I’ve heard this for years. I got my license in 1964 and I probably heard that statement back then and I still hear it now. Is it true?
The answer is yes . . . and no. No matter how clean you keep your oil, you will eventually need to change it. The following will explain why.
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SLS Notes: AMSOIL makes excellent oils and they have high efficiency By-Pass Filtration systems. But even using both, replacing the filters to keep them clean and working efficiently and topping off the oil with fresh oil to make up what was lost in the filter change, you will still need to change your oil, eventually. It is just a matter of when. At some point, the additives, even with the boost provided by the make up oil, will become depleted and the oil will need to be changed.
I used to have a customer with an old MG, 1952 I think. He used the AMSOIL in his “regular driver” but insisted he didn’t need to change the oil in the MG. He had installed a “Frantz” filter (toilet paper) when the car was new and had never changed the oil. (This was probably in the mid 90’s)
The car wasn’t driven much, maybe 2,000 to 3,000 miles a year, if that. Every year he changed the toilet paper roll and added about a quart of makeup oil. (regular petroleum oil, not synthetic.)
The day he showed me the car, the oil had a light brown color and no unusual odor. I only wish I had grabbed a sample to have the oil tested. That’s the only way to know if the oil was continuing to do its job or really needed to be changed.
Would I recommend doing this? No, but AMSOIL makes excellent By-Pass filtration systems that will work as well or better than the Frantz filter. On top of that, the filters are spin-on so changing the filter should be a lot less messy. And the By-Pass systems are designed with a place to put a valve for taking a sample, a must if you are going to run extended drain intervals.
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