I will not be driving my car during the winter months. I was wondering if it makes a difference changing the oil before it sits vs when I pull it out in the spring. I also assume I should start it a few times a month to cycle the oil.

Thanks,

Todd

i would change it in the spring, its not gonna hurt old oil to sit

Change it before, because the oil already has contaminants in it. You don't want them to just sit in the engine for the whole winter. You want clean and fresh oil in the engine.

Boaters always change their oil in the fall and have clean oil in the engine for the lay-over.

In reality, if the TBN in the oil is still high enough it will have neutralized any acids in the oil and thus your bearings will not be damaged by old oil.

On the other hand, an oil change in the fall or spring costs the same, so why not do it in the fall?

Maybe in storage (outside) in Nome, AK, it might make a slight difference...

What about the contamination of the new oil?

Or, in the alternative, what about the acids in the old oil eating holes through the engine block all winter long?

I guess you could just change it before AND after...

Or, not at all?

Just kidding: take it out for a nice, long drive once and a while and things will be just fine.

Cheers!

1. It doesn't matter, unless you ran the oil out to the end of its life.

2. Do not start your car during the winter just to warm the engine up. Either take it for a decently long drive or hook up a trickle charger and leave it be.

FWIW, there are eleventy billion threads on this, so, if you don't find the "right" answer that you're looking for here, I'm sure you will via Google.

Thanks for the advice. I never had a car that I would be garaging for the winter before and just wanted to make sure I wasn't breaking some golden rule. It sounds like as long as I change it on the "normal" basis I will be fine. Thanks again.

You should add fuel stabilizer. IMO

GMwool's advice is solid, but since folks do things based on emotion: Fresh oil + jack stands b4 storage and fuel stabiliser of your choice. Aside: I just saw both of my neighbors throwing out their homelite weed whackers - exact same model as mine. I guess they didnt add fuel stabilizer or maybe, TC?! That homelite engine would make a nice model airplane engine I would guess, NO? I brought them home to check out and my wife made me put them back in their trash

EXACTLY...
Some people change it again in the spring which I consider a waste of time and oil.
Nothing will happen to fresh oil in the crankcase over the winter.
Starting the car for a few minutes every couple of weeks (in the winter) may do more harm than good.

Whatever you do, do not put the car up on jack stands. Hanging the suspension out like that is usually a BAD idea.

And as mentioned above, if you can't DRIVE it for at least 20 minutes or so don't even start it up.

For one year I did not use my Grand Prix much due to having 3 cars for a year and a half. I was waiting for my '94 GP to die or not be worth fixing and stored my '01 GP during much of that time.

Oil drained out in July2006 was in there for about 4 months and was run 4900 miles.
Oil drained out in Sept2007 was in there for 14 months and the car was stored all winter long plus some of the other months of the year and had 5700 miles on it.

Both oils were M1 10W-30

Look at this thread for my UOA history. They would be the two UOA's all the way to the right just left of the universal averages. To me the difference was not significant and the storage was nothing to worry about.
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=2064633

For my lawn tractor that sits all winter, I just change it in the fall.

Steve, I didnt mean off the ground, but I wasnt clear It seems even going in for an alignment or up on a lift something happens to struts when they are fully extended to screw up handling and steering. Also, tight control arm bushing may creep around and then leave the car on tip toes for months after hitting the ground again. The Twilight Zone of weird car effects ...

For only 3+ months oe so, I would not change and continue to follow the normal oil change interval. You mention starting a couple of times. I would not do this unless I was goine to drive it to full warm or about 10 miles at each startup. I would also consider charging the battery every month or so if I did not drive the vehicle. JMTs. Ed

Raising the car to unload the tires and suspension is fine.
it does not have to hamg - you ca split the difference.

Change the oil before you sore it.