Change oil low mileage

[zvm77us]

I have a 99 Jeep Cherokee XJ about 81,000 miles on it.

I live in the Northeast (NY) region. I hardly move my Jeep, maybe once or twice a month and only for 4-5 miles tops each time. Last time I chages the oil was over a year ago and put about 250 miles the whole year.

How often would you change the oil? I am running conventional 10w30.

I know the proper thing is to run an oil report but I'm too cheap, lol

Best regards

 

[BrendanC]

if you can get it on the freeway everyonce in a while 20-30 minutes to cook the moisture out then i don’t see a reason to change it but every 2-3 years. more experienced members will chime in.

 

[Patman]

Here is my take on situations like this. If you're only driving it 250 miles a year it almost doesn't matter what you do. Even if you never changed the oil again and the engine died within 10,000 miles, it would take 40 years for it to die.

 

[wpod]

Change it.

 

[zvm77us]

I'll just change it, thank you everyone for your input

 

[facility1]

if you are only driving it 250 miles a year,get rid of the car and use other forms of transportation,taxi,friends etc,,if not just use what ever synthetic oil and change every other year,being mindful of using a gas conditioner in tank.

 

[Lubener]

if you are only driving it 250 miles a year,get rid of the car and use other forms of transportation,taxi,friends etc,,if not just use what ever synthetic oil and change every other year,being mindful of using a gas conditioner in tank.

Another lifestyle philospher.

 

[facility1]

Another lifestyle philospher.

um just being practical to the situation.

 

[sparky123]

I like changing oil. How else would I get rid of my "clearance" motor oil that I bought since finding this website. (Needless to say I have LOTS of motor oil!) You know my answer....

 

[Lubener]

um just being practical to the situation.

He didn't ask for practical opinions concerning the ownership of his vehicle..

 

[Urshurak776]

Change the oil once a year regardless of miles. Easy to do and not expensive. As others have said, if you can take it out on highway a couple of times a month and let her rip, that would be a good thing to do.

 

[ka9mnx]

My F150 gets similar use as your Jeep. It's on the second year since an OCI. I might try for 3 years.

My Ranger goes about 2,500 miles a year and I'm thinking of going 2 years.

 

[Leo99]

Never change it again if that's all the mileage it's going to see. What is the worse that can happen?

 

[subyski]

maybe once or twice a month and only for 4-5 miles tops each time. Last time I chages the oil was over a year ago and put about 250 miles the whole year.

Based on only driving it 4-5 miles at a time and not driving it for an extended amount of time in between, best to change it once per year. If the drives were longer, you could go longer but UOA would be advised to see how your engine is treating the oil and how it's holding up.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

Never change it again if that's all the mileage it's going to see. What is the worse that can happen?

The short run time with a cold engine is dumping water and acids are forming in the sump by only moving it a bit - the worse thing you can do to an engine and oil. Cylinder wash down with raw gasoline.

I agree with facilty1. Maybe assess the need, There are lots of Cherokee lovers out there just salivating ...

And @Lubener - don't even.

 

[johnmyster]

If it's about being cheap, used motor oil from your other vehicles would be perfect for this application.

 

[Rogueman2016s]

I don’t know if synthetic vs conventional “blend” would make any difference the problem is the oil not getting hot enough. You got to run the vehicle a good 20-30 min ride wouldn’t hurt and definitely use stabilizer or iso-heet in the fuel tank

 

[zvm77us]

I went ahead and purchased the 6 qt halvoline box of 10w30 from walmart and I'll throw an orange can as well on it. Thank you again

 

[ATex7239]

I went ahead and purchased the 6 qt halvoline box of 10w30 from walmart and I'll throw an orange can as well on it. Thank you again

Cheaper than UOA and better than guessing and hoping.

 

[TomYoung]

If it's about being cheap, used motor oil from your other vehicles would be perfect for this application.

No, that's wrong. Used oil should be recycled, period.