Mileage vs. Time OCI.....

[Oregoonian]

Gentleman,

I currently use M-1 0w20 AFE in my ol' 03' Ford Focus. I Have been using M-1 AFE for awhile with OCI's of approx. 8000. I drive about 7K to 8K a year.

I'm planning to switch to M-1 0w20 EP, which is guaranteed up to 15,000 miles. I plan on doing about 12,500 or so on the EP, but that will take me about two years.

Mobil guarantee on EP states 15K or one year, whichever comes first.

Would like opinions on stretching OUT time to about 2 years. Would it cause any harm to my engine if I did so, or doesn't it matter?

 

[Quattro Pete]

Depends on your driving patterns, which you have not described. If you're not short tripping, I'd say 2 years is fine.

BTW, I love Bend, OR. I wish I could move there.

 

[Oregoonian]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Depends on your driving patterns, which you have not described. If you're not short tripping, I'd say 2 years is fine.

BTW, I love Bend, OR. I wish I could move there.

30/70 Highway/City. Not very much stop an go. but a fair amount of short-tripping.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Well, you might want to do a UOA just to confirm how things look after 2 years.

I did two winters on one oil once, with significant amount of short tripping, and did not like what I saw on the UOA - TAN was exceeding TBN, nitration and oxidation was up. It made me cut back to just annual oil changes. And if you're going to just do annual changes, there is no reason to spend money on M1 EP.

 

[raytseng]

If you like EP, there is something to be said about just still using the EP (which is really not overly more expensive-at an annual interval you're price insensitive) and still doing it once a year as Mobil1 says.

Once you've reached the yearly stage, think over what you are really trying to gain from stretching it out further, especially if you're in the rante of "using up" over half the rated mileage. Is it just for principle or are you really gaining something meaningful from it

Yearly changes are easy, by associating it with another yearly event like a holiday or birthday; and if you're a little off one way or another it doesn't matter.

If however you're mileage was really low like 1000miles/year perhaps there is something to be said about going every 2years.

 

[friendly_jacek]

Originally Posted By: Oregoonian

Mobil guarantee on EP states 15K or one year, whichever comes first.


by requiring the 15,000 miles to happen in one year, mobil wants to make sure you drive a lot and mostly on highway. if you "stretch," you cheat the rules and do yourself a disfavor.

 

[Pontual]

If you end up running the first 14k miles in the 1st year and the last 1k in the second year, I'd say you'll have a lot of sitting time with ruined oil and prolly corrosion at the end.

 

[JC1]

As mentioned by others, do an UAO if you try it. I think you should just stick to the 1 year OCI as you are doing now.