Before or After Poll

Should I change my oil before or after our 900mile trip? Current oil has 7500m on it.

  • Before

    Votes: 65 87.8%
  • After

    Votes: 5 6.8%
  • Doesn't matter

    Votes: 4 5.4%

  • Total voters
    74

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regal81455

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Just curious what the consensus is on oil change pre / post long trip. My current oil has about 7500m on it. We are getting ready to leave on a 900m trip. Trying to decide if it would be best to change the oil now or just wait. Part of me thinks I should have clean, fresh oil in it prior to leaving - the other part thinks it would be a waste and I should just wait till I get back. Maybe I'm just overthinking it and it doesn't really matter. That is also a valid argument lol.

What's eveyone's opinion on this?

Tx in advance!
 

turkeybird56

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Before, but I change oil every 5,000 and rotate tires same time, so was an easy answer for me.
 

Burla

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If you want it clean, change the oil filter with large option and drop an engine flush in, when you get back change the oil and filter again. Make sure the oil is a little past full line as well. More importantly, one thing for sure I'd do is get a bottle of redline si-1, clean that combustion chamber and catalytic converter. At 900 miles you will get a well cleaned combustion chamber and injectors and as a bonus you get an additional 450+ miles to clean you CC. Take advantage of the great things that come along with a long trip like this. Long trips are great for Cats.
 

Burla

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If you get a CEL after/while you have a flush in and the code is a sensor, ignore it, that is a sign your truck was dirty and needed a flush (rare) and more then likely as you drive the CEL will go away. So bring your ob2 anyhow on any long trip. If you have not changed the pvc for more then 60k miles, this would be thing one I would do before a long trip along with si-1. At a minimum pull the pvc and run a thin wire in it.
 

Sluff Track

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At 7500 miles, I would want to eliminate the little voice in my mind saying "should I have changed it?". However, I would try get it done a week or more before so I can verify things are operating as they should be. I wouldn't want to get on the road to find my filter wasn't tight or I didn't have enough windshield washer fluid or...

Just my $0.025 worth (inflation, ya know!)

Jim
 

Scottly

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Just don't change it the day you are leaving...The lube rack monkeys have a tendency to screw things up.
 

Jeepwalker

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Perhaps go back and add what brand/type of oil you are using.

If you're using, let's say, Penzoil Ultra Platinum Synth, or another top synthetic, I would be less concerned ...if you have a bunch of things going on. I used to always run my diesel Jetta 10k (or more) miles between changes with Shell Rotella T6. Sometimes as much as 12k or 14k between changes. Of course I would top it off as needed, sometimes adding 3-4qts of new oil between changes. That makes a difference. After 275k miles the cam lobes still look good.

I have a buddy who used to get new company cars about every 2-3 years. On one car, (1977 Impala/350 gas), he did an experiment: After two break-in oil changes, he put in Mobil 1 and never changed the oil once ..and returned it back to the company with the Mobil-1 still in it ...at about 75-80k miles. For guys who weren't around back then, Mobil 1 used to run ads in the late 70's, early 80's claiming how great and long-lasting their *new* synthetic oil was. And you could go a long time w/o changing oil. That's what prompted the experiment. He kept the Mobil-1 topped off and it didn't take much in between he says. And I remember that it never looked real dark either, even towards the end. I don't remember if he changed the filter ..pretty sure he didn't. A fellow sales guy bought the car from the company for his wife/kids (with the high-mile oil still in it), and they drove it for many years as a family car. My buddy did tell the guy he was running Mobil 1 in it, (but never mentioned anything about the no-oil change interval). He asked about it a few times over the years and his colleague never mentionted anything about problems, and had great luck with the car. True story.

.
 

PaleFlyer

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Betting most people are aghast you didn't change it months ago... Most of us (from my read of the oil thread) are using premium oil, but still changing every 5k. My work truck is actually giving me anxiety, as work wants us to follow the oil life meter, which is set to either 7500 or10k on the '17 Silverado from what I can put together. (Got it 4 months ago, and it was at 73% left, so not sure, it's just now hitting 20% where they want me to schedule a change.)
 

crash68

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Changing before 7500 miles on a full synthetic oil is a waste of time and money unless the truck idles a lot.
It's almost comical the number of parrots chime in about every 5K, if you only knew there 10's of thousands of work vehicles that get no more oil changes than the 10K factory spec and live long lives despite sometimes being beaten like a rented mule.
 

