Originally Posted By: john1944
Originally Posted By: bmwtechguy
Frequent, short trips can allow water/acid to build up much more quickly in the crankcase, depending on engine PCV design and condition of the engine (compression loss/blowby). If you mainly just go a couple miles down the road to the store and then come back and repeat this enough times, you will need to change the oil MUCH sooner than if your trips are 10-15 miles or longer even. This issue is even worse in cold weather. The oil cannot get hot enough for long enough to burn off the continual addition of H2O from combustion gas that gets past the rings. The longer the water component stays in the oil, the more the TBN is depleted as acids that have formed are neutralized by the detergent additives and dispersants.
A retired Mobil rep told me years ago when I was an oil neophyte that he would always tell folks, in any talks he gave during his career, that the shorter your daily trips are, then the more often you need to change the oil, regardless of mileage. Synthetics can help with this some, but still need changed much sooner as well when short-tripped often. Another option for some folks might be to use an HDEO which generally starts out with higher TBN and will help the oil to last longer in this type of severe service as well.
I live in Minnesota and in the winter, I have conditions just as you are talking about : short trips, frequent starting and stopping, very cold weather, etc. I was thinking about trying Redline 0w30 this winter. Any ideas as to how this oil would hold up vs Mobil 1 Ow30?
I tried it last winter (Redline 0w30),and total months in use was 11-months,the oil came out looked like it was only in there a short period of time. I'll be using it again this winter.
