Yes you can’t always rely on having time to do an oil change when it needs one.
A Case For Not Going 10,000 Miles on an OCI
- Thread starter Shel_B
- Start date
What kind of oil did you use in that car?
I recently found that video on YouTube and watched with great interest. For me, the takeaway is that some engines are prone to ring coking issues more than others, so definitely be mindful of what engine you are running. And even if I can't find any documented issues with my engine model or family of engines, oil is cheap so stay on top of the oil services. Having said that, mine is a port injected engine in excellent health so there is no need for premature services either (as in a DI engine / soot / fuel dilution warrant shorter oil service intervals). In the end it's a balance between running the oil long enough to get good use of it, and also not running it so long as to flirt with sludge or ring coking issues. Unfortunately this means changing the oil before its life is 100% expended but that's just the way it goes. Margin of safety is a good thing. The engine is going to outlive the chassis anyway so I don't sweat it too much 
I have no idea. Whatever Porsche was using at that time.
- Joined
- Dec 28, 2014
- Messages
- 2,875
You have a Lexus?
Do we have clear evidence that changing oil much more frequently than otherwise needed necessarily avoids ring coking in susceptible engines? That assumption keeps popping up, but I haven't seen much evidence to support it.
The one thing not discussed about long extended drains is that you don't get to check over the vehicle as often to catch trouble spots before they get worse. I fully understand today's oils go the distance but I still like to look over my vehicles at OCI time and stay on top of things. I run Mobil 1 synthetics and go about 6-7k miles. That, to me, is a good happy medium - I've extended a safe amount but not so far that I may miss catching something. The other issue with far extended drains is people don't check their oil at all between changes so by the time they get an oil change they are severely low on oil. Every GM 3.6 that comes to me for service is a quart or more low. I think for most people a 5k mile change makes sense because oil is cheaper than a motor. Now with BITOG folks, we can run 10k or more miles because we check the oil etc but by and large the population is DUMB and should not probably extend too far. So it's not that the oil can and will protect - its more that the average person will run the oil low and miss other opportunities to catch other issues before getting to far along.
YMMV
YMMV
- Joined
- Dec 28, 2014
- Messages
- 2,875
Bawahaha! I love it! A Toyota POS...Toyota builds utter garbage.
Now this^^^ is fantastic stuff. Talk about taking the extended oil change interval up to the next level - saying GM is better than a Toyota and Honda. We now have reached Santa Land...a place where elves play happily with their hammers, reindeer fly magically through the night sky, and a 350 pound man in red leggings slips easily down a chimney, All we need is the Easter bunny, where’s the darn Easter rabbit!!?? Get him over here! Get in the house, drop off a basket of peanut butter cups and screw. When’s ******* saint patty’s day? I need my drinking buddy to buy a round with his pot of gold.
Honestly, thank you for that. I’ve been constipated lately and that cleared me right out.
Last edited:
- Joined
- Dec 28, 2014
- Messages
- 2,875
Clear evidence? I mean, I don’t think weve had clear evidence on almost anything on the planet. Anything can and will be debated. It’s why right now we have the good old...you do you I’ll do me, events happening.
I can say that I’ve personally run into ring coking, and I do believe it was from extended drains, BUT, I could be wrong. It could have just been from direct injection/poor designed engine/whatever. I also think low tension rings are not helping the matter. I also think the manufacturer themselves aren’t helping things either, as they seem only concerned with the warranty period and could care less about anything longterm any longer. Can’t say I blame them there.
This guy has some pretty darn long build/repair threads. He’s an engineer of some sort. He started experiencing oil consumption at some point in this thread and improved it with shorter intervals, treatments, and higher quality oil. You have to really dig into the thread to find it. But he does document very well and he’s always talking about facts and data, not opinion.
Sugar Bears 2015 GMC Terrain SLE-2 2.4 AWD
Wife bought a 2015 GMC Terrain SLE-2 AWD 2.4L. Before we sealed the deal I had Jason, my wrench, put his four man teams talents to work turning that thing inside out looking for flaws and found none. After two hours what we did find was a rock solid design, build and a fairly nice fit and finish....
www.gm-trucks.com
- Joined
- Dec 30, 2006
- Messages
- 29,558
Can’t extended drains (that are too long) cause varnish build up which in turn can cause sticky rings?
Care Care Nut in his video channel is saying 10K on these Toyota 4 cyl engines is doing that. I don't recall if the video in the first post made that point, but he sure has said that in other videos. Some of the cars he is seeing are recent ones, using 0w16 for 10K OCIs.
That's hilarious! Quick, everybody dump their "junk" Toyotas & buy some great Hyundais, Kias, GM, Ford, & Chrysler/Daimler/Cerberus/FCA/Stellantis QUALITY!!
I drive a Prius 1.8L and what I have seen with other Prius drivers that go with the 10K miles changes is what this man is presenting in this video. Not always but most of the owners with oil burning issue have gone to 10K OCI's. Those of us that stayed at 5K are seeing less oil burning / oil loss issues. I have 100,500 miles on my 2010 and the car still uses zero oil between changes. Most of the oil burning issues I'm seeing, seem to appear near the 100K mile mark. BTW I use Toyota's 0W20 in my Prius.
To add to that, compensating for the manufacturers screw ups like engines that sludge or start using oil even with a very low OCI for one reason or another, there are many examples going all the way back to the Fiero and even before. Some of the more common reasons are, small sump capacity for the engine, cat to close to the oil pan (add small sump capacity to that for a real problem child), poorly designed PCV systems, VCM (some), poor design of internals like rings.
Toyota had a solution for the 3.0 ltr sludge engines, 3K OCI with synthetic oil. Personally I stay with 3-7K on synthetic oil, on the turbo engines unless it has a big sump and the cat is well away from the engine sump 3K regardless.
There are ways to tailor the OCI for your engine and how you use it and it certainly isn't a UOA but it can be time consuming and a PITA.
Modern engine oils don't have to be changed at 3k miles. Maybe 5k if you've got fuel dilution or turbocharged. I go with the more is not always better way of thinking. You paid for good oil, let it do it's job.
gathermewool
Site Donor 2023
Maintaining a full sump is way more important to the average driver than strictly adhering to a short OCI.
Great debate. Do what makes economic sense. No more no less. Capitalism, I love it.
Don't know what kind of oil you're using but mine looks fine at 10k miles in a 1nz-fe.
Similar threads
