Is this severe service?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Aug 1, 2007
Messages
825
Location
Chicago, IL
I have a 2007 Toyota Yaris, 1.5L engine, 4-speed automatic, hatchback.

I drive 140 miles round trip to/from work 6 days/week, for a total of 840 mile weekly.

The drive is 90% at 80-85 MPH both ways. Weather is 40F to 100F depending upon season. The engine tachs around 3,300 - 3,400 RPM.

Is this severe service? Running a car as such, will the vehicle show more wear and tear then "normal" driving?

I currently run Mobil1 0w-20 for winter, 0w-30 or PP 5w-30 for the other 3 seawsons. OCI is 6,000. Mobil1 filter changed every other OCI.

Car currently has 54,000 miles, and burns no oil, not even a drop.

Your thoughts? Short of a UOA, do you think I can go farther then 6,000 OCIs?

Thanks in advance!
 
That is great driving. NOT severe at all..

You can go way past 6000 miles. I would say a 10,000 mile OCI could work, if you were so inclined.

Severe service is short trips, not getting up to operating temp, towing, dusty areas, offroading, ect. . .

Your driving style is ideal.
 
No, yours is not severe service. As for going farther than 6K miles, I'd have a UOA done at 6K miles with TBN and make the determination based on science.
 
Thanks for the responses. Yea, I thought as much, but wanted confirmation. I guess what concerned me was the 3,400 RPM's for nearly the entire trip.

I leave home at 4:30AM, then leave work for the return 2:00PM. Otherwise the So. Cal traffic is murder.

If I switched to dino, how long could my OCI be? Changing the filter every other okay?
 
Last edited:
Your driving style is perfect, a 10,000 mile OCI would work.

I would recommend that you make sure your PCV Valve is working properly, and if you want to keep the car for a long time it might not be bad to replace this PCV Valve once a year since you go over 3000 rpm's while you are driving down the highway.
 
Originally Posted By: lovcom
Thanks for the responses. Yea, I thought as much, but wanted confirmation. I guess what concerned me was the 3,400 RPM's for nearly the entire trip.

I leave home at 4:30AM, then leave work for the return 2:00PM. Otherwise the So. Cal traffic is murder.

If I switched to dino, how long could my OCI be? Changing the filter every other okay?


On dino, I would say 5000 miles safely. You would need a UOA to see how much farther you can go past that.

On synthetic like Amsoil, M1 EP, PP, ect. . I would say its safe to do a 10,000 mile run. A UOA may show you could go a bit farther past that.

I drive 90% city 10% highway. I use synthetic with a 6000-7500 mile OCI.
 
I agree with it not being severe service.

No cold weather start ups. Very few start ups in general. Not alot of stop and go driving, no towing. Nice steady highways miles that are easy on the engine and oil.

I think you could do 10,000 miles. But do 10,000 and do a UOA to check it.

Also give the little Yaris a rest. 70-75 would be nicer to it.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: lovcom
Yea, I think I should replace the PCV soon. They're cheap and easy to switch out so why not?


A lot of people do not realize that when the PCV starts to go bad or is bad that it can lead too many problems. You can start to have oil leaks, too much pressure in the engine can lead to so many problems.
 
Originally Posted By: lovcom
Thanks for the responses. Yea, I thought as much, but wanted confirmation. I guess what concerned me was the 3,400 RPM's for nearly the entire trip.

I leave home at 4:30AM, then leave work for the return 2:00PM. Otherwise the So. Cal traffic is murder.

If I switched to dino, how long could my OCI be? Changing the filter every other okay?



Fixed it.
wink.gif
 
Originally Posted By: Bambam
Originally Posted By: lovcom
Thanks for the responses. Yea, I thought as much, but wanted confirmation. I guess what concerned me was the 3,400 RPM's for nearly the entire trip.

I leave home at 4:30AM, then leave work for the return 2:00PM. Otherwise the So. Cal traffic is murder.

If I switched to dino, how long could my OCI be? Changing the filter every other okay?



Fixed it.
wink.gif



Fixed what?

Lovcom, your driving conditions are ideal for using the Amsoil filter and their SSO oil and going to 20k miles between changes.
 
I might be wrong here, and I'm putting on my flame retardant suit as I write this. But doesn't "sustained high speed (highway) driving" also put a gradual strain on oils?

I recall some manufacturers oil spec's from the 1980s and early 1990s often recommending a slightly thicker oil for such driving habits, say maybe a 10W-30 instead of 5W-30...

24.gif
:2cents:
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: mjoekingz28
How do you know when the PCV is going bad? Is there any way to check it?


You could take it out and blow through it. If you can it works. But a PCV is like $2.76 so replacing them is cheap. If your going to take it off to check it, you should just go ahead a replace it with a new one.
 
You are driving in a manner that is rather rare.
It is one of the few cases that are NOT severe service, IMO.

You are going to rack up a lot of miles in a much shorter time than other cars, and that will affect general wear faster.
But for the engine, it is rather light duty, and clean duty.
 
Originally Posted By: hate2work
Originally Posted By: Bambam
Originally Posted By: lovcom
Thanks for the responses. Yea, I thought as much, but wanted confirmation. I guess what concerned me was the 3,400 RPM's for nearly the entire trip.

I leave home at 4:30AM, then leave work for the return 2:00PM. Otherwise the So. Cal traffic is murder.

If I switched to dino, how long could my OCI be? Changing the filter every other okay?



Fixed it.
wink.gif



Fixed what?

Lovcom, your driving conditions are ideal for using the Amsoil filter and their SSO oil and going to 20k miles between changes.


By crossing out changing the filter every other time.
06.gif


Quite a bold reccommendation there by a stretch wouldn't ya say???
 
Originally Posted By: Bambam
Originally Posted By: hate2work
Originally Posted By: Bambam
Originally Posted By: lovcom
Thanks for the responses. Yea, I thought as much, but wanted confirmation. I guess what concerned me was the 3,400 RPM's for nearly the entire trip.

I leave home at 4:30AM, then leave work for the return 2:00PM. Otherwise the So. Cal traffic is murder.

If I switched to dino, how long could my OCI be? Changing the filter every other okay?



Fixed it.
wink.gif



Fixed what?

Lovcom, your driving conditions are ideal for using the Amsoil filter and their SSO oil and going to 20k miles between changes.


By crossing out changing the filter every other time.
06.gif


Quite a bold reccommendation there by a stretch wouldn't ya say???


I think you are the first to use the color option in genral text. . . .
 
I think the conditions are pretty good, but the sustained higher than normal speed might make them a step or two above what I would consider "normal driving". I would split the difference between normal and severe service and use that for an OCI.
 
Bambam, the OP wasn't making a "bold recommendation", he was trying to get our opinion of the fact that he changes his filter every other time.

Cool use of the color function :)

BTW, how did you manage to edit someone else's post?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom