oil changes

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flyguy_helo

flyguy_helo

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 1, 2009
Posts
51
Location
Near Montr?al, Qu?bec
Hi all,

I have a question about oil changes and would appreciate  your comments.
I live where the summers are short and the winters are long. For the moment we use the motorhome for maybe a couple of thousand miles a season then it is stored for the winter months.
I used to have the oil changed at the beginning of the season in the spring. A mecanic friend of mine says it is better to change the oil at the end of the season so the parts will be in clean oil for the stagnant months.

My question, is it better like he says to change the oil at the end of each season rather that the beginning like I was doing. Does it really make a difference.

What do you guys think about this.

Thanks,
Larry
 
Yes it does make sense as the corrosive gunk and water isn't in the oil. 

That said try to start it up and drive it a 20 or 50 miles several times in the winter to warm it up.  And run the generator for a half hour with a load on such as electric heaters.
 
People say its overkill but my husband changes oil on all our vehicles at 3k miles still.  He said this is the cheapest and easiest maintenance  you can do. We never really have any problems with our vehicles nor do they use oil and we keep them quite a long time. And yes he uses Mobile 1 too, what can I say.

On the motorhome we will have the tranny serviced before 30k miles too.
 
What kind of oil are you using?  For only a couple thousand miles each year, it probably is not very "used" at the end of the season anyway.  Even conventional oils these days should go 6-7,000 miles between changes (although manufacturers will never tell you that of course) with mostly highway driving like almost all RV's do.  Synthetics will go even longer.  Either way, you are far below that so I doubt it really matter much in your case.
 
This may not apply to you since I am not sure about gas engines, but Cummins (diesel) recommends filling the fuel tank with fuel and not starting the engine again until you take it out again. Then change the oil. The additives in the oil will continue to do their jobs and then you can flush them out when you do the oil change in the spring.
 
I've been changing every 3,000 miles with Motorcraft Syn Blend.  The LOF runs $30 but I'm wondering if 5,000 miles is what I should be doing.  I'm taking a trip West and debating if I should have it serviced in the Flagstaff area or wait until I return home.
 
my milage is not that high and I use syntetic oil. For the moment I do not go by milage because I would never reach any milage limit. I change it once a year no matter how much I do. I was just wondering if it was best to do it every spring or to do it every fall and let it sit with clean oil in the pan.
Larry
 
flyguy_helo said:
my milage is not that high and I use syntetic oil. For the moment I do not go by milage because I would never reach any milage limit. I change it once a year no matter how much I do. I was just wondering if it was best to do it every spring or to do it every fall and let it sit with clean oil in the pan.
Larry
Click to expand...

I worked for a tour company that had a fleet of tour buses that sat all winter. All fluids were changed in the fall so they sat with clean oil.
 
I use the MH quite a bit so the early change issue doesn't usually come up. I did notice (for the first time) that the Ford V10's (mine's an '05) have a Service Engine indicator like that of most recent automobiles when mine came on at about 7,500 miles on the most recent change. I usually run Mobile 1 about 7,000 miles between changes but was almost home so I went a little longer than usual this time.

I think this suggests that we probably should just wait for the light and certainly don't need to change every three thousand miles. As to "Bad Stuff" in the oil, I doubt I'd change the oil if I had only 2,000 mniles on the change; maybe every other year. I think changing oil unnecessarily is probably the most wasteful habit we have with vehicles.
JM2C
Ernie

Note: I owned and operated a Service Station for seven years and this was the advice I gave my customers; never resulted in a problem I'm aware of - and I expect I would have heard!
 
I've been changing my Ford V10 every 3,000 miles using Motorcraft synblend.  My dealer charges $30 to LOF, because this is a Synblend I'm wondering if I should be changing at 5,000 miles. 
 
This issue of oil change intervals comes up often.  Even modern conventional "dino" oils (non synthetic) will go more than 3000 miles in almost all cases these days.  Exceptions might be fleet use, constant stop-n-go, or overly dusty conditions... none of which usually apply to RV use.  The computerized oil life indicator on my old car (a GM) used to routinely calculate 6000-7000 miles before recommending an oil change.  Full synthetics or synthetic blends should theoretically allow you to go even longer between changes.

As always however, the "how long can I go?" question can really only be conclusively answered with an oil life analysis... i.e. sending an oil sample to a lab to have it tested.  Everything else is just educated guessing.
 
flyguy_helo said:
Hi all,

I have a question about oil changes and would appreciate  your comments.
I live where the summers are short and the winters are long. For the moment we use the motorhome for maybe a couple of thousand miles a season then it is stored for the winter months.
I used to have the oil changed at the beginning of the season in the spring. A mecanic friend of mine says it is better to change the oil at the end of the season so the parts will be in clean oil for the stagnant months.

My question, is it better like he says to change the oil at the end of each season rather that the beginning like I was doing. Does it really make a difference.

What do you guys think about this.
Click to expand...

Yes....I would change the oil at the end of the season and run the engine for a few minutes to circulate the new oil. I'm also a firm believer in synthetic oil.
Thanks,
Larry
Edit: Fixed quote.
 
Thank You for all your comments.

Based on what I read in your responses, I will now change my oil at the end of the season and let it sit with clean oil for the winter. I will have all the joints greased and lubed as well for safe mesure.

I was using synthetic but I am told that for the little milage that I do for the moment it is not worth it. This season I bearely did my 3000 miles.

Thanks again,
Larry
 
Oil changes... gotta love it...

here you can read for hours...  http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php


FWIW, more and more, seems like intervals and distances are increasing as oil, engines and filters improve.  I especially wonder if the 5 gallons of oil in a DP engine changes very much just sitting there, even after 12 months of very light duty.  There must be data somewhere but it seems to be elusive.  Oh well.
 
I guess that I am old school.I changed the oil in our RV yesterday at about 2800 miles . After having driven  trucks for over half of my life so far I was taught that it wasn't necessarily the miles on the oil but the condition of the oil,when oil tends to be sticky to the touch it is time to change it. Our RV has an 8.1 liter Workhorse engine and the oil filter it has in my opinion is not nearly large enough for an engine  of that size , General Motors of course disagrees with me so I will continue to change the oil when I feel it is needed. I don't think that there have been very many cases  where engines have failed because the oil was changed too often Thanks , Alan
 
taoshum said:
I especially wonder if the 5 gallons of oil in a DP engine changes very much just sitting there, even after 12 months of very light duty.
Click to expand...

Not according to Cummins. They say let it sit.

 
Re the 8.1L oil filter, you can use a larger size if you like. The big 1 qt and 1.5 qt filters that were used on the old 454 Chevy also fit the 8.1L and I used the big ones when we traveled to Alaska. Figured I could use the extra filtering capacity.

I no longer remember the filter number, but any decent auto parts store can cross reference the specs.
 
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