Do high-revving engines have shorter OCIs?

[AdrianOilFreak]

When I am doing 70 mph my car is normally going at around 3500 rpms on 5th gear. I have been thinking that this is a bit high and that on this 110F weather we have been having in South Texas I may need to change the oil sooner. I have been told that many cars with turbos need to change their oil on a consistent basis because of the high revs the turbo has.

Any thoughts?

Right now my OCI is in between 5k-6k since I am under warranty.

 

[simple_gifts]

Of course, you could consider highway driving racks up the miles faster.

Imagine doing a newspaper run for a few hours a day @ 0-20mph.

Two and 1/2 hours of driving; 35 miles accomplished.

 

[tc1446]

You are using oil & filter that is normally good for 15K miles. I'm certainly not an expert on any of this, but I think 5-7K is reasonable for your Versa. Motorcycles run at much higher rpm's and syn oil holds up to 3-4K, on some machines much longer, so I don't think 3500 rpm is very high.

 

[barkingspider]

Mobil 1 is plenty good for 5-6k oci even at consistent 3500 rpm

 

[Cujet]

I have a Honda S2000 with turbo. It's a high revving, highly stressed monster. It is absolutely hard on oil. Turns 4200 RPM at the speed limit, and 5000 RPM in left lane traffic. Has an 8,600 RPM redline. I have a digital oil pressure gauge and observe the drop in pressure as the oil ages. Probably from fuel dilution. Be that as it may, it needs 4000 mile oil changes. Anything more than that is asking for BLACK, watery oil and lower oil pressure.

 

[Big_3_Only]

I prefer American cars/trucks that make plenty of power at much lower revs. At 90 MPH, my Yukon is almost turning 2000 RPMs. I've always heard that foreign cars with little motors like turning those high revs, but it has gotta be hard on the oil, but it seems most of those manufacturers still recommend fairly long OCIs. I'm sure it's because most oils are pretty awesome now.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

highway miles are actually easier on oil

 

[hpb]

No, high-revving engines don't have shorter OCI's.

 

[L_Sludger]

Nice question. Oil life monitors count revs if I'm not mistaken.

 

[B320i]

Originally Posted By: L_Sludger
Nice question. Oil life monitors count revs if I'm not mistaken.
The *old* BMW Service-Indicator (i.e. 1990s and before) supposedly included a counter for the number of times 4.5K rpm was exceeded in the algebraic OCI formula.

 

[JoelB]

Wow my 2016 versa with the CVT turns about 2200 rpm at 70. I wonder why they gear the manuals that way.

 

[ksp7498]

Originally Posted By: JoelB
Wow my 2016 versa with the CVT turns about 2200 rpm at 70. I wonder why they gear the manuals that way.


They gear manuals so that you still have enough power to pass in the top gear. Having to downshift to pass would be really annoying. They don't have to worry about this with an auto so they can make the top gear super tall and just make it downshift aggressively when you want to pass. It doesn't seem to hurt mileage; I have a 2017 versa with the 5-speed and the computer is reporting 39.5mpg from mostly highway driving. The gearing in these things is pretty aggressive which I like. It doesn't feel as slow as 109hp might suggest.

 

[Artem]

Originally Posted By: JoelB
Wow my 2016 versa with the CVT turns about 2200 rpm at 70. I wonder why they gear the manuals that way.


They do it on purpose, if I'm to be perfectly honest about my $0.02 cents on the matter.

Take my 2014 Mazda 3 with 6 speed manual vs 6 speed auto. They purposely made the manual rev several hundred RPMs higher then 6th gear in the auto.... you know why? Because the manual transmission is naturally more efficient then an auto and if they make the gear ratios the same, then the manual will be the one advertised as having 40mpg with the auto @ 38. But instead we have the auto showing 40 and the manual showing 38.

There are plenty of people who swapped top gear out for a bigger one and have ridiculous gas mileage increase. I remember reading about a boosted S2000 with a taller 6th gear getting 40mpg while having a ton of power on tap.

Just my personal opinion on the matter. I actually have plans to test the theory here soon when I will be rebuilding a transmission in one of my project cars and I'll swap the top gear for slightly bigger one.

