OCI Time or Mileage?

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I've been spending a little time researching this and havent found much. Now if someone puts less than 3k miles a year on a 91' F-250 460 and is running Castrol GTX 10w-30 what's the recommendation for a OCI? Since the mileage is low I would imagine it is going to be time based. Is once a year too much time? How about 6 months?
 
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Dino oil every 6 months regardless of the miles.

My 80 year old dad drives 2800 miles per year and when I tell him I need to change his oil he thinks I'm nuts .
 
I change by mileage without regard to time. None of the vehicles in my signature will ever make 1yr without changing oil they all hit the mileage limit well before that time. As the norm it's twice a year just not every 6 months.
 
My mother's car has a big block Ford engine and driven less than 3k annually. I change it once a year since iron tends to build up in the oil. Likely corrosion from sitting.
Either way, it's cheap insurance and I give the car a good lookover while I do it.
 
Possibly, depending on the type of miles. If driven until good and hot each time, you could go longer. Also delo would be a better choice for that engine.
My mother's car is driven 2-4 miles each way in city traffic and is still using a carb. So maintenance on that one will be more frequent.
 
Oil doesn't know the passage of time for the most part, so unless the environmental or operational situation is very poor, one, two or three year time limits are perfectly fine. There are numerous UOAs here that illustrate this, including some on 20 and 30 year old oil that was usable and is being used. If the vehicle is stored in a dry, relatively temperature stable place and when run, it gets run long enough to bake out moisture and gets good and warmed up, it's fine.

I run an Honda and a late model F150 at 18 month, mileage only, intervals, farm tractors and a diesel pickup at two and three year hours-only intervals and have proven them all via UOA. One of the farm tractors is usually on a three year interval and sits 3-4 months at a stretch in an unheated barn. UOAs are fine.

You can find numerous other testimonies here of people who run long time intervals. We don't always chime in because this questions come up on a monthly basis and we often get tired or repeating the mantra that is already here to be found and read.

Most people do more frequent oil changes than they need without really knowing why, either out of habit, fear, or being influenced by sales-based misinformation designed to get you to buy more product. You shouldn't extend your interval in the same shroud of ignorance either. It should be based on some study and, again, that comes down mainly to the environmental and operational situations. It's best to back it up with a UOA too but that may add to the financial aspects.

If that '91 truck is short hopped most of the time (under five mile runs) and never gets fully warmed up, six months is appropriate, though it might likely still be able to do a year. Just about any oil can do a year, even in fairly poor situations. If it's driven and stored right, just decide on a mileage interval and change it when the odo clicks to it. If you want to verify, do a UOA at that point, one that has TBN and TAN at least, and verify. If the numbers look good, go longer if you want.
 
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The truck sits and gets used for an occasionally 1 mile run to a park and ride when it rains here. It is also used to pull a three horse, horse trailer when a f-350 dually has a camper on it. The pulling of the horse trailer is usually a 10 to 12 mile drive somewhere and then a drive back home. I will occasionally drive it around but at 10 mpg i'll do it about once a month. So the truck gets driven but the type of driving it gets is not a constant style. I live on the central coast of California so our weather is pretty mild.
 
Originally Posted By: John With Beastly 302
The truck sits and gets used for an occasionally 1 mile run to a park and ride when it rains here. It is also used to pull a three horse, horse trailer when a f-350 dually has a camper on it. The pulling of the horse trailer is usually a 10 to 12 mile drive somewhere and then a drive back home. I will occasionally drive it around but at 10 mpg i'll do it about once a month. So the truck gets driven but the type of driving it gets is not a constant style. I live on the central coast of California so our weather is pretty mild.

2011 - My son's first car was waiting in the driveway for him to get his license for almost a year. A few starts just to check on it, not many. Oil had 3k on it, was pyb 5w30 and a Napa Gold filter from a shell service station. Considering the miles + the time the car sat the oil was roughly 1.5yrs old. Like many on here I thought "sleep well".

My son starts driving on a Tuesday, I intended to change the oil that weekend. On Wednesday a P1349 CEL appeared. On Thursday the oil light started flickering. By Friday the car was sitting again because the oil light was solid on. Oil was level full the whole time, "looked" clean on the stick. I couldn't understand why a perfectly good engine had gone bad in a few hours operation time. On Saturday changed the oil, new filter. Oil light out immediately. P1349 disappeared the next day.

A P1349 is a vvt-i system malfunction CEL code from a lack of oil pressure. An oil light + a full sump + a P1349 CEL = disaster. I change the 1.5yo dino with 3k on it and the problems disappear, all is fine. That was 35k ago.

I took a risk that 1.5yo oil with 3k on it would be fine. Huge mistake. Never again. I did not "sleep well" for a month wondering if I changed the oil in time. Not worth the risk of blowing an engine for $20 in oil.
 
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