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Oil Change after 3 months?

Wrath And Tears

Go Kart Champion
Location
Azusa, CA
Car(s)
17 Sport, 99 E36
He was trolling, or rather maybe he though he was just being silly and cute!
 

dm33

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
Raleigh, NC
I don't get folks making fun of changing oil at 3 months.

I think the OPs original question is because the 3 month old car is saying that an oil change is necessary and its only 3 months old.

I think an intermediate post solved the question. Golfs are set to say an oil change is required 12 months from date of manufacture. The OPs car was sitting on the lot for 9 months and it now complaining about needing an oil change even though its only been in use for 3 months.

I assume its safe to ignore it or wait for the year or reset it.
 
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Wrath And Tears

Go Kart Champion
Location
Azusa, CA
Car(s)
17 Sport, 99 E36
I don't get folks making fun of changing oil at 3 months.

I think the OPs original question is because the 3 month old car is saying that an oil change is necessary and its only 3 months old.

I think an intermediate post solved the question. Golfs are set to say an oil change is required 12 months from date of manufacture. The OPs car was sitting on the lot for 9 months and it now complaining about needing an oil change even though its only been in use for 3 months.

I assume its same to ignore it or wait for the year or reset it.

9 months sitting + 3 months of use = one year of the oil being in the car. The synthetic oil has started to break down and should be replaced.
 

dm33

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
Raleigh, NC
9 months sitting + 3 months of use = one year of the oil being in the car. The synthetic oil has started to break down and should be replaced.

Sitting time counts? Synthetic oil is breaking down while sitting? So I guess you can count time sitting in a store too? I can't imagine why an oil would "break down" by just existing.

Running in an engine is entirely different. Lots of heat, cold, movement. Exhaust gasses, gasoline, hydrocarbons, metal, friction, mixing with other oils. Lots of air and exhaust moving around and over it. Lots of reasons oil gets dirty while in an active engine. But sitting in a non moving engine that relatively well sealed, I don't think there's much breaking down going on.
 

adam1991

Banned
Location
USA
There was a reason why OPs oil indicator came off within 3 months of ownership. No one here wants to change engine oil every 3 months. I would like to know the real meaning of your initial post.

Change the oil at every gas fill up.

You can never be safe enough.
 

Wrath And Tears

Go Kart Champion
Location
Azusa, CA
Car(s)
17 Sport, 99 E36
Sitting time counts? Synthetic oil is breaking down while sitting? So I guess you can count time sitting in a store too? I can't imagine why an oil would "break down" by just existing.

Running in an engine is entirely different. Lots of heat, cold, movement. Exhaust gasses, gasoline, hydrocarbons, metal, friction, mixing with other oils. Lots of air and exhaust moving around and over it. Lots of reasons oil gets dirty while in an active engine. But sitting in a non moving engine that relatively well sealed, I don't think there's much breaking down going on.

Apologies, it is the additive package in synthetic oil that breaks down. So you could technically add some to the oil after a year and keep using it, but common sense is to just change it. As far as the liquid itself goes, you could technically use it forever, but a running engine creates by-products that get into the liquid and cause issues, thus the reason for the oil filter.

The container the oil comes in is seal from air and other things to prevent break down (even then I wouldn't use oil that had been sitting in a warehouse covered in dust for years), but in an engine it is constantly exposed to air and other things, running or not. Engines are not as "sealed" as you think they are when they aren't running.

Edit: To be fair, and honest, from what I know they only start breaking down after a year. I don't know how long it takes for the additives to become so broken down that running the engine can cause damage. Even then the engine would have to be run for a long amount of time. Probably thousands of miles to cause visible damage, and more then that to cause actual breaking engine damage. That visible damage would be seen on the cam lobes or rollers depending on engine design.

My coworker recently bought a used engine for his CLK55 AMG to salvage the heads because his old ones had damage due to lack of lubrication (design flaw with his early engine). I can get pictures if anyone wants. The damage is easily visible and quite impressive.
 
