Is my car a short tripper?

[bighead2586]

2014 Accord V6 - low mileage with only 24,000 on the odometer. Drive to work is about 3 miles/10 minutes, I work 5 days a week. Drive to my girlfriend's house is 10 miles/20 minutes, go there 3-4 times a week. I live on an island so no truly long trips, so going to the other side is 30 miles/50 minutes do that on average once a week. Also frequent drives of under a mile to check on my dad who is elderly and lives nearby. My car calculates my average speed as 25mph and there are no freeways here, but traffic is not a major headache. I drive 10,000-12,000 miles per year.

I've been doing 5K oil changes and have run 0w20 Kirkland as a rule, but I'm switching shortly to Pennzoil Ultra Platinum 5w30.

Does this sound like my car is living a pretty stressful life? FWIW I live in a tropical climate not sure how that factors in.

I read a lot on here that short tripping is hard on cars, but am not sure of what the parameters defining that are. Thoughts?

 

[JohnnyJohnson]

Your car is a definite short tripper at an average of 2400 miles a year average.

 

[Nessism1]

Don't think you need the Ultra Platinum, otherwise, your maintenance schedule seems good. If you really want to hedge your bet, go to 6 month changes. I'd keep with the Kirkland oil, or similar, and use the filter for one year, dumping out the old oil between changes.

 

[Kira]

Your 2014 Honda is 12 MY old. You said you drive 10,000-12,000 miles per year.
That'd be 120,000 to 144,000 miles over the 12 years.
Your odo reads 24,000 miles.
The numbers do not jibe.

Also, tropical climates are often moist. Residual moisture in motor oil breeds acids and sludge.
6 month OCIs might not be a bad idea.

 

[Lubener]

Your 2014 Honda is 12 MY old. You said you drive 10,000-12,000 miles per year.
That'd be 120,000 to 144,000 miles over the 12 years.
Your odo reads 24,000 miles.
The numbers do not jibe.

Also, tropical climates are often moist. Residual moisture in motor oil breeds acids and sludge.
6 month OCIs might not be a bad idea.

He had to have forgotten a one, meaning 124000 miles.

 

[twX]

I read a lot on here that short tripping is hard on cars, but am not sure of what the parameters defining that are. Thoughts?

The biggest factor is oil temperature, and the next biggest factor is average speed/run time. Here's an example of oil life vs oil temperature:

It seems like only ~20% of your driving is short trips, and in a tropical climate, your oil won't be very cold very often. Your average speed of 25 mph amounts to 200 hours on the oil in 5k miles, which is a pretty appropriate OCI in terms of run time. 5k miles should be appropriate with either of those oils.

 

[bighead2586]

Bought it a year ago. Not 100% sure of prior owner's habits but it was only at 13,500 when I bought it. In the year I've had it I've driven just over 10K miles.

Car indeed has 24,000 total on it.

 

[bighead2586]

He had to have forgotten a one, meaning 124000 miles.

No 24,000 miles. Bought it one year ago at 13,500 miles. Was inquiring about my current driving routine.

 

[twX]

Also, tropical climates are often moist. Residual moisture in motor oil breeds acids and sludge.
6 month OCIs might not be a bad idea.

Most of the water that ends up in the oil is the water produced by combustion. Humidity won't be a big factor. A tropical climate is a lot better than a cold climate for keeping moisture out of the oil since the engine will spend less time at low temperature.

 

[Marcozi]

My recommendation is to drive the car at highway+ speeds for 20 to 30 miles on a weekly basis.

 

[bighead2586]

My recommendation is to drive the car at highway+ speeds for 20 to 30 miles on a weekly basis.

I think I'm doing that. I guess the biggest question mark was exactly what kind of driving the original owner did. Only having 13,500 miles after almost 10 years means it either sat for a long time or drove short trips a lot. I bought from the 2nd owner who had it for 2 years.

Plan on doing a UOA or two to get an idea how healthy the engine is.

 

[Joba27n]

As per most OEM documents, the definition of serve service is operating the vehicle in:

Dusty conditions
City driving
Excessive idling (deliveries, police, etc)
Below freezing temperature
Most trips with less than 15-30 mins spent at engine operating temperature
Towing
Hauling

 

[andrew_j]

Don’t worry about it and change oil by time not mileage.