Poor gains in economy/oil use from extended OCI

[RoadRaceJosh]

People's claims of saving oil by extending the OCI is far far outweighed by most people's choice in vehicle and driving habits. I will demonstrate.

How many gallons of gasoline do you consume during an oil change interval? My Frontier at 25 MPG burns 200 gallons of gas in the warranty mandated 5,000 mile OCI. Doubling my OCI to 10,000 miles saves .625 gallons of oil in 5,000 miles. 1.25 gallons of oil per 5,000 miles of driving is 0.625% of my fuel use. If I drove less efficiently and achieved the EPA highway rating of 23 MPG I would burn an extra 17.4 gallons in 5,000 miles.

If you really want to save oil then drive more efficiently, drive something more fuel efficient and drive less.

If you want to spend less time on maintenance that's been covered at length.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Apples to oranges. You can do extended OCIs, and still drive efficiently, if you want, while saving time and money on maintenance.

 

[RoadRaceJosh]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Apples to oranges. You can do extended OCIs, and still drive efficiently, if you want, while saving time and money on maintenance.



Apples to apples when people bring up oil savings as justification for extended OCIs.

Next!

 

[webfors]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Apples to oranges. You can do extended OCIs, and still drive efficiently, if you want, while saving time and money on maintenance.



^This

Time is money. Don't forget the extra oil filter that most put on each OCI

And let's be real... no one is trying to save the planet if they're driving petrol fueled transport.

 

[OneEyeJack]

Consumption could be drastically reduced if people drove the vehicle they need instead of the vehicle they drive now.

 

[stockrex]

Originally Posted By: Joshua_Skinner
People's claims of saving oil by extending the OCI is far far outweighed by most people's choice in vehicle and driving habits. I will demonstrate.

How many gallons of gasoline do you consume during an oil change interval? My Frontier at 25 MPG burns 200 gallons of gas in the warranty mandated 5,000 mile OCI. Doubling my OCI to 10,000 miles saves .625 gallons of oil in 5,000 miles. 1.25 gallons of oil per 5,000 miles of driving is 0.625% of my fuel use. If I drove less efficiently and achieved the EPA highway rating of 23 MPG I would burn an extra 17.4 gallons in 5,000 miles.

If you really want to save oil then drive more efficiently, drive something more fuel efficient and drive less.

If you want to spend less time on maintenance that's been covered at length.


oil is cheap, just change it,
for me UOA costs more than an oil change. 5 qts of syn costs $15 after rebate

 

[raytseng]

Analogy doesn't fly, not because of your math; but I will object based on the fact that the oil is not consumed.
You bring it back for recycling and then it gets resold. Perhaps it's consumed by that other waste stream in bunker fuel or power plant fuel or even turned into nextgen, but it's not consumed in your usage

It only makes sense to refute arguments like in that camry thread; when someone is saying their car is non-environmental for the reason that it burns and consumes oil, neglect the gallons fuel burned is also petroleum.

 

[zach1900]

Originally Posted By: raytseng
Analogy doesn't fly, not because of your math; but I will object based on the fact that the oil is not consumed.
You bring it back for recycling and then it gets resold. Perhaps it's consumed by that other waste stream in bunker fuel or power plant fuel or even turned into nextgen, but it's not consumed in your usage

It only makes sense to refute arguments like in that camry thread; when someone is saying their car is non-environmental for the reason that it burns and consumes oil, neglect the gallons fuel burned is also petroleum.

exactly,

 

[surfstar]

Originally Posted By: Joshua_Skinner
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Apples to oranges. You can do extended OCIs, and still drive efficiently, if you want, while saving time and money on maintenance.



Apples to apples when people bring up oil savings as justification for extended OCIs.

Next!


Multiply it out over a fleet. Then assume that fleet is all passenger cars in the USA. Then include trucks and equipment. Then go globally.

IT DOES MATTER.

Next!

 

[zach1900]

OP. You hate capitalistic pigs, so why would you want give that pig like Valvoline more money?

 

[HTSS_TR]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Apples to oranges. You can do extended OCIs, and still drive efficiently, if you want, while saving time and money on maintenance.

+1

Gas mileage and OCI are not related.

Same car with dino oil and normal OCI of 7-8kk miles vs syn oil with short OCI of 4-5k what is the result ? With similar driving condition gas mileage will not change much, but the one with syn oil and short OCI costs more in maintenance.

 

[Nate1979]

Originally Posted By: Joshua_Skinner
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Apples to oranges. You can do extended OCIs, and still drive efficiently, if you want, while saving time and money on maintenance.



Apples to apples when people bring up oil savings as justification for extended OCIs.

Next!


I'm not sure you understand what apples and oranges mean

......

