changing motor oil before or after a trip??

[badmix]

Going up to WV thanksgiving time, its 2000miles round trip more or less. My oil is borderline needing changed. My truck will use about a quart of oil each way.

Do I change it now?

Do I change it when I get back?

Do I just put some cheap oil in while on the move or use engine treatment type oils (stp oil treatment, restore, lucas, etc)

What say thee..........

 

[cybrfire]

change it now.

 

[4X4HIGH]

If it's borderline needing changed now I would change it now then after your 2000 mile trip I would change it again after another 1000 miles. I always change oil at 3000 mile intervals along with a new filter everytime.

 

[76zimmer]

how often do you change oil/filter?
you may use less if you change before you go.

I assume a daily driver, no winter storage?

I like to change oil just before I let a vehicle sit for an extended amount of time (winter storage)

 

[British Slave]

My "good" truck was 1000 miles from needing to be changed, I was leaving on a 2800 mile round trip so I changed it early.

 

[badmix]

This is in my '84 K5. Its not a DD, I barely put 3000miles on it in a YEAR. I dont go by mileage, I go by how dark it gets. If I cant read thru the oil at the dipstick, I change it. I have no other real method of gauging the oil since I dont drive it much. It basically gets changed twice a year whether it needs it or not. I just high mileage dinosaur oil, not going to waste money on synthetics, etc.

So, I think ill change it before I go as that seems to be the consensus.

 

[Fordum]

Engine oil for the most part does not go bad sitting in an engine that is not running. If its contaminated by normal wear products, along with smatterings of antifreeze, fuel, other normal stuff, then there might be some breakdown, but not much.

A more accurate way to measure when to change the oil would be engine hours. I bought some little solid state gadgets and put them on my lawn mower and a couple of other engines.

They display RPM, and give hours running. It makes knowing when to change the oil in them easy.
Possibly a better way is how many farm tractors measure runtime.
They have hour meters on them that measure hours run at a certain RPM.

At that RPM, one hour on the meter equals one hour runtime. If it runs for an hour at half that speed, it shows as a half hour runtime. Double that RPM, equals two hours per hour.

Many years ago, I built a system that measured number of revolutions of my Jeep engine.
My reasoning was that every time it revolved, it put a certain amount of particles in the oil, and used up a certain amount of additives.

I then drove it normally and checked the number after 1000 miles.
Not a clue as to what that number was at this late date.

My reasoning was, that during the summer, I probably spent 3/4 of the engine runtime in high gear running up and down the highway.
During hunting season, I probably spent most of the time in low range.

So, every mile in hunting season would be equal to 3 or 4 during the summer. But, if I measured either engine hours or number of revolutions, it would not matter.

My counter gadget would not fit in a shoebox, and was never practical, so I never really finished it, although it did work.

Today, with modern memory systems and microprocessors, it would be simple to build.
But modern cars have systems that measure the quality of the oil and compensate for short trips vs long trips, so it would be a solution in search of a problem.....

 

[4X4HIGH]

Engine oil for the most part does not go bad sitting in an engine that is not running.

Actually, it is bad to run an engine with oil that has sat in it for a period of time without running even if that oil was brand new fresh oil when parked. It will get moisture build up in the oil which will contaminate it. If you plan on storing a vehicle or engine for any length of time it is best to leave the old oil in the engine but make sure to change it before you run the engine next. It's kinda like brake fluid, once the container is opened there is a shelf life to it because of moisture build up.

 

[Avery4jc]

I have no other real method of gauging the oil since I dont drive it much. It basically gets changed twice a year whether it needs it or not. I just high mileage dinosaur oil, not going to waste money on synthetics, etc.

That's basically what I do with my truck. I put less than 3k miles a year on it so it just gets changed at the beginning of every summer and it's good to go.

 

[black dawg]

Actually, it is bad to run an engine with oil that has sat in it for a period of time without running even if that oil was brand new fresh oil when parked. It will get moisture build up in the oil which will contaminate it. If you plan on storing a vehicle or engine for any length of time it is best to leave the old oil in the engine but make sure to change it before you run the engine next. It's kinda like brake fluid, once the container is opened there is a shelf life to it because of moisture build up.

