I have a friend who drives his s2k very hard. He NEVER goes above 3000 km (1875 miles) before getting an oil change. Most of the time he changes it at around 2500 km (1560 miles). he only uses regular oil, not synthetic. He drives his car quite often, so he is pretty much getting an oil change once a month.

My question is are there any downfalls to this?
he says he does it for 2 reasons:
1) because he drives hard, he burns more oil then most others, so he would rather get a brand new oil change rather than "topping" up the car
2) instead of putting in synthetic, he can get the equivalent of about 3 oil changes for every 1 synthetic done. His theory is the oil is the life of the car, and he always wants it clean.

don't mean to sound like a moron, but can draining the oil all the time and putting new oil in be harmful in any way, when it is being done at least once a month?

thanks!

 

The short answer is no. Changing oil more often than necessary does no harm to the engine.

The longer answer is that your friend is wasting oil resources, time, and money by changing oil so frequently. Even under the most abusive circumstances modern motor oils hold up well for much longer than 1500-1900 miles. The severe oil change schedule is 3000 miles, and that would be a reasonable choice for the extra cautious.

Synthetic oil can have even longer drain intervals than standard oils because their synthetic base is more stable at high temperatures.

 

Sounds to me like a wasteful practice that just increases his exposure to mistakes that can be made during oil changes.

 

Does this friend use his frequent oil changes as an excuse to NOT check his oil levels periodically? I check my oil level several times right after an oil change to make sure my drain bolt and / or oil filter aren't leaking.

 

A lot of opinions being thrown around here.. what is the waste here? The oil probably gets recycled and it doesn't amount to anything in the big picture.

FYI, many oil experts say that the majority of motor oil is good for 12 to 20 thousand miles. Does that mean that everyone changing more often is wasting?

Give him a break, it must satisfy the owner.

 

Last time I did an oil change on the excel, it was 20,000km (Just less than 15K miles) The interval on that car is 10,000km oil change. So I did skip one.

The stuff was originally Castrol GTX, I think. it ran out like a short black. It was seriously only slightly thicker than water and black as. I'm pretty sure that the oil would not have lasted to 20,000 miles.

I replaced it with Honda FEO Type R oil, and it has been running for 5000km. The oil is still perfectly clear - still the same colour it went in.

 

It's his money; if that's how he wants to spend it, more power to him.

The only risk I can see is that the more someone works on a car, the more chances there are for them to make a mistake. Personally, I wouldn't worry about that.

 

I guess if you do your own oil changes, and you tighten the oil pan properly each time, there is no risk at all.

I believe to some degree the less you mess with your car, the better. Especially if you are handing the keys over to someone else.

Here is an interesting article about actual testing of oils in NY cabs:

http://theoildrop.server101.com/ubb/ultima...t=000074#000000

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Sunder
[B]I'm pretty sure that the oil would not have lasted to 20,000 miles.

 

Next question: If you don't drive your car much, how often should you change the oil?

Example: If you drive your car less than 3,000 miles a year. How often should you change the oil?