Oil for rarely used engine

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It is a 7.5L engine with 45K miles on it.

I last changed it in the spring (about 5 months ago) with CAstrol GTX 10w-30 and since then put about 1,000 miles on it. Most of the trips have been short and a few longer ones.

Is an oil change necessary? Does oil degrade with time?

I have Chevron Delo 15w-40 which I plan to use next time.
 
If it's winter and the trips are short, Chevron Delo 10w-30 is another good choice. If it were me, I'd use Chevron Delo 15w40 for the 6 warmest months, and Chevron Delo 10w30 for the coldest 6 months.
 
Nahhh, no oil change needed. As long as the engine is occasionally run (you need to get seals periodically lubed) it will be fine - any highly respected oil will do fine. Especially if the car is garage kept.
 
pacem, if you want a more lengthy answer, tell us more about your application, like the engine, vehicle, milage, driving style, if any towing is involved, any ailments your trying to moderate, etc, etc.
 
Good point - it is a F250 'heavy duty' truck. I use it to tow an RV a few times per month but usually, it's running empty. Not a daily driver certainly.

I drive conservatively unless pulling, which requires higher rpms, but I rarely exceed 3,000.

7.5L is known for burning oil, and I am loosing 1qt/1000 miles. I don't know if there is a cure for that, it has done it with all oils. I hear that higher rpms aggravate this problem.
 
With the burning your experiencing, I'd use:

Pennzoil Long-Life 15w-40 in combination with a Motorcraft filter.

With the mileage you're running, I believe it'd be best to just run the LL year-round even though a thinner viscosity lube would be more ideal in winter...I ran LL last year through winter and while starting was noticeably slower, I had no cold-start "tick-tick-tick", even down to 5F.

[ August 04, 2004, 10:43 PM: Message edited by: Jelly ]
 
pacem, if you put less than 3K miles a year, you probably can get by with only one change a year (make sure you change the oil filter). Any of the HDEOs will probably due here, Delvac 1300, Chevron Delo, Penz LL, etc.

Some may suggest an AutoRX treatment to see if it helps the oil consumption, but it doesn't sound like to much of a problem given your situation.

I still stand by my previous OCI recommendation, but it's probably not necessary.
 
quote:

Originally posted by 427Z06:
Any of the HDEOs will probably due here, Delvac 1300, Chevron Delo, Penz LL, etc.

While all the big-name HDEO's are good (Delo, Delvac, Long-Life, Rotella), I recommended LL because of it's ability to reduce burning/consumption even more than similar HDEO's.

[ August 05, 2004, 12:06 AM: Message edited by: Jelly ]
 
rolleyes.gif
 
use a ESTER based oil that will cling to the parts because its polarity is opposite the metal. I cant remember if the parts are positive or negative?
 
Let me put it this way:

I have torn down several old engines that have sat and the one thing I can say is that all have had oil clinging to internal parts no matter how long they have sat.

Guess the old Quaker State 30w non detergent had polarity opposite the metal back then too.

pat.gif
I guess I am a geek and a geezer for admitting I know about quaker state 30w non-detergent!
grin.gif


Dan
 
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