Oil change or no?

[street]

I'm no expert but if it sits all winter without an oil change I really doubt it will take any life from that engine. If you change oil it is done and really can't see much of any benefit for the life of that engine. It would be something I personally would dwell on or worry about any long term effects on that vehicle. IMO

 

[MRG]

Not to be a pest, but whether you or someone you know, that has had a serious problem or an engine failure because of failure to change oil.

Back in the late 70s my brother owned an old, 1930s model, Oliver crawler front end loader. The oil hadn't been changed for over 25 years. When that happens the old school wisdom was not to change oil, but only add oil and change the filter. We never experienced any oil related problems from that abuse.

Nor have I ever seen or heard of anyone who had issues.

 

[ERD50]

One of the many benefits of driving electric cars is not having to deal with oil changes ever again. I know its one less thing for me to deal with. ...

By the time the oil monitor on modern cars tells you it's time for an oil change, it's also about time for a tire rotation for many, or maybe every other oil change. So if you bring your car in for the tire rotation, getting the oil changed at the same time really isn't anything to "deal with".

I hope you don't get too anxious when you need to change the coolant in the Tesla battery thermal management system. Fluids! Pumps! OMG!

https://www.tesla.com/support/maintenance-plans-ms-mx

-ERD50

 

[Mr. Tightwad]

I don't know what gender has to do with the ability to change oil.

I never mentioned ability. I said they might not look forward to changing their oil.

 

[aja8888]

Needed to be charged 1/2 way to San Antonio? Then you probably "started" off in Schulenburg.

We started out in the north side of Houston. There were 4 of us heading for a tee time at a nice resort course in SA. We were meeting up with a group of 12 others to play. I guess the load in the car and the A/C kind of sucked too much power from the car. Needless to say, three passengers are not future electric car buyers.

The guy with the electric car rode back home alone and we hooked up with other rides.

 

[braumeister]

Not to be a pest, but whether you or someone you know, that has had a serious problem or an engine failure because of failure to change oil.

A long time ago, a friend had a VW Beetle that was always giving him problems. One day he decided to "teach it a lesson."

So he put no oil in it after that and kept driving it until one day the engine just siezed up from lack of any lubrication.

He had it towed in and put a rebuilt engine in it, and was happy because he figured it had learned not to mess with him any more.

We're not talking big bucks here; it was the principle of the thing!

 

[MRG]

A long time ago, a friend had a VW Beetle that was always giving him problems. One day he decided to "teach it a lesson."

So he put no oil in it after that and kept driving it until one day the engine just siezed up from lack of any lubrication.

He had it towed in and put a rebuilt engine in it, and was happy because he figured it had learned not to mess with him any more.

We're not talking big bucks here; it was the principle of the thing!

We had a ' 75 fuel injection bug. Best thing that ever happened was the fan belt broke on the way home. It also ran the fan for air cooling.[emoji23] It locked up in our driveway, best thing ever was replacing that engine with a '74 engine with a carb.

 

[ls99]

By the time the oil monitor on modern cars tells you it's time for an oil change, it's also about time for a tire rotation for many, or maybe every other oil change. So if you bring your car in for the tire rotation, getting the oil changed at the same time really isn't anything to "deal with".

I hope you don't get too anxious when you need to change the coolant in the Tesla battery thermal management system. Fluids! Pumps! OMG!

https://www.tesla.com/support/maintenance-plans-ms-mx

-ERD50

Looking at the schedule, Key fob battery replacement every year. Wow. My 99 suburban's key fob still has original battery. And it works. Little short on distance nowdays, maybe next year I'll change it.

 

[ERD50]

Originally Posted by jimbee
I don't know what gender has to do with the ability to change oil.

I never mentioned ability. I said they might not look forward to changing their oil.

Does anyone, regardless of gender, or whatever they may 'identify' as, actually 'look forward to changing their oil'?

Sounds more like rationalization from a Tesla fanbois.

" You're offering me free Super Bowl tickets at the 50 yard line? No way, man, I'm getting my oil changed that day!"

"Bummer dude, I've got a Tesla - no oil changes! Oh, that reminds me, reschedule my tire rotation and key fob battery replacement..."

