What would you do if you were me?

[Ihatetochangeoil]

Take the cars out on the highway every once in a while to get them up
To temperature and burn off fuel in the oil, also to keep the batteries charged up. 10-15 miles on the highway once a month sounds like enough.

This is, IMHO, the best advice on here, including my former two cents worth. This is one thing I love about BITOG. Several informed opinions and here and there, a gold nugget; like, duh, why didn't I think of that?

 

[Oldmoparguy1]

Lately, a person is better off not asking open ended questions on bitog these days. No good will come of it. Just saying....

 

[Bud]

Originally Posted By: ejes
Originally Posted By: javacontour
I agree with the big items part.

Sick child or whatever, someone at work could likely run him home on the such an infrequent occurrence.

I think the point isn't to shame anyone into doing something, but rather to encourage them to consider other ways to address the issue.

If it's possible to walk or ride a bike, then it should be considered as it may improve his health and fitness.

I imagine in Nebraska, there is only 6-8 months at most you would want to do this. Winters are likely out for a bicycle and summer gets pretty hot. So even if it's just a spring/fall thing, it may be feasible.


Originally Posted By: ejes
Sometimes folks can't walk or bike to work if they have a lot of items to carry with them, or want to be prepared to leave from work quickly, say to pick up a sick child from school who can't wait for the bus at the end of the day. All sorts of reasons to drive a car short distances to work; not everyone's situation is the same as your own.

Biggest problem I see is your not getting up to operating temps on short hops. Creates a lot of condensation in the oil system and the water can't burn off and it means more cold starts as well. Frequent oc's probably, won't do much to help that from happening, but I'd probably go with every 6 months myself to flush any water in the oil out. I would go with a good detergent full syn for the condensation and the cold starts and good filter because your oil flow will have less opportunity to catch contaminants. If you have to stick with a Valvoline product, Maxlife full syn, if not, PP would be my choice. Filters, well, look around here and pick your poison. I'm not saying this is the best choice because everyone has their own opinion, but myself, I have a 2004 Ram 1500 with only 75k, so obviously I drive on short hops a lot just like you, and I use a Fram Ultra with PP.

I also have a 97 Buick LeSabre with 110k on it that is the car my kids drive back and forth to school every day, and have, for the last 3 years. They share it, and it is 2 miles each way, 4-5 miles a day. It was a cheap car, and a perfect safe "beater" for them to learn to drive and which I'm not out much money for the harsh treatment it gets by high school drivers in a high school parking lot. I do the same with it.


Oh for goodnes sake. I merely meant you can't know the OP's situation entirely. How about we just help the best we can with the question instead of trying to change his "lifestyle choices". I'm sure he has thought of other options already and ruled them out. He just wanted some solutions for oil with specific perameters. Nuff said.


+1

 

[javacontour]

The question asked in the topic was what would you do if you were me, which I answered.

I also addressed some of your points.


Without more information, we are all simply providing a range of possibilities.

Originally Posted By: ejes
Originally Posted By: javacontour
I agree with the big items part.

Sick child or whatever, someone at work could likely run him home on the such an infrequent occurrence.

I think the point isn't to shame anyone into doing something, but rather to encourage them to consider other ways to address the issue.

If it's possible to walk or ride a bike, then it should be considered as it may improve his health and fitness.

I imagine in Nebraska, there is only 6-8 months at most you would want to do this. Winters are likely out for a bicycle and summer gets pretty hot. So even if it's just a spring/fall thing, it may be feasible.


Originally Posted By: ejes
Sometimes folks can't walk or bike to work if they have a lot of items to carry with them, or want to be prepared to leave from work quickly, say to pick up a sick child from school who can't wait for the bus at the end of the day. All sorts of reasons to drive a car short distances to work; not everyone's situation is the same as your own.

Biggest problem I see is your not getting up to operating temps on short hops. Creates a lot of condensation in the oil system and the water can't burn off and it means more cold starts as well. Frequent oc's probably, won't do much to help that from happening, but I'd probably go with every 6 months myself to flush any water in the oil out. I would go with a good detergent full syn for the condensation and the cold starts and good filter because your oil flow will have less opportunity to catch contaminants. If you have to stick with a Valvoline product, Maxlife full syn, if not, PP would be my choice. Filters, well, look around here and pick your poison. I'm not saying this is the best choice because everyone has their own opinion, but myself, I have a 2004 Ram 1500 with only 75k, so obviously I drive on short hops a lot just like you, and I use a Fram Ultra with PP.

