Not only early but a week or more before the start of the trip. That gives you time to find any leaks that poped up with the oil change, i.e. drain bolt, oil filter etc.
Good point. Heading west from Wisconsin in my friend’s Corolla with a brand new oil change, it was late at night in the Dakotas when his oil pressure light started flickering. We discovered oil had been leaking from the filter. Tightened it. I think we added some oil we had brought along. The OP light stayed off and no problems thereafter.
Changing oil before the trip would enable not exceeding the recommended interval.
Highway and Interstate speeds may help the oil clean the engine more than in-town driving.
So lucky:
New filter installed and oil draining all night.
0547 Sunday, blood center calls for a stat blood platelet delivery to a Utahospital.
Pre-measured Mobil1 0W-20 full synthetic oil poured in.
En route to the blood center, as usual with a stat transport, I call the hospital with GPS ETA.
12:49:31
Thought they would laugh at the 31 seconds buthey were concerned about it being so long.
We are driving an authorized emergencyehicle, I.nform.
When they learned the SUV has redightsiren, they wanted them used.
So glad there was fresh clean oil in the engine.
(Shall apply to the Guinness Book of World Records for longest emergent trip - 368 miles.)
Have they heard about these new inventions called Helicopters?
Helicopters very rarely used due to cost. When on active duty, we needed emergency transport of blood, called the chopper squadron, answer: no. We ended up getting support from Highway Patrol.
Civilian chopper transport is very expensive. Unfortunately living in small towns, reduced medical care is a problem.
The system posted my reply, twice. I deleted the duplicate. Now both gone??
You need to wait and refresh your view first, the double post is temporary.
Just stop with that nonsense which is completly unnecessary.
And it’s getting much worse real soon now.
Good idea. I always did early before the trip but I did it right before. A week before is a great idea. You’ll know by your parking spot if they didn’t fully tighten something.
On friends trip he left oil cap off after adding oil. We soon smelt oil. I had change done at dealer and I found misplaced oil cap when I got home. It does happen. Dealer sent flatbed to get car.
I mean exactly what your story said. Significantly lower Medicaid and now Medicare payouts will force many rural hospitals to close. We have our problems in suburbia too. Our county hospital is very short on doctors, especially in the ER. I went there a couple of years ago with an extremely painful knee and waited for 8 hours before giving up and going home. Eventually the knee pain abated after I went on prescription steroids, but it took two weeks before I could get tests, diagnoses, and the prescription.
It sounds like many people are probably perishing, due to a lack of hospitals
Never do this. Either change the oil before the trip–allowing sufficient time for any possible leaks or problems with the new oil filter to manifest, or wait until you return home. Under no circumstances would I suggest having an oil change done during a long-distance road trip, because the potential risk outweighs the potential benefit.
Obviously, you should check the oil with the dipstick, and top off as needed before and during the trip. Anytime you take a long trip, you should bring at least one or two full, sealed quart bottles of engine oil, and one sealed gallon bottle of pre-mixed engine coolant, in case either of these need to be topped off during the trip.
Funny, 2 pros on here (probably more) have done this for customers many times, well over 1000 times in my case with no issues, just go to places that have ASE technicians working for them… We had to have double sign offs, meaning a 2nd tech had to put his hand on the filter making sure it was tight as well as a tool on the drain plug to confirm tight and not stripped threads, and then had to see the dipstick level was correct… takes a couple of seconds for the guy next to you working to double check, and you for him/her… As a shop, the last thing you want is to deal with is an oil out on an out of towner when it could cost you thousands of $$$$ for a screw up…
I have to disagree on the premix coolant for two good reasons. If you have followed the mfg preventative maintenance schedule and your system is less than 20 years old, the likelihood of a cooling system issue is very slim. Instead carry two gallons of distilled water. You can use it for a cooling system emergency to get you to nearest civilization plus it can save your life if you need drinking water. You can’t drink premix. Take more than two gallons if you have passengers or are planning to go to dangerous desert areas, like Death Valley.
Even quick lube places use the double sign off. I used to get oil changes at the local JL when I used mineral oil. The staff had ASE certs and the manager checked each car for leaks and forgotten parts.

Even quick lube places use the double sign off. I used to get oil changes at the local JL when I used mineral oil. The staff had ASE certs and the manager checked each car for leaks and forgotten parts.
I’m glad they are double checking things, and you really don’t hear about quick lube places having oil outs much anymore… Times have changed, speaking of changing times, I call the G1 maintenance ASE certs basically a participation trophy, I am no more impressed with those than I am with them having a Jiffy Lube cert, the ASE certs that real automotive technicians have, you have to have a minimum of 2 years experience (schooling like Lincoln Tech counts as 1 year) before you can get your certs, even if you pass the test coming out of Lincoln Teck, meaning even if you pass, you do not get your ASE cert for another year…
To me the G1 cert and ones like it are insulting…
Think of it this way, saying I am a chassis engineer just because I had an ASE in steering and suspension (A4) (I had more lol) would be a disgrace to Mustangman after all the years and experience he has…
I think ASE has just sold out for money… A shop displaying an ASE mechanic on duty (or whatever) sign used to mean something, if 10 minute oil change places can show the same signage, well then a shop like Testers having a sign doesn’t have the same meaning anymore, sadly… imho