Oil changes on a summer car....
 

Hello, I have a 2004 SS that has 28k on it. I store it in the winter months and drive it in the summer. I probably put 1k a year on it if that. I have put Mobil 1 in it since I bought it. Does the oil really need to be changed every year? I have been changing every spring when start driving it. The oil comes out the same as it looked when I put it in. I would like to get some different views on this issue. Thanks!

I would probably change it once a year. It is cheap insurance.

I'm in the same boat as you - I store my 03 over the winter, only have 27k on it and only put about 1k miles on it a year. I change it every year in the spring after I get it out of storage.

:iagree: i dont drive mine much either but more than 1k year and think i will average 1 change a year or so

I change it once a year in my cars I drive sometimes ..The cars I drive more I change 3000 miles ..

put me down for over cautious also, my ta get between 500 - 1500 miles a year and I change the oil every 12-16 months, Mobil 1 only.

Thanks for the input guys! I will continue to change it once a year.

My Monte is currently a summer car. I apply the same rule as all my cars:
- Change the oil every 3,000-5,000 miles.

And I apply one extra rule to the summer only cars:
- Regardless of how many miles are on the oil, change the oil BEFORE even starting the car for summer driving. Removes condensation that has developed, any debris that has settled. As said earlier "cheap insurance".

I use conventional motor oil (usualy Quaker State, Castrol or Valvoline). And I tend to use BOSCH oil filters. These rules have served me well (it's not a summer car, but my '94 Grand Am has over 210K on it right now).

Right now the Monte and the wife's '01 Mustang (both summer cars) have between 60k-70k miles on them. I normally change trans fluid and filter at 100K. I think next spring as part of prepping for summer driving, I will change the trans fluid and filter early on them. Sure, it's not at the mileage, BUT since they don't get driven nearly as often, that fluid and filter are aged and possibly have condensation in them. Changing trans fluid/filter is better to change early then late. FYI - I've changed the fluid/filter TWICE now on the Grand Am (100K and 200K), for those claiming it's the DEATH of a transmission, that car is running GREAT on the FACTORY (never rebuilt) transmission.

The thing with oil is that many important qualities of it are not able to be easily seen. If you are considering keeping it in longer, and trying to get another season out of it- you could always send a sample in for oil analysis (I forget where, but there is a place online that does this for car oils, and has a nice breakout of the different things they find in the oil and what they could mean). The only downside to this is that oil and water don't mix- and if you have condensation that was in there, it will likely have separated, so depending how you take your sample, you may either get an extremely high concentration of the water, or none at all.

But as said above- its a cheap and easy job, and may not be worth going through all that effort.

I believe it is BobIsTheOilGuy.com

clickable link > - Bob is the Oil Guy