OCI For Low Mileage Use

[climhazzard]

Yep, another one of those threads. I've done a good bit of searching but haven't found anything definitive or quite the same as my scenario. My S2000 sees about 1500 miles a year, most of which is from a 20 mile run each weekend. I never drive it less than 20 miles, hence it should be getting plenty warm (I live in Virginia). Although I drive it almost every weekend, during the coldest months it may sit for multiple weeks at a time without being started.

So in short, F20C, 1500 miles a year, never short tripped, garaged and not exposed to extreme temperature fluctuations. Currently running Castrol Edge 10W30 (gold bottle) with a yearly OCI. I'm planning to stick close to that, but I'm curious if folks think this is overkill/too frequent, or not frequent enough.

Thanks all!

 

[Zaedock]

I used to change yearly, but UOA's let me know that I could easily go multi year on my Jeep.
It's trail only, so realistically, I should probably track fuel usage vs mileage. Regardless, I do multi year OCI's. I last changed the oil 3 years ago and will be changing in the Spring. That's what works for me.

 

[chunt]

I would continue with what you are doing. I would not go more than a year. I drive my Tacoma about 3K a year and will go to annual OCI's when the warranty ends.

 

[Olas]

If you can get longer run once each month, say 80-100 miles, it should be good for 2 or 3 years.
Send samples to Blackstone and see what they suggest

 

[Ihatetochangeoil]

Waay overkill. Run a good synthetic and do 5 year OCI. 1500 a year times 5 years is 7500 miles. I use Amsoil synthetic and the test lab doesn't even want oil samples until I have 7500 on it. At 1500 miles you're draining oil and throwing it away and it looks like new oil?

https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/4190879/1992_Surburban_Big_Block_-_M1_

You're wasting a lot of good oil. I admit I'm thinking for you, but why not just sell the vehicle? I wouldn't want to pay taxes, insurance, and maintenance on a vehicle used that little; I sometimes do 3000 a MONTH.

 

[climhazzard]

Thanks all!

Chunt, why do you recommend capping it at a year?

Olas, I probably won't be hitting 80-100 in a single run very often. Are you concerned ~20 miles isn't getting fully up to temp? I should probably note this is at moderate speeds (45-50) on local roads, so it's not a short highway blast (hence, it's running longer)

 

[climhazzard]

Originally Posted By: Ihatetochangeoil
Waay overkill. Run a good synthetic and do 5 year OCI. 1500 a year times 5 years is 7500 miles. I use Amsoil synthetic and the test lab doesn't even want oil samples until I have 7500 on it. At 1500 miles you're draining oil and throwing it away and it looks like new oil?

https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/4190879/1992_Surburban_Big_Block_-_M1_

You're wasting a lot of good oil. I admit I'm thinking for you, but why not just sell the vehicle? I wouldn't want to pay taxes, insurance, and maintenance on a vehicle used that little; I sometimes do 3000 a MONTH.


Thanks for the feedback!

Sell the S2000? Never!!

. But in all seriousness, I absolutely love the thing, and couldn't fathom selling it. There's something truly special about a 4 cylinder, rear-wheel drive car that screams to 9000RPM. That said, don't mistake my limited use for lack of fanaticism; experiencing it in short doses is still extremely enjoyable, and it's something I look forward to on weekends. So yeah, it's basically a Honda that I treat like a collector car. But I enjoy it

 

[Olas]

I know every car is different, but I feel like unless you have an accurate oil temp gauge its better to err on the side of caution. If you can be 100% definite that the oil has been HOT for a good 20 - 30 minutes (which lags behind coolant temp) then the majority of fuel and water will have boiled off - but my hunch is that 20 miles is not far enough to get the bulk oil temp to 80-90 degrees for half an hour.

 

[xshoex]

My jeep maybe sees 500 a year it literally gets all my leftover oil and changed once a yr. Some dino me syn.i cant even tell u whats in there now

 

[CT8]

Spend a few $$$ and send in an oil sample and get a UOA, no guessing.