I also have a 97 Buick LeSabre with 110k on it that is the car my kids drive back and forth to school every day, and have, for the last 3 years. They share it, and it is 2 miles each way, 4-5 miles a day. It was a cheap car, and a perfect safe "beater" for them to learn to drive and which I'm not out much money for the harsh treatment it gets by high school drivers in a high school parking lot. I do the same with it.


Oh for goodnes sake. I merely meant you can't know the OP's situation entirely. How about we just help the best we can with the question instead of trying to change his "lifestyle choices". I'm sure he has thought of other options already and ruled them out. He just wanted some solutions for oil with specific perameters. Nuff said.

 

[jorton]

Changing to the Carquest filter sounds like a good move. The blue is heavy duty, vs the red "jobber" class filter.

 

[Doc8404]

Walmart

Motorcraft blend of MaxLife once per year.

Motorcraft filter if there is one for your vehicle.

 

[spk2000]

In this case I would go synthetic and likely a 0wxx. Star-up is when most of your wear will occur and the lighter oil will lubricate faster. Make sure the filter has a good anti siphon valve as well.

 

[Duffyjr]

First of all I want to thank every one for their replies, I did ask for opinions and I got them, I also knew from visiting here over the last couple years they would be all over the place with a question like this. But as one of you mentioned there would be few that would make sense to me.

Here is what I have decided to do and why. Today was time for the Buick to be serviced so I took in a Carquest blue because I got it for $3.50, I have been using NAPA Gold and the Valvoline bulk, by the way he said it was straight dino. I'm going to go with 6 month changes mainly due to condensation. I know its a problem and have known about it for a long time. I remember my grandpa coming to visit one time and I was so excited to show him my first car, a 64 Impala I'd had for about a year. The first thing he did was have me raise the hood and as I watched him remove the oil cap and look at the under side he said "[censored] boy when was the last time you changed your oil". I still remember how disgusting it looked, if I remember correctly it was brownish or off white. Ever since then (1973) I've been on the 3 month/3000 schedule the best I could.

I'm also going to start taking them out on the highway a couple times a month, I figure Sunday morning a hot cup of coffee and a drive to one of the many other small towns and back should do it

To the construction guy, I feel your pain I was a mason for 20+ years and have logged a lot of miles. Usually we never worked far enough away to stay in motels so we drove every day. In 93 I purchased a 91 Ford full size Bronco and I didn't want to ruin the interior, no matter how much your brushed yourself off the sand would destroy the interior, so I started buying beaters, I drove, a 79 baby pop colored Datsun and then a 89 Ford Tempo. I purchase the Bronco with 64,000 miles and 22 years later sold it with 128,000.

I'll see how my comfort zone goes, I think it may be like an itch you can't reach, sooner or later you grab the backscratcher!

About forgot, I had him give me the Valvoline filter so I could cut it open. Right away I noticed how light it was compared to the Carquest.

 

[pitzel]

GM 3800 V6's don't fail on account of oil unless the oil quantity is inadequate. Other reasons, sure, but not oil.

Don't worry about the short trip stuff. The rest of the car will be long dead before you damage the engine with short trips.

Concur with the 0W-30 recommendation. Maybe find a 0W-30 HDEO (ie: Mobil 222) if you can. Find a Canadian dealer if you're ever up there and stock up. ~$3/quart in USD$.

 

[TmanP]

Sorry I'm late to reply.

If the Buick isn't using any oil, I would use VWB or PYB and change once a year with a AC Delco or Wix filter.

If it is, I would use Maxlife or another high mileage oil and again, a WIX or ACDelco filter. I'd change once a year again.

I wouldn't worry about it any more than that. Good luck finding something, just know that your engine is not at all picky about its oil.

I would be cautious to use synthetic oil in your Buick, as it MAY cause consumption issues. Probably won't but just something to think about.

I would also take it out for a spin on the highway once in a while. Go buy gas in the next town over or something like that just to burn out your condensation. That is the main enemy in your situation

 

[BrocLuno]

Originally Posted By: CT8
Severe service oil changes twice a year. No need for syn.


+1

It ain't mileage that will harm you, it's water and chemistry changes ... I'd do Maxlife in the Buick. The Sierra, I'd be into the manual and see what it calls for...