Would you change your oil before winter storage or after?

YamahaR6

Would you want new oil to sit in the engine for 4 months winter?

Or change the oil after winter and start with fresh oil?

Or change the oil before winter, let it sit for 4 months and change the oil again before you start the car in spring?

kannibul

Before, and don't start it until you're ready to drive it.

frost

Before storage. In fact, here is a thread about it on bob is the oil guy:

Change oil BEFORE or AFTER winter storage? - Bob Is The Oil Guy

davidyan

Everyone's opinion seems to be before storage on bobistheoilguy.com

However, does this make sense? After all, the oil just sits in your oil pan and doesn't touch any parts. If you did it after storage, just drain the oil before warming up. Since the car is cold, let it drain a little longer then change it out. There is some talk of acidic particles, but can it really damage your oil pan? Doubt it. It would be a different story if you plan on starting the engine once in a while during storage to keep things clean (in which case changing before storage seems to make sense).

kannibul

I change my bike's oil once a year around Feb-March. During the winter, I start it about once a month, run it for about 5-10 minutes (various RPM's, and some idle time), to get the oil and coolant moving around and up to temp. To be honest, this can be a bad thing as there could be moisture collection in the oil as it doesn't get hot enough to burn the water out - but, I doubt I'm doing *enough* damage...

My truck, I change the oil when I get around to it - which is more than likely 1-2x a year...though I've gone multiple years without changing it (eek!) - still, it runs like a top, but is showing it's age with 140K miles (it'll miss - probably just need to change the coil packs)

My Civic - I change every 15K - I used Mobil1 15K oil. Makes sense...lol

My Z - I've not changed the oil yet, 1200 miles on it. I'll probably drop the oil oit today if I get the gumption. I'll probably stick with the manufacturer's schedule, at least for the first few to get all the particulates out.

Modshack

Why argue the conventional wisdom? It's not the acidics sitting in your oil pan you have to worry about, it's the old oil in the bearing races, oil pump, VVEL and everywhere else in your engine. It doesn't ALL drain to the sump..
If you're going to let the car sit, do it with fresh oil in it..

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kannibul

I think if youre really worried about storage, start it every once in a while, with clean oil in the engine. Bring it all the way up to temp (idling is fine) - then shut it down and walk away.