 

[GRWOil]

Originally Posted By: climhazzard
Thanks all!

Chunt, why do you recommend capping it at a year?

Olas, I probably won't be hitting 80-100 in a single run very often. Are you concerned ~20 miles isn't getting fully up to temp? I should probably note this is at moderate speeds (45-50) on local roads, so it's not a short highway blast (hence, it's running longer)


I don't think it takes long at all for oil to get up to temp. I did an oil change on my sisters Accent a week ago. Drove it for 3-4 min (maybe 1 1/4 miles) to heat up the oil to get a better drain. It was pretty hot when I drained it. I'd say it was ~140F by my highly accurate hand guesstimation. The car sat out over night, was 25F that morning. Warmed up quick!

 

[chunt]

Originally Posted By: climhazzard
Thanks all!

Chunt, why do you recommend capping it at a year?

Olas, I probably won't be hitting 80-100 in a single run very often. Are you concerned ~20 miles isn't getting fully up to temp? I should probably note this is at moderate speeds (45-50) on local roads, so it's not a short highway blast (hence, it's running longer)


There are a lot of different opinions on how long to go between oil changes for a low mileage car. There are concerns about water and acids contaminating the oil and the additive package breaking down and possible issues with the oil filter after a few years. Also some folks suggest getting a UOA to see how the oil is doing. The money you pay for a UOA will pay for an oil change if you do it yourself. With not knowing what exactly is going on inside my engine I would just feel better changing it at least once per year. It is not that expensive and I will sleep better at night.

 

[Run]

If it sees 9k rpm every trip then just change it every 6 months. Oil is cheap, engines are not.

 

[Kuato]

Several threads like this one recently, most go 2 years or have done a UOA to determine they could go 2 years.


Originally Posted By: chunt
Originally Posted By: climhazzard
Thanks all!

Chunt, why do you recommend capping it at a year?

...

... Also some folks suggest getting a UOA to see how the oil is doing. The money you pay for a UOA will pay for an oil change if you do it yourself. ...


Invalid point, since if you could pay the ~$30 for one UOA and extend your changes to two years, it would pay for itself in that first extra year.

I agree with you though Chunt that 1 year is a conservative number. But it's only 1500 miles.....

 

[69GTX]

My driving and OCI is currently identical to the OP's. I've got enough "cheap" synthetic 0w-40 oil from sales to last it 5 yrs doing annual $20 OCI's. So I'll probably stick to it if only for that reason. The oil does look pretty good coming out at 1200-1300 miles. And it may only get a couple runs per year of 35-50 miles....the others are all 15-20 miles minimum. It doesn't go out in inclemate weather, and never below 30 deg F. Being a manual, I typically maintain a min of 2,000 rpm in 3rd and 4th gears.

A Bitog member posted actual oil warmup time on their performance car (BMW?) a couple weeks/months ago. It showed normal oil temp being reached within approx 8-12 miles. Normal coolant temp was reached within 2-4 miles. I seriously doubt that I'm not reaching normal oil temps in 15 miles. Even at 40 deg ambient temps the coolant is up to operating temp within 2 miles or approx 5 minutes. If normal coolant temp is around 210-220F on my car, the oil temp is probably up to 175-185 deg F by then....and away from low temp corrosion range.

I'll change my regimen as soon as I'm sure that by changing annually I'm contributing more wear to the engine. That's the notion that the oil is most efficient at minimizing wear from 3,000-7,500 miles...same for the filter. It could be the case. The next question will be how much difference in engine life could that produce? At 18,000 current miles, I'll be 75 yrs old when the car reaches 34,000 miles. And more than likely I won't even be able to properly drive a stick shift or even get into the car by then.

