Publisher's Note: Welcome to our 45th edition of Tech Tips Tuesday on "Oil Change FAQs: Expert Answers Unveiled".  We'll be re-publishing an edition of AMSOIL Tech Tips for you every Tuesday.  Click on the Blog Category "AMSOIL" to see everything published to-date.

Oil Change FAQs: Expert Answers Unveiled

John Gardner: Well, you guys have been blowing up the internet with phenomenal questions. The AMSOIL Tech Tip seems to be a huge success. We love the comments and feedback we hear. You also sent some questions, so we got our expert here, Len. Len, let's talk about a few of these questions that got sent in and see if we can explain a little bit about what's going on.

Phil from Santa Fe, New Mexico, says, "Should I change my oil when it turns black?" Great question. What do you say to that?

Len Groom: I would say no, you do not need to do that. The oil turning color is the natural progression of the oil going through its lifespan. Things get in the oil. Anything that the car consumes, such as gasoline, ends up in the oil through many different ways, blowby being one of them.

John Gardner: Yeah, now blowby, that's pretty cool. We actually have a graphic right here, Phil. What's happening is when it fires, it's actually blowing some of that by the rings, and it's by design. It's going to get by there, no matter what. You got a massive amount of compression, so whether it's oil, like you said, gasoline, whatever's up in there, carbon soot, it's going to go down in the oil, and it's going to turn black pretty quickly.

Len Groom: Right, and as long as the oil is designed to handle that, to handle those byproducts of combustion, if you will, there's no issues.

John Gardner: Now, our next email: "Do I really need to change my oil every 3,000 miles?" Dennis from Orlando. Dennis, great question. I do, but I don't know if you have to anymore. What do you think, Len?

Len Groom: Well, buy a new car and look at the owner's manual. Most of them have moved to 5,000 miles. I would say that's pretty much table stakes now. Some are at 7,500. In fact, John, we've got an oil at AMSOIL, our Signature Series, that'll go out to 25,000 miles. So, as long as the oil is formulated to deal with the byproducts of combustion, it can handle that. The dispersant package, the detergency package, all those weird technical things, as long as we've covered our bases, there's no problem leaving that oil in there longer.

John Gardner: Yeah, it's a great idea. Len, thank you for shedding light on some of these questions. You guys, keep the feedback coming.

Oil Change FAQs: Expert Answers Unveiled