Do I really need to change the oil?

[y3chargerrt]

I changed the oil in my 440 in the spring. I used  5w 50 Castrol Syntec.I don't know if I have 1,000 miles since then. I usually change the oil in the fall but is it really necessary?I may put another 100 miles on the Charger until oil change time in the spring.I'm not trying to be cheap but I do not want to harm my matching numbers motor.Let me know what you guys think. Thanks

[andy74]

i would change it if you store the car for the winter-you dont want the unburned fuel,and contaminents sitting in your crank case for a few months do you?

[last426]

i would change it if you store the car for the winter-you dont want the unburned fuel,and contaminents sitting in your crank case for a few months do you?

Personally I just never fell for that change the oil on a timed interval line of thought.  Not saying that it's not true, but I just doubt that there would be any traceable impact on an engine, at least none that is worth worrying about.  On my engine I bet I haven't changed the oil in three years or more.  Oh, and to answer your question, yes I would -- it is in there whether you drive it or not.  YMMV  Kim

[Todd Wilson]

i would change it if you store the car for the winter-you dont want the unburned fuel,and contaminents sitting in your crank case for a few months do you?

Exactly!!! Engines not being driven much is harder on them in some ways then driving them. Condesation and the unburned fuel. Acids and oxidations.


Todd

[Manfred318]

i would change it if you store the car for the winter-you dont want the unburned fuel,and contaminents sitting in your crank case for a few months do you?

Exactly!!! Engines not being driven much is harder on them in some ways then driving them. Condesation and the unburned fuel. Acids and oxidations.


Todd

[y3chargerrt]

I will change it monday anyway.The reason I was thinking about this was the fact many newer cars have 15k mile oil changes. One of the company cars we drive are new Saabs.The dealer changes the oil at 15K miles and not a mile before that. I never liked the idea of waiting 15k miles for the first oil change but thats what they do.

[derailed]

i wonder the same thing myself. seems like half the people I talk to say its necessary and the others say no. I figure for as little as it costs its not going to hurt anything by changing it

[Steve P.]

The cars that are getting away with it are daily drivers that DO drive enough miles one way to burn off all the bad crap. Those that are going to the store down the street and to church on Sunday are being hurt much worse that the 1/2 hour drive cars. There are too many factors to say one way or another. What I can tell you is that you will NEVER hurt your motor by doing regular maintenance.

I've seen highway trucks go 15-20 thousand miles with just adding to the oil here and there that look great and are not eating internals. I've also seen cars that go short distances all the time that are loaded with crap and some of them ARE doing the maintenance!!

I say use good oil and top of the line filters and change it regularly. It's just plain cheap insurance..

cost of a rebuild and time down - vs - 4 oil changes per year.......

[Lord Warlock]

Without trying to sound condescending to anyone, but there seems to be so many people out there that grew up thinking oil needs to be changed every 2000 miles and its all a big conspiracy.  my car has been stored several different times in the past, once for a year when first started college (1 year), once when the motor blew and i had to install another (6 months), again when i was in the military (4 years) and then while i was waiting to get around to working on it (27 years).  I always changed the oil before storing it, and when driving it changed it when the oil was dirty and mileage exceeded 6-10k, but having old oil remain in the pan for 5 years or 25 years has not made much difference when stored, as long as it had oil in it when turning the motor over or starting it from time to time.  

In my daily driver cars, both the 91 turbo stealth, and the 04 cobra, I only change oil when the car needs it (oil is dirty) or once a year.  Otherwise there has been no reason to just drain oil.  I do use synthetic oil which has a longer lifespan in the newer cars, but still a 10k time span between changes has never kept the motors from reaching 100k+ miles on any of my cars.  And the charger, during its last storage, which took 4 years between changes (still has 4 year old oil in it) still starts, still runs smooth which continues to amaze me.  The only thing that worries me when the car is stored, is whether there is enough antifreeze to keep the block from freezing during the winter, not the oil.  

So to answer your question, no you don't need to change it for the 6 months of winter storage, just change it when you pull the car out in the spring.  The car will be fine.  

[deputycrawford]

Im not as involved as Lord Warlock, but I change the oil every spring. Thats it. I drive the car around 2000 miles during the summer months and put it back in storage for the winter. I change the oil the next spring a hammer down driver. I personally feel the newer oil formulas are superior to the old stuff. Just my 2 cents of un educated answer but thats the way I do it. Mine a numbers engine also. I do care about my engine but just try not to over anylize my oil. I'm not putting down anyone else. I would change mine every week if money was no object. I just put in the fresh stuff in the spring.

