New vehicles on dealer lot for a long time

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Rojack

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I wonder as I was told my truck was there 238 days. Don't know why because there is nothing wrong with it. 2014 leftover. Maybe they just did not like Flame Red. Helped me get a great deal that is all I care about.

I will be hitting 5000 miles by the end of this week and will have the first oil change coming up. I wonder though if oil sat in the truck that long maybe I should have changed it a lot earlier.

Amazing they do not have fuel issues when the truck has been there that long. Newer mowers and blowers have all kinds of ethenol related problems for a lot less time than that especially if no fuel treatment. I realize there is a difference but even so I am surprised.

What are your thoughts on new oil sitting in a vehicle for that long that had 37 miles on it when I bought it. I know oil change usually states mileage and also a time frame.
 
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I wouldn't worry about it and just change the oil on your normal schedule.

Fuel injected vehicles seem to be less affected by ethanol fuel issues than those with carburetors.
 
New vehicles usually have only 2-3 gallons when at the dealer. They probably dumped in another fresh 5 gallons. I see no reason that would suggest that the oil should be changed any sooner than 5K. Ed
 
I bought my 2006 B2300 day after Memorial Day, 2007; I requested an OC as part of the prep since I wasn't sure how long it had been there.

Probably OCD, since my current fill has been in there about 15 months; I don't think it is that important anymore.
 
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The premise of time based oil changes are for short trips using up the additives.

The truck probably got moved around by lot boys every week or two and left running for four hours to charge the battery before you took delivery. No matter, you blew that moisture out already.

As said, the factory puts 3 gallons in. Who knows, it could be an ethanol free wunder-gas. If I were the dealer though I'd have topped everything off last February when gas was under two bucks.
 
Would you buy a jug of oil that had sat on a shelf for 238 days?
Would you use a jug that had sat in your stash for five years?
Oil can't tell time, so I doubt that the period the truck sat really hurt the oil at all.
Whatever water content condensation may have added to the oil evaporated on your first long drive.
 
If it were my vehicle I'd change the oil because I tend to keep vehicles and an extra oil change is something I'd be willing to do.

Your vehicle was the definition of severe duty, ultra short runs over a long time by people that don't care one bit about mistreating it while moving it around. It's not there's and it's in the way.
 
238 days on the dealers lot, ran 5K and doing your first oil change
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ZERO issue, I wouldn't worry as I've done 9-11K mi, 500 day plus changes...
 
My wife's Mitsubishi Lancer GTS sat on the lot for two years (corporate car). It had two hundred miles on it when we bought it. First oil change was at 7500 miles per the manual, now at 47K no issues.

Doesn't burn a drop of oil.
 
Originally Posted By: bigdreama
Fuel injected vehicles seem to be less affected by ethanol fuel issues than those with carburetors.


That's because there's no diaphragms inside fuel injectors.
 
I bought a 2013 Dodge Avenger in April and got as much info as possible on it as I could. When I first drove it on a test drive it had 42 miles on it and the cel came on after a few miles. So we drove it back to the dealership and parked it near the service department where the salesman asked the service manager if he could do a quick obd check, the guy said no and that the service department was closed on Saturdays so it would have to wait until Monday. I was fine with that because I assumed that it might be due to the old fuel in the system.

I had looked at the carfax and the ff had been drained in October of 2014 along with the inspection for the pre-owned certification. The car pretty much was what I was looking for with the Pentastar engine and was probably going to be the best deal I could find on a "new" car. So when I came back for another look with the down payment on hand, the car was ready to go with no cel on. So took it out for another drive just to make sure and it seemed fine.

Picked the car up a few days later and drove it home...where it sat in my garage for 6 weeks so it could get it cleared for the livery service that I was going to use it for. Put it to work finally and it did great until the cel came on again along with the gascap alert on the dash. As near as I could find the problem stemmed from a hole in the gastank intake just under where the gascap fits. It's about 3/4 of an inch long and about 1/8 of an inch wide like someone had stabbed it with a screwdriver. It looked like there had been some tape applied to the underside of the gash to plug it up temporarily.

As for the oil I ran it to 6000 miles and changed it. It looked fine but was past the 6 month oci. So I ran the next one to 2000 and changed that because I had been running the dino in 110+ degree heat hard and it looked darker than I cared for. So I put in a synthetic, but while I was draining the old oil out, there was something obstructing the drain which finally cleared when a glob of goo plopped out into the drain pan.

I would recommed changing out oil on one of these cars after putting a few miles on it if you happen to buy one. No telling what kind of changes are going on with the oil if it has been sitting too long.
 
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My wife's car was on the lot for an extended amount of time and the Continental tires on it had flat spotted.

The dealer replaced them when they were unable to balance them after a couple of attempts.

I wouldn't worry about the oil.

Change it at your normal OCI.
 
Wife bought a new 2005 Explorer in July of 2005. The Explorer was "born" in early October 2004. All winter long it was started just to move it around the lot. The battery was dead and would not take a charge. I had them replace the battery and change the oil due to the short starts in the winter and potential fuel dilution. It now has 170,000 miles on it and runs and looks great
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Whimsey
 
Someone said earlier in this thread, that oil cannot tell time.

This is incorrect.

Oil in the pan oxidizes over time, degrading it's effectiveness.

So there is a reason to be concerned with a vehicle that has sat on a lot for many months.

Had the oil been in a capped bottle, it would not oxidizes so fast, and it would not be a concern.
 
Yeah right. I work at a fleet and some of our vehicles sit for anywhere for 1 day to 14 months plus. The "someone" that said oil can't tell time is correct. Oh yeah; one other thing; my work uses bulk MaxLife synblend 5w30 and 5w20. I even have 2 vehicles that sit for long periods of time and after 2 years they start fine
 
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