“Y’all keep telling me my engine finna blow. When?”
Oil changes are one of those car maintenance things that you just know you have to do to keep your car running smoothly. Better to pay a hundred bucks or so every few months than run into a more serious and costly repair.
But this one driver doesn’t believe in all that and instead has an unconventional way of going about maintenance. Commenters didn’t quite see things her way.
In a viral video with more than 6.4 million views, content creator Annabelle (@calypso.solara) said she’s never once had an oil change on her car.
“I have never had an oil change ever. I think oil changes are a [expletive] scam. Why do you need to change the oil when you could just buy oil and keep filling it back up?” she questioned.
She added that she knows what people are going to say in response.
“They fried me to bits when I posted this on Instagram. But you can’t convince me to get an oil change,” she said.
Annabelle explained that she’s had her car for four years and driven to plenty of other states and back, some pretty darn far away, and never had a problem.
“Y’all keep telling me my engine finna blow. When? And my car runs and drives perfectly. Y’all have yet to give me a real reason why I need my oil change,” Annabelle said.
Valvoline weighed in on the video.
“U can’t be serious,” they said in a comment with more than 112,000 likes.
Topping off oil is quick, cheap, and can genuinely buy time in a pinch, but it isn’t the same thing as a real oil change, according to Meineke and Toyota.
A full oil change drains all the old oil, replaces the oil filter, and refills the engine with fresh oil. Whereas topping off just adds new oil on top of what’s already there.
The thing is, old oil accumulates dirt, metal particles, and combustion byproducts that topping off doesn’t remove but dilutes. The oil filter, which traps those contaminants, doesn’t get replaced either, so it keeps circulating debris back through the engine once it’s full.
Plus, the protective chemical additives in oil that fight wear, corrosion, and oxidation deplete over time and can’t be restored just by adding more oil on top.
While topping off between scheduled changes is fine, doing it too often can cause more harm than good.
Consumer Reports noted that changing your oil every 3,000 miles is an outdated rule, and many automakers now recommend 7,500- to 10,000-mile intervals. The right number is whatever the owner’s manual says.
The publications also noted that oil degrades over time even in a car that’s rarely driven, since heat, pressure, and simple aging break it down regardless of mileage. They recommend checking the oil level at least monthly (or every other fill-up), since even newer cars can need a top-off between scheduled changes.
They also warned that oil that looks milky (a sign of a coolant leak) or contains visible metal particles is a sign to get the car to a mechanic immediately rather than just adding more oil and moving on.
The comments were full of people skeptical of the woman’s methods. They seem to think what she’s doing will ultimately backfire.
“Motor probably knocking like a jehovah’s witness,” a top comment read.
“As a mechanic, i’m glad people like you are around to keep my paychecks comin in,” a person said.
“That oil filter is fighting for its life,” another wrote.
“It’s too late now. Whole engine probably looks like the inside of an air [fryer],” a commenter added.
Motor1 reached out to Annabelle for comment via email and Instagram direct message and to Valvoline via email. We’ll be sure to update this if we hear more.
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– The Motor1.com Team