entended intervals

[BarkerMan]

When you run extended oil change intervals is the diligence required to do it safely costing more time and money than extending the interval brings back in savings?

I’m asking because it does not appear practical to run extended intervals on new cars because of the warranty. Modern engines are just to expensive to fix on your own and the skill of many dealership service departments to effect repairs is less than confidence inspiring.

Tell me under what conditions extended intervals work. And what would those intervals be and what diligence would you exercise and what is a reasonable risk level.

 

[CivicFan]

By extended intervals, do you mean an OCI of more than 3k miles?

I do 10k OCI (as recommended by Honda) with Mobil1 oil with the oil filter changed at every oil change. My main reason is not to save money but to save time as the OCI is usually once a year. Another benefit out of it is less waste, i.e. fewer oil filters, oil bottles to end up in a landfill and only 4 quarts of oil used per annum which gets recycled.

The manufacturer does not recommend using a synthetic but I do it for peace of mind and possible benefit of better fuel economy.

 

[Tree Hugger]

I run about 9,000 mile OCIs in my 2003 Chevy Avalanche (5.3L) because the OLM tells me to. Exactly what my warranty required (I'm now at 121,000 miles. No detectable oil usage between changes. Havoline 10W30 and 5W30 Dino).
No diligence required. No risk, No worries. Come on in and try the 21st century.

 

[Pablo]

Wife's Honda at 30K still under warranty. We ran XLM 5W-20 ($17.85/gallon) to the OLM for the first 4 OCI's. Now I'm on ASM 0W-20($23.85/gallon) and will simply reset the OLM every other time when it pops up. Did one UOA during the first interval of the 5W-20 in 2006. All was nominal.

My Volvo I ran ACD in it. You know the cost. ($20/gallon). 16 months. 10K miles. UOA
If I want to wrench it will be on my bike, not my commuter car. Now I'm running SSO in it ($29/gallon). Sometime in 2009, I might change it.

Price of oil? Chicken feed. Engines clean? Yes. Not having to change oil so darn much? (after surgery, kids on the go, etc) Priceless!!

 

[deven]

If its a new car it behooves you to follow the owners manual for maintenance just for warranty reasons.

 

[Brett Miller]

I'm going to start extending in my 2003 Civic. PP 5W-20 with 10,000 mile intervals. Should work out to once a year. For some reason I don't enjoy changing oil like I did prior to having kids!

 

[BarkerMan]

Pablo,

I think extended intervals to work require that the owner knows what they are doing. It's not for the average consumer.

In you're case you have a good idea of what's going on. At the hands of many others I wonder if extended intervals will work just because engines and oil are robust enough to survive a lot of wear without showing symptoms because the owner trades it in too soon.

 

[ARB1977]

Originally Posted By: BarkerMan
When you run extended oil change intervals is the diligence required to do it safely costing more time and money than extending the interval brings back in savings?

I’m asking because it does not appear practical to run extended intervals on new cars because of the warranty. Modern engines are just to expensive to fix on your own and the skill of many dealership service departments to effect repairs is less than confidence inspiring.

Tell me under what conditions extended intervals work. And what would those intervals be and what diligence would you exercise and what is a reasonable risk level.


It all comes down too is uoas. I generally like to think 6 months or 5000-7500 miles is a safe start.

 

[Alternator]

I'm running ~15k OCIs on two of our newer vehicles with different flavors of M1, bypass filters, mid-course full-flow changes, Lube Control initially and along the way, and a UOA at or near the end of the run. Program's been in effect for going on three years. Results have been stellar so far, and 13-15k seems to the appropriate OCI. The lower mileage vehicle will have had it's first run in the sump two full years when it gets changed sometime this summer.

Admittedly, I have not crunched all the numbers, but a rough guess would put my oil service costs at around half what they would be on a 5k OCI. I'll stop doing the UOA's after two consecutve stable runs establishes a baseline. Random checks at less frequent intervals will become the norm, so UOA cost hopefully becomes trivial at some point in the future.

I have another vehicle with a perpetual sump. The oil drain plug has only been removed once by me about 18 months ago, and that may be the last time it ever does get drained. Big sump, big filter(s), annual maintenance, annual UOA, periodic adds, and that's it.

The less time spent doing the work is priceless.

