He only had the cars for a few years though. Not enough time to see the effects of long oil change IMO.
Long OCI
- Thread starter Bullwinkle007
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Last week I bought 2, five litre jugs of Pennzoil Euro LX 0W-30 at Canadian Tire, for $41.99/jug. I also received extra CT Money on the purchase, which brought the price down to $38.42/jug. Then I took advantage of the Pennzoil $10.00/jug rebate, for a total of $28.42 Canadian. This converts to $20.86 U.S., or $3.95/U.S. quart.That's a nice score! I never see deals like that up here
Not under $3.00 for Rotella, but still pretty good!
Btw, your OCIs, are they 10,000 and 7,000 km or miles?
Patman
Staff member
That's a good score! I'm going to take advantage of the current M1 sale at CT and get a jug of M1 ESP for $43.99, minus the $10 rebate and my Triangle Rewards kicks in another $5 savings for spending over $40.
Those OCIs for my cars I quoted in miles, so I do about 16,000km in the Civic and about 11,000km in the Vette.
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I know someone like that as well, but he doesn’t lease, he’ll buy used. He has absolutely gone past the 7,500 mile mark into the 10,000 mile range and he’s never had an engine failure. He doesn’t even check the oil level. Same 150 mile daily commute, 700 miles a week. Cruise control set at 75 mph five days a week. Never an issue with Fords that he buys (Ford Edge). But he did drive the older non direct injected (easy on oil) engine. He’s totaled one of them (fell asleep at the wheel), and traded in the other (to buy a Hyundai Santa Cruz). Before that he drove an old Mazda, same thing…no engine issues but hit a deer.
I’ll probably never get to see how this Hyundai holds up to his commute because he’s retiring in a few months, but he hasn’t had any issues yet (50,000 miles now).
My 2012 Civic gets frequent drain and fills every 3 to 4 thousand miles. I change the filter about every 9 months or whenever I feel like it. I have over 143,000 miles on the vehicle and it doesn't burn any oil at all between changes. I figure it will go 300,000 miles if I keep it maintained and I do all the fluid changes myself with the exception of the brake fluid. It's my daily driver and I like to rack up miles on it however our 2024 Toyota hybrid gets driven more since it's our car that my wife and I drive on road trips etc. They Toyota will get 5,000 mile oil changes and we have not had the first freebie done yet.
My friend got 200,00 miles plus out of his vehicles, while in his possession. And when he got rid of them they all ran fine. So if you don't think that's getting your "Bang for the Buck", what exactly are you looking to get out of a vehicle?.,,
Well said.
There is nothing physically wrong with logically extending a lubricant change interval. Nothing.
Three pages in, and I have not seen a hard, proven, scientific PHYSICAL reason why any lubricant maintaining at near or original parameters can't be continued in use.
I followed Ford's recommendations with my old 2011 Fusion with a 2.5L in it. 10k oci using whatever 0w-20 I could find and whatever filter fit. Did this for 29x,000 miles. Engine was happy as hell and burned a very small amount of oil I ER that oci. Typically less than 8oz. The trans is what killed it at 324k miles.
Changing out every 5k or less would've net me no benefit and cost twice the money and time.
For most users and most engines ( because like everything else...it depends on multiple variables) the days of 3/5k oil changes have been over for quite some time.
Changing out every 5k or less would've net me no benefit and cost twice the money and time.
For most users and most engines ( because like everything else...it depends on multiple variables) the days of 3/5k oil changes have been over for quite some time.
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Well, then the description of what you described is off because you said he kept these vehicle a few years on a lease. That would be around 117,000 miles. That’s without taking a vacation or a single sick day in three years.
As long as your extended OCI is backed up by data and you are out of warranty, I don't see any reason not to do it. We use EP oil and appropriate EP filter with a 14-15K OCI on our Subaru port injected NA engine, and 6K on the Subaru DI NA engine (under warranty). We rarely drive less than 15-20 miles in a trip and usually a lot more in conditions that are easy on the vehicles, even if they are only used weekly.
The only potential downside is more contaminants plugging up the PCV valve, but we change it periodically.
The only potential downside is more contaminants plugging up the PCV valve, but we change it periodically.
To each his own on the topic. I've been pretty successful with 10k OCI's and it's been recommended to me (by UOA's) to go to 12k, which I'm in the process. The Mustang is on 2 yr OCI's as it's not really driven much.
There is no reason not to go to the factory recommended service interval for the majority of the population. Our driving conditions and habits are already known and are taken into consideration with a touch of conservative buffer.
I do not consider 10k to be “extended” I think it's the new normal.
I do not consider 10k to be “extended” I think it's the new normal.
Eh a few isn't specific. Could be anywhere between 2 and 7
I prefer using HPL EC30 (at 4k mile runs) + solvent based engine flushes for the first 3+ oil changes to really clean out an engine.Just buy a car that calls for 5k oil changes. Then nobody can tell you that you change it too much
After that, I prefer 4k/6 month OCI (whichever comes first) with a Dexos approved 5W-30 full synthetic to keep the engine clean.
I also prefer oils with a strong anti-wear (zinc+phosphorous) and detergent (Calcium) additive package based on the VOA/UOA's on BITOG.
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That's a complete waste of time and money for almost any car built within the last 30 years unless your drive style warrants it. Do a UOA on the oil after it comes out of the engine and you'll most likely see that there is a LOT of life left in that oil, and while you aren't harming anything by changing it early, you're just throwing money away with no added benefit.
UOA's can't detect the cumulative effect of sludge, varnish or stuck oil control rings on the pistons from oil that's been in the engine too many miles.
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Patman
Staff member
But I don't think modern oils really have too much of an issue with cleanliness, unless you left the oil in there for something crazy like 50,000 miles.
You are likely correct, but for those of us that want to reach 300K miles on their cars, a reasonable OCI seems appropriate.
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Patman
Staff member
Makes sense! I'm planning on getting both of my cars to that milestone, and I feel my intervals are pretty safe (10k in the Civic and about 7k in the Corvette) especially since those intervals are a result of me following the oil life monitors in both cars.
I have four Honda Odyssey EX-L's (two 2006's, and two 2007's). After reading several forums, those who followed the oil life monitor ended up with a lot of sludge and varnish. In design / engineering of the cars back in 2006/2007, Honda didn't know that due to the VCM's side effects and a poorly designed PCV valve, that the front cylinder heads would get extremely hot, cooking the oil. 4K miles is all you can go before the oil has had it and starts forming serious deposits. Got that info from Trav on BITOG whose opened up many of those engines.
My personal thoughts are that 5k/6 month OCI (whichever comes first) is the absolute maximum for any vehicle,
but 4k/6 months gives some extra protection against sludge/varnish/stuck oil control rings on the pistons which can cause grooves in the cylinder walls after a while and cause large amounts of oil burning that can only be fixed by buying a new engine.
So the moral of the story is, I've learned not to follow the oil life monitor.
Your manufacturer may not know the defects in the design when the car is being manufactured. These defects can surface years later.
You and I think alike with the SuperTech oil. It has an excellent reputation on BITOG, and the VOA's show a generous additive package of anti-wear (phosphorous+zinc) and detergent (Calcium) additives, and it's Dexos 1 Gen 3 approved.
The Mobil 1 ESP 5W-30 is a great oil with HTHS >= 3.5, but it's lower amounts of phosphorous and zinc might not be optimal for a high RPM sports car.
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