Road trip exceeds OCI

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The 2011 Acadia will finally used for it's intended purpose.
A month long road trip to Yellowstone, Vegas, Grand Canyon, etc.
This will exceed the OLM of 5000 miles by about 1500 miles.
Do I need to worry about this with the history of timing chain issues with the 3.6L VVT engine?
I rum Mobil 1 and have not had any problems yet and do not want to start now.
 
The SUV will be fine. Just check the oil level often to monitor any consumption. Hwy miles are easy for the most part. You can change it when you get back home. Enjoy the trip!
 
Totally fine. You could run it longer than that. 6500 oci is very conservative on M1, even with the timing chain.
 
I'd suggest you find an Iffy Boob while on the road,to make sure your engine stays properly protected. Haha just kidding
wink.gif
 
Oil life monitors is an estimate in many cars. Some cars really do go the extra mile in monitoring oil but the OLM is mainly just an algorithm. The car can not tell the quality of the oil. Mobil 1 is a good brand and can go further then a cheap no name brand of oil.

These systems mainly just calculate rpm, weather, distance, and idle time and gives you an idea of what the computer thinks the oil quality should be given the information/parameters the manufacturer has set.

Also as other's have said highway miles are easy miles. Low rpm with little load vs higher rpm with more load due to acceleration in city traffic.
 
When my Chevy HHR was running the OLM would barely tick off when I did long 700 mile one day trips. It died because of poor engineering of chain tensioner. Engine was using no oil and looked great inside at 150k
 
I would change the oil and filter before leaving for the trip. That engine is very prone to having timing chain issues and oil quality/condition is the only variable that you can control.
 
Running it out an extra 1500 highway miles on a full-synthetic oil on one OCI would be extremely unlikely to cause any long-term issues, but if it will help you sleep better at night, then just go ahead and change it.
 
Originally Posted By: The Critic
I would change the oil and filter before leaving for the trip. That engine is very prone to having timing chain issues and oil quality/condition is the only variable that you can control.


but unfortunately with a bad design, you could change the oil everyday and still have a failure......no point in changing the oil.
 
Originally Posted By: philipp10
Originally Posted By: The Critic
I would change the oil and filter before leaving for the trip. That engine is very prone to having timing chain issues and oil quality/condition is the only variable that you can control.


but unfortunately with a bad design, you could change the oil everyday and still have a failure......no point in changing the oil.

That is true, but oil quality/condition has an impact on the issue. That is why GM issued a calibration update which shortened the maximum oil change interval dictated by the OLM.
 
Originally Posted By: The Critic
Originally Posted By: philipp10
Originally Posted By: The Critic
I would change the oil and filter before leaving for the trip. That engine is very prone to having timing chain issues and oil quality/condition is the only variable that you can control.


but unfortunately with a bad design, you could change the oil everyday and still have a failure......no point in changing the oil.

That is true, but oil quality/condition has an impact on the issue. That is why GM issued a calibration update which shortened the maximum oil change interval dictated by the OLM.


Correct, low oil levels and extended OCIs were the cause. I'd change the oil before the trip.
 
Top off the oil before your trip and take an extra quart of M1 with you. Add oil it gets low. Most importantly have your brakes and tires checked before you leave along with your coolant level. I doubt you will trip the OLM with an extra 1500 miles of all highway driving. I'd also carry extra drinking water, we had a car overheat in the Arizona desert and the only way to drive it was with the heat on full and the windows open. It was about 120deg in the car. We drank 1 gallon every hour.
 
The trip might just be good for the engine, that is getting things completely warmed up for several days in a row.

I'd be more concerned about getting the tire pressures set before the trip starts. With the vehicle loaded and some higher speed running you could consider upping the pressure by a few pounds. Oh, and actually take the spare out and check it, too.
 
On my Honda Accord the OLM extends on long highway drives. It counts down in 10% jumps, always showing "something less than" 100%, 90%, etc. Frankly that's a bit too coarse.

I recently left home for a long trip with "40%" oil life left. Just my luck, it clicked over to 30% right after leaving home. But I was able to drive about 4000 Km /2500 miles and still had 5% oil life left when I got home.

The total mileage for that change was 9793 Km compared to a typical 8000 Km (for 5% life left). I suspect the Honda monitors fuel consumed rather than miles/Km, along with a few other variables like RPM and outside temperature.

I don't know if your car will do the same.
 
One thing you could do, presuming you are changing the oil prior to the trip, is switch to a more climate-appropriate oil like using 10w-30 M1 for the trip. The stouter oil will stand up to timing chain wear better and is going to flow just like the 5w down to around maybe 15F or so (varies a bit from oil to oil). In any vehicle calling for 30w at operating temperature, I would only use 5w-30 over 10w-30 if I were routinely starting it at less than 0F.
 
Even if you are due for an oil change, if you are going on a long road trip it won't hurt a bit as long as your oil level is correct. If anything, the long highway miles of a road trip are like a Tahitian vacation for your oil, because a lot of short-trip related impurities in the oil will diminish with extended heat.
And since you're running Mobil 1 Synthetic, you have absolutely no reason to be concerned whatsoever.
 
should be fine as thats the whole point you exceeded the minimum oil so you could extend....
but this is more on you and what you feel.

if you cant get over the gut feeling, then change it.

More because the anxiety and panic is going to ruin your vacation.

its a little like low fuel. You may have read the specs and know there's 2gallons of reserve but when the light goes on, you endure 40miles of whiteknuckle driving panic even though you know by all calculations you'll be fine.
not worth the dead brain cells, if it makes you feel that way
 
One bloke suggested checking tire pressure (all 5 wheels) so I'll add cracking the lug nuts (and possibly even anti-seizing them). Make sure the lug wrench's socket fits the nuts acceptably-bring a good long wrench if not.
 
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