 

[BarkerMan]

Alternator, you are not the average person maintaining a car. It appears that you have a grasp on routing maintenance and have stepped up with a plan that is far beyond the average, a good plan but you have to agree, more than most would even consider.

It would be interesting to see a spread sheet with your numbers in parallel with an out of the owner's many set to compare.

Are you doing LC at 1k dose intervals?

 

[sHERM]

Originally Posted By: Pablo
Wife's Honda at 30K still under warranty. We ran XLM 5W-20 ($17.85/gallon) to the OLM for the first 4 OCI's. Now I'm on ASM 0W-20($23.85/gallon) and will simply reset the OLM every other time when it pops up. Did one UOA during the first interval of the 5W-20 in 2006. All was nominal.

My Volvo I ran ACD in it. You know the cost. ($20/gallon). 16 months. 10K miles. UOA
If I want to wrench it will be on my bike, not my commuter car. Now I'm running SSO in it ($29/gallon). Sometime in 2009, I might change it.

Price of oil? Chicken feed. Engines clean? Yes. Not having to change oil so darn much? (after surgery, kids on the go, etc) Priceless!!


16 month's and 10k miles. can you wait that long to change the oil ? I have the same issues with my wifes car, she puts about 4k miles every year, i still change it every year, because she's not driving it long enough to cook out the contaminants or the condensation, Am i off base here?

 

[Pablo]

In your case 1 year might be fine. My car is a commuter that gets long enough runs to "cook out...condensation". Depends on the oil and the situation but oils can go longer than 1 year.

 

[BarkerMan]

When you have a bunch of short runs can a couple of long runs really clean things out or is there residue or damage that can't be undone without an oil change? And is there some damage that is just plan extra wear that can never be undone?

 

[harley145000]

I just sent for amsoil 5w30 asl and a filter for my 06 GP,I want to extend oc. for a year,tired of changing oil.car gets about 7,500 miles on a year.I think it will work well for me.

 

[parimento1]

I wanted to do extended drains on my car, but its known for sludge, the Toyota 1MZ-FE. At about 90k miles I opened the valve covers up to change the gaskets and noticed a very very light coating of coating of sludge. The car now has 128k on it and still runs fine, uses about 3/4 qt in 3k miles. I use shell dino as of late and run it for about 3k but definitely no longer than 4k. Do you guys think I can extend it to let's say 5k or would that be pushing it.

 

[Mamala Bay]

I've been using Amsoil for many years. Amsoil goes in at 1,000 miles and yearly OCI at 12,000 miles. Never had a problem.

 

[Steve S]

Originally Posted By: CivicFan
By extended intervals, do you mean an OCI of more than 3k miles?

I do 10k OCI (as recommended by Honda) with Mobil1 oil with the oil filter changed at every oil change. My main reason is not to save money but to save time as the OCI is usually once a year. Another benefit out of it is less waste, i.e. fewer oil filters, oil bottles to end up in a landfill and only 4 quarts of oil used per annum which gets recycled.

The manufacturer does not recommend using a synthetic but I do it for peace of mind and possible benefit of better fuel economy.
What kind of peace of mind does syn oil give you???.

 

[dave1251]

BarkerMan. Why are you so worried about extended OCI's? When I had an Chevy Silverado I had a service rep at the stealership tell me that following the OLM has caused a lot of cars to devolop sludge at 75K due to following the OLM. I said really? My family has strong ties to GM and I am an car fanatic this is the first time I heard that one. I never returned to that dealership to have service done.

 

[bar1]

Originally Posted By: BarkerMan
I’m asking because it does not appear practical to run extended intervals on new cars because of the warranty.

Here in Europe you will have a hard time selling a new car that can't do extended OCIs, 30000 km/2 years maximum, depending on OLM.

15000 km has been considered normal OCI for a long time (since 90's) and 7500 km is severe service.

 

[tackleberry625]

Originally Posted By: Alternator
bypass filters, mid-course full-flow changes, Lube Control initially and along the way, and a UOA at or near the end of the run.


If you are trying to save time and/or money with all that, wouldn't it just be cheaper to do a dino OCI every 5-6K and skip the LC, Bypass filters and UOAs? Unless the oil changes in your vehicle are a SOB. It takes me about 30 mins to change mine (most of the time is spent waiting for the oil to trickle out).