Opinion on annual oil change

[TomP.]

Originally Posted by last chance

I don't have a problem with buying oil it's just that in my opinion it's not needed. and I think most mfg's recommend 100 hrs. and it's recommended at least at 100 hrs with any 4 cycle motor including cars or i/o motors. Cortana on my computer said so. but it also did recommend to do it every yr. so I'm cheating on the time by a few months. i change the oil in June and use it until Aug of the next yr. then before starting the next season I change it in June.

I am more in line with you why throw waste perfectly good oil. If the oil is like the day I put it in it`s staying in it is my choice and I guess what skin is it off of someone else. Each to it`s own.

[last chance]

Originally Posted by TomP.

I am more in line with you why throw waste perfectly good oil. If the oil is like the day I put it in it`s staying in it is my choice and I guess what skin is it off of someone else. Each to it`s own.

at least one person agrees with me. the oil change every season is so big oil sells their oil. I have never lost a motor due to an oil-related problem. I usually sell them and upgrade all my motors. I've changed the oil in my cars every 3000 to 3500 miles and it gets changed sometime in the 2nd yr. my wife 2008 mercury grand marquis never gets changed about every 18 months but it only has about 65000 on it. my 2010 mercury grand marquis about every 12 to 15 months and has 160,000 on it. and my sons bought a 1998 mercury grand marquis at 175,000 that was just driven back and forth to work got changed every 16 to18 months and then my son started driving it and it got changed more often. but it now has over 300,000 on it now and it still runs good but the little u-joint in the steering shaft is bad so he parked it. my old 2001 f350 super duty crew cab dually truck only gets driven one trip to Erie a yr and a little local driving and its been like this ever since I retired 15 yrs ago and I don't even know how long it takes to get 3500 miles on it and it has over 170,000 rough miles on it from before I retired.

[kswalleyer]

Originally Posted by last chance

at least one person agrees with me. the oil change every season is so big oil sells their oil. I have never lost a motor due to an oil-related problem. I usually sell them and upgrade all my motors. I've changed the oil in my cars every 3000 to 3500 miles and it gets changed sometime in the 2nd yr. my wife 2008 mercury grand marquis never gets changed about every 18 months but it only has about 65000 on it. my 2010 mercury grand marquis about every 12 to 15 months and has 160,000 on it. and my sons bought a 1998 mercury grand marquis at 175,000 that was just driven back and forth to work got changed every 16 to18 months and then my son started driving it and it got changed more often. but it now has over 300,000 on it now and it still runs good but the little u-joint in the steering shaft is bad so he parked it. my old 2001 f350 super duty crew cab dually truck only gets driven one trip to Erie a yr and a little local driving and its been like this ever since I retired 15 yrs ago and I don't even know how long it takes to get 3500 miles on it and it has over 170,000 rough miles on it from before I retired.

great! change it every 2 years.

[Custom Eyes]

As a lubricant formulator, I'd say drop it to every other year. If the oil is still translucent at the end of the season, no need to change it. If it's dark or milky in color, change it.

[REW]

Change the oil, when the oil - from its appearance tells you to change the oil.

At the end of each season, summarize the number of hours that have been put on the motor since the last oil change. If the motor has been used for 50 hours, change the oil. If as others have said, if the oil is black and or milky colored - change the oil.

Or, if you feel like it - change the oil

If you don't feel like it - change the oil.

But, best of oil, do the best that you can be!!

[troller71]

I think he should just fill it up with non detergent straight 50 wt oil. Be good for life lol, enough on this please

[therealjoeblow]

I don't think you mentioned anywhere in the thread exactly which motor you have, but if it's one of the larger yamaha 4-strokes, go join the Yamaha Outboard Owner's facebook group and read up about the issues they have making oil when run excessively at low RPM. There was a lengthy discussion just this weekend from a guy who had significant issues with oil dilution and when the dealer read his hours off the computer, something like 85% of the total hours were at 0-750 RPM, and Yamaha would not do anything for him because the motor is not intended to be run like that. His reason was that despite having a kicker, he uses the big motor for trolling all the time to keep his battery charged for the raft of huge electronics he has because the kicker's alternator isn't strong enough. So basically ruining his large motor instead of finding a better solution.

Cheers