quote:

Originally posted by bubbatime:
People that make a big deal about not changing your oil filter every time, just dont understand the mechanics of whats actually occurring here.

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:
I manage yachts and we pull oil samples on most all of them as SOP. Oil samples are the ONLY way to really know when your oil needs to be changed. On yachts we're looking for saltwater intrusion and things of that nature. But dealing with $85-500k engines and another $50k to change them...…. Also doing an oil sample one time, really tells you nothing as you have no idea if it's an issue or not. Oil samples every time will tell you a trend and you'll know when you have an issue. Some engines might always show high iron, or high aluminum or etc., but just the way that make of engine is. Most people don't know what they're looking at/for when they do get a sample......is 50 ppm of iron high......or is 250 ppm high.....what causes high iron....etc.

But at $25-35 a pop for a sample, you might as well just change the oil. If you buy the oil sample at a CATerpillar dealer, the kit is usually $25 and includes the bottle, shipping bottle, postage and is utmost of quality and cheaper than blackstone.


Honestly, if you follow the manufacturers recommendations, you can't go wrong.

On low miles per year cars, it is imperitive to change the oil annually. You get moisture in the oil, which then causes rust and breakdown of the oil, and samples will usually show high iron in it.

If a manufacturer calls for a strange oil certification such as CF-2 or another specification. ABSOLUTELY use an oil with this specification, it needs it.

It is also very important to stick with the manufacturers recommended oil weight these days, because passages are smaller, and you'll have issues with cam phasors and things of that nature.

Factory engineers do a lot of testing on your engine and determine which oil is the best. Nobody on this board knows as much as the engineers that designed and built your motor and torture tested dozens of them.

It doesn't hurt to change oil early, but not usually a help. I would always change the filter and oil.

The oil change intervals are extended by manufacturers because the additive packages in the oil are much better, and the engines run much cleaner so less contaminates get into the oil. Mainly oil is changed because it's contaminated with unburnt fuel and hydrocarbons.

quote:

Originally posted by bubbatime:
On a new vehicle, changing the filter every other is perfectly fine. The oil filter capacity to hold grit/dirt is WAY more than required. Way. On a new car, with a clean engine, a high quality oil filter can last 30K, 40K miles, assuming the oil is drained/filled on schedule and kept clean.

The oil filter is in bypass mode for a large portion of its life, perhaps as much as 10-20% or more. When the oil is cold, its bypassing the filter media through the bypass. It takes at least 30 minutes for the oil to come up to temp, so a lot of people that are short trippers have oil that is constantly bypassing the filter media.

I bought my first Honda in 2004. The manual said to change the oil filter every other oil change. Oil at 10,000 miles, oil filter at 20,000 miles. I thought, well that's weird, but I will give it a try. Here we are about 15 years later, and I have religiously changed the filter every other oil change on every car I own. I don't use bottom of the barrel filters though, I use Fram Ultra filters which are some of the best filters you can buy. Here we are 750,000 miles later in 15 years (did the math), and my engines are perfect inside. No smoke, no extra wear, no issues. Oil filters actually filter better the longer you use them (up to a point), so my twice used filter is working better than a brand new filter off the shelf.

As to the "argument" that you are leaving old oil in the engine, the engine has 6-12 ounces of oil in it that can not be changed anyways, that stays in the top end or oil galleys. The oil filter adds perhaps another 2-3 ounces to that number. Not a big deal. The difference in not changing the oil filter is this; as an example, if you change your oil filter, your new oil will have a total base number (TBN) of 8.5. Without changing the filter, your TBN will be 8.49. I can guarantee with scientific certainty, that your engine is not going to notice the .01 difference in TBN. Its not a big deal. Its not even a small deal. In fact, its not a deal at all.

People that make a big deal about not changing your oil filter every time, just dont understand the mechanics of whats actually occurring here.