Why can't I both drive to get better mpg and do extended oil changes to save the cost of oil and filter? Money is money as long as it is done safely.

I thought this thread was going to be a discussion about how extended drain oil can cause reduced mpg. That would be an interesting topic. This is a waste of time.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

Originally Posted By: Joshua_Skinner
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Apples to oranges. You can do extended OCIs, and still drive efficiently, if you want, while saving time and money on maintenance.



Apples to apples when people bring up oil savings as justification for extended OCIs.

Next!
Me! me! me! I!I!I!

1/4 billon registered cars in the U.S getting ~2 oci/year at ~1 gallon per oci = 1/2 Billion gallons of oil changed a year.

Now cut that in half.

A drop in the bucket

___________
Save EVERYWHERE you can if it ain't hard.

Clothslines! people instead of electric or gas driers.

Don't shower everyday, and Don't hot Iron the everyday clothes. I'll give you a pass for Weddings and Funerals

And, Are neckties ties just stupid these days?

 

[RoadRaceJosh]

I'm not sure you understand what saving oil means.

Let me put it to you in dollars. Materials for a conventional oil change in my truck ($20) are 5% of the fuel costs ($400 at 25 MPG and the $1.999/gallon) for the same 5k miles driven. If I improve my fuel economy by 2 MPG by going from 23 to 25 MPG (8.7% of 23 MPG) I save $34.80 at $2/gallon. Doubling my OCI on the same materials saves $10. My easily achievable driving habit changes save me 3.48 times as much doubling the OCI. Many people leave a dollar on the floor by driving poorly, but stoop to pick up a nickle by extending the OCI.

 

[RoadRaceJosh]

Originally Posted By: OneEyeJack
Consumption could be drastically reduced if people drove the vehicle they need instead of the vehicle they drive now.



Yep. If I didn't regularly have to transport 3 people I would have owned a 1G Honda Insight years ago. Once I move closer to work I'll probably sell my nearly new truck which I bought for reliability and utility.

 

[RoadRaceJosh]

Originally Posted By: raytseng
Analogy doesn't fly, not because of your math; but I will object based on the fact that the oil is not consumed.
You bring it back for recycling and then it gets resold. Perhaps it's consumed by that other waste stream in bunker fuel or power plant fuel or even turned into nextgen, but it's not consumed in your usage

It only makes sense to refute arguments like in that camry thread; when someone is saying their car is non-environmental for the reason that it burns and consumes oil, neglect the gallons fuel burned is also petroleum.



Exactly right. "Operating economy" didn't fit in the title, but oil use did. Even though the crankcase oil doesn't disappear and can be burned as fuel I still have to buy it and don't have a means of recovering that cost. What and how people drive is much more important. Extending the OCI is small change in comparison.

 

[raytseng]

Originally Posted By: Joshua_Skinner
I'm not sure you understand what saving oil means.

Let me put it to you in dollars. Materials for a conventional oil change in my truck ($20) are 5% of the fuel costs ($400 at 25 MPG and the $1.999/gallon) for the same 5k miles driven. If I improve my fuel economy by 2 MPG by going from 23 to 25 MPG (8.7% of 23 MPG) I save $34.80 at $2/gallon. Doubling my OCI on the same materials saves $10. My easily achievable driving habit changes save me 3.48 times as much doubling the OCI. Many people leave a dollar on the floor by driving poorly, but stoop to pick up a nickle by extending the OCI.


You're speaking some truth that OCI is not an important part of your finances as compared to gasoline.

But I'll take you one further that gasoline and fuel prices also should be a very unimportant part of your budget, compared to more important things. There's psychology at work with gasoline prices where you're inundated by prices every day, but it is not important.

Yes you may leave a dollar on the floor due to your driving habits and fuel; but if you're taking this route of your argument, you're leaving $20s and $100s on the floor with your eating habits, your investments, your insurance, your housing, your cable bill, etc etc.
So don't sweat the nickels OR the dollars, if you're losing $20s and $100s.

 

[AirgunSavant]

Gas consumption is often related to which brand gives you the best MPG. I see variances of 4 mpg for a 4 cylinder and I wont use the junk gas no matter the price. Then throw in the 10% ethanol equation vs reg gas.

 

[IndyIan]

My thinking for a longer OCI is that I might as well save the money and time. I doubt I'll ever have an engine failure caused by an extended OCI given we don't seem to get over 200k miles on our cars.
I also try to drive efficient cars efficiently too, so the $2-5/day saved adds up too over the years.

 

[Cardenio327]

Here's something:

Each barrel of crude oil only contains around one liter of oil that is suitable for making lubricating oils.

That would probably make saving a liter of oil more desirable for the economy and environment in general than saving a liter of gasoline.