What If You Forget To Change Your Oil?

Can you damage your car by not changing your engine oil on time?
How a late oil change affects your car. Sponsored by Progressive.

What if you forget to change your oil on time? Can you damage your car's engine by not changing the oil late? Do you really need to change your oil every 3,000 miles? Obviously, you should change your oil regularly, but exactly how much damage you will cause by changing the oil late? This video looks to answer this question. We'll discuss what happens to oil viscosity as it ages, and what happens to oil additives in over time.

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[GregSr]

Years ago I took a class in college on automotive technology. The professor had a PhD in automotive engineering. I learned a lot in that class. The one thing that really stood out is the professor repeatedly making the point that oil is not just a lubricant. It is a coolant. The oil helps limit heat buildup in critical parts of the engine. Not just by lubrication, but by moving heat away from critical parts of the engine.

[MrCalifornia]

I went 50 miles over, so I just drove backwards before I changed it.

[MasParaQue]

Here's a true story no one is going to read:

My ex girlfriend ran her 97 honda civic mb2 almost everyday for over 4 months without oil in the gearbox and waay below the minimum in the engine. One day the second and third gear started making the same noise as the reverse gear does, and first gear wouldn't always click in place. She complained about it and I'm a handy guy so I decided to do the maintenance of her car like a real man. NOTHING had prepared me for the moment I took the drain plugs out just to see *literally* a couple drops of oil from the gearbox, and the equivalent of two cups of water from the engine.
Since that day i've got MAD respect for old Honda drivetrains.

The car still runs great at the date of this comment with the best quality oils I could find for it ..

To this day I have no clue where that oil went

[emonvidaly]

When I was extremely poor (80$ dollars left for food per mouth) my ford escape went 30, 000 miles between oil changes. I've since sold it to my cousin, they put 250, 000 miles on and the engine still runs great.

[Eastern_SA]

I’m an engineer by profession and love those engineering videos. Reminds me of college days, 30 years ago❤️

[LimitedGunnerGM]

Most people don’t realize how much oil is lost through the PCV route. Installing a catch can will actually let people see the amount lost while keeping the combustion side cleaner. I was amazed when I installed a catch can.

[MrWilliam.Stewart]

How can you tell when your subaru is low on oil?
When in stops leaking all over your driveway.

[wysetech]

It depends on how much your cars engine is worth to you on how often you change oil. Problem is that the result of neglect will only show up after years of neglect.
You can't hurt your engine by changing the oil too often.
Well done as always, Jason.

[NicholasAndre]

If you send your oil off for testing at Blackstone they will run the viscosity and check the additive package, contaminants, and TBN (total base number). This allows you to see how much life you have left in your oil. TLDR you can often run your oil for a lot longer than the specification (the spec is somewhat arbitrary and factors like driving style -- a straight shot across the country on highway alone will often times leave the oil looking and testing like new). That being said, the cost of an oil test can be quite similar to the cost of an oil change.

[CliffWarren]

Reading these comments makes me never want to buy a used car again.

[Yellow_Afryca]

Imagine you go into Jiffy Lube and this is how it’s explained to you.

[hmandeelful]

Thank you for the information and excellent explanation. Note: as a fleet & logistics manager for Pepsi cola, we send the used oil's to a lab for testing to determine the proper oil change intervals for various truck types that we own. As a rule of thumb you can go twice the recommended mileage. Since we run hundreds of trucks and vehicles, the sample is adequate to arrive to a conclusion that is valid within our application, vehicle types, and the type of oils we use (none synthetic).

[pfsantos]

Also worth mentioning some of the newer systems on engines like variable valve timing have smaller passages and are more sensitive to oil condition.

[crlotero]

Excellent Stuff, there is a reason this channel has been around so long.

[capohd]

I usually change now when recommended, however when I was younger and had little money, I had a 1985 Nissan minitruck. I used synthetic oil, (Mobil 1) and only changed the oil when it went down a quart (liter). That was about every 40, 000kms. At around 350, 000kms, I had to change a valve cover gasket, and when I took the cover off, I expected to to see a bunch of sludge, but it was clean as a new engine. The compression was also still very high, around 180 psi. I ended up giving it to my ex, and she drove it to 460, 000 kms, and then got a newer vehicle, but the engine was still running like a top at even with all that mileage.. The point I am making, is that if you are using a quality oil, especially synthetic, I really don't think that running a couple thousand kms or miles over the recommended interval will make all that much of a difference in the long term.

[datsuntoyy]

My dad's secretary came in one day and said her car was making a rattling sound under the hood. My dad went out to take a look. He pulled the dipstick, clean. He asked when she had her oil changed last. "Do what now?!" 49k miles never been touched. LOL.

[dariusemmanueltherumblegro]

I always change my engine every four miles instead of adding oil to it like a real man

[almizzyracing]

Another note... foam inhibitors. Usually in the form of polymethylsiloxane or methyl acrylates, these additives are the most susceptible to additive clash. Different anti-foaming chemistry can be equally effective on their own but cancel each other out if blended. This is usually a problem with aftermarket oil supplements. It's a common problem in racing engines where people are adding ZDDP supplements to a finished API oil to try to boost the wear protection and end up sacrificing the foaming and aeration control in the process. Then when oil temps start to shoot up, pressure drops, and bearings start overheating, cavitating, and spalling, they usually blame everything except their oil regiment.

[jackd]

BMW has a plan to have less metal wear contaminates Making more and more of the engine out of plastic 😐😔

[Dcc]

"All engines will burn oil."

Toyota 3.4 V6 with 300, 000 miles: "This man has a sense of humor!"