I've only put 3K miles on my truck in the last year, and I'm wondering if I should be changing the oil more often than the 4K miles I usually change it at. Any opinions?

 

general rule of thumb my shop used after my engine rebuild was 3k miles or every 6 months to change the oil with regular oil

 

If you are running the engine at least 30 minutes at full operating temp when you do drive it, then no you don't need to change oil but every 5000 miles. If you are making short trips with it when you do drive it, you probably need to change at every 2000 miles. The oil has to deal with condensation every time you start the engine. The PCV system will whisk the moisture away as it is cooked off but the engine has to run long enough at full temp to do this. Otherwise the oil becomes saturated with water and corrosion will happen.

 

3000 or 3 months for me. Lots of short trips tho.

 

Yea, I've seen what happens to the PCV system if you don't, that's a dead giveaway, it gets nasty.

 

I only put about 2,000 miles a year on my Mach I (if that) I change it every spring and it sits in a storage unit half the year. I change it right after I get it out. I decided to increase to 5000 miles in my trucks or 6 months..

 

i change mine every 2500 miles because i take a LOT of short trips, my work isnt but 8 minutes away

 

My work is in the basement currently, yea, -short trips! Easy on the miles

 

It is actually better to change it before you store it for the winter. Any acids that may have formed in your driving will be removed instead of sitting all winter eating away at things. Today's oils are far more stable than they used to be but I wouldn't take chances.

 

So you only drive 3000 a year, therefore in 16 months you only travel 4000 miles. That means if you do it based on the mileage you are leaving the oil in the truck for 16 months each time. I think that is to long if my calculations are correct to what you are doing.

My truck is a daily driver with trips ranging from 2 miles up to 10 miles on a daily basis. I put on 3000 miles every 3 months and have my oil changed every 3-4000 miles. I think you should at least have you oil changed every 6 months no matter how many miles you put on in those 6 months.

 

yep all i drive is about 10-15k a year!

 

I do about 30-50 miles per week, a one way trip to work is less than 15 minutes, I change the oil every four months.

 

Good information here. I'm sorta in the same boat. I've only driven my truck about 9K miles in the last 15 months, as it's not my daily driver. I have always changed my oil every 5K with Mobil1 Synthetic 5W-20 with a motor craft oil filter. I'm thinking of changing to 6 month changing intervals (or twice a year) using the same oil\filter brands I always have. Do you guys think this is acceptable? Thanks.

 

No matter how many miles you drive (or don't drive) or what oil you use, I would not leave it in there longer than 12 months.

 

Oh, I agree with that for sure. I would never run oil for longer then a year (although I'm stretching it kinda close at this point). I'm thinking twice a year won't be over kill based on my usage. Thanks.