Oil choice short trips? TBN & go up a grade?

[TrevorS]

Is the best option when expecting predominantly short trips an oil with the highest TBN and possibly going up a grade?

I know a periodic highway trip makes sense as well but apart from that, what makes sense? Are there any other characteristics in oil that are better for short trips, apart from high VI?

Also, what is the mechanism by which fuel dilution / moisture is damaging?

Is it damaging to the engine all the time or only once it wears out the oils additives?

If I burnt it off weekly then is that better for the engine than burning it off monthly?

I presume a weekly burn off means the oil will last longer than a monthly burnoff.

Thanks

 

[Subdued]

there is no reason to go up a grade. Non at all.

A high TBN oil could help, but there's plenty of proof that TBN isn't the end-all solution.

As always, short tripping means shorter OCI, use the severe service schedule.

 

[901Memphis]

You would just be better off changing more often and going down and grade depending on what engine it is.


All oil is too thick for proper lubrication at temperatures below your oem thermostat temperature. If you are specd for 5w30 and you only take a one mile trip you would be better off with a 0w20.

Full dilution isn't always going to happen you should verify with all flash point test on a uoa for your specific application it may not be an issue at all.

Also you can stay in grade by going with a lighter 5w30 like Pennzoil Platinum if you are talking about 5w30 applications.

 

[rw19]

I would go to a thinner oil most damage happens @ start up put a 0w 20 if your car calls for a 5w 20 and 0w 30 for a 5w 30

Most zero grade oils are better as they contain a very high pao percentage

 

[jamesyarbrough]

Just use a cheap oil that meets spec and recommended grade for the car and change at 3k.

Going up a grade is just going to increase wear on a short tripper that never gets up to temp.

My explorer is a soccer mom car and does nothing but short trips with a very rare 50 mile road trip. I use whatever (any sopus or mobil product i think is a good deal) in it and change it when it looks dark. Thats usually 3500 miles or so if most of the mileage was in winter months and over 5000 if it was mostly summer months.

 

[Doog]

I use a good synthetic and change every 5000. No problems yet.

 

[147_Grain]

Originally Posted By: Doog
I use a good synthetic and change every 5000. No problems yet.


I agree. +1

A quality 20-weight synthetic oil and filter change twice per year with all the short trips.

 

[JHZR2]

There is LOTS of speculation on this. ID recommend doing a UOA that shows TBN and moisture. Because we want worst case, take the sample after a bunch of short trips and without getting it up to temp, so any moisture or fuel that is going to be there is.

You may well see nothing, making the whole thing moot. We found that running a good syn oil, we could do regular OCIs despite a severe service operation with LOTS of short trips as the main use.

Remember that driving off moisture is a time at temperature thing.

 

[901Memphis]

Look at fuelly website you can see user reported averages. Just remember that the skewed ones are obviously lying, like a hemi getting 50 mpg. The averages are useful though if they are a popular vehicle.