-ERD50

 

[Mr. Tightwad]

Does anyone, regardless of gender, or whatever they may 'identify' as, actually 'look forward to changing their oil'?

Sounds more like rationalization from a Tesla fanbois.

" You're offering me free Super Bowl tickets at the 50 yard line? No way, man, I'm getting my oil changed that day!"

"Bummer dude, I've got a Tesla - no oil changes! Oh, that reminds me, reschedule my tire rotation and key fob battery replacement..."

-ERD50

Good. We agree. No one looks forward to changing their oil.

One more reason to buy an EV instead of a car with a smelly engine.

 

[drb391]

I drive from NY to AZ for the winters. always change before AND after each trip. 1. 2800mi @ 70 or more has got to strain any engine. 2. the mi put on during both NY & AZ stays is usually enough to warrant one

 

[RunningBum]

I drive from NY to AZ for the winters. always change before AND after each trip. 1. 2800mi @ 70 or more has got to strain any engine. 2. the mi put on during both NY & AZ stays is usually enough to warrant one

Lots of stops and starts are a lot harder than a pretty constant 70mph. But the OP wasn't talking about whether to change before a long drive, but rather before a long storage period.

 

[Car-Guy]

We started out in the north side of Houston. There were 4 of us heading for a tee time at a nice resort course in SA. We were meeting up with a group of 12 others to play. I guess the load in the car and the A/C kind of sucked too much power from the car. Needless to say, three passengers are not future electric car buyers.

The guy with the electric car rode back home alone and we hooked up with other rides.

Now I understand why you took the Telsa. You were probably thinking you'd have the best electric golf cart on the course.

 

[Car-Guy]

Not to be a pest, but whether you or someone you know, that has had a serious problem or an engine failure because of failure to change oil.

I've rebuild a good number of engines in the past 50 years. You never know for sure that "a serious problem or failure" was due to poor oil maintenance but the smell, excessive cylinder and ring wear, burnt values, sludge buildup, etc are all good indicators.


I've rebuilt engines that I know were well maintained and engines that were "probably not". Once inside the engine, the internal difference (look and smell) is unquestionable IMO.

 

[aja8888]

One more reason to buy an EV instead of a car with a smelly engine.

Boy, you just look for ways to say something bad about ICE cars, don't you? BTW, modern ICE engines are pretty odor free these days.

Now, I'll bet that there were some really bad odors and harmful emissions coming from the flaming Tesla's that couldn't negotiate highway barriers using "autonomous" mode and lit off after killing the drivers!

 

[aja8888]

Now I understand why you took the Telsa. You were probably thinking you'd have the best electric golf cart on the course.

We took the Tesla because the owner wanted to show it off and boost his ego.

 

[Mr. Tightwad]

Boy, you just look for ways to say something bad about ICE cars, don't you? BTW, modern ICE engines are pretty odor free these days.

Now, I'll bet that there were some really bad odors and harmful emissions coming from the flaming Tesla's that couldn't negotiate highway barriers using "autonomous" mode and lit off after killing the drivers!

Whenever I walk down the street, the smell of exhaust makes me feel like I'm getting lung cancer by the second. I agree with you, a brand new vehicle would be a different story. Or at least an improved story.

Unbelievably, I agree with you a second time in one post. Most Tesla owners I talk with sprung for Full Self Driving or autonomous or whatever. I think they're crazy. If I'm going to drive into a concrete barrier, its going to be by my driver error, not my self driving car. As far as I know, there has only been one death in a Model X, it was the fellow in NWbounds picture, from the collision in CA. He was in Self Driving mode at the time. I'll drive my own car thanks.

 

[aja8888]

Whenever I walk down the street, the smell of exhaust makes me feel like I'm getting lung cancer by the second. I agree with you, a brand new vehicle would be a different story. Or at least an improved story.

Unbelievably, I agree with you a second time in one post. Most Tesla owners I talk with sprung for Full Self Driving or autonomous or whatever. I think they're crazy. If I'm going to drive into a concrete barrier, its going to be by my driver error, not my self driving car. As far as I know, there has only been one death in a Model X, it was the fellow in NWbounds picture, from the collision in CA. He was in Self Driving mode at the time. I'll drive my own car thanks.

