Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Roadster Oil change

My Roadster has done less than 1000miles since its oil and filter change last March 2013.Is it safe to do a 2 year change March 2015 or is this false economy?
I guess there will be different views on this one.
Regards to all and lets look forward to another decent summer
Dave R

Filters get better at filtering with mileage & age so I certainly wouldn't change that this year. You'll hear different opinions about the oil, but providing it's good quality I wouldn't change that either after such a low mileage.

The proper answer is to change the oil because you can't know if the oil is good, or not.

Big truck users have a test kit to measure moisture and wear metal indicators, they only change when the oil is no longer fit for use. This can be 100,000 miles....

For cars this could be done, but selling expensive oil is a key revenue stream for garages, so no one offers this service.

If the car has been kept in a warm dry garage and the oil looks clean then I'd leave it, but if it has been in a cold garage where condensation can form in the engine I'd change it at the end of this summer, not leave it over a second winter.

What price 5L oil compare with a new engine?

A good quality oil should allow you to safely do that, in my view.

Many thanks for all replies The oil is Morris's Multivis f 5w-30.which after using Morris's oil for the last 40years in the Road Haulage industry,I consider to be liquid gold.I am going to follow Dave W's advice[as I always do in your excellent Miscellany Articles]and change next year.The car is kept in a warm dry garage and the oil on the dipstick is crystal clear.
Thanks again foy all your opinions
DaveR

First of all it costs approx £25 to get a full used oil analysis I do it on my cars so it is available. On the other hand that is the price of a typical 5 ltrs of oil so economically there is no case for doing it.

Offshore where it cost £1500 to change a turbines oil and say tosing production of say £150k it is a good idea to do it in order to extend the oil change to it's longest possible time.

Looking at lots of UOA's I have yet to see any increase in water content for an oil kept in the sump for two years compared to one year.

Unless someone can point me to some other measurement there is no problem with using the oil in the car for two years with low mileage on it.

Mobil in the US done an Aunt Milly paper some 6 or so years ago for the typical Aunt Milly who does a very low mileage in her car and it was their opinion that the oil was still serviceable after 5 years.

Yes the same Mobil who sell oil. The oil will be just fine after two years.

eddie

If the car is doing longer trips so the engine and oil are reaching full working temperature then 2 years is probably OK. However, if all the journeys are short, there is much greater possibility of water in the oil...

Watch for mayo on the filler cap! Not so much of that about these days.

I change my oil and filter every six months, regardless of mileage. Oil deteriorates, and it's relatively cheap. IMO, it's just false economy not to, especially if the car is just driven on short trips or infrequently.

Allen
'69 4/4

Interesting discussion on oil changes. Like Eddie I have had experience of oil analysis in the offshore industry. Substantial sums of money are saved by this approach. Oil sampling on gas turbines and large diesels running 24 hours a day 7 days a week are essential as they provide valuable metallurgical data determining which engine parts are starting to fail possibly leading to disaster (ie aircraft engines).
However, I have also heard of engine/oil development companies running engines for 100k +miles on the same oil and also running without oil - but these aren't stop/start scenarios in a cold/damp climate. The results are usually amazing.
But..........I would still rather change oil and filter annually irrespective of mileage rather than have to take it apart and inspect the bearings from time to time to convince myself all was well!
Several years ago I bought my '79 Plus 8 - 5000 miles on the clock, unknown servicing record - sump full of sludge, nuffsaid.........and I wouldn't trust a proprietary filter to last long term.
Repeating the obvious - oil/filter cheap - engine expensive! Change it yourself - cheap and simple - and all available at the push of a computer button, delivered to your door.

Simon