Engine Oil change questions.

Oil change questions.

When I went to get my oil changed, they asked me to do a few things. My dad was with me and he was paying, so i didnt object at the time, but i kept thinking i was getting conned. I just wondered what you think.

2003 corolla s, 2 previous oil changes, this is third @ 5455 miles (ya i dont go very far around here).

The guy told me i needed engine flush cause the oil was black, which it was (showed me the dipstick). I wasnt sure about that i mean with 5455 miles?

And then they told me that i should clean the injectors with this cleaner every 3k miles??? what?

what do you guys think?

No and no, about every 10-20K if you really wanted to but neither is needed.

Just let the car sit for a while before changing the oil (do it yourself you pansy) and the cleaner is not needed untill once every 50K or so just to make sure.

DO NOT DO IT. Like APC_MATRIX_ said, it is not necessary. Oil are always black before every change. That is normal. I would never get a flush. If you use good gas, and change your oil as often as you can, there shouldn't be a need to do a flush. I change my oil every 2500 miles and use premium V-Power for my supercharged setup. Runs great.

Flushes are generally performed under high pressure to remove the gunk out, but sometimes, makes the problem worse by blowing a gasket or seal or even clogging up something in the process (generally in older cars). If you just do like I said in the first paragraph, your car will be fine for many, many years.

Yeah - the injector cleaner is a load. Some people are religious about it, others come to the true realization that if you have enough gunk in your engine to warrant using some kind of injector cleaner, then there's problems elsewhere. Gasolines all contain detergents that do the exact same thing as these injector cleaners do. There's no real need for them. Every 20K miles or so couldn't hurt, but still probably not needed.

If the engine oil is dark or black, then that's good b/c that means it's doing it's job and it's absorbing the contaminants which means it's NOT sticking to the internal parts. If it's black to the point that it looks like tar, that's a different story. However, I'll guarentee that's NOT the case with your engine. I didn't do my 1st oil change until 7000 miles. The oil's going to be dark, yes - but it should still be clear. If you have gum or varnish built up on the oil dipstick, then perhaps you MAY need a flush. The best thing you could do for your car is use synthetic oil, which won't allow any crud to build-up inside the engine. Good stuff!

Trav