I've been driving diesels for 10 years and now just gasoline powered cars. Great strides have been made with respect to diesel emissions over the last 5 years (let's not bring up VW's cheating - they didn't have to do this BTW). Diesel cleanup has focused on NOX which is a precursor to ozone. All good, but it's essentially over here for light vehicle diesels (thanks to VW).

Gasoline cars are going to be subject to new particulate emissions very soon (2019?) and many cars will be equipped with prticulate filters and associated hardware and software. Diesels have had this technology for at least the last 5 years. This will make gasoline burning cars more complex, more expensive, but "cleaner" as the previously lightly regulated PM emissions will be controlled.

So the exhaust smells should be less (for the newer cars).

Crankcase oil should last longer, but most will still change it way too early.

 

[Fedup]

There's a lot of female drivers in the world aja. I would imagine a good number of them aren't looking forward to changing their oil. Plugging in a car takes about 5 seconds and is as difficult as charging your phone.

Remember that there are 320 million people in the U.S., and all of them are not like yourself.

Young male millennials are just as clueless as female drivers. No discrimination there as my daughter found out. They didn’t even know how to properly connect the jumping cable to jump start a car. Software engineers.

 

[Mr. Tightwad]

I've been driving diesels for 10 years and now just gasoline powered cars. Great strides have been made with respect to diesel emissions over the last 5 years (let's not bring up VW's cheating - they didn't have to do this BTW). Diesel cleanup has focused on NOX which is a precursor to ozone. All good, but it's essentially over here for light vehicle diesels (thanks to VW).

Gasoline cars are going to be subject to new particulate emissions very soon (2019?) and many cars will be equipped with prticulate filters and associated hardware and software. Diesels have had this technology for at least the last 5 years. This will make gasoline burning cars more complex, more expensive, but "cleaner" as the previously lightly regulated PM emissions will be controlled.

So the exhaust smells should be less (for the newer cars).

Crankcase oil should last longer, but most will still change it way too early.

Since you mentioned the VW situation, as part of their settlement:

1) They have agreed to put 2 billion into a charging network for EV's across the U.S.
2) 40% of that network will be in CA.
3) There will be 100 Walmarts across 34 states that will get chargers.
4) The chargers will have the ability to charge an EV 4x faster than the Tesla superchargers (no such EV exists at this time, they are preparing for the future)

 

[pb4uski]

Thanks for all the input. I decided to just do the oil change now before we leave so the oil that sits in the crankcase over the winter is fresh oil and less acidity. It will be interesting to see how much the computed life degrades from sitting still for 6 months.

While the Teslas are attractive, I have no interest in an EV. we live in a rural area with lots of hills and I would have severe range anxiety with a Tesla in this area.

 

[aja8888]

Since you mentioned the VW situation, as part of their settlement:

1) They have agreed to put 2 billion into a charging network for EV's across the U.S.
2) 40% of that network will be in CA.
3) There will be 100 Walmarts across 34 states that will get chargers.
4) The chargers will have the ability to charge an EV 4x faster than the Tesla superchargers (no such EV exists at this time, they are preparing for the future)

I know of that part of the settlement. I turned in a VW in the buyback process. I suspect they will be slow to roll out all that listed in 1 - 4 above like they are and have been in meeting several the other commitments they made in the settlement.

 

[ponyboy]

One of the many benefits of driving electric cars is not having to deal with oil changes ever again. I know its one less thing for me to deal with.

I know it gets a little cold up in Vermont so perhaps an EV wouldn't work for you. Something to consider though for the future.

Wonder what the price comparison is from changing batteries after they wear out vs changing oil? hmmmm

 

[JPatrick]

+1. Geez, those Tesla owners are soooo sexist. Troglodytes!

from: https://www.ericpetersautos.com/2018/08/11/changing-oil-too-soon-or-too-late/

-ERD50

And they irritate the mailman.

 

[ERD50]

And they irritate the mailman.

It's Sunday. No mail delivery. -ERD50