I Just Remebered I Haven't Change My oil since 2007!

[Agent Runkle]

Sometimes you just get busy and things slip your mind...

I have a 2002 SL with 160,000 miles and have owned it since new. Runs great and just recently had to fix a few minor things due to the year and millage, nothing major.

For a few months now I been thinking about my oil situation and wondering what I should do about it. I do add a qt about every 1,000 miles and that's about all I been doing since the summer of 2007 (sadly, I'm serious). My thought is that I should order about 12 filters and a ton of oil and change my filter and oil about every 500 miles until I feet better about it but I been reading options like adding diesel or kerosene (just a little) to the oil and running it then draining it. My fear is knocking some chunk of something loose and blowing up the motor.

Thinking my best bet is the frequent oil changes and don't add anything to the engine.

Any ideas? or just keep going another 70,000 and see what happens?

Thanks,
Mr. Lazy

[ShawnV]

I would do the shorter interval oil changes and not add anything to the oil.

Let's see what others have to say though.

[Cheyne]

I thought this was a joke at first. Don't add any additives to the crankcase. Change the oil and use a good quality oil filter like the Pure One PL20195. I would do a couple of quick OCI's. You will probably fill up the filter pretty quickly. Current one is likely in bypass.

[Agent Runkle]

Nope, not a joke and I know better but after a while I was amazed it was still driving good and still great on gas around 32mpg city and 38-40 on the highway.

When I was looking under there a few weeks ago I did notice a mess of thick oil cruded up all over my pan (towards the pulley) . I ordered a Floor jack and jack stands from Harbor Freight and the stands made it and now I'm waiting for the floor jack to show up today. Then I'm in business for safely getting under there to do some scraping and cleaning. I think from my first look I'm building up some oil around the outside of the filter.

I'll take pictures of this mess, I'll 75% ashamed and 25% amazed!

I'm getting online to find those filters now.

[bountyhunter]

Originally Posted by ShawnV

I would do the shorter interval oil changes and not add anything to the oil.

Let's see what others have to say though.

+1 Buy gallon jugs of decent oil at Walmart (like Castrol, Valvoline etc) and change your oil everytime it gets dark. I'd wager you have some gunk in there to get out.

You can also do the five minute flush thing at the oil change. I used to do that, but now I just change the oil more often and it never gets dirty.

[Puck head]

Wow! It's a miracle your engine is still running. Probably means it was a good engine. Might still be but only time will tell. I'd definitely drain oil immediately and take off valve cover and inspect and get any big clunks if any out. And take off oil guides on the valve cover and clean all sludge. I did this to my car at around 210,000 miles and I change my oil on time every time since I got the car with 121 k. There was quite a bit of sludge in the oil guides. And then take off oil pan and inspect for oil sludge build up. Then use mObil 1 and their filters from now on. Especially if your the neglectful type. I strongly recommend u do this. I guarantee your motor will love these things done to it. Fuel filter? Air filter? Tranny filter? All these are cheap and easy to replace. That's why I love my Saturn so much it's affordability and it's easy to work on.

[ShawnV]

Originally Posted by bountyhunter

You can also do the five minute flush thing at the oil change. I used to do that, but now I just change the oil more often and it never gets dirty.

I wouldn't do this at all. It could easily loosen things up and kill the engine quickly. I did the Gumout motor flush and killed an engine a few years ago.

shawn

[OldNuc]

Someone just did the MMO flush and killed an engine.

The proper procedure is to change the oil and filter, drive for a couple of hours at full operating temperature and change the oil and filter again. Use a Mobil-1 209 or Pure One PL20195 filter and top quality oil. Change again at 1000 miles.

[Agent Runkle]

Thanks for the tips. Aside from this little mishap I always kept everything else maintained. Its been driving easy since day 1 and so far I'd say I got my $9,999 out of my Spring Special.

With all the positive talk and memories of my little car I'm starting to feel bad for the little guy knowing I'm going to end up giving it to my teenage daughter..poor car.

BTW on a side note I just got my Jack from FedEx and already used it!

The 3ton Rapid Pump from Harbor Freight for $65 and 3 Ton Jack Stands for $15 is a awesome deal!