Short Tripper On Synthetic ?

[ChrisD46]

Wife's '07 Kia Sedona 3.8L DOHC (still under warranty): This vehicle was used by wife and kids now just the wife drives it as a short tripper , running local errands , etc. with little interstate / highway mileage . Kia manual recommends 3750 (extreme) or 7500 (normal) mileage for OCI's . I was running synthetic for 6000 / 6 months before and it always hit 6000 miles before 6 months . Now the vehicle is not driven as much - should I drop back to a 5000 mile / 5 month OCI with synthetic (PP , QSUD , M1) for this short tripper or can I go longer ? * The only thing I will add (if it helps) is this engine has a timing chain - as for wife , she has more of a lead foot than most people I know ...once the engine is started she is off to the races !

 

[dparm]

If it's under warranty, follow the manufacturer recommendation. 3750 is fine.

 

[OhioSienna]

Not familiar with the car, but it would have to be extraordinarily hard on oil for 5,000mi/6mo interval on syn to be insufficient. That's the interval I use for my Toyota Sienna, which is [censored] on oil, and I haven't had any problems. "Severe service" is pretty subjective; as long as the service records show 7,500 mi intervals, you should be OK for warranty purposes-the syn, and 5k intervals are to give you a margin of error.

 

[1WildPig]

If you're still going to change the oil every six months no matter how low the mileage, switch to conventional oil. My wife's 4 cyl 2.4 engine "short trip" car is under warranty and gets 4,000 mile oil changes with conventional oil - that usually takes about 8 months to reach..."recommended" is 6,000 miles or 6 months...doing oil drop tests show oil is still good and it still looks good as well...Your climate should allow for the same without issue, but, if you do six month changes with 5,000 or less miles then it will certainly be more than adequate.

 

[CATERHAM]

3750 OCI and use the lightest start-up oil available (Toyota Brand 0W-20).

 

[FZ1]

6 months ocis for my 02 Accord V6. Miles vary from 3750 to 4250. Short trips are severe service. M1 EP for me.