Engine warmup and short distance dilemma.

[almightybmw]

1.6 miles....and you think about driving? Good god man, get off your *** and walk or bike. Even in a rural setting I wouldn't grab the keys.

[KARR]

About walking to the job, the big problem is that I will leave at about 1 am and the way back at that hour is not recommended.

I've already block the front grille, but it is still not enough to warm up the engine through the 1.6 miles.

About the engine. It has already 264.000 miles. I've changed the oil just yesterday. I do it every 6200 miles. Do you think it should be changed more often?

Thank you for your suggestions.

[theholycow]

Yes, you should definitely change it more often. With the engine that old and so few miles going on it, I would probably change oil every 3 months or 1000 miles, whichever comes first...if I was concerned about the engine's longevity.

If I was looking for an excuse to buy a new car, I'd change that oil once per year, which probably would not hurt it anyway (and which would be more often than your 6200 mile interval if you only use it for driving to work).

[shatto]

You can take it with you...and use it on another vehicle.

A By-Pass filter really earns it's keep in your driving situation.
You need to be using the best synthetic oil also.

Our low-use/low-miles driven Prelude has 100,000 miles on the oil and analysis says it is still fine.




The Amsoil BMK-21 By-Pass filter cost $190.00.

The Ea By-Pass Oil Filter (EaBP) provides the best possible filtration protection against wear and oil degradation. Working in conjunction with the engine?s full-flow oil filter, the AMSOIL Ea By-Pass Filter operates by filtering oil on a ?partial-flow? basis. It draws approximately 10 percent of the oil pump?s capacity at any one time and traps the extremely small, wear-causing contaminants that full-flow filters can?t remove. The AMSOIL Ea Bypass Filter typically filters all the oil in the system several times an hour, so the engine continuously receives analytically clean oil.

[theclencher]

Originally Posted by theholycow

Yes, you should definitely change it more often. With the engine that old and so few miles going on it, I would probably change oil every 3 months or 1000 miles, whichever comes first...if I was concerned about the engine's longevity.

If I was looking for an excuse to buy a new car, I'd change that oil once per year, which probably would not hurt it anyway (and which would be more often than your 6200 mile interval if you only use it for driving to work).

Don't fill the guy full of ****.

1000 miles?!?

Regular service interval... or at worst, the factory recommended severe service interval.

Others beat me to it- ride a bike or walk, the neighborhood can't be that tough. If it is I'd move out, that's no way to live.

[theholycow]

Look at any other post I've made about oil change intervals; I always advocate longer intervals than everyone else. This is the only case where I'd advocate not only the severe service schedule, but more than that. He's got a lot of miles on it and drives 1.6mi per trip twice a day. All that's going to do is get the oil all full of condensation and gunk...

Maybe with one long trip per week, a more normal service schedule could be used.

[theclencher]

A simple test to see if that short interval is necessary would be, is the oil on the dipstick all milky? That is from excess condensation.

Another thing that would help more than throwing good oil out is to take the car out of town once in a while and run the **** out of it.

[theholycow]

I agree on both points. In fact, with so much oil changing at stake, it might be worth getting the oil analyzed once in a while. http://www.bobistheoilguy.com is a forum where you can find out where to get oil analyzed, but I don't know if anyone there knows an oil analysis company in Portugal.

[shatto]

Originally Posted by theholycow

I agree on both points. In fact, with so much oil changing at stake, it might be worth getting the oil analyzed once in a while. http://www.bobistheoilguy.com is a forum where you can find out where to get oil analyzed, but I don't know if anyone there knows an oil analysis company in Portugal.

http://www.oaitesting.com/

[slurp812]

My mom killed her 1994 Buick Century short tripping it. GM ended up giving her an entire new car. What ever you do, get that thing on the freeway once in a while to save the car...