I heard one time that oil can have a wax drop out (like diesel fuel) in cold temps, and over time can accumulate and cause issues. Is this just old school oil?

 

[badmix]

The deed is done. One thing I luv about K5s, you can just crawl right under and change the oil pretty easily. I put some 10w40 hi mileage oil with a pint of STP oil treatment. The oil was pretty black but not too thick, it was more like a 50wt coming out.

One thing that striked me as odd, when I pulled the oil filter, oil keep coming out of the block. Cant say ive seen that happen before. Maybe the oil filter was clogged/full. Dont know, maybe its normal and I just never paid attention before. lol.

anyways, fresh oil now.

Thinking of draining radiator and putting fresh coolant in. doing a 50/50 mix. I dont plan to drain the block or do a flush, just get some of the old coolant out. Would this be okay to do? I know its not getting everything 100% but I figured doing this would be better than doing nothing.

 

[diesel4me]

I would change the oil before a long trip--and after it too,if it was a trip that pushed the engine hard ,like high speeds or mountain climbs.................................................................................................As for coolant,I've always noticed putting in fresh anti-freeze seems to result in a slight seepage somewhere you barely noticed would suddenly start leaking more,somehow it seems to make things leak that are borderline,at least on my old clunkers..I'd put off changing it till I was going to be close to home for awhile,in case that scenario develops...I keep a tube of Aluma-Seal powder in my glove box "just in case" I get a pinhole leak or a stone pokes a hole in my radiator while I'm on the road far from home...

 

[496truck]

Actually, it is bad to run an engine with oil that has sat in it for a period of time without running even if that oil was brand new fresh oil when parked. It will get moisture build up in the oil which will contaminate it. If you plan on storing a vehicle or engine for any length of time it is best to leave the old oil in the engine but make sure to change it before you run the engine next. It's kinda like brake fluid, once the container is opened there is a shelf life to it because of moisture build up.

To go along with this. Oil that has been run in an engine for x amount of time (lets say long enough to need a change) contains byproducts of combustion. These byproducts turn into an acid of sorts. These acids break down the oil as it sits making the oil less "oil like". So, it's a good idea to change the oil before storage as well.

 

[rdn2blazer]

If it's borferline needing changed now I would change it now then after your 2000 mile trip I would change it again after another 1000 miles. I always change oil at 3000 mile intervals along with a new filter everytime.

^^^ This. Only Scott ment borderline . Man, and you guys used to ride me about MY spelling lol! j/k scott.

 

[4X4HIGH]

^^^ This. Only Scott ment borderline . Man, and you guys used to ride me about MY spelling lol! j/k scott.

Rob, you got me there brother. Keep in mind that i'm not as young as I once used to be though and they say the first thing to go is the memory. So there's my excuse and i'm sticking with it.

 

[rdn2blazer]

Rob, you got me there brother. Keep in mind that i'm not as young as I once used to be though and they say the first thing to go is the memory. So there's my excuse and i'm sticking with it.

LOL! Totally understand brother. My woman says I have a free pass to forget stuff from now on since I had the tumor on the left side of my brain, the memory side. SCORE! Maybe not such a great score . Atleast not what I went through to get it. lol!

 

[K5dreamer]

I run full synthetic in my dirty diesel engines, and go 5000 miles without blinking, hell, ive even gone 10,000 miles on my jetta before on accident, and was none the worse for wear. Usually I realize Im overdue and change the oil around 7000 miles. It usually comes out black sooty, but not thick at all.

 

[chulisohombre]

I always change before and after a long trip. It's just better on the engine. I saw you did this and is better and would set my mind at ease. As to the coolant issue it's hard to get all if it out unless you have some kind of catch basin and can run water through the block and catch the outflow. With flushing at least the rad you get a fresh 2 gallons in there usually.