Change Interval Question (Think I waited too long)

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Kramer

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Sorry folks I am a noob here so I apolgize if I have missed this being covered somewhere.

I have been running Mobil 1 Extended Performance 5w-20. It says to change every 12 months or 15k miles. Well I have 13k miles on it. Mostly city driving short tripes about 4 miles each way. The oil has been in use for 21 months now because thhe other half read the change date wrong on the sticker!
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So my questions would be should I be worried? I am going to run to Walmart or somewhere and get a sample container to send off to have it checked but what are folks opinions and or suggestions? I will be changing the oil this weekend with the same product and a k&n or mobil filter which ever of the 2 they have in stock. Just hoping that there isn't any damage that was caused due to going 9 months longer than their suggested interval.
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Thanks.
 
It's hard to answer without knowing your expectations for the car. For the sake of appropriate level of response to an appropriate situation:

- Is this a beater/commuter car or a prized indulgence car?
- What year model and mileage?
- Are you using M1EP and long drains specifically to save money, and/or do you believe in top-shelf long drain synthetics being necessarily better for the engine?
- Have you ever ran a used oil analysis on previous uses (if any) of M1EP?
 
Originally Posted By: znode
It's hard to answer without knowing your expectations for the car. For the sake of appropriate level of response to an appropriate situation:

- Is this a beater/commuter car or a prized indulgence car?
- What year model and mileage?
- Are you using M1EP and long drains specifically to save money, and/or do you believe in top-shelf long drain synthetics being necessarily better for the engine?
- Have you ever ran a used oil analysis on previous uses (if any) of M1EP?



Not a beater. Love the car. It is a 06 Hemi Magnum 5.7. It's other driver tends to make me go crazy. She dosn't drive it hard or beat on it she just dosn't pay attention to things.

As far as the oil situation I was being super anal and changing it every 5-8k miles on just the standard Mobil 1 Synthetic. And decided to switch to the EP for longer drains and possibly getting a slighly better product.

As far as ever doing an analysis I have never done one a of yet. So I don't have anything to go off of. The car was purchased used a few years ago with 18k miles on it. It now has 38k. Most of the miles are just short trips due to work being so close. About 4 miles each way. So any info would be great. Thanks.
 
So in short:

5.7L Hemi. Engine is decently easy on oil with documented long drain intervals. 7qt sump. 4 mi trips not really that hard on engine. Engine well taken care of for at least the last 20k.

Conclusion: you have absolutely nothing to be worried about
cheers3.gif


Recommendations: Suggest not going over 10k mi in the future with any oil without at least one analysis to see if oil is healthy.

I'm going to put detailed info in my next post.
 
Originally Posted By: znode
So in short:

5.7L Hemi. Engine is decently easy on oil with documented long drain intervals. 7qt sump. 4 mi trips not really that hard on engine. Engine well taken care of for at least the last 20k.

Conclusion: you have absolutely nothing to be worried about
cheers3.gif


Recommendations: Suggest not going over 10k mi in the future with any oil without at least one analysis to see if oil is healthy.

I'm going to put detailed info in my next post.


So is it worth doing a UOA on this round of oil? Explain to the lab the situation and see what they say? I am not so much concerned on the miles put on the oil as I am on i being in the car for 21 months. I don't know what they base their 12 month or 15k miles off of. Not sure what they factor in there.

I need to check the level tomorrow after it sits overnite but checking right after engine shutdown it looked like a quart low which I'm sure will be on the dipstick in the morning after it has sat and cooled and drained back to the pan.

Sorry for all the questions I'm super OCD when it comes to my cars. As far as a samplr container is a plastic type canister clean from the store ok until I can have Blackstone send me some kits?

Thanks again.
 
I know what you're concerned about, but Mobil's 15k mi, 12 months is only marketing. It's not what you should go by, but for different reasons. 15k mi is too long to run an oil blind (without UOA monitoring), 12 months is pretty short and not dangerous as long as you don't leave it condensing.

About oil and time: oil health depends on how hard your engine/driving is on the oil, start-ups loading it up with extra carbon/soot/metal, and how long the engine has been running. Sitting time in a well-maintained, modern engine usually doesn't degrade or oxidize the oil very much. The usual concern is condensation for something that sits for months at a time, diluting or separating the oil. Then when you next fire up the engine, excessive wear and damage can occur.

(Example: 10k miles spread evenly over 1.5 years = probably nothing much to worry about
10k miles in 12 months, then it sits there in a damp parking/getting rained on/getting baked for 6 months = change the oil)

Now because you use it regularly for work, the 21 months by itself is not a concern. Time is not by itself at all harmful to oil, it's what can happen to an engine starting up on sitting oil that's badly contained.

