Time interval vs mileage

Pennzoil motor oil
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nomochevys

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This one might get me in trouble at BITOG. We have a Gmc truck with a 4.3 engine and the oil has not been changed in 2.5 years. Its only been driven a little over 1K miles. I am going to get the exact numbers Monday. Its only used on short trips to Home Depot ect...... It was last filled with Mobil 1 Extended Performance 5w30 synthetic with a AC delco filter.

Im afraid we have gone too long. I cant seem to get a grip on time intervals when low mileage is involved. What do you experts think?
 
CHANGE IT!! All you have put on that thing is 1K. WOW! The only thing I would worry about is fuel dilution and water. They are important but I don't think you have done anything that will have hurt the engine. Some may say to give it a good H-Way drive to heat everything up properly but you can probably afford to change it.
grin.gif
 
Well, i doubt you have hurt anything by doing this. But I probably wouldn't run it beyond 2 years. I had oil in a Nissan Pathfinder that sat for a very long time (2.5+ years) with infrequent drives and the engine started to rust. My guess is new oil with fresh rust/corrosion inhibitors would have seen a better result. https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/posts/2024985/
 
Originally Posted By: tinmanSC
Well, i doubt you have hurt anything by doing this. But I probably wouldn't run it beyond 2 years. I had oil in a Nissan Pathfinder that sat for a very long time (2.5+ years) with infrequent drives and the engine started to rust. My guess is new oil with fresh rust/corrosion inhibitors would have seen a better result. https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/posts/2024985/


Thanks for your imput. Im not oil expert at all but I read this site a lot trying to understand things. The truck belongs to my Dad and if a oil bottle says its good for 15K miles (IE moblie 1) he believes it.
sick.gif
He thinks he is throwing away money by changing it. I have tried and tried to get him to understand that short tripping which is all he does is not the same as driving coast to coast. Im a bit worried now.
 
Quote:
You should change the oil once a year regardless of the mileage accumulated on the engine oil.

-MJ


This is the response straight from Mobil 1. I think maybe we may need to switch to Pennzoil or Motorcraft or some other good conventional oil based on our use. It would make more sense from a money stand point.
 
Oh boy, I just got back from changing the oil. It had Mobil 1 truck and suv synthetic oil in it. It was driven 2300 miles in 28 months. This is not good. When I pulled the drain plug nothing much happened and then slowly the oil began to run out. The truck was moderately hot and it was 65 degrees outside.

I have never in all my years had this happen. Then some clumps came out.
sick.gif
I let it drain real good and changed the filter also back to Ac delco pf52. I found some small clumps at the bottom of my drain pan.

So here is the plan. I put back in Mobil clean 5000 and plan on changing it back out soon but not sure how long to wait. I told Dad to try to drive the truck more if he can to get some miles on the oil. I didnt know whether to put pennzoil, motorcraft or what in it. Which oil cleans the best in a situation like this or does it matter? I bought MC 5000 because it was the cheapest I could find knowing it would not be in there all that long anyway. I was shocked that auto zone wanted almost 5 dollars a quart for Pennzoil and motorcraft!!

I will be cutting the filter open shortly to see what it looks like. I appreciate any opinions on a plan of action here. Do not let your oil go like I have done! Change it at least once a year. I have learned a good lesson here.
 
ACCCK! OMG! Wow, I'm amazed. Poor truck. Sludge city. My mind is boggled and confused and shocked and amazed, too bad you didn't take pictures/video. Did I read this correctly? It was run like this? and ran just fine?
 
Originally Posted By: tinmanSC
ACCCK! OMG! Wow, I'm amazed. Poor truck. Sludge city. My mind is boggled and confused and shocked and amazed, too bad you didn't take pictures/video. Did I read this correctly? It was run like this? and ran just fine?


Truck runs like its new. I just cut open the filter and it was used up. It had sludge in the bottom of it. I dont have a camera or I would have taken pics. It did its job the best it could. I will never ever let anything go past the one year mark ever no matter how little its used. I think we are just going to run conventional oil from now on anyway with short change intervals and pray for the best. I dont know what else to do.
 
I just went to pick up my mother-in-law's Hyundai XG300. She's gotten to where she really can't drive anymore. Fortunately, we didn't have to take the keys and she didn't hit anything. She is still a careful and safe driver. Scoliosis has affected her spine to the point that even a plush car like the XG is a torturous painful ride.

It had one of those windshield stickers that indicated the last change of (bulk) Pennzoil 5W30 was due 5/14 - of 2009.
shocked.gif


It still has 1400 miles to go towards it's "recommended" 3000 mile interval. She only drives to Albertsons or Aldi, (less than a mile), Joint Reserve Base Commissary (more than 20mi but only a few times a year) and our house. 1600 miles in perhaps a year and a half.

I know...I know....I'm going to change it.
 
Originally Posted By: Spazdog
I just went to pick up my mother-in-law's Hyundai XG300. She's gotten to where she really can't drive anymore. Fortunately, we didn't have to take the keys and she didn't hit anything. She is still a careful and safe driver. Scoliosis has affected her spine to the point that even a plush car like the XG is a torturous painful ride.

It had one of those windshield stickers that indicated the last change of (bulk) Pennzoil 5W30 was due 5/14 - of 2009.
shocked.gif


It still has 1400 miles to go towards it's "recommended" 3000 mile interval. She only drives to Albertsons or Aldi, (less than a mile), Joint Reserve Base Commissary (more than 20mi but only a few times a year) and our house. 1600 miles in perhaps a year and a half.

I know...I know....I'm going to change it.





My Mom and Dad are in the same boat. They dont travel hardly at all except to the grocery, hardware store, church, ect.. If they travel any distance they go with somebody else who usually drives them. They kept the truck because its handy but my Mom wont hardly ride in it if she does not have to so it does not even get drove to town and back hardly. They have a much nicer car to ride in.

I wish you the best with your oil change. I never knew time could make such a difference and I bet there are a lot of people who dont put many miles on but the ones they do are severe service due to the short trips.
 
I got the nearly two year old/short trip oil out. Now we get to see if Pennzoil's "40%" claim stands up.

Just looking into the oil fill, it needs every bit it can. It's varnished yellow and covered in dark crusty nastiness.

I idled it with 1/3rd of a can of SeaFoam in the crankcase for awhile before I changed it. not sure if that helped or not but I didn't put any load on the engine so I don't think it hurt. It had a Havoline filter on it so I'm not certain the last change was the Pennzoil indicated on the sticker. It could have just as well been a Chevron/Havoline product in there and the garage just had Pennzoil stickers on hand. Doesn't matter either way.

WalMart had a 4ft wall display of Pennzoil 5 qt marked for $12. I got to the register and it rang up for $14.50. I didn't get the mismarked product for free but I got it for $12. Should have bought a few.

In ten years it's gone a total of 40,000 miles. I washed and vacuumed it. Looks almost new. Nice car from Hyundai's odd style era.
 
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