Low Mileage Annual Oil Change?

[Nickdfresh]

My father drives around 1,700-2,000 miles a year. He's getting on and mainly putters around town and occasionally goes to doctors app'ts, the drug store, home improvement stores, etc. He has a Vulcan '06 Taurus and the oil is still pretty clean and full at 1,700 miles since last July 19th when I changed it using a Drive Works filter and (mostly) QS Defy 5w30 blend. I was thinking of doing it around either August 1st, Sept. 1st, or October 1st. Now I'm toying with the idea of leaving it in there until Spring of 2017! Crazy talk for me even a couple years ago. But is seems that some are going up to two years on OCI's without issues. I do worry a bit about his short interval driving, but he does take it out for much of the day here and there so it does get heated up.

When should I change it? Planning a "Frankenbrew" of mostly (Havoline) Full Synthetic and a Motorcraft filter next time. I worry a bit about condensation, but there doesn't seem like a pressing need to change it. What do you think?

 

[doublebase]

I'd just change it once a year and be done with it. And I'm not one of these worry about my oil types, but I don't think I'd want to leave my oil there that long...they say short trips are severe service for most cars. Sounds like he's doing that.

 

[SatinSilver]

I'd change it October 1st. That way it has fresh oil before the brutal Buffalo winter hits. Not sure I'd want older, maybe thicker oil in there for the entire winter esp with the short trips the car endures.

 

[B320i]

I changed the oil in the families' 2003 (South African made) Corolla in January, as it had been in there roughly a year, and had accrued about the same level of intense short trips.

Wanted fresh oil in there as the vehicle rarely would be warming up fully to heat up the oil, and was also concerned about the rings sludging up as is common on the 1ZZ-FE.

Push it out if you want, however I would be wary in a place like NY where winter temps would see the oil being very cold most of the time. If Havoline is the right price now or in a couple of months, go ahead and do it.

 

[Nickdfresh]

Thanks, I think I'm doing it in October so he has fresh oil in there.

The Havoline is on hand and is laying around, along with a qt. of Defy...

 

[Red91]

I change the oil on my brother's '03 Grand Prix and my Grandma's '93 Caravan once yearly. Brother may put 3K on his car in a year, Grandma does less. Oil comes out looking good, but were talking almost all short trips with very little warm up time, and it's easy enough to keep it serviced once a year.

 

[Doog]

You are a good candidate for Supertech Syn.

 

[Kuato]

Annual change or perhaps even longer should be fine...but I'd do a used oil analysis with your October 1 change to see for sure.

 

[Ihatetochangeoil]

^^^ +1 What Kuato said. I would modify that behavior to sending in a sample for analysis and waiting on the results prior to changing the oil. You may be throwing away perfectly good oil.

 

[BrocLuno]

Originally Posted By: SatinSilver
I'd change it October 1st. That way it has fresh oil before the brutal Buffalo winter hits. Not sure I'd want older, maybe thicker oil in there for the entire winter esp with the short trips the car endures.


Perfect - Oct 1 and once a year

 

[SavagePatch]

Originally Posted By: SatinSilver
Not sure I'd want older, maybe thicker oil in there for the entire winter esp with the short trips the car endures.


I always thought that the oil would be thinner when older and that's why yearly annual OC's were recommended to be done in the spring. That way you'd have the fresh "thicker" oil during the warmer months and the older "thinner" oil for the colder months.

 

[FCD]

Change it before winter every year with a good conventional oil and fuggedaboudit

 

[Nickdfresh]

Originally Posted By: SavagePatch
Originally Posted By: SatinSilver
Not sure I'd want older, maybe thicker oil in there for the entire winter esp with the short trips the car endures.


I always thought that the oil would be thinner when older and that's why yearly annual OC's were recommended to be done in the spring. That way you'd have the fresh "thicker" oil during the warmer months and the older "thinner" oil for the colder months.

Oil shears down thus thinning on the top end and can thicken on the low end so that theoretically a 5w30 can become a 10W-20 over time. IDK, that may be an extreme example though. But more importantly, some of the additives that improve fuel economy may also become depleted so in the end you may save on the oil but just lose more on fuel costs. Again, conjecture that is hard to prove one way or another. But water vapor does get into oil from condensation and combustion, and I'd prefer that be gone before winter...

 

[Nickdfresh]

Originally Posted By: Ihatetochangeoil
^^^ +1 What Kuato said. I would modify that behavior to sending in a sample for analysis and waiting on the results prior to changing the oil. You may be throwing away perfectly good oil.


I could do that but then I'd be spending dough on a used oil analysis that is probably more than inexpensive oil on sale...

 

[Gene K]

October is fine. Just use whatever's cheaper. If you already have the Havoline Pro DS that's fine. If you want to save it for something else then ChinaMart.com has Super Tech High Mileage for $10 per 5 qt this month