Routine Oil Changes

[TeamCoconutOreo]

Any oil will last the life of the engine if you don't change it.

I know a guy that bought a shinny new Ford Aspire. He drove that thing for almost 70,000 miles till the little engine cried uncle. What was the problem? During his three years of ownership he did not once open the hood.

All that to say you are absolutely right!

 

[Music Man]

I know a guy that bought a shinny new Ford Aspire. He drove that thing for almost 70,000 miles till the little engine cried uncle. What was the problem? During his three years of ownership he did not once open the hood.

All that to say you are absolutely right!

I've always been a believer in changing my car, or truck's oil at 7000 miles. Has served me well without any ill effects on the motors.

But then ALL of my vehicles have either been, 4, 6, or 8 cylinders.

Now we are dealing with just 3 cylinders? Hmmmm. . . . . . . How much harder will those "odd ball" 3 have to work, or will they have to work harder?

I'm sure that the engineers will figure out the correct schedule for oil changes on this baby, but I will probably, just to be on the safe side, choose on my own, to do the changes somewhere between 3000 and 7000 miles.

 

[CheeseheadEarl]

Oil analysis might be worthwhile on a motor with no history to rely on.

It's not gonna save money on oil really, as a sample will cost about as much, but it might catch something going snafu before it's too late.

 

[Smitty901]

Changing the oil at 3k may be a waste BUT it is a personal choice. The fact is no one has ever worn out an engine by changing the oil too often.

Many in the industry would disagree with that. Opening up , doing unnecessary services expose your engine to more chances of contamination .
When was the last time any of us had an engine failure due to Engine oil? Just don't happen in todays world.

 

[grampi]

Can I have your old oil, please Jim?

No doubt...this guys dumping a lot of good oil...

 

[grampi]

After working for more than 50 years I feel I can burn $30 every 3000 miles and really don't give a flying f--- what others think. The fact is my Elio will be well maintained and serviced

One thing is for certain, you should never have an oil related engine failure!

 

[tonyspumoni]

Though I am a cognative pigmy when it comes to engine operation, I read somewhere that oil life can be heavily influenced by pH and by fuel contamination coming back through the EGR system. It seems that while we tend to think of oil life as dictated by particulate contamination, oil breakdown is probably the more important issue. Given the tiny motor and likely high efficiency of fuel burn at 11:1 compression, my guess is that fuel feedback through EGR will be modest to minimal. But again - I'm waaaaay out of my knowledge league here, so stomp me if I'm a fool.

 

[OctoberGlory]

Every new vehicle I've purchased I follow this routine: After the first 1,000 miles I drain the factory oil fill to one of my liking and to get rid of any "debris" from it being a new engine. Then every 5K on the odometer (5K, 10K, 15K, etc.) I change the oil and rotate the tires. However, I'd like to use synthetic oil in my Elio so I'll reevaluate my routine at that time.

 

[Folks]

Ah! But how long will that engine life be? LOL Z

YOu look like you could use these jungle boots I bought.

 

[Folks]

I'm really amazed at the comments this thread has evoked. Wow. I knew of a Mechanical engineer who worked for a very large oil firm and he removed his oil filter every 10k and simply added the missing pint of so for the life of the car. No wise cracks about the life of his car pleeeeaaaze!