PC Valkyrie

This is a question to those of you who track your C-AMG cars. I've talked to some M3 owners who say they change their oil multiple times during a track season (some even do an oil change after every track event) because of the constant driving at high rpm's.

Is it necessary to change the oil after every track event?

MRAMG1

Hey there valkyrie:

In a word NO

Even in my stang, with a 8 quart pan, cooler, and quad rad, can you say heat problem, My crew chief would change it about every fourth race. Unless I overheated, and the gauges would tell us. Keep in mind that synthetic oils are good up to around 500 degrees, and there is NO WAY your rad or engine is EVER going to see this on a stock car.

The only thing that hurts oil is heat, and byproducts from combustion, ie acid. This is why you should change your oil atleast annualy, because SOx compounds are a by product of the combustion process and build up in the oil. Bearings HATE ACID

I chnage my C once a year, regaurdless of mileage, and I really don't track it enough to change this. If you are truely tracking alot, more than once a month, I would change it mid season, just for piece of mind and then at the end of the season.

See yeah

Fifth Ring

Unless you're running enduros, you only run 20 minutes at a time. Not nearly enough abuse to require an oil change.

PC Valkyrie

Thanks guys for confirming what I initially thought. This past year has been the most active for me in terms of tracking, and I've only taken the car to the track on 4 days. The season is coming to an end too, with fall/winter approaching.

Most of the time, I drive my car as a daily driver like a granny, so I was thinking I would NOT change my oil any more often than I normally would.

AWDman

every 5000 miles for me or 5 events. i went a little thicker by mixing in 2q of mobil 15w50.

a more freq interval is no hassle especially when i retain the filter for 10K miles.

next yr (spring through fall) i will use redline oil mixing 20w50 and 5w30 to get hot viscosity i need and back to mobil 1 0w40 for winter.

OPM

2 times/year. Preseason – early March. Postseason – late October.

E36 M3 has cooling issues, so owners are notoriously obsessive about fighting heat.