How much damage will my car have if I got a extended period without doing a oil change?

Question

I know its suppose to be every 3,000 miles or 3 months but im doing on 5 months now without changing my oil. Should I worry? How long can I go on like this before something happens? and what will that "soemthing" be?

Answer 1

If is still 3,000 Miles and five months, it should still be OK. I wouldn't worry to much. Just goahead and change it, and don't risk it.

Answer 2

Several of the manufacturers have extended their oil change recommendations to 6,000 miles or six months. The improved metallurgy today, much better filters and far better oil formulation have made the 3,000 or 3 months bit a bit archaic. Consumer Reports, a couple of years back, ran a report on the tests they did with a New York, City taxi fleet. Started out with all new engines and ran some at 3,000 mile interval, some at 5,000 and some at 6,000 with everything from expensive synthetic oil down to the cheap generic brand oil. Tore them all down around 80,000 miles and weighed the bearings on a gram scale to determine how much wear had occured. Their findings were no significant differences between the different oils or change intervals.

Answer 3

Much depends upon the year make and model of your car. As a rule of thumb short stop and go driving is very rough on engines and the oil inside. The poor motor never gets hot enough to drive off condensation and gas leak down from the combustion chambers. These things can seriously dilute the oil and lessen it's ability to properly lubricate and at detergent additives are thinned out so the oil will not keep your motor as clean as it should.

These things are prime examples that cause oil sludging problems. You don't want that to happen. Nowadays most cars call for 5,000 mile oil changes. To me that's stretching things. You could safely get away with it if you used 100% synthetic motor oil. The additive packages are far surperior to regular oil. It flows faster at low temperatures and does not vaporize at high temps.

Answer 4

Its not too bad. Every 3000 miles is actually a little excessive.... Unless you use your car like a madman, its fine to way an extra month or two.

I dont follow any mileage or date recommendations. I just check to make sure if the oil is still clean once in awhile. Once it starts coming out a little darker and dirty, thats when I decide to change it.

Answer 5

As long as you've been checking to make sure your oil isn't low, you won't suffer immediate major damage. What does happen is that oil collects dirt and becomes acidic, so any extended periods between oil changes will shorten the motors overall life.

Answer 6

Going over occasionally will not do much if any harm at all, but continued running of old oil will cause premature wear of all the moving parts in your engine, because the grit and other contaminants are being circulated by the oil pump.

http://www.nordicgroup.us/oil.htm#How%20Sludge%20is%20Prevented

Answer 7

lots of problems, engine sludge, if you burn too much off, the engine will start to lock up, cracked heads, valve leakage. y r u waiting 5 months???? the damage will be severe and usually catastrophic.