[Lord Warlock]

When i was younger, everyone used to complain about sludge buildup with quaker state oil, but only time i ever found sludge in a car was from someone that NEVER changed his oil.  I used quaker state because my dad used it on his collector cars (he has 3) and when i tore my original 440 apart it looked fresh as a daisy...except that damn bearing that went bad...but that was due to the damn teflon off the factory timing gear. 

[myk]

I'm almost certain that fossil fuel, dino-based oils break down over time.  That's the reason behind the mentality that supports changing oil every 2 seconds, not an oil-company conspiracy.  If you're using synthetic oils on the other hand, then I would tend to agree that a longer interval is possible. 

This discussion about oil that kills engines is irrelevant though.  If you're not driving your car regularly you're killing it anyway, so what's the point? 

[Jon Smith]

is it not the constant cycle of heat and cold, and being battered around an engine that breaks oil down?
I'd have thought if you were storing the car, you'd change it before you started it again rather than before you stored it, after all its not doing any harm sat in the oil pan and any oil anywhere that mattered would still be old stuff, I think the only thing that would happen would be that it attracted moisture

[TylerCharger69]

Isn't there an additive that can be incorporated to add to you oil for storage purposes?.....Kinda like Sta-bil   for the fuel system and tank??  I use Lucas at all times  and it's proven to be a very good product.

[Ghoste]

For the price of an oil change (if you're using dino, anyway) I'd just change it if it concerns you at all.

[Lord Warlock]

I'll agree that oil will break down with contaminants over time, but it does seem to do pretty well buried in the ground for a million years or so.  It also makes more sense to change the oil when you get ready to start the car again after storing it.  In my case my car isn't driven, but only gets started every six months or so to make sure the engine doesn't sieze up after being stored for so long.  When i stored the car the first time, we poured oil into the carb as the engine ran until it finally choked and quit.  A year later it smoked alot when we started it, but didn't seem to damage anything.  Needless to say i haven't repeated that tactic.  These big v8s seem to be so much more resilient than the newer engines built today.  When i decide to restart the car after more than 6 months, we pull the plugs and spray oil into the combustion chambers to make sure there is some lube for the upper part of the motor. 

[Steve P.]

Can anyone say HYDROLOCK???

[Silver R/T]

15K oil change...wow

[Ghoste]

Can anyone say HYDROLOCK???

Many, many years ago a dealership I was working at took advantage of a halfway house program for parolees.  We had a guy working for us who wanted really bad to make life work for him on the outside but had been thrown into this program with no mechanical experience whatsoever.  And I mean, NONE.  They stuck the poor dude on the lube rack and the very first car whose oil he changed, he filled it after the drain and filter change.  He jumped into the car and went to start it to back it out and as soon as he hit the key, there was a large bang and then silence.  Well, the damage wasn't nearly as bad as the sound (in fact, I can't recall any damage other than his pride), but the guy had filled the car with oil right to the top of the valve covers.  He was embarassed and he quit the next day or shortly after.

[TylerCharger69]

Well....No experience at all......it seems somebody should've told him how much to put in.  Some folks just don't know these things.   My mom had a POS Mercury Capri  (81 I think)  and she did the same thing.  This car leaked oil everywhere.  So her theory was to keep putting oil in it.  Well...I was with her one day, and she had me go in to pay for the gas.  She also had said  to go ahead and get 8 quarts of oil.  I started to think.....I said,  "but the car only holds 5 quarts"  come to find out the car leaked so bad  was because of all the oil blowing out all the seals!!!   She learned a hard lesson that day....and I still don't let her live that one down....lol

[Chryco Psycho]

using 5-50 syntect I would leave it in for the winter , it is good oil

[Lord Warlock]

I can say hydrolock, but i've never experienced it.  On any of the dozen or so cars i've owned over the years.  Now Vapor lock I've experienced in the charger....

[Steve P.]

I can say hydrolock, but i've never experienced it.  On any of the dozen or so cars i've owned over the years.  Now Vapor lock I've experienced in the charger....

Hahahahaha....  I swear, sometimes one can be as bad as the other!!!  I'd rather have VAPOR LOCK...

[Mean 318]

15K oil change...wow

15K miles on an oil change is great, but shouldn't you still do it every three months?

[Ghoste]

For those of us with a snow reduced driving season (for Chargers anyway), it'd mean one of the oil changes occured in winter and you'd be dumping unused oil.  For me, I change it in late spring and early fall.
There are a lot of variables and each of us have a unique driving condition that needs to be accounted for.  At the end of it, you have to determine what will suit your car best based on mileage driven between changes and during average use.  Type of use, type of oil, age of engine, geographic location are all going to impact it.  IMO