My wife is taking a transfer at work that will have her working 1.5 miles from home. She currently drives about 15 miles one way so I never had to worry about lots of short trips. I will keep driving her car at least once a week to my job 26 miles away, but the car will be seeing mostly short trips. My thought is to keep using Havoline dino or Motorcraft blend 5w30 but to shorten the interval from 5K to 3K. The car is an '03 Cavalier. Thoughts?
Wife's car and short trips...advice?
- Thread starter mikemc
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how about erring on the side of caution and changing it every 3 months...which sounds like you will be talking way less then the 3ooo mile standard....short trips , that don't warm the oil up =sludge
I think you can be more than O.K with the 3K interval. And you could always have a time limit of say 6 months or maybe even longer. Driving it the 50 mile trip every week is a great idea.
My wife did the same 1.5 mile for 6 years. Well I'll take that back it was about 3/4 of a mile each way. We changed the oil every 3000 to 4000 miles. I made a weekly 90 mile round trip in it every Saturday. Everything was nice and clean inside the valve cover.
really??? Maybe you would like to read this guys problems ...driving pattern sound similar to what his wife will be doing soon ....why risk it over a $20.00 oil change ? http://theoildrop.server101.com/cgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=5;t=004186
If he gooped up to the point that oil would not return to the oil pan it is likely that there are other problems with the car if the oil was changed at a regular basis.
Great comments on time frame, guys. I did plan on keeping a close eye on how long it takes to run up 3K.
here is a nice little horror story too...short trip extended intervals ...not worth the $20.00
http://theoildrop.server101.com/cgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=5;t=003610
good sludge link http://www.autosafety.org/getcat.php?cid=28
http://theoildrop.server101.com/cgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=5;t=003610
good sludge link http://www.autosafety.org/getcat.php?cid=28
In the late 1970s, I started with a 3 month, 3k mile = 5k km OCI for urban driving. During the 1980s and 1990s, I gradually relaxed this to 6 months and or 3k mi/5k km. I have never had an internal engine problem attributable to oil sludge.
No problems with the short trips unless the engine is not in great mechanical shape. You have more of a chance corroding the exhaust than hurting the engine. I would stick with a 6 month/4000 mile interval or if synthetic is used 9 months/7000 miles. If its in poor mechanical condition then reduce the oci accordingly.
The car is in great shape with 46,000 miles and a steady diet of Havoline or Chevron every 3-4K since bought new. I had just recently decided to go to a 5K interval since it had always seen longer trips, but now I will keep using Havoline at 3-4K. I really don't think it will take 6 months to reach that. Thanks for the comments.
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