barry96

1996 51K
I don't drive the car much nowadays. About 1500 miles per year. So I'm wondering how often I need to change the oil and what other maintenance schedule I should keep. They used to say change the oil every 3K or 3 months but I don't think the 3 months applies to synthetics.

Thanks

capevettes

Most of my cars are driven very low miles every year. (More than 1500 though) I have always changed the oil and filter once a year. That should suffice with your car.

trulytex

You never know when you change your oil too much, but you will know when you don't change it enough! Change it every 4 months, it will give you an excuse to drive it. And yes, I do go to an oil change place, but he is a friend of mine and he always looks over the underside of the car for me for problems. It's a small town & I trust him.

barry96

Two replies - two opinions

How about other maintenance? Lube?

smearig

What does 5 qts of Mobile 1 from Wally World and a decent filter run, $30? I would just bite the bullet and do it a few times a year at that price.

mikey whipreck

BADDUCK

Once a year is fine. Hopefully each time you take it out you drive it long enough to burn off condensation and start up residue. Don't start it up, run it a little while, and shut it off. Try to drive it at least 40 miles or more each time.

BigDR

I have a 1996 CE LT4 that I drive about 100-125 miles per month. I use Mobil 1 and have it changed when the car is inspected. I have read numerous posts and I believe once a year is fine with synthetics. If I was going on a long trip, I'd probably get the oil changed just for peace of mind. If you use a quick lube, I'd make SURE I knew who was changing my oil. We have ONE here that I trust. It's always the same guys, very clean and professional. I have a neighbor that is a lawyer. He took his 2006 BMW 750i to WalMart for an oil change. Yes, he took a $65K automobile to WalMart for an oil change. I was amazed that they had a filter for a BMW, but they did. So apparently he isn't the only person using WalMart for oil changes. I'm not that brave.

RRT vette

Mine are driven about the same. In 03 my 95 had 44k and now it has 51K. I say change the oil about once a year. If you have a garage to keep it in, that would be best. Get some of those bags from Mid America to keep the moisture out of the interior. Keep the battery on a tender to keep the charge up. Keep moth ***** around the car to keep out rodents.

kalister1

I put just under 3,000 miles on my 93 coupe last year. I changed the oil at 1 year. I keep the car in a garage with a dehumidifier running all the time, not just for the car. I have a small lathe and milling machine(Bench top) and I need to control the humidity or everything turns to surface rust. Some people think putting 20,000 mile per year is better than 2,000? Everything will wear out sooner or later, take your pick. I prefer to drive it on nice clear sunny days and put it away when I'm done.

RobWilson

I bought a '96 with 24k miles on it 5 months ago. It still had the original coolant, brake fluid, transmission fluid, transmission filter, differential fluid, and air filter. The first thing I did was have the old fluids flushed and all the filters replaced. While we were in there, we caught early signs of the water pump going out and replaced it, too. If you still have the original fluids (except the oil of course), I would recommend to go ahead and replace them. I plan on changing the oil every 5k miles or 6 months, whichever comes first. I don't recall what the service interval is for the differential and transmission, but at 1500 miles per year, I would probably service them every 3 years or so. I plan on putting about 8-10k miles per year on mine and will probably not need to change anything but the oil for another 1 1/2 to 2 years....unless, of course, something breaks.