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cb1111

Newbie
Location
Virginia, USA
Apologies, it is the additive package in synthetic oil that breaks down. So you could technically add some to the oil after a year and keep using it, but common sense is to just change it. As far as the liquid itself goes, you could technically use it forever, but a running engine creates by-products that get into the liquid and cause issues, thus the reason for the oil filter.

The container the oil comes in is seal from air and other things to prevent break down (even then I wouldn't use oil that had been sitting in a warehouse covered in dust for years), but in an engine it is constantly exposed to air and other things, running or not. Engines are not as "sealed" as you think they are when they aren't running.

Edit: To be fair, and honest, from what I know they only start breaking down after a year. I don't know how long it takes for the additives to become so broken down that running the engine can cause damage. Even then the engine would have to be run for a long amount of time. Probably thousands of miles to cause visible damage, and more then that to cause actual breaking engine damage. That visible damage would be seen on the cam lobes or rollers depending on engine design.

My coworker recently bought a used engine for his CLK55 AMG to salvage the heads because his old ones had damage due to lack of lubrication (design flaw with his early engine). I can get pictures if anyone wants. The damage is easily visible and quite impressive.

A few years back in Europe, BMW was requiring 30k km/3 year OCI's and ADAC says that unopened oils can be stored up to 5 years - synthetics longer.
 

Wrath And Tears

Go Kart Champion
Location
Azusa, CA
Car(s)
17 Sport, 99 E36
A few years back in Europe, BMW was requiring 30k km/3 year OCI's and ADAC says that unopened oils can be stored up to 5 years - synthetics longer.

Totally, Europe not only has different oil standards then the USA, but the additive packages are completely different due to emission laws and stuff like that.... or atleast in the case of BMW and MBZ. As far as I know VW/Audi are pretty similar, however European service intervals are much different due to the different driving conditions as well as other factors. There are classes you can take all about oils and stuff like that. I have yet to take one, but should.

Edit: When I reset BMW service indicators they show 15500 miles till next service, and no time interval. Obviously just because a manufacturer says you can, doesn't mean you should. They want to sell you as many new cars as possible over your life time, so their only goal is to make the car last long enough for you to consider buying a new car over costly repairs.
 
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jackalope

Ready to race!
Location
Austin
I changed my oil at 1200 miles to clear out the particles from the engine breaking in. Planning to get the next oil change at 10,000 along with the other services they do
 

vj123

Autocross Newbie
Location
The Detroit
Car(s)
19 & 16 GTI - sold
I changed my oil at 1200 miles to clear out the particles from the engine breaking in. Planning to get the next oil change at 10,000 along with the other services they do

Oh god, now you will be asked to change engine oil with every gas fill ups.

On a side note, i do the same on all of my new cars and this time i purposefully filtered the oil and had a look at the residue. Seeing that, i will continue doing this on all of my brand new cars.
 

TheDoc46

Ready to race!
Location
Florida
Oh god, now you will be asked to change engine oil with every gas fill ups.

On a side note, i do the same on all of my new cars and this time i purposefully filtered the oil and had a look at the residue. Seeing that, i will continue doing this on all of my brand new cars.

isn't there the argument though that these particles can help hone the working parts on a new engine? Surely the engineers who have cut apart engines after extensively testing decided that on many cars better to leave the oil in for xx miles.. whereas others say drain after 1,500. Or maybe they just think, we don't care enough maybe it'll slightly reduce your engine life, but it'll get us a thumbs up from the EPA !
 

Strange Mud

Autocross Champion
Location
Small Town CT
Car(s)
Assorted
? what is an oil related failure

answer = rare

as I said early I change it out but doubt it is needed. I am sure if it was needed mfrs would tell us to do it. If it was needed t be kept in to hone the parts they would say leave it in for xxxx miles not xxxx miles or xx months.

willing to bet that 85% of us that change it early are on the far side of the age bell curve.

oil change is a good bit less than $100.....not nothing but not much compared to car price
 
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