About the severity of service:
4 mi trips isn't particularly hard on an engine (particularly hard would be
About the miles:
What I would be more concerned about is the long service. Your previous service (5-8k miles) is absolutely perfect. On an extended oil like EP, you can probably do 10k or more. But it is generally accepted here that to go beyond 10k mi drain intervals without any kind of information on how your specific engine treats oil is not a good thing. Usually, people would run a used oil analysis at 10k miles (by pumping some out of the oil dipstick), and decide to run it longer or dump it depends on if the oil reaches what they're comfortable with as far as viscosity and TBN. Then you can repeat whatever mileage that is, checking back with a UOA every few drains.

About long drains:
You should know that there's two ways to preserve engine health: frequent cheap oil changes, or long drains of long-drain oils. The second will not protect the oil better than the first!! What the second gives you is money savings, if done correctly (like above).
 
So get this tested to see what it shows. Then follow that up again with another test on the fresh oil at about 7-8k. Rinse , repeat and see if things change, clear up if there are concerns, etc?

I do also use better grades of gas in my cars so I don't know if it will help with contamination or things like that but I stick nothing but Shell fuels in the beast.
 
You can test this one (only if you're worried, but I don't think there's much to be worried about). Change it out as soon as you can get to it, and if you're still interested in doing extended drains, then put in an extended drain M1EP/Castrol Edge/P Ultra. That change will be the testing change, to see how long an extended drain should go in your engine. Test at 7k (only if you want to), 10k, and every, say, 2k after that (but the 10k TBN should give you a pretty good idea).

Then you can take that oil and run that mileage (say you decide to end it at 12k) every time, and you only need to run a UOA once a few changes, or if you're worried, once every.

I personally prefer the more surefire way of babying a car - the cheapest API-certified oil at the manual severe service interval.
 
Do you know how many people leave just plain old conventional oil in thier cars that long? At least you had a premium synthetic oil. Its a isolated incident, I am sure it will be fine. Alot of cars get treated alot worse.
 
M1EP has a very high TBN, so it is (of course) designed for long intervals. Far, far worse has been done to other vehicles with no ill effects. I even left regular Mobil 1 in a truck for 24 months, with zero problems. So, simply change out now, then relax, chill, and enjoy your ride. You'll be in PERFECT shape!
 
Originally Posted By: znode
You can test this one (only if you're worried, but I don't think there's much to be worried about). Change it out as soon as you can get to it, and if you're still interested in doing extended drains, then put in an extended drain M1EP/Castrol Edge/P Ultra. That change will be the testing change, to see how long an extended drain should go in your engine. Test at 7k (only if you want to), 10k, and every, say, 2k after that (but the 10k TBN should give you a pretty good idea).

Then you can take that oil and run that mileage (say you decide to end it at 12k) every time, and you only need to run a UOA once a few changes, or if you're worried, once every.

I personally prefer the more surefire way of babying a car - the cheapest API-certified oil at the manual severe service interval.




What if you have an OLM, would the severe service be changing that at the 50% mark?
 
I disagree. 21 months with short trip driving (4 miles doesn't get hot enough to burn off condensation) is TOO LONG for any oil. If you did 13K in less than 12 months with a lot of highway driving I'd not worry but in your case I'd CHANGE IT ASAP.
 
I changed the M1 5-30EP for a friend recently. His 03 Windstar had 15,500 Miles on the oil, but only 10 months. The oil looked very good and I cut the filter apart and it was grit free. My biggest concern would be the time. Let us know how it turns out.
 
Change it. Test it if you want. Move on and don't make a habit of it. Remember that this stuff is invisible to the SO. That's most likely not going to change. That has to be moved to your plate.
 
Originally Posted By: Kramer
because thhe other half read the change date wrong on the sticker


I sorta got stuck on this.
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Just change the oil. What can you do about it now? Change the oil with a flush maybe. Then see if the engine needs cleaning, but I'll bet donuts it doesn't.

Don't bother sampling if you do a flush. But a UOA would be nice for us to see sans flush.
 
what pbm said.7-8,000 mi. is plenty for your driving conditions.you state that you love your car ( they're nice!), yet you depended on your SO to remember the oil change date.you should know better. most women worry more about their shoes than vehicle maintenance. so -- don't blame her -- this is your fault. in future, deal with maintenance, and PM yourself. have a good day.
 
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