OCI for vehicle with remote car starter

[SwedishRider]

I think most members here agree that modern conventional SN oils can go 3000-5000 miles with no problems, and modern full synthetic oils can go 7500-10,000 miles before needing changing (and those may be conservative estimates). There seems to be some debate as to the validity of long OCI oils that claim to be good for 15,000-25,000 miles.

So having said all of that.... many people use remote car starters, particularly in cold weather climates that tend to be harsh on oils anyway. So how would the use of a remote car starter affect the a vehicle's OCI? I would think the remote starter would idle a typical car for 10-15 minutes per day before use, which would discourage long OCIs (15K-25K) since there would be a large increase in vehicle idling. So what would be an appropriate OCI for conventional SN or full synthetic oil in a vehicle utilizing a remote car starter?

 

[Trav]

I would use it as often as you want then do a cheap UOA looking specifically for fuel dilution.
I really don't think you can put a number on it as operating variables can alter the amount of dilution e.g starting and idling for 10 min at 0f will probably be more than 2 or 3 min at 40f.

 

[synthetic_crazy]

As far as the idling goes, I use the following conversion on my Crown Vic: 1 hr of idle time=33 miles of driving. Multiply the .25 minutes per day times the number of days on average that you let your car idle to arrive at a rough approximation of the amount of idle time you accrue.

 

[eljefino]

Depends on a billion factors; if you have a five mile commute it could potentially be a good thing if you get warm enough to boil off some problems.

Let's not forget, cars work for us. If you have a remote starter and love it, use it. I warm my cars up, manually. The only thing is, if you have a forgetful/ lazy/ slovenly personality and hit the button when you roll out of bed then eat a complete breakfast and check facebook etc as part of your morning routine, does this lead to longer idle times than manually doing it?

Also don't forget "pit stop" mode where a car will start itself up for ten minutes all night if it's cold enough. Egads!

 

[fdcg27]

A car with an IOLM will account for both the cold starts and the idle time. I did warm up our '12 Accord on very cold mornings last winter and the MM allowed a total of 8700 miles to 15%, so there apparently isn't enough fuel dilution to matter much according to the algorythim Honda uses.
Otherwise, you can only estimate some reduction in oil life.
I don't think that an engine runs rich for very long, only long enough to get it started and to achieve a stable idle, so there may not be all that much fuel dilution.
I know that the one UOA I did of a winter run of 7K in our '99 Accord showed neither excess metals nor excess fuel dilution using PP 5w30.
YMMV

 

[Zaedock]

My wife has been remote starting our Maxx for 9 years (*rolleyes*). I typically follow the OLM with what-ever-is-next in my stash conventional 5W30 and it's clean inside. Any UOA's have been fine with no extra fuel.

 

[mrsilv04]

The OLM would *easily* pick up the remote starter use on my niece's Grand Am, and adjust the OCI accordingly. It would cut the OCI by almost half in the winter.

From my spreadsheet:

From June to November, she had a 6900 mile change.
From November to February, she had a 3700 mile change.
From Febraury to May, she had a 5800 mile change.

This was on a 2.4 liter engine. That was a good little engine to have in a car for a teenager. That car was beaten like a rented mule, and it just kept on going.

 

[SwedishRider]

I don't have an OLM on my '07 Ford pickup. Ford's official recommendation for maximum OCI in an '07 model year vehicle is 5000 miles (they moved to 7500 miles starting with '08 models).

I currently use G-OIL Bio-based Full Synthetic 5W-20 with 5000 mile intervals, and typically go 10K-11K miles in a year (yielding about 2 oil changes a year). Since I'm now using a remote starter, my thought was to switch to a standard April/October oil change timeframe, guaranteeing fresh oil at the start of the winter and summer seasons. That would still mean OCIs in the 5K-6K miles range each change.

I guess without a UOA, it's pure speculation as to how G-OIL would hold up under that kind of use, but it seems reasonable that a full synthetic could be changed out every six months and fully protect the engine, even with remote start idling.