Severe driving interval

[JennyPenny90]

I drive 300 miles a week.

100 miles of stop go traffic
200 miles of smooth highway driving.

Owners manual recommends ILSAC-GF5, every 6 months

If I upgrade to better synthetics, like Pennzoil or Mobil1, can I extend my OCI? Say 10 months?

 

[The motor guy]

That doesn't tell us much. How long is your drive to work?

 

[CharBaby]

You've already mentioned your driving style so, thank you for that.
300 mile/week is decent so, in a 5 day work week for example, you're traveling 60 mi/hiwy & 20 mi/stop&go traffic per day.
Would this be accurate?

Need more information on your vehicle year, brand/model, engine, tranny, how many current miles/km are on the engine and what is your climate like in Singapore?
Obviously it's a gasoline engine(not diesel) requiring GF5.
What oil(s) have you been using(conventional, blend or synthetic)?

 

[andyd]

300miles divide by 10 ( 5 days X 2 ) = 30 miles each way. each trip is 10 miles of stop and go, 20 miles of highway. 6month OCI = 7500-10 k miles. Myself, I wouldn't extend the OCI

 

[Yah-Tah-Hey]

Chang oil and filter spring and fall. Mobil I or Penzzoil Platinum will more than adequate.

 

[Brigadier]

What is the average speed in your dash display? If it is less than 45 MPH, I would stick to severe service intervals.

 

[maxdustington]

Originally Posted by JennyPenny90
I drive 300 miles a week.

100 miles of stop go traffic
200 miles of smooth highway driving.

Owners manual recommends ILSAC-GF5, every 6 months

If I upgrade to better synthetics, like Pennzoil or Mobil1, can I extend my OCI? Say 10 months?
That should be right around 10k miles so the answer is probably depending on your answers to Char Baby's questions. If your car is naturally aspriated, yes. Direct injected turbo? No way, Jose.

 

[oliveoil]

JP, the answer to your question is Yes.

 

[bbhero]

Originally Posted by maxdustington
Originally Posted by JennyPenny90
I drive 300 miles a week.

100 miles of stop go traffic
200 miles of smooth highway driving.

Owners manual recommends ILSAC-GF5, every 6 months

If I upgrade to better synthetics, like Pennzoil or Mobil1, can I extend my OCI? Say 10 months?
That should be right around 10k miles so the answer is probably depending on your answers to Char Baby's questions. If your car is naturally aspriated, yes. Direct injected turbo? No way, Jose.




^^^^^^^

That is exactly right.... In my opinion.

 

[aquariuscsm]

Besides the 6 month time limit,does your owner's manual list mileage limit as well?

 

[SureshR]

Singapore? Right by the Equator (1.35 degrees North latitude) so hot and humid (think Atlanta on a particularly hot and muggy day and that'd count as pleasant).

Speed limited by law to 50 kilometers per hour in regular traffic (where it is possible, it is a small country that's essentially a single huge city) and 90 kilometers per hour on highways. (like 30 and 55 miles per hour).

At that speed and given those temperature conditions - depending on which car, get a good synthetic and change slightly earlier than what the car service manual recommends. Like some cars say 15k kilometer oil changes, stick to 10-11k kilometers.

 

[JennyPenny90]

Sorry guys for the late reply!

I have been away for work. I meant to say "km" not miles.

Sorry, 300km weekly.

200km highway, 100km stop go traffic (10km one direction).
Average speed on the highway is 65km/h
Stop go's average speed is 30km/h

Owner's manual recommends 10,000km or 6 months

Transmission is 6 speed auto and engine is non turbo but with direct injection.

My car is a v6 2.5 liter. 211hp

Weather is around 30 degrees Celsius in the day and 20s at night.

Note: special thanks to my friend for helping me with details on my car

 

[JennyPenny90]

Been using synthetics, warranty is up, was looking to try different oils and longer OCI

 

[SureshR]

With the amount of highway driving you do, you can use a better grade of synthetic and - maybe with a topup - stretch to twelve or thirteen thousand km in a year.

How long you can stretch it depends on your car and only a used oil analysis will tell you for sure. Though a rule of thumb is that you stick to the manufacturer recommended OCI or don't exceed it by too much.

Its a tradeoff between saving a few sing dollars on oil changes versus much more on engine maintenance down the line.

What is the current oil you use by the way? Which car?

 

[dave1251]

Really 45MPH? This equates to the vast majority of vehicles fall under severe service. I would recheck your logic.

 

[ka9mnx]

Almost everywhere I drive is 45mph since it's a common speed limit here. Very few stop lights or signs. I consider this very mild driving!

 

[Brigadier]

Originally Posted by dave1251
Really 45MPH? This equates to the vast majority of vehicles fall under severe service. I would recheck your logic.


Then average what speed would you choose?

 

[JoelB]

My average speed over a tank of gas is usually 26mph. 45 is a really high average speed. Likely only possible if you do lots of highway driving.

 

[Brigadier]

Originally Posted by JoelB
My average speed over a tank of gas is usually 26mph. 45 is a really high average speed. Likely only possible if you do lots of highway driving.


Right, me too. So that is why I go by the severe service schedule on my Hyundai.

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted by JoelB
My average speed over a tank of gas is usually 26mph. 45 is a really high average speed. Likely only possible if you do lots of highway driving.

45mph is real high for an average around here. I wish I could average 26 mph, it is quite a bit under that for me. I'm certain there are a lot of people following a normal driving maintenance schedule thinking they're doing the right thing. In reality they should be following severe service because their average speed is a lot slower than they think.