OCI in time, not miles.

[smd]

Hi, I've searched a little and found a few posts, but I thought I'd ask again. I have a 2001 Chevy Z71 truck (15,000 miles) that I use seldomly. When I do use it, I usaully run it between 100 and 300 miles per trip. I have Mobil 1 in it. I'm currently at 3000 miles and 15 months since my last OC. My question is, do you think I can just replace the filter lets say once a year and go 6K,9K or even 12K miles before the next OC?
Thank you.

 

[peking]

Doesn't seem like you drive a lot of miles. I would say dump the oil after a year, if synthetic and 6-8 months for dino.

 

[EricZoom]

I only drive my car about 5k mi. a year, and i do a yearly OCI using Amsoil synthetic oil and their filter. That's seem to work pretty well for me.

 

[PT1]

Use Maxlife or Havoline dino. It will last a year.

 

[Drivebelt]

There is a UOA of someone who had a run of 2 years and 3000 miles on his oil. He changed the oil and had it tested. The results came back TBN 10.3 -- which basically means the oil was still virtually as good as fresh oil. It was a rather large sump of 30 quarts, but it turned out to be a complete waste of changing the oil because of relying on some time factor rather than the service factor.

There was another oil analysis a while ago here on a Porsche where the synthetic was in the vehicle for 5 years ~ 9k miles and the oil analysis came back fine. Time limits (6 months etc) are to catch the occasional short trippers that are doing a lot of short 1-2 mile trips/idling where the actual running time in hours might be very high compared to the miles actually run. Realistically, it would be better to assess the running conditions (hours/type of service) rather than rely on some arbitrary time factor as 3 or 6 months. Since most people don't give much thought to their oil vs driving conditions (and many don't even check their oil) frequent oil changes become preventative maintenance for people who don't give or want to give too much thought to their oil changes (besides the difficulty in assessing the various service factors.) Many manufacturers are now putting OLM (oil life monitors) in their vehicles to address this, which is a good idea.

Since your running conditions don't appear to fall under some unusual severe service conditions (like very many short trips, idling 12 hours day), I think you could run 6 - 7k miles quite easily which would put you out around 2.5 - 3 years. This is probably a little on the conservative side as we've seen synthetics like Mobil 1 perform well out over 10k miles. But after 2.5 years or so, you will have gotten good use out of the oil, and without performing an oil analysis you may want to change it. I also don't think the filter needs to be replaced between oil changes. On longer intervals it is a good idea to check the oil once in a while and keep it topped up if necessary, (which I'm sure you probably already do).

 

[blackcherry06]

I pulled my maintenance log on the Mazdaspeed 6 last week. I changed the oil in September and only accumulated 2100 miles on it since then. Since the car has only seen tons of short trips during that time, I elected to dump it.

 

[Bamaro]

Here is the results of low mileage/long time OCI with no in between filter changes:
https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/70-camaro-maxlife-5w30-877-miles-3-years-on-oil.77171/

 

[MysticGold04]

Yep, just changed my oil in the Taco last night. Changed last in September 07, about 3200 miles or so ago. I felt much better after changing it.

 

[PT1]

6 quarts of Maxlife & a Super Tech filter will get you one year. Is the $20 once a year really worth risking an engine issue?

 

[Bamaro]

Originally Posted By: PT1
6 quarts of Maxlife & a Super Tech filter will get you one year. Is the $20 once a year really worth risking an engine issue?

It will get you much more than 1 year depending on your driving. The $20 is better in my pocket than someone else's, not to mention the time, hassle and waste associated with unnecessary oil changes.