Best Medicine for frequent short trips is.....

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Shorter, more frequent OCI's? Doing more short trips than I thought, so I'm thinking of using a lower priced, quality dino like Formula Shell, QS, or YB ever 4k miles, max. Is this a good plan?

I'm thinking any of these oils would work well. Otherwise I may spring for Rotella Syn at 5k intervals.
 
yes, agree with 4k miles max, in winter make it 3k miles max. use dino oil, and mix 50:50 5w30/5w20. also buy a timer and plug in the block heater, run it for an hour before u start in the morning even in the summer, so the engine quickly gets up to operating temperature. consider dual heat (block + oil pan) so oil and coolant are both heated. this will make a big difference, bigger than any other factor.
 
imo, premium synth formulations are no substitute for draining out the contamintes and starting over.

If synth costs 2-3 times more, so you would have to run it 2-3 times longer to break even. It just does not work when you compare dino at 5-6k and synth at 10-15k. Dino will give a better result.

Short trip situation is the best demonstration of this.
 
Any oil suggestions, or do you think any of the above would work fine? Or...would it be an even better idea to go MC 5w20
 
Dumping it so soon, I would do a dino. Preferably a house brand like NAPA, Advance Auto, Super tech, etc.... No need to spend big bucks or even medium bucks on the oil. Use a decent filter though, Like a purolator. I have 2k miles on my short trip Super Tech oil. Running it to 5k and doing a UOA sample prior to changing it. I want to see how its holding up in my particular application.
 
Originally Posted By: BTLew81
Shorter, more frequent OCI's? Doing more short trips than I thought, so I'm thinking of using a lower priced, quality dino like Formula Shell, QS, or YB ever 4k miles, max. Is this a good plan?

I'm thinking any of these oils would work well. Otherwise I may spring for Rotella Syn at 5k intervals.

Great plan, IMHO. I think you're right on the money.
thumbsup2.gif
 
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I'd suggest draining the oil and just using 12 ounces of PROLONG. After all Al unser drove a Viper a short little trip around a race track without any oil. I'd think that's all you'd need for those grocery runs.
 
Originally Posted By: wannafbody
I'd suggest draining the oil and just using 12 ounces of PROLONG. After all Al unser drove a Viper a short little trip around a race track without any oil. I'd think that's all you'd need for those grocery runs.


*****
 
PP 5W-30 has a relatively low visc at start up, lower than dino. it could help w/ a lot of short trips and resist oxidation, prob go 5,000 or 6 months in your Mazda 3 no prob.

and cleaner
 
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