Amount of Time Between Oil Changes

[nathajw]

What are your thoughts on amount of time, not mileage, between oil changes?

I have a 6.2 liter F-150 Super Crew that I drive 5 days a week minimum to work so it's not just sitting there. I use it for that mostly and pulling things (few and far between) but it is only 15 miles RT to the office. When we go other places (mostly kids' activities) or on road trips I hop behind the wheel of the wife's van and hope nobody recognizes me. We use her car for the majority of the driving.

I got the oil changed in July last year and used Mobil 1 synthetic and I've barely driven 4,000 miles since then. The guy that changed my oil said synthetic should be changed every 6 months or 5,000 miles which I say BS. The truck currently says 71% oil life remaining.

Any of you gearheads have any thoughts? Even though I'm not putting the miles on it is there a time limitation on synthetic oil even if it's being used?

 

[Been Jammin]

I read an article on this topic a year or two ago. The gist was that, in your situation, you should go by the mileage rather than the amount of time that passes. The companies that produce the oil, and the places that change the oil want you to change it more often than is really necessary, so they will recommend to change it much more frequently than is really needed (both by mileage and time). By the same token, the oil will break down over time, so you don't want to necessarily wait for the suggested amount of mileage to pass if you don't drive your car much per month. I am in a similar situation as you. I work 1 mile from home and mostly just use my car to get back and forth. I just change mine when the suggested mileage has passed even though the suggested date went by months ago.

 

[dtspoke]

It takes an awful long time for synthetics or conventionals to lose their viscosity without use. I think it's probably years and not months.

On our heavy equipment we can go fairly long durations between oil changes; it's based completely on hours of use.

 

[dtspoke]

One other note, we change our light duty diesels every 2,500 because they are constantly working under load in really dusty conditions. Our class 8 trucks have very different schedules, but for both the issue is that the additives break down and sludging more than a problem with the oil itself.

 

[Dally1up]

My diesels in dusty conditions running rotella t synthetic is 9-10k. Gas usually 6k. Run a blackstone oil analysis and it will tell you. I ran one on a 9-10k oil change and they told me to go another 2-3k.

 

[dtspoke]

We've run Blackstone and Shoco analysis and never came close to 5k

 

[squeak]

Not to hijack, but is the synthetic worth it on an older vehicle?

 

[nathajw]

Not to hijack, but is the synthetic worth it on an older vehicle?

I'm sure many here are more knowledgeable than me but I've always been told that if you have a higher mileage vehicle (say 80k or more) and you've always been using regular that you shouldn't switch to synthetic because it will start leaking oil among other things. Older engines may have worn seals or parts and synthetic is thinner. They do make higher mileage synthetics thought so who knows. I could be way off here.

 

[squeak]

I'm sure many here are more knowledgeable than me but I've always been told that if you have a higher mileage vehicle (say 80k or more) and you've always been using regular that you shouldn't switch to synthetic because it will start leaking oil among other things. Older engines may have worn seals or parts and synthetic is thinner. They do make higher mileage synthetics thought so who knows. I could be way off here.

Ok thanks.

 

[osuja]

i asked our service mgr the same question a few months ago in regards to my sons truck. He had put 4500 miles in nearly a years time, Luther said to go by the mileage not the months.

 

[AC_Exotic]

Service manager at a dealership?

 

[LouKY Poke]

My situation is similar to yours. I drive a six mile round trip to work M-F and occasionally a short road trip on weekends. I've got a 2011 Honda Ridgeline and I went two years between oil changes on the last one, which was 4,200 miles. I've always used Valvoline synthetic in it. Truck is 5 years old now and I still haven't had the 30,000 mile checkup. It'll probably be another year and a half before I hit that. Currently at 26K and change.

 

[dtspoke]

One thing to note is that the shorter the trips, the more severe the maintenance.

 

[osuja]

Yes, service manager at the dealership.