Yearly Oil Changes - Opinions

[Looking4new]

Everything I have gets a yearly synthetic oil change. That chore is fast approaching in spring. My tractor whenever it gets started gets worked for a minimum of 3 hours. I grease the tractor 4-5 times a year and the backhoe every 10-20 hours.

 

[DarkBlack]

You think when you buy a 1-3 year leftover vehicle off a dealer lot the oil isn稚 2-4 years old already?

 

[mcfarmall]

When I was a kid my dad never changed the oil in the Farmall C. When I got into high school auto shop and started learning, I offered to change the oil on the C. My dad bought all the materials and I did the work. When I pulled the drain plug I stuck my finger up there and found sand lying in the bottom of the oil pan. I've changed the oil every year, sometimes 2 ever since, the tractor only sees about 30 hours per year in the summer months.

Fast forward to 2011 when I noticed a drop of oil on the bottom of the pan so I wiped it off, sides, bottom, everything. At the end of the day, heres another drop of oil, so I wipe the sides first and the towel was clean, wiped the bottom and this time I sat on the floor and stared at the oil pan. Pretty soon a droplet formed out of nowhere.

The pan had a pinhole in it, several actually. I replaced the pan with a used one from Bates Corporation and upon removal of the old one found a lot of pitting on the inside of the oil pan bottom. My conclusion was years of never changing the oil leading to acids from combustion building up and eating holes in the pan. The sand? I have no idea how that got in there unless it was core sand that never got cleaned out at the factory.

I would not go over one year on an oil change interval for the above reasons.

 

[Diggin It]

Same type of question comes up for grease fittings. Book says once a day or every 10 hours. There are a whole lot of 10 hour blocks that go by without some joints ever moving at all.

 

[EddieWalker]

The way I look at it, my BX holds a little less than 4 quarts, its almost as cheap to just change it then send in a oil sample. Its when bigger equipment that holds gallons it pays to send in an oil sample.

This is my thinking on changing the oil in my tractor. I do the same for all of my tractors and lawn mower. It's my Spring, get ready when it's warming up, but still too muddy to actually do anything. New hydraulic filters too. It's not that much money for the peace of mind knowing that all the fluids and filters are fresh and ready to go. I grease all the time, but that's when I really pay attention to every grease fitting.

 

[kthompson]

Good friend grew up in tractor dealership and garage. He recommends changing the oil in the fall of the year and not keeping the contaminated oil in the machine. However I find it easier to do the spring changes also..guess it is the "spring cleaning" mentality.

 

[CincyFlyer]

I'm also an annual/mileage/hours guy, whichever is applicable and comes first. My car never hits the mileage, my tractor usually makes the hours.

 

[dnw64]

Good friend grew up in tractor dealership and garage. He recommends changing the oil in the fall of the year and not keeping the contaminated oil in the machine.

Depends on what/how you use your tractor.

I would modify that to say "If you have seasonal usage, change oil before storing for extended periods rather than after".

My tractors see year-round use, but I do change the oil in my Porsche just before putting the cover on in the fall.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Even if oil change hours/mileage are not met my service manuals recommend yearly oil changes as a minimum. If using modern high quality synthetic oils does anyone see a reason this is necessary? None of the vehicles are still under warranty. Not sure I'm comfortable not changing oil at least once a year but curious if there is a factual basis for this factory recommendation.

At the age of 68 I have not personally found a factual basis for this recommendation from practical experience in a healthy engine that reaches operating temperature from time to time. Now if the dip stick is rusting or a head gasket is seeping that is a different case. Now that we use better oil and filters I think is may not be the concern.

Ford states in our F150 manual not to check the ATF level yourself but only get it checked at your Ford authorized dealership. The is a lot of financial support for others built into owner manuals.

There is no evident that I have found that changing the oil sooner than when the manual states will damage your engine however.

Motor oil is more of an emotional issue than a technical issue in my view from reading BTOG (Bob The Oil Guy). Hey it is your engine so do as you see fit and ignore the thoughts of others.

 

[DEWFPO]

Note : This is just my opinion and how I do it, I am not suggesting this to anyone else.

I know many if not all will cringe and say I'm stupid for doing this but I believe (under certain conditions) that yearly oil changes on infrequently used equipment is like the old 3,000 OCI recommendation. In my case I have equipment that is only used in winter or only in summer or sometimes not for 2 or 3 years or only every 3 - 4 months.

When I do use that equipment, it is run for an extended period of time so the crankcase is up to operating temp for quite a long while burning off any condensation. I live in a dry climate (not Arizona but dry) and I use top quality oils and filters.

Depending on the equipment, I change oil/filters in those pieces of equipment every 4-9 years. I also use fuel stabilizers in all of that equipment.

I've never seen any indication of condensation in the oils or filters, valve cover caps, etc... Yes it would be smart to do an oil analysis every so often on all of that equipment but that is expensive and time consuming, and so are unnecessary oil/filter changes. All of my equipment is in excellent running condition and most all of it is stored in unheated buildings. My 2004 Silverado only has 29K miles on it and I've changed the oil in it 4 times (the last being in 2015). It starts on the 1st crank even after sitting 4 months in the dead of winter (it's also on a battery maintainer).

I've been doing this going on 19 years now. Other equipment or vehicles used on a regular basis get their fluids changed as per manufacturers recommended intervals whether that be miles or hours accrued. I never change it on a 'time' basis. I also use synthetic oils/filters in everything. Yes that's right. I know, I'll don my flame retardant suit now.

DEWFPO