Changed oil in July car has old oil smell

[Matthew]

in mid to late July i changed oil in my 2001 Daewoo Lanos and my moms 2001 Chevy Impala.

Ever since i changed the oil my Daewoo has a smell of old oil by smell you wouldnt even know the oil was changed is this something to worry about?

Topic

[Nick Warner]

Smell isn’t a good way to diagnose this as bad or good. Its been 4 months now, so you’re due again anyway. If you haven’t changed it very regularly before this, you could have a lot of sludge buildup that will foul the oil early. Eric has a vid on the site about what happens when oil doesn’t get changed that is worth looking at.

[Matthew]

[quote=”nickwarner” post=37355]Smell isn’t a good way to diagnose this as bad or good. Its been 4 months now, so you’re due again anyway. If you haven’t changed it very regularly before this, you could have a lot of sludge buildup that will foul the oil early. Eric has a vid on the site about what happens when oil doesn’t get changed that is worth looking at.[/quote]

does no good to change it now i dont even put 3000 miles on it in a year changing the oil every 3 months is a bit obsessive and not needed 3000 miles or once a year is what most manuals say

[EricTheCarGuy]

Agreed, don’t go by smell to change the oil or judge it’s condition. That said if the engine doesn’t get a lot of use you might consider switching to synthetic. With synthetic you can extend your oil change intervals and it will probably hold up better under those conditions. One thing to note however is that if after switching to synthetic you find that you have more oil leaks on the engine switch back. It’s not uncommon after switching to synthetic that you’ll see more oil leaks, mostly because synthetic has different flow characteristics even at the same viscosity. So if you notice any leaks that weren’t there before switch back to regular oil, if not with that kind of use just change the oil once a year.

[Paul]

The reason that my 91 Civic has only 63,000Km because it was not used that often. I was afraid of oil leak after using synthetic on an old car. I will try synthetic at the next oil change.

[Daniel]

you shouldn’t go that long with out an oil change even if you’re not putting many miles on it. The engine oil (like brake fluid) will absorb moisture from the air that will break down the oil. Synthetic does not break down as easily. Also you should make a point of starting it, letting it get to temp, and taking it around the block a few times at least once a month to avoid corrosion or degredation of any internal parts

[EricTheCarGuy]

[quote=”TechGuy8″ post=37883]The reason that my 91 Civic has only 63,000Km because it was not used that often. I was afraid of oil leak after using synthetic on an old car. I will try synthetic at the next oil change.[/quote]

Proceed with caution. If you switch to synthetic you may find that your engine leaks oil where it didn’t before. It may also start to burn oil internally. Your vehicle is old enough that it was made before synthetics became popular so you may want to stick with conventional oil.

[Author]

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