Regarding the original question in this thread... a high revving engine has a tendency to shear oil at very high revs. 3,500rpm at the highway with light load on cruise control isn't beating up anything. 8,000rpm+ daily will beat up oil.

 

[y_p_w]

I don't think a modern turbo is particularly tough on oil. You've got water directly cooling the bearings, and hopefully a robust design. Yeah it's spinning pretty quickly, but the latest API SN spec is supposed to include turbo protection.

Cruising at 3500 RPM is nothing. I got that with my 1995 Integra GS-R at 75 MPH. The redline was 8000 RPM and fuel cutoff at 8100. The owners manual said API SG/SH motor oil at 7500 mile "normal" intervals. It did have an oil cooler though. Are high revs tougher than a turbocharged engine producing much higher pressures/heat?

 

[Mitch Alsup]

Originally Posted By: AdrianOilFreak
When I am doing 70 mph my car is normally going at around 3500 rpms on 5th gear. I have been thinking that this is a bit high and that on this 110F weather we have been having in South Texas I may need to change the oil sooner. I have been told that many cars with turbos need to change their oil on a consistent basis because of the high revs the turbo has.


I have a (old) car that does 3500 RPMs at 70 MPH in high gear, too--in my case, the engine is still loafing along and has almost 2/3rds of its RPM band to go (8250 RedLine and 8500 Fuel cutoff.)

I also live down here in 103ºF Texas summer heat.

In my opinion what you need is an oil temperature gauge--as long as the oil stays below (about) 250ºF you have nothing to worry about.

In my car, I can get the oil up into the 285ºF range on road race tracks, but I can't seem to get the oil up above 250ºF no matter how hard I drive in on back roads. But, It was designed and engineered for the Autostrada running flat out for an entire tank of gas.

 

[tina]

Same! around 2100-2300 rpm around 70mph for 2016 Nissan Versa

 

[tina]

We got the CVT 2016 Nissan Versa about 45mpg on highway! We use shell regular gas from day 1

 

[y_p_w]

Originally Posted By: Mitch Alsup
Originally Posted By: AdrianOilFreak
When I am doing 70 mph my car is normally going at around 3500 rpms on 5th gear. I have been thinking that this is a bit high and that on this 110F weather we have been having in South Texas I may need to change the oil sooner. I have been told that many cars with turbos need to change their oil on a consistent basis because of the high revs the turbo has.


I have a (old) car that does 3500 RPMs at 70 MPH in high gear, too--in my case, the engine is still loafing along and has almost 2/3rds of its RPM band to go (8250 RedLine and 8500 Fuel cutoff.)

I also live down here in 103ºF Texas summer heat.

In my opinion what you need is an oil temperature gauge--as long as the oil stays below (about) 250ºF you have nothing to worry about.

In my car, I can get the oil up into the 285ºF range on road race tracks, but I can't seem to get the oil up above 250ºF no matter how hard I drive in on back roads. But, It was designed and engineered for the Autostrada running flat out for an entire tank of gas.

Well - I remember back with my Integra GS-R, it was supposed to be a special gearing for the GS-R compared to the transmissions without the VTEC engine. The whole point was to get it in a higher rev range even at cruise.

As far as the Versa goes, it supposedly has an oil cooler. Costs more than $400 too. I never thought about how much they cost, but I suppose the bean counters don't put that in unless they think it's important.

http://www.courtesyparts.com/oe-nissan/213051ka1b

 

[KL31]

I agree with Mitch on this. Oil temp gauge will help to figure this question out. If oil is going well over 100C the whole time, then maybe it will beat on the oil quicker. Most cars I've seen, run at around 90C as their sweet spot but not all cars are the same or driven the same! Higher rpms do increase the heat as I was taught here and tested myself. Load matters less. For less oil temp and better mileage, I'd rather be at slightly higher load but far less rpm.

 

[A_Harman]

Originally Posted By: L_Sludger
Nice question. Oil life monitors count revs if I'm not mistaken.


Yes. The GM oil life monitor algorithm is driven by engine revolutions and oil temperature. Higher average rpm will lower oil life. And persistently low or extremely high oil temperatures also lower oil life.