I don't drive this much anymore

[SailorJerry]

I have a '97 Explorer, it was one of the last Ford vehicles to use the old Windser 302 pushrod engine. I have always ran Mobil 1 5W30 oil with an OCI of 10k when I was driving almost all highway then 7500 when the miles were about 50/50. It hardly gets driven anymore. The last change it only had 2700 miles but it had been a year.
Where did this max of one year come from. Whats happening to the oil when it's just sitting there. My only concern is condensation along with fuel blow by can cause the oil PH to become acidic. So if I use oil with a beefy add pack with lots of corrosion inhibitors, detergents, and buffers (TBN) to clean up and nuetralize the acidity why couldn't I go 18 mo. or even 2 years?
I got in on a sale last mo. for 5 qts Mobil 1 and Mobil 1 filter for 29.99. The filter should be ok (it's not paper)for the 5 qts of oil I selected 1 qt Mobil 1 Turbo Diesel Truck 5w40(strong add pack), 1 qt 4T 10W40 Motorcycle oil (lots of ZDDP, 1700 and 1800 values), 1 qt 0w40 European formula (should be total group IV and strong add pack very high TBN)I finished off with 1 qt 0W30 and 1 qt 0W20 to bring the total viscosity down. I ended up with a 3W34 oil with the average Cst of 12.46, technically a 30 weight. The average Phos. and Zinc are 1080/1160. The average TBN is 10+. Average viscosity index is 164, if it shears down a little I'll be ok because I'm starting at 34 weight.
With this combo does anyone see a problem going beyond 1 year?
Befor anyone asks about the 4T m.cycle oil it's SJ which is correct for my '97 when it came out, the store let me include it in the special because the coupon only said "price not good for gold cap".

 

[Steve S]

I am not sure the valuse of your viscosity calcs and other numbers have to do with anything but the oil should last.

 

[SailorJerry]

Way to put a pin in my ballon Steve. Some thought went into my 5 different M1 "mad scientist" mixture.

 

[SailorJerry]

One thing that might help anyone worried about ZDDP is seeing the super high values in the Motorcycle oil. One thing I don't know is if the 1700/1800 is because it was blended for motorcycles or was all "SH" or "SJ" that high back in 90's.

 

[Gary Allan]

Time will kill your Explorer before anything else you can do to it being idle. Sitting with open valves ...dust...oxidation ..squirrels ..mice.

 

[SailorJerry]

Gary, I never said it was sitting idle. It's just that I only drive it about 2500 per year. Two or 3 short trips aweek and one 40-50 mile trip per month.
I'm sure if I was running Amsoil you would say that as long as I use an amsoil filter and change the oil at least every 2 years or 6k miles I would be good to go for 300 or 400 thousand miles.
Squirrels are going to kill my vehicle.... give me a break !

 

[Gary Allan]

No. 2500 miles....or a year. Which one do you think is going to age the chassis more? The vehicle isn't a daily driver and is a relatively short trip infrequent driver.

10 years is going to take more toll on it than 25000 miles. That's all. The paint will fade. The body will rust. The aluminum parts on the engine will oxidize like you see at the junkyard. Road dust, that you would normally be disturbing with daily driving, will accumulate since the removal rate will be far exceeded by the deposit rate. The tires could dry rot before being worn out.

..etc..etc..etc. All those things will probably trump whatever "excessive" wear you do in your 2500 miles. Even if you left regular oil in there for 2 years.

So relax. Don't worry too much about it. Once a year ..once every two years. I don't think you'll manage to keep it long enough to hurt the engine from a lubrication standpoint.

If you really want to keep it longer ..and in top shape, invest in protective cleaners and coatings for the rest of the vehicle.

 

[PT1]

For the price of an oil change versus the corrosion issue...I always change oil every year. If cost is the issue switch to dino. OR get one of the synthetics like Quaker State Q Horsepower or Pennzoil Platinum with a rebate. In fact Mobil 1 just had a rebate.

 

[gonesurfing]

I have a Jeep that is in the same boat, only driven a couple thousand a year and some of it offroad. Going with Mobil 1 High Mileage for yearly changes. Engine sees high load / low rpm work so high HTHS is what I am looking for.

 

[exls]

I'v gone about 1 and a half year oci on my integra with about 2800 miles, with Valvoline maxlife, my car felt sluggish, the oil was thick and black, but seemed ok. Just do a yearly oil change and forget about it.

 

[OVERKILL]

It's a 302. They are VERY forgiving. And it is a roller engine, your concerns about ZDDP are unfounded.

It will live a surprisingly long life on whatever junk you throw in the pan. Just continue using what you are using.

 

[SailorJerry]

PT1, No it's not a cost issue. I can change it after a year if there is a possibility of corrosion. I just thought with the right oil it would be safe to go longer. I only started to study up and learn about motor oil a couple months ago when I decided to run synthetic in my atv's. After a look at the cycle shop at their 10 to 14 dollar a qt m.cycle oil I decided to do a little research before paying those prices. The research paid off when I came upon info that led me to run 5W40 Rotella syn. for $19 a gallon at walmart.
Before ever posting on here I read hundreds of posts. Many of them had conclusions from other readers that people were draining good oil before its time. I just wanted to make sure that wasn't the case in my situation. in a year or two my Explorer will be a daily driver again (back to about 14k a year again). Hopefully this will alliviate Gary's concerns about it slowly rotting to the ground. I don't see why I can't get 300k out of this vehicle(it's got 162k now). I'll go back to the 7500 OCI , about 7 months. It's been garaged it's entire life, extremly well maintained, It's hard to tell it from new.
I guess part of the reason for my post is that I put some thought into the oil mixture and I wanted to see what people thought. What do people with more oil knowledge think of running the same mixture when I go back to my regular driving pattern.
Sorry this is so long.

 

[PT1]

I only buy sale or rebate synthetic oil and then don't feel bad changing it at 5000 or 1 year. I have a Rav4 that my teenage kids share. It gets 5000 OCI's but now that the oldest is away at college it sits for weeks. But if it sits over 6-7 months I'll do a change because its under warranty. But a syn oil change costs me $14 with a pure one filter.

If you follow the rebate section on here you can find syn oils for about $10 for a 5 quart jug. I always stock up and usually have 100-200 quarts in the basement. Saves a lot of money and no guilt changing at the factory OCI.

 

[crinkles]

the viscosity ratings (20,30 etc) are not numerical values, but rather classes of viscosity spreads. you cannot do arithmetic with the 5w, 20, etc parts because they are more names than numbers. big nomenclature fail.

 

[Gary Allan]

Quote:
in a year or two my Explorer will be a daily driver again (back to about 14k a year again). Hopefully this will alliviate Gary's concerns about it slowly rotting to the ground.


Well, Jerry, that's a horse of a different color. We've had legions of low mileage users. Everything from classic garage queen Sunday drivers to farm implements (dedicated snow plow-fence fixer-camp jeep). I seem to recall one actual incident where some truly "museum-like" storage was showing deterioration on the cams even with being started or cranked so often (some MOPAR'S, iirc).

The end all to most of them is that time was their enemy.

I didn't mean that to sound like some kinda beat down on what you were trying to do/accomplish/prevent. You appear to be tending to the biggest issue that you will encounter. That being normal aging.

Your ratio of at warm trips to short trips is probably sufficient to offset the short trip insults.