Oil change regardless..🤷🏻‍♂️

[Dodgy69]

Do you change your bikes engine oil every year regardless of mileage, every 2 years regardless of mileage or mileage as per book. Thinking more about multiple bike ownership.

[porter_jamie]

100% yes. Yearly even if it's only done mot centre miles. It's not the drive to work shitter car I don't care about, however that also gets done yearly regardless of miles too. No downside to it at all apart from cost and potential of stripping the sump plug threads.

[DefTrap]

I change the oil every time I remember

[Dodgy69]

I have heard in the past about oil deteriorating due to condensation or whatever, even if its doing nothing, so maybe it's best to spend £50 for peace of mind.

[Rockburner]

Approximately to mileage for me, which is probably about once a year now.

[cheb]

Mine get fresh oil on every second stroke of the engine.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Mileage, it isn't going to do anything to the oil sat in the garage

[Skub]

Mileage for mine,they don't usually sit for long.

Car gets once a year,because I don't care much about it.

[porter_jamie]

Mileage, it isn't going to do anything to the oil sat in the garage

Oil is hygroscopic, so actually yes it can age. For something you care about, once a year

[KungFooBob]

Mileage, it isn't going to do anything to the oil sat in the garage

Oil is hygroscopic, so actually yes it can age. For something you care about, once a year

I'm 50/50 on this.

I get that oil sat in an engine could absorb moisture in the air and oil does 'age' without being used.

But then, surely when oil gets up to 100c the water content just boils off out of the crank case vent?

[porter_jamie]

You want steam Inside your engine?

[porter_jamie]

Clogging up your breathers with emulsion?

[KungFooBob]

You want steam Inside your engine?

How much water has the oil absorbed, how much steam does it create, how long does it take to vent out the crank case, how much damage does it cause?

I don't know, that's why I'm 50/50.

[porter_jamie]

Why would you take the risk

[KungFooBob]

Why would you take the risk

The cost of the oil
The environmental cost of disposing of the oil if it doesn't need to be replaced
This dammed idleness

[Dodgy69]

Not sure this engine starting at the weekend over winter helps much with this. I was once told to leave alone unless your going out for 20 miles +.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Clogging up your breathers with emulsion?

There's always steam inside your engine, and I'd love to see it clog the breather on my Kawasaki

[dern]

Mileage, it isn't going to do anything to the oil sat in the garage

Oil is hygroscopic, so actually yes it can age. For something you care about, once a year

I'm 50/50 on this.

I get that oil sat in an engine could absorb moisture in the air and oil does 'age' without being used.

But then, surely when oil gets up to 100c the water content just boils off out of the crank case vent?

Yeah, it might be technically hygroscopic but not to the same degree that brake fluid is for example. Completely agree that the tiny amount of condensation that forms would be driven off with heat but that wouldn't result in an engine 'full of steam'.

I change the oil in the track bike at least once a year but if I'm not doing the miles on the other bikes (or cars) I'd be happy to do it every other year or indeed maybe even longer. It's not going cause any wear.

[MrLongbeard]

Mileage based for my fleet of 2 bikes and 2 cars, always have always will.

[KungFooBob]

I suspect that time based, rather than distance based servicing was invented by the dealers to boost workshop income.

I'm sure up until recently (well early 2000's is recent for me) that it was always mileage and never time...

..but then, has oil technology and engine performance moved on since then?