Oil Change Before or After Your Road Trip?

As if driving on bad tires and not changing the oil is perfectly safe if you are near home, if you are planning a big trip, you can be seen scrambling to fit in a tune up, tire check, and oil change prior to hitting the road. But this road trip preparation phenomenon does beg the question, "Does the oil have to be changed before a big trip?"

Well if grandpa is listening, we should all scoff at the suggestion and go get in line at the local maintenance shack. If he is not, or if the only thing he can do in disagreement in roll over in his grave, then the answer is "no."

Why not? Contrary to the connotation of the terms "normal driving conditions" and "severe driving conditions, " a long road trip is falls into the normal category. Most of us "normally" drive in severe stop and go short trip patterns that beg for a more frequent oil change. Your pending trip is going to keep the oil hot and lubricating for long periods of time making the need for change less probable. If it is not already time for the maintenance, you have some wiggle room. Even if you are driving across the country, you will only rack up approximately 3000 miles one way, and according to most car model producers and oil researchers, even the round trip of 6000 miles will not put the car maintenance police on your tail. If you are in honor of grandpa, however, a religious 3000 mile changer then you should perform the maintenance prior to the trip, upon arriving at your destination, and when your return home. Now that your budget is blown and you won't be traveling after all, take notice of today's rules and regulations.

It really is not about the mileage on the odometer, or even about those aforementioned conditions which are just a prediction method; it is, however, about the oil. The only real way to know if the fluid needs renewing is to send a sample to a lab for testing. We just use things like mileage and driving conditions as an easier, timelier and more economically friendly way to gage oil change needs. So if your OLS light is not on, or if you have not logged substantially close to the mileage recommended for maintenance, download your favorite tunes and hit the road. You can always stop midway in accordance with your on board prediction system or if the ghost of grandpa decides to tag along.