 

[FZ1]

Originally Posted By: 69GTX
My driving and OCI is currently identical to the OP's. I've got enough "cheap" synthetic 0w-40 oil from sales to last it 5 yrs doing annual $20 OCI's. So I'll probably stick to it if only for that reason. The oil does look pretty good coming out at 1200-1300 miles. And it may only get a couple runs per year of 35-50 miles....the others are all 15-20 miles minimum. It doesn't go out in inclemate weather, and never below 30 deg F. Being a manual, I typically maintain a min of 2,000 rpm in 3rd and 4th gears.

A Bitog member posted actual oil warmup time on their performance car (BMW?) a couple weeks/months ago. It showed normal oil temp being reached within approx 8-12 miles. Normal coolant temp was reached within 2-4 miles. I seriously doubt that I'm not reaching normal oil temps in 15 miles. Even at 40 deg ambient temps the coolant is up to operating temp within 2 miles or approx 5 minutes. If normal coolant temp is around 210-220F on my car, the oil temp is probably up to 175-185 deg F by then....and away from low temp corrosion range.

I'll change my regimen as soon as I'm sure that by changing annually I'm contributing more wear to the engine. That's the notion that the oil is most efficient at minimizing wear from 3,000-7,500 miles...same for the filter. It could be the case. The next question will be how much difference in engine life could that produce? At 18,000 current miles, I'll be 75 yrs old when the car reaches 34,000 miles. And more than likely I won't even be able to properly drive a stick shift or even get into the car by then.
Interesting info re the oil temps vs. miles. Thanks!

 

[slybunda]

Originally Posted By: climhazzard
Yep, another one of those threads. I've done a good bit of searching but haven't found anything definitive or quite the same as my scenario. My S2000 sees about 1500 miles a year, most of which is from a 20 mile run each weekend. I never drive it less than 20 miles, hence it should be getting plenty warm (I live in Virginia). Although I drive it almost every weekend, during the coldest months it may sit for multiple weeks at a time without being started.

So in short, F20C, 1500 miles a year, never short tripped, garaged and not exposed to extreme temperature fluctuations. Currently running Castrol Edge 10W30 (gold bottle) with a yearly OCI. I'm planning to stick close to that, but I'm curious if folks think this is overkill/too frequent, or not frequent enough.

Thanks all!


which oil you using in that car?

 

[KitaCam]

Originally Posted By: 69GTX

I'll change my regimen as soon as I'm sure that by changing annually I'm contributing more wear to the engine. That's the notion that the oil is most efficient at minimizing wear from 3,000-7,500 miles...same for the filter. It could be the case. The next question will be how much difference in engine life could that produce? At 18,000 current miles, I'll be 75 yrs old when the car reaches 34,000 miles. And more than likely I won't even be able to properly drive a stick shift or even get into the car by then.


I'm 70 years old next month and Kitacamry is 12 with 140k miles now running 6k miles a year. Changing the oil once a year for 10 years should get me to 200k miles on a car that'll be 22 years old in my hands if I can still stick shift at 80!

 

[bigt61]

To be conservative, you could just change it at 6000 miles - so 4 years. I own the Suburban that did the 5 yr OCI and I will probably go longer next time if the mileage continues to stay low. I think the warming the oil up every time is way overrated. My Suburban saw many starts where it only ran a minute or two while it was moved out of the garage so I could change the oil on something else. Most people change their oil way too often on these limited use cars - even at a 4 year, 6000 mile OCI, I'd double stint the filter. Many people just love to change oil and justify it with the "cheap insurance" dogma. I don't enjoy it and just do what's necessary - so far with no ill consequences. I feel keeping your oil topped off is by far the most important thing you can do.

 

[69GTX]

Originally Posted By: FZ1
Interesting info re the oil temps vs. miles. Thanks!


I was quoting their experiences from memory since it was somewhat similar to my own 5.7L experience. Wish I could go back and find that but I don't even recall who the poster was...though it was someone who posts frequently and is very well thought of this forum. It must have been part of a "warming up the car" thread.