Has anyone changed their oil without letting the car warm-up?

[hailo]

Why is it necessary to warm the car up before you change the oil?

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[hiccup]

Warming the oil a bit will help more of the oil film flow out..

 

[1 old racer]

I almost always do it at room temp. Most of the time I drain the pan, and remove the filter in the evening and let it drain overnight and the next morning cap off the pan install the filter and refill it.

 

[Grimmer]

I always do mine cold. I don't want to deal with the potential for burning my hands (and it running down my arm) but that is just my preference. If you do want to warm it up a little, or if you have to start the engine to move the car to where you can work on it, remember to allow time (maybe 10 or 15 minutes, which might depend on the oil temp) for the oil to drain back into the pan.

Keep in mind that one will never get every drop of oil out, there will be some oil stuck just about everywhere in the engine. The difference between getting 98% out vs 97%, to me is negligible. Warm or cold, when I refill it with 8 quarts, a half cup vs a whole cup of residual old oil is nothing.

 

[1 old racer]

I always do mine first thing in the morning. After sitting all night all the oil is in the pan. I remove the drain plug, go have breakfast, remove the oil filter, reinstall a new one, install the plug and fill it up. Easy as that.

 

[SAL-E]

Yes... every time. It only runs long enough to get it up on the ramps. I let it sit for a bit while I get everything else ready. Works great.

 

[BrianGT2015]

it is not. Never have warmed up the car up to change oil. I don't drive my car to often. I have had it over a year and only put 6 thousand miles on it. When I do change oil on it or any of my vehicles I take that time to inspect a lot more stuff. I throw it on a set of jack stands as high as I can get it, remove all four tires, inspect brakes, check for leaks, inspect tires, do a really good cleaning on the inner wheel wells. Check underneath the car for anything out of the ordinary.

 

[Elp_jc]

Hey guys, found this thread by accident. If you want to remove all the crap from your oil pan, you NEED to get the oil to full operating temperature. You might wait a little so it cools down some, but if you drain it cold, all the crap stays on your oil pan, and eventually varnish is formed. If you only do it once, and very early, like if you only drove 3K miles in a year, it's not a big deal. But I'd NOT do it twice in a row. Otherwise you'd be contaminating your brand new oil with crap leftover by the old oil. Hot oil picks up all of those contaminants/impurities, so that's why you always want the oil hot before draining it. If you always do that, the inside of your oil pan will always look like new, and your new oil will last clean the longest. I also don't like to change the oil hot, but have never burned myself either. It's for the good of your engine, so tough it out, and do it right . Hope this helps.

 

[Grimmer]

Can't say that I agree with the sediment on the floor of the oil pan theory. Any particulate that could sink to the bottom and settle out should have been collected by the oil filter when it was running. If it is small enough to pass through the filter it is a non issue. If it is big enough to settle it will either stay there or get stopped by the filter even if it does carry over to the new oil.

Anything dissolved in the oil won't care if it is hot or cold.

 

[Elp_jc]

I used to do the same, and I'm a mechanical engineer myself . But an actual petroleum engineer convinced me I was wrong, so I changed my ways. With all the chemos I've had, don't remember a lot of crap anymore (including that), to be specific, but you can look it up, if interested. All the engines with varnish have oil filters too, so the filter obviously doesn't prevent that. But it's your engine. I'm going to believe the experts, and the other 95%+ of people who say the same thing, but to each his own .

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