They said just starting the car when doing the oil change alone would put acid in the oil and defeat the purpose.

I've heard this before a lot too. I don't have any data to back up my claims but I've pulled apart several engines that were sitting for years in old oil and I have never been able to find any sort of wear, damage or corrosion from sitting in used oil.



So according to your expert, what's the difference between storing an engine with used oil vs an engine with new oil in the pan but used oil still on all the bearing surfaces as it would be after an oil change if you didn't start the engine to cycle it through?

For me the stored car should sit with fresh oil vs used but the biggest killer for any engine is dry start ups. Changing the oil then not starting it until 5 months later is definitely not shortening the time for oil pressure to develop.
Quick oil pressure right after fire up is the key to long engine life. That is why I prefill my filters and start the engine as soon as the new oil is poured in.

Yeah that oil pro statement makes ZERO sense. You have to start it to check for leaks or you are not done with your oil change.

I think what he means is, do not start the car during storage.

Didn’t say I agree with it. It just said a single startup puts acid in the oil.

I don’t change my oil before or after storage if it doesn’t have hardly any miles on it and I’ve never had any problems.

The acid in the oil may be true in theory but the amount after running it for a few minutes after the oil change would be absolutely minor.

The only part is agree with is NOT starting it up while in storage. Idling will not get the oil hot enough to get rid of the moisture.

As for all the other ways to do the end of season change. I'm sure nobody will have any problems. Nobody is going to ruin their engine by doing some other method, we are just sharing the best way to do it.

The first thing I do after an oil change is start the thing and make sure it's got pressure and isn't leaking. I shine a flashlight at the filter base and plug.

On my seldom driven car (300-500 miles per year) I change the oil once a year in January. I use Brad Penn "green" oil.

My car gets driven up until about the end of November and I drive it again many times in March. It sits about 3 months and I actually start the car and run it a good 1/2 hr every week or two in the three months I dont bring it out. If my oil is not dirty like this year I wait and change it after I bring it out in March. Ron

Wants to change oil after a few hundred miles...

There is also a oil for pickling an inactive engine.

If it's dry out I drive it once in a while. She runs better when it's cold out.