EdGs

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You guys are gonna flame me, but I change the oil in my Ram right when the oil life meter is right near the end, down to the last few miles.

PP 5w-20 exclusively until the last few oil changes, now PP 5w-30. Have used Lubegard biotek on a few changes but not for the last few.

Sitting at almost 166k miles as I am writing this.

2015 1500 SLT QC 5.7L 2WD 3.21
 
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regal81455

regal81455

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Seems pretty apparent that you all think I should change it now before we leave Friday morning lol. I'm not too worried about the mileage; I'm using PUP and it's color is still somewhat amber even at 7500m. I'll take what has been said though as a sign that I should change it before. I appreciate everyone's input!
 

KenR 955

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FWIW, Every time I sent oil off to Blackstone, they ALWAYS said I could run it longer. Always.
I won't run this truck past 5K, given that the Hemi engine (in general) has a hunger for lifters and cams.
My 2nd gen Cummins truck, running Rotella T4 non synthetic oil, has an OCI of 10K miles and Blackstone says run it longer.
Unless you have issues now, I doubt another 1K miles will hurt anything.
 

HEMIMANN

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FWIW, Every time I sent oil off to Blackstone, they ALWAYS said I could run it longer. Always.
I won't run this truck past 5K, given that the Hemi engine (in general) has a hunger for lifters and cams.
My 2nd gen Cummins truck, running Rotella T4 non synthetic oil, has an OCI of 10K miles and Blackstone says run it longer.
Unless you have issues now, I doubt another 1K miles will hurt anything.

That's not the point for Hemi engines - they not only have oil-starved lifters but have orifices prone to contaminant plugging flow restriction.

A new engine is around $9,000.
 

Socalramfan

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In beginning to read your post, I would have suggested ‘just leave it alone’ as I was thinking you only have maybe a few hundred or up to 3000 or so miles on the last oil change.

But after reading you’ve got 7,500 on it definitely changes 5he dynamics.

1. Me personally, have never let any of my vehicles ever get even near 5k before an oil change, granted I do use synthetic oil.

2. There are those who will chime in that you can run synthetic far beyond that. That is true, but NOT the entire story. You still need to change the FILTER at sooner intervals.

So sure, run your synthetics till 9k plus, but if your not changing the filter between 4-5k……, well, then good luck to you.

3. Also worth thinking about, but probably not an issue here, is regardless to even if you had 800 miles on the oil, if it’s been longer than 12 months…. get it out and change it. Moisture becomes another factor on engines sitting.

Big issue with collector cars im involved with who may not even drive 50 miles a year…. if that.
 

Jeepwalker

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I put Mobil-1 in a collector car years ago and have not changed it since. It doesn't get many miles. In my snow plow Jeep (winter beater), I run Citgo full synthetic. I changed it last fall and the date I wrote on the oil filter was 5 years ago! LOL. I do keep them topped off. OTOH, I have a John Deere garden tractor (it's mowed a LOT of grass), I change that 2x/yr with Mobil 1, and have since day one. That thing has mowed an incredible amount of grass for over 20yrs, the engine still runs great! Doesn't burn any oil. Most of my neighbors are on their 2rd mowers/tractors by now.

But on the Ram I go 6500 or so miles between PUP changes.

Yeah, I think the OP is a good idea to change it now. But if ya didn't get to it, you'd be ok. Where are you going on your trip/vacation? Anywhere fun??
 
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regal81455

regal81455

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All I'm happy to report the truck has fresh oil and a new PCV valve for good measure! :)

We leave in 2 hours - Nashville bound, picking up the boy from Vanderbilt so nothing to adventurous, and then a slow cruise while the wind blows us along back to home!
 

PaleFlyer

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Changing before 7500 miles on a full synthetic oil is a waste of time and money unless the truck idles a lot.
It's almost comical the number of parrots chime in about every 5K, if you only knew there 10's of thousands of work vehicles that get no more oil changes than the 10K factory spec and live long lives despite sometimes being beaten like a rented mule.
My work Silverado 1500 LT is on a 10k OIC, and has 140k on it. Work says to follow the oil meter. My ram is on a 5k OIC. And I see it as "oil is cheap. Engines are expensive."
 
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