Stored Vehicle and Whether to Change Oil

[Spudislander]

If a vehicle was put in storage for the winter and it had synthetic oil with only a couple of thousand miles on it, should the oil be changed when the car comes out of storage in the Spring?

 

[Bluestream]

Technically it should be changed before it goes into storage. With synthetic you should be OK. Are you going to change it in the Spring? If so, do it now instead. Better off using dino as yo are negating a main benefit of synthetic that being extended OCI.

 

[nstuck]

synthetic vs. dino depends on the application sometimes, not just OCI. my mom's "summer" car only sees about 3k miles a year. by your reasoning i should be putting dino in it. only problem is that the car is a mercedes sl500 which i would never dream of putting dino oil in. Mobil1 0w40 changed once a year. it's an expensive oil change (about $115 with oil and filter) but its a very nice car, so i don't mind.

 

[nstuck]

oh and as for the OP's question. i always change the oil BEFORE it goes away for the winter. in my situation, if the car had the "old" oil in it after coming out of storage, that would mean it hasn't had its yearly oil change yet, so i would change it. i don't know if that's your situation or not. you might be better off just leaving it in there for the summer and then changing it again before putting it into storage, otherwise this time next year you'll be in the same boat.

 

[HTSS_TR]

Originally Posted By: nstuck

Only problem is that the car is a Mercedes SL500 which i would never dream of putting dino oil in. Mobil1 0w40 changed once a year. It's an expensive oil change (about $115 with oil and filter) but its a very nice car, so i don't mind.


Buy oil extractor Mityvac MV7201 from Amazon for $72 with free shipping, 8.5 quarts M1 0W40 at WM is about $60 + fleece filter at about $15 online for a total of $150 the first oil change. Sub-sequence oil change is $75 (or less if buy oil on sale).

Cost of doing oil change for my '00 E430 (with 8.5 quarts synthetic oils) is less than $25, because I bought oil on sale (sometimes with rebate) for an average of less than $1.50/qt. I use paper filters I bought online for less than $10/ea.

The Mityvac oil extractor I bought 6 years ago still working great for my 3 cars and my brother in-law 3 cars. It paid for itself long time ago when I subtract the $10 labor cost each time to pay someone else to do the oil changes. Doesn't count the time I need to drive to the oil change place and back, plus waiting time at oil change place.

 

[Dick in Falls Church]

For about $25, an oil sample will let you know if the oil is still suitable for continued use. I would guess the Mobil would be good for at least two years.

 

[Hounds]

Seen this? http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1856324#Post1856324

 

[Spudislander]

Thanks for the replies.