OCI - two vehicles

[wallyuwl]

I've been around long enough to think I know the answers, but will ask anyway.

My parents have two vehicles. One is a 2002 Chevy 1500 extended cab, with I think the 5.3 V8. The other is a 2011 Nissan Rogue AWD.

Both are driven mostly five minutes or less per trip, since they both work just a couple miles from their house. The Rogue occasionally gets a fifteen or twenty minute drive, but not often (in six months it only has 1000 miles - I've told them to take it on the hwy for a half hour at least every couple weeks). The truck gets on the hwy for twenty minutes probably once a week, and in the summer it is driven to their cabin 80 miles away at least every other week.

The truck gets Mobil Clean 5000 (now Mobil Super) every 3k miles. The plan for the Rogue is to follow the severe service interval and get it changed at the dealer with whatever conventional (or blend, not sure what their bulk is) they use.

I think this OCI plan is good, since with the short trips they should get it changed more often, so there is no need for synthetic.

Thoughts?

 

[javacontour]

Sounds like a solid plan. The only thing I would add is a time component. I.E 3K miles or 6 months, which ever comes first.

 

[Artem]

I wouldn't necessarily say there's no need for synthetic because I'm sure both cars wouldn't mind a little extra protection during those short trip cold starts every day of the week. The main question is, is it worth it?

For the New Rogue, if they're planning to keep it for a while and will continue to only put 1k miles on it every half a year, even a 2x a year OCI @ 1,000 miles seems like a waste. I'd get a used oil analysis on that oil after 6 months to see if it can last a whole year. A nice synthetic wouldn't be such a bad idea for the 1 year or 3,000 mile run.

Just my $0.02

 

[javacontour]

I believe most maintenance schedules include both time and mileage, so two changes on the Nissan may be in order to preserve the warranty. Yeah, they have to prove the failure to change caused the problem. Yet visiting once in the spring and once in the fall to have the oil changed is cheap insurance compared to proving your one oil change in 18 months (or whatever) did no harm.