OLM on pace for 12k mile OCI

[HawkeyeScott]

Just finished a long trip to see family in another part of the country. After about 3600 miles of interstate driving, the Suburban 5.3 OLM has me on pace for an oil change at 12,000k miles. That's a huge number to me, and I expect it to drop off pretty quickly now that I'm back to my 20-mile-a-day in-town commute. I'll probably change at the end of the summer, which will be around 7K miles on this Mobil1 0W-30.

But I wonder if someone regularly travels a lot and uses only dino oil, would their engine be okay with following a 12k mile OCI? I know the 5.3s have a reputation for being easy on oil, but that's a big number. Or, is this is a flaw in the OLM system that needs to be overridden by a thinking human?

 

[RedOakRanch]

How long has the oil been in service? 12k is OK for about any name brand syn with highway miles. Do a UOA on that oil to see.

 

[HawkeyeScott]

Three weeks, and I will change well before 12K. But I'm really just asking a hypothetical about a scenario in which someone uses dino for 12K miles highway runs.

 

[CKN]

I can see the OLM going 12,000 miles with a lot of highway driving. The suggestion of doing a UOA is a good one.

 

[NateDN10]

What I've read says that most oil breakdown & contamination happens at low temperatures and very high temperatures. A healthy engine at highway speed sees neither of those. I can see the OLM recommendation being solid.

 

[RedOakRanch]

If you do 12k in 3 weeks I'd say any rated dino oil would work.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

If the 5.3 is easy on oil, and its driven in a way that's easy on oil (which highway miles are), then 12k on dino is no problem at all

Doesn't the 5.3 have a large sump too? How many quarts does it take? The more oil there is, the longer OCI it can do.

 

[addyguy]

Somewhere back in the UOA archives there is an OLM-dictated run of 12,650 miles on Havoline 5W-30 conventional in a 5.3 V8. It came out pretty good for 12k on regular SL oil.

 

[NO2]

Just check the oil level. The danger in a 12K OCI is not topping off the oil and running low. That's easy to do with those interval on dino or syn.

 

[Linctex]

Originally Posted By: slacktide_bitog
If the 5.3 is easy on oil, and its driven in a way that's easy on oil (which highway miles are), then 12k on dino is no problem at all


Correct.

If you use plain ol' "dino" oil and immediately go on a perpetual cross-country trip, it'll probably last to 20,000 miles... without any drama.

I know of a li'l Kubota D905 used as a 6.5kw powerplant at a very remote location (for the US miltary... in a round-about way). It runs 24/7 and on plain 15W-40 oil. It gets it's oil changed every 6mos/4,000 hours (which at 60 miles per hour equates to 240,000 miles). Last I checked, it had 23,000 hours on it (~1,380,000 miles) running at 1800 rpm almost perpetually.