Multi-year OCI's?

[wander2039]

Anyone run multi-year OCI's and with what? Thinking about running Ultra 5w30 with a PF52 (versus the PF47) on our Chevy 6.0L with a yearly mileage of 2-3K. All trips will be highway 100-200 miles around trip, their will be one long trip a summer 600-1000 miles. Thoughts?

Running dino on a 3-4k schedule would a easy answer but I see that as a waste, even 2 year on the Ultra could be a waste. Grandpa just changed his on a yearly schedule and it was 2.5k on Mobil 5w30 5000.. told him he should keep it for his lawn mowers!

 

[sdan27]

The longest OCI I've done was 33 months ( I think ) on a Cummins 5.9L engine in a piece of farm equipment. After that time oil had like 330 hours on it and still tested great. The oil was Texaco Ursa Super Plus 15w-40. Just a mineral oil.

 

[FZ1]

1x per year max.

 

[Rolla07]

I would change it out once per year at least. Going with a reasonably priced oil and changing once a year wont be so bad. Id be concerned about condensation in the oil.

 

[milkboy]

Originally Posted By: FZ1
1x per year max.


Same here. I have a car that gets < 3k /yr, and I still change it every spring.
I look at it like this : I might not be getting the max ROI based on miles, but as an annual expense it's not a huge deal, either.

 

[Kuato]

There have been a lot of UOAs done on oils in more than a year, and I haven't seen a bad one yet (except for a 1 mile short tripper IIRC).

Why not leave it in for a year, and sample it and leave in while getting a UOA? That way you're sure.

 

[901Memphis]

It depends on what the engine is attached to. Once a year is not necessary in all cases. Sounds like you should be doing once every two years.

 

[crazyoildude]

i do once a year oci on 2 of my vehicles 1 yr 6000

 

[gfh77665]

Over the last 10 years, I have gone 2 to 2.5 year OCI's on several low mileage vehicles with ZERO ISSUES. Time does not seem to affect the oil. I did not believe it at first but now I do. Two years is nothing on the oil.

 

[JimPghPA]

I ran 24 months 8K miles with GC in out 2001 Impala. TBN came back a 2. The viscosity did thicken to the middle of 40 grade. Some say the viscosity thickened because of the oil absorbing (and neutralizing) acids.

Changed the oil with GC again and am planing on running it for 24 months again.

 

[eljefino]

Did 18 months in a Dodge Dakota 2.5 on rotella 5w40. Mostly 4 mile trips to the dump too.

 

[Capa]

Honestly, you could probably squeeze two years out of it but definitely have an UOA done right afterwards. No matter how good the UOA looks, I wouldn't push it to three.

 

[tig1]

It doesn't matter much what you do as you won't a lot of total miles on this engine anyway. I would just change once a year with dino. After all a change will only cost you $20. Surely this vehicle is worth that once a year.

 

[javacontour]

Once a year.
Buy a new drain pan to catch the oil and reuse the gently used oil in the Festiva.

 

[Brybo86]

^ +1

 

[wander2039]

Condensation shouldn't be a issue with the highway trips, if it was city driven I could see that. I was thinking of changing every other August. It's one of those things if a engine is easy on the oil is it necessary to waste time and $$ to change every year? Or will the engine outlast the body regardless. Funny I thought about using the oil in it now in the Festiva since it's due.. actually it's been over 2 years on it.

I guess another part of the equation would be if there would be any mileage savings PYB vs PP/Ultra? This is a 12500lbs vehicle. Based on the Escape I'd want to say it give a .4-.5 mileage increase. But that was with MC vs PP in a different engine and style. PP and Ultra may be so close may see nothing.

 

[JHZR2]

Nothing wrong with 2 year OCIs, I have a bunch of low-use vehicles, and UOA has shown that 2-years is perfectly OK. Some are garaged, some arent.

Just run a good syn, do a UOA one time to ensure that the use profile is conducive, and go for it.

The longish drive now and again (50-100+ miles) is a major good thing for this scenario, but Ive never seen water or fuel to be worried about it...

 

[Falken]

Stick to one year....

 

[bigt61]

I do 4 years on a couple of cars I don't drive much - both have M1. If they had conventional, I might change it every 2 or 3. My DD uses dino and I usually go 2 years or 5,000 miles. I need to change this fill a little early because I ran it with the thermostat stuck open all last winter and the oil is pretty nasty. I'll get to it when it starts to get cold. IMO, 90% of people's oil problems are because they never check the oil and are running 2 or more quarts low. Changing the oil obsessively is a waste of time and money - but hey, people enjoy it and it's one of the few things they can actually do on their car.

 

[SS1970chrysler]

I do 3 years on my Chryslers, but they get maybe 100-200 miles on them annually. I then use that oil in my OPE and for heat.