Is 3 yrs too long?

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Sep 10, 2005
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Erie, PA
I have a stash of API - SN oils and on my cars that can get an oil change BEFORE 1 calender year, I stick to 5,000 intervals. Otherwise cars of mine that cannot get those miles I have been doing 3,000 at about the 2 yr mark.

With costs of everything going up, I am considering running all of them to 5k and no longer worrying about the time duration. Is this ok?
 
Be conservative ,if the oil gets up to operating temps for a while do 2 years.
 
I would not worry about it as long as they get a long run once in awhile to burn off any water. I have a pickup truck that is in the same situation. I use the car most of the time but every 2-3 weeks or so I take it instead and try to get it up to temp and hold it there for 1/2 hr. It cost me an extra gal of gas over what the car would have used but it seems to have worked for the last 19 years. No leaks or burning and has never had a repair other than a replacement gas cap.
 
I'm at 2.5 years and 6.5K miles on our Cruze, not losing sleep over it. Going to ~7.5k. I wouldn't be concerned about 5k over 3 years.
 
For my part, I would be less worried about the time factor for the motor oils but you might want to pay attention to your oil filter. Not due to wear, so much as getting it on and off. I went a year on my last OCI because pandemic miles were far fewer than beforehand. I found it took more effort to get the oil filter off, so just be sure that your oil filter does not find a way to seize itself.
 
I have a stash of API - SN oils and on my cars that can get an oil change BEFORE 1 calender year, I stick to 5,000 intervals. Otherwise cars of mine that cannot get those miles I have been doing 3,000 at about the 2 yr mark.

With costs of everything going up, I am considering running all of them to 5k and no longer worrying about the time duration. Is this ok?

No problem
 
Several cases on here of people who have run 2,3 even 5 years on the same oil without a problem, confirmed by Uoa's too.
I myself many times have gone two years with zero problems as one of my cars sometimes doesn't even get driven 3000 miles in a year, even less now that we are paying 10$ a gallon here in Spain for premium.
 
97 Blazer only got used for snow days, the dump, grocery store, and occasional towing for years. Mostly 12 mile round trips. I changed every two years with Mobil 1 5W-30 and never saw any sludge or gunk under the cap. Burned zero oil. It always ran at full temp for over 30 minutes at least once a month. Retired it at 179k miles for too much corrosion and a failing trans.
Could have done 3 years OCI with no problem. Just an habitual oil changer.
 
Right now there are 3 vehicles in my fleet that are over 2 years since last change.

My 2002 F150 had an oil change in May of 2020, and is almost at 5,000 miles.
Thing is, I add a qt every 1000-1200 miles, so it is getting fresh oil regularly, and even if I never changed it, it would end up having the oil "changed" every 6,000 miles or so (6qt capacity).
That said, I will probably be changing it very soon (it is almost a qt low right now, so it is either change it now or add a qt and wait another 1,000 miles).
The truck gets mostly short trips with a few long trips (about 1800 miles on this interval were from just 2 trips each spring).

My son's 2004 Sonata had an oil change in March of 2020 and has 1,500 miles on it.
It sat for almost a year before we bought it from my nephew, but saw no need to change the oil when I got it.
My son does not have his license yet, so it only gets driven when he is doing his drivers ed, so maybe an hour a week.
Lots of short tripping on this, and not sure exactly when I will change it.

My brother in laws F150 is right at 2 years/3,300 miles since last change.
Truck is for sale, so probably will not change it before it is sold.
 
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