OK, I know you guys are gonna shoot me, but I'm sitting at home this week and killing some time! I guess this is more of a poll than anything but we can take it where ever it goes. Oil change...regardless of brand and your preferred OCI, do you change strictly according to mileage and irregardless of time, or vice versa?? Any logic to your decision? I searched, couldn't find this one done before

I have found myself fully contradicting, myself on this one. As a general rule, I'm a mileage only guy with no regard to time. But here the past few years, I seem to only put 10-12K a year on my truck and change the oil at that point. Which would lead you to think I'm complying with the time requirement for the oil, but I'm not...I just can't stand going much longer without working on my truck But I guess it all works out in the end!




Oh, on a side note...for all you guys that have said (and you know who you are) you'd use Amsoil if it weren't for the price!! New product...5W20 @ $4.20 a qt for PC! Gp III (III+) synthetic. Sorry to side track on the first post.

http://www.amsoil.com/lander/synthet...pment-oil.aspx

 

mileage only on all my cars in the family, we drive too much to run by time.

If you dont drive the car very much id recommend once a year change to keep it fresh

 

Every 5,000 miles. You go double that?

And this is just a pet peeve of mine, irregardless isn't a word, it's just "regardless". Kinda like people who say "fustrated" instead of frustrated.

- NCSU

 

I don't put many miles on my truck at all so mileage is never an issue. I change mine every 3 to 4 months just to keep it fresh. I know some guys will say the oil is good for longer periods but that's just how I've always done it.

 

Neither. As you may know, I use Mobil 1 EP. I get an oil change with 6 quarts. This puts the oil about halfway up the crosshatches on the stick. When it gets down to ADD I add a quart. When it gets down to ADD again, I get it changed.

This just so happens to be in the 10k mile range. This can be 6 months, it can be a year.

 

Every 5,000 miles for oil and filter, using standard dino oil.

I pick 5,000 because it is easy to remember without putting a sticker on my window.

It also seems like it is a nice compromise between protecting my motor and my pocketbook.

10,000 just seems too long and 3,000 just seems like draining perfectly good oil.

 

If 3,000 is draining perfectly good oil then you'll say I'm an idiot for doing it every 2000

I put about 2,000 miles on a month and then I change it. I know I can go longer but I don't prefer to.

When I first got my 96 it had a small leak in the oil pan and roughly every 2,000 miles it was on the add line so that's when I'd change it. Never did like just topping it off. So after I got the new oil pan on I stuck to the 2000 mark. It only costs $28 for Motorcraft 5-20 and a Motorcraft FL-820 so it's not that expensive plus I know my oil's always clean.

 

Every 2k with dino oil, which is about three times a year. Lots of boost and blow by makes it a necessity.

 

3k miles.

 

spring and fall..

 

You'll like this answer, Galaxy. I have a one of seven Lincoln Mark 7 that has a factory modded engine. Ford has tried to buy it back a time or two but it's still in the garage. The car has one owner miles at 34,000, and it's an 89 model. The car has never seen rain. Unfortunately, I don't get to drive it much. The current oil that is in it was put in there in 2004 and is Chevron Supreme 5w-30. When I do start and run the car, it is a rule that it runs at least 20 minutes at temp which unloads any water to prevent sludge. The engine inside is pretty much spotless. This last July I drained the oil and took a mid stream sample to see just how bad things were going to be before I started beating my head on the concrete. The wear metals report came back single digit with lead being the highest wear metal from the bearings at cold start up. The oil went back in the engine and I'll check it again in a few years.

If you have a collector car and don't use it much- less than 1000 miles a year, you need to be using a quality dino oil, not a synthetic. One of the bad things about synthetics is that they have a tendency to run off of parts. Some formulators will use a tackifier to keep it on the parts but not all. A normal based dino oil leaves a film on the parts that protects the parts from corrosion and provided limited lubrication until oil pressure builds. So believe me when I tell you that mileage is the critical factor, not time.

 

For the last two years, I've only put 3-4K a year on my truck. I've been changing the oil every year, for no other reason than it somehow seems wrong to leave it in there any longer...

 

Oil doesn't mark the passage of time very rapidly just sitting and the anti-oxident package of a good oil is plenty strong to keep it good for at least a couple of years (normal shelf life in a sealed container is about 5 years but I have seen 20 year old oil in sealed containers that was tested and fine to use). I've seen an oil analysis on oil that sat 7 years in an engine and there was no reason not to use it.

In a low miles situation it matters how the engine is run when it's run. If it's constantly short hopped and never fully warmed up on a regular basis, then fuel dilution and moisture buildup (and the resultant acid formation) can use the the oil's additives to deplete fairly quickly and a six month interval is about right to be safe.

Some of my cars,trucks and equipment are on mileage or hours-only intervals, which works out to 18 months, two and three years. I have tested those intervals with oil analysis and the oil holds up well. The oils involved run the gamut of Castrol GTX, Royal Purple and Rotella-T 10W30 and 15W40.

My '05 F-150 5.4L is on an 8500 mile schedule... about 18 months-plus... that may stretch out to 10K on Royal Purple 5W20, but I'm getting at bypass filtration system to try out and will do PC analysis to test it.

When I test the oil, I pretty much just glance over the wear metals... they aren't that good an indicator of anything unless you are sampling a lot more than I do. I'd look for any major high numbers but always remember that we're talking about PARTS PER MILLION, so a jump from 10 to 20 PPM is not a sphincter-clamping event. I do pay the extra bucks for the TBN (Total Base Number) test, which is an indicator of the additives remaining in the oil. TAN (Total Acid Number) is another good test but since TBN and TAN are inverse, you can figure that a low TBN means a high TAN and it's time to change the oil.

Adequately filtered oil is good 'till it's not and changing it too often is no great benefit... except to the stores where you buy oil and filters. If your truck meets the operational standards set by Ford for the oil change interval (OCI), then that's a failsafe benchmark for an interval. But from what I've seen, most oil can safely go longer. Unfortunately, you don't know unless you sample and analyze the oil.

 

I've put less that on this year, not sure how many miles I put on it, no actual road miles. I haven't changed the oil. I run for about an hour every 2 or 3 mouths, up on jack stands, in gear on cruise to keep everything lubed inside. I just changed the fuel and add stabilizer. The fuel that in it(about 1/2 tank) was getting old, but seemed to be fine with addition of stabilizer before beginning this LONG project lol. Drive train has totally been updated, (truck has 272,000 miles). Working on the interior and replacing body panels and all other parts that have rust on them.

I inquired about how to keep the trucks engine and drive-train in shape while under the knife and have been following regimen previously stated. I run the OEM recommended oils (except for the transmission),- Syn/blend 5/20, change intervals @ 1 year sounds good to me. Winter months is a little harder on the oil in my area and case,- most likely. I figure spring would be a good time to swap it out.

I'm not sure about the the coolant at this point. It look great/tests well, but the last flush was in 08 and it has about 1 year of being a dd since that time.
That may be something to hit this spring as well.

 

I go 3-5k on mine.