Car only driven 1k miles a year, oil change soon?

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Zadnak

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Hi all,

A friend of mine has an 08 Mazda MX5. He only drives the car 1k miles a year at the very most. The car only has 8k miles on the odometer. It's a bonafide parking deck queen.

The current oil change was done about 12 months ago, and only has about 800 miles on it. It currently has conventional oil and I think it's Pennzoil if I'm not mistaken.

How often should he change it? Every 5k miles? Every 12 or 24 months?

I plan on moving him to Mobil1 full synthetic the next time I help him change the oil.

Thoughts? I've already given him the talk about driving it more often.


Cheers,

Daniel
 
Its a 10 year old, lightly driven car, that sits. I would not use synthetic in it. Could even cause a leak. Use a good filter with a nitrile valve and change it every 2 years.
 
Since the oil change might come every 2 years or so it might help to get a UOA at the end of one typical year. This kind of use is typical of those cars that are considered something nice to own but not needed for regular transportation.

You might consider posting this question to Jay Leno's website. He has so many cars and they are evidently all drivers that do get regular exercise but not much of it.
 
Originally Posted By: bubbatime
I would not use synthetic in it. Could even cause a leak.


Why would it leak because of syn?
 
agree it doesn't matter until the car is going to enter more usage.

Even if the engine only lasts 50,000 miles, that's 50 years from now.

if you want to follow the owners manual see what it says. likely 1year changes
 
Originally Posted By: Greggy_D
Originally Posted By: bubbatime
I would not use synthetic in it. Could even cause a leak.


Why would it leak because of syn?


It WONT! That is one myth that needs to die.

With that being said, with the oil changed due to time and not mileage, a quality conventional is more than enough.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: Greggy_D
Originally Posted By: bubbatime
I would not use synthetic in it. Could even cause a leak.


Why would it leak because of syn?


With only 8000 miles I doubt it would leak...but...
 
Last edited:
I don't drive nearly as much as I have in the past. Sometimes in the winter, I only drive 100 miles a week. In the past year I drove under 3K miles, so the same ball park. I have been using a semi-synthetic oil (Motorcraft which was the same price as a conventional) and a decent filter but not a synthetic filter recommended for synthetic extended mileage oil changes. I think changing on a yearly basis would be fine with a semisynthetic or conventional oil.

You might try and convince your friend to take the vehicle out on the highway once a week and get the engine up to operating temperature for 20 miles or so to drive off any condensation or fuel collected in the oil.
 
I do 1200 miles per year on my '99 SS....and annual oil changes. With a M1 + Fram UG costing me under $20.00, the OCI is cheap. Every run is at least 15 miles, no short trips ever. The car has lived on M1 since birth and seen 18K miles its entire life. Not a single oil leak anywhere. Other people I know with low mileage weekend cars don't have leaks either on synthetic motor oils.

I can see going 18-24 months on the OP's car with synthetic as long as it's not consistently short tripped. On conventional, I'd stick with the 1 yr.

Oil change - $15-$20. Engine change - $3,000 to $5,000.
 
Originally Posted By: deoxy4

You might try and convince your friend to take the vehicle out on the highway once a week and get the engine up to operating temperature for 20 miles or so to drive off any condensation or fuel collected in the oil.


I think this is also unnessasary and counterproductive to go drive a car for no purpose other than save the oil. the fuel and mileage costs cancel out whatever you were trying to accomplish.
 
This is a pedestrian car, not a Ferrari nor even a Porsche.
In no way is it collectible.
Why doesn't he use it as the daily driver Mazda intended it to be?
In any event, at this rate of use he's going to have lots of problems having nothing to do with oil change intervals nor oil used.
Tell him to bank a little coin to deal with the electrical and hydraulic problems that are inevitable with any car in what's basically long term storage. He might also prepare for the day he tries to start this poor thing and finds that it won't crank because the rings are solidly stuck to the bores.
No motor oil nor OCI can help with that.
 
Maybe you don't see this problem in Ca but it is quite common in New England during the colder months on cars driven for 2-3 mile trips where water is not driven off from the oil. I have heard it called cap mayo or cap pudding.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71itwBP7akA

We also have a problem with creeping fuel dilution above desirable levels in the winter in cars driven for 2-3 mile trips only during the winter. I have seen a rise in my fuel dilution in winter months when driven in short trips only.

I wouldn't drive a car with these issues for a yearly oil change interval. So the choices are drive the car more frequently for a longer period of time or change the oil more frequently. IMHO.
 
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