designer

My MIL says I'm overdue on getting my oil change and I am now 360km over (226 miles).
I got my last oil change done in August of 2013.


The color is a dark brown and still very liquid and fluid.
The smell is slightly off - similar to when the car starts and there is that nauxious gas smell in the garage of gas-fumes or exhaust-like fumes. So I guess the oil is old but I don't think it is completely used up.


The level is on the lower 1/3 of the cross-hatched pattern at the bottom of the dip stick, so its still within level, but it is rather low.


The temperature outside on average these days is a bout -15C or 5F.


My scheduled appointment on January 6th. Today is December 30th.


I think I am good until this date. What are your opinions? Am I good, should I get an oil change pronto? Should I at least top off with some oil and get it completely redone on Jan 6th?

GRAF-FITI

you are going to be ok.

Nick216

You fine. Put in some good ole synthetic.

ggesq

iTrader: (1)

Jk.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

you'll be fine for your appointment on Jan 6.

eastcoastguy

You will be fine, 226 miles over is nothing. It wouldnt hurt to throw a little more in there but not going to hurt anything either way.

LaCostaRacer

You'll be fine. I have gone 500 over but always use synthetic so I wasn't too concerned. Just don't redline the motor if you're using a conventional oil.

nfnsquared

You're fine. And you can't tell anything by the color, don't let that worry you. And if it's in the cross-hatch area, it's not low...

leedogg

I swap oil every 10k miles. Then again, I use a synthetic.

teeeejaay

Your fine. I'm sure we all went over 200 miles at one point. Or just me being lazy this past month haha. I'm over 200 miles for sure. Doing mine tomorrow

350

iTrader: (4)

I don't know what oil you're running so I can't say, but on an old Chevy I had, the owner's manual said to change the oil within 500 miles after the change oil light came on. My TL says I have 0 miles range left when I have 3 gallons of gas still, there's a reason they call them idiot lights, you'd have to ignore it way too long for it to be an issue. If you have synthetic oil and a good filter I wouldn't sweat a few extra thousand miles.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

tighter tolerances in today's engines in addition to better chemistry of the oil leads to longer oil change intervals!

nj2pa2nc

when we went on our first cross country roadtrip-had the oil/filter changed before the trip. By the time we arrived home it show almost 2,000 miles past due. Fast forward 6+ years and 150K miles-still running excellent.

GKinColo08TL

You know when your oil starts to get low on the dipstick it is ok to add to fill it up, in fact that is advisable. It won't do a lot of damage if you don't but it is always better to have an engine with the correct amount of oil in the pan. Otherwise...no worries.

Steven Bell

iTrader: (2)

Yep, you'll be fine. Just don't take any cross-country trips.

carz0159

your fine. I once went over 1500 miles past due.

cam_2

You are fine on the interval and level. The oil life prediction can't be exact and is probably conservative.

I hate cars

Actually it's fuel injection, PCV, and better oil. Tolerances may or may not have improved. Clearances have not changed since the '60s. I hear a lot about tighter clearances in the thin vs thick oil debates but bearing clearances are still a function of journal diameter and piston and ring gap/clearance is based on piston material and expected usage (nitrous, turbo, or NA).

I wouldn't worry about a few hundred miles over the MID even on dino but I wouldn't make a habit out of it.

I hate cars

I agree. I also wonder why it has used some oil. At 124,000 miles my level has never changed even when I've had to push the interval a bit. I run mine at the top line because it's hot where I live and the extra capacity is always nice. I would always run it topped off, more oil means more additives and a lower concentration of contaminates over the OCI. That's how some others like BMW get away with long change intervals. When they hold twice as much oil, the change interval can be nearly twice as long. With a pan the holds less than 4 quarts at the bottom mark, pushing that up to 5 quarts (including the larger S2000 filter) is a nice difference.

My friend had a Mustang that went through so much oil, a quart every couple weeks, it went over 80,000 miles without an actual oil change. Even a quart of oil over the normal interval is good, bringing more additives and raising the TBN and lowering the TAN.

desmo888

Waiting 7 days will not make a difference.