Oil Change Clarification

[Henry Suarez]

Can someone please tell me why you would want to change the oil after you have run the engine. It seems to me you should let the engine sit overnight so all the sludge and sediment sinks to the bottom. Just wondering.

 

[Patrick Wallach]

Not to mention the oil would be HOT! Where did you here you'd want to change the oil after running the engine?

 

[TRACket Paul]

The general idea is that warm oil flows better and the contaminants are suspended in the oil not, sitting in the bottom of the pan.

 

[Vic Sorlie]

Paul's exactly right. You want all the junk to come out while suspended. You can let the engine cool a few minutes while you put it up on stands, gather tools and supplies, open cold beer, etc.

 

[Johnny O]

+1

Warm (or hot) oil suspends the dirt and drains out better. A hot drain plug doesn't bother me although you can leave the socket or the socket with an extension on to remove it. I use a claw-type filter wrench for the Trac, if the filter is hot I just spin it loose, let the oil run out for a minute, then get it off the rest of the way with a bunch of paper towels or a glove. Or maybe I'm just tough and y'all are wusses. :cheeky:



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[H D]

I've never had a plan, hot or cold, but it usually ends up that I have to drive somewhere on the day I change oil so it's usually warm, if not hot. I usually wear gloves when changing oil so it's not really a problem. Hot oil dripping down the arm just gives me warm fuzzies anyway. Oil scalds make me feel just as productive as bloody knuckles but with less work.



I always reserve the cold beer for after working on my vehicles, though.

 

[Henry Suarez]

Ok, so I just changed my blistering oil and found I was a quart low.....I always put in 5. I shouldn't be burning oil at 45k miles.

 

[Gavin Allan]

GM considers an engine to burn a quart of oil every 500-1000 miles to be "normal":

 

[Vic Sorlie]

CopSTA - you didn't burn a quart. The 4.6L engine takes 6 qts, not 5. You can check out all the capacities by using AMSOIL's online lookup.

 

[EddieS'04]

Also,I have always been under the opinion. If you dont use alittle oil between changes. The cylinder walls are not lubeing properly... Just my experiance.

 

[Henry Suarez]

Vic, I buy the big oil container plus one regular oil container.

 

[Brad Schultz 2]

Like to have mine hot as well as it pulls out all the crap. But just to share something that happened to me a few months ago. I decided to change the oil. I dropped the oil as normal but between that and removing the filter, I took a few minutes (ok, so it was 3 1/2 hours, but who was watching the clock anyway) to change the heated seatback element in my drivers seat. As I was loosing daylite fast, I thought I'd better pull the filter and put in new oil while I could see. Usually pop a hole in the bottom of the filter to drain it, but as time was a factor, I went for it without draining it. Low and behold, if I hadn't tipped the filter a wee bit pulling it down, I would have lost none out of it. Not going to bother next time and see what happens. Anyone else go for it while full? Maybe I've been wasting my time all along!