The wife drives a 2007 Kia Sedona 3.8L mostly short trips around town . So far engine is doing ok with a history of Valvoline Conventional which starts looking a bit dirty at 1500 miles and changed out at 3K ~4K miles. Is it better to use something like PYB or MC Syn Blend with shorter drain intervals (3K ~ 4K miles) or switch to something like QSUD or PP and take it out to a longer drain interval (5K to 6K ) miles ? The concern (as expected) would be short trips = potential for sludge and contaminants due to engine not coming up to temperaturefor any length of time . * Also some where on this site the Kia 3.8L was described as attacking oil pretty vigoriously which I take to mean this engine may be pretty tough on oil ...Your comments ?
Best Oil for 3.8L Kia Grocery Getter ?
- Thread starter ChrisD46
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For mostly short trips around town I would go 1 weight thinner, if spec'd is xW30 then I would use xW20. PYB or MC are good choices for 5-6k/6mo OCI.
Just keep dong what your doing, but you could stretch to 4-5k on conventional if you put over 10K a year on it. The newer SN oils may do even better.
Short trips when engine not up to tempurature long enough to burn off moisture, condensation, fuel in oil, etc. which dramatically reduce the useful service life left in any particular lubricant.
If you do this rather frequently in the winter, you run the risk of developing "mayo" and that's also bad.
Also: many oil additives are heat-activated, meaning that frequent short trips that cannot bring your oil up to temp, your engine will not benefits from these additives no matter how frequent you try to do your oil change.
Contrary to what most avg joes belief: you won't get sludge from such frequent short trips and frequent OCI. You'll start to see oxidation-related base oil deterioriation if you over-run the oil past it's normally suggested OCI, or you have an engine design takes some serious beating to the motor oil, etc.
Seriously: if you want to extend your engine's longevity/service life, take it out on a highway run for an hour or so every weekend to burn away the trapped moisture and fuel inside the crankcase, carbon buildup in your oil control ring, moisture trapped inside your exhaust system (muffler, resonator, cat, etc.)....that way, your engine would last considerably longer.
Q.
If you do this rather frequently in the winter, you run the risk of developing "mayo" and that's also bad.
Also: many oil additives are heat-activated, meaning that frequent short trips that cannot bring your oil up to temp, your engine will not benefits from these additives no matter how frequent you try to do your oil change.
Contrary to what most avg joes belief: you won't get sludge from such frequent short trips and frequent OCI. You'll start to see oxidation-related base oil deterioriation if you over-run the oil past it's normally suggested OCI, or you have an engine design takes some serious beating to the motor oil, etc.
Seriously: if you want to extend your engine's longevity/service life, take it out on a highway run for an hour or so every weekend to burn away the trapped moisture and fuel inside the crankcase, carbon buildup in your oil control ring, moisture trapped inside your exhaust system (muffler, resonator, cat, etc.)....that way, your engine would last considerably longer.
Q.
Use whatever 5W-20 or 5W-30 you'd like, and change every 3K.
A sustained run every now and then, like every three weeks or so, would also be good for the engine and its oil.
I'm sure you must go somewhere every few weeks.
Just take the Sedona on those trips.
A sustained run every now and then, like every three weeks or so, would also be good for the engine and its oil.
I'm sure you must go somewhere every few weeks.
Just take the Sedona on those trips.
Originally Posted By: sangyup81
It shouldn't get too cold in GA so I wouldn't worry too much about the short trips if you are going to use a Group III or higher synthetic
Engine operated in such condition would not benefit from running syn (syn is good if your engine is hard on oil(base oil deteriorates quickly due to sustained high heat/oxidation).also short OCI (to rid of accumulated moisture which will lead to acid formation, accumulated fuel in oil due to frequent cold starts, etc.) will be extremely wasteful if to use full syn.
I'd use regular motor oil in this case if frequent OCI is to be practiced. I personally don't think this 3.8L engine is hard on oil.
Q.
It shouldn't get too cold in GA so I wouldn't worry too much about the short trips if you are going to use a Group III or higher synthetic
Engine operated in such condition would not benefit from running syn (syn is good if your engine is hard on oil(base oil deteriorates quickly due to sustained high heat/oxidation).also short OCI (to rid of accumulated moisture which will lead to acid formation, accumulated fuel in oil due to frequent cold starts, etc.) will be extremely wasteful if to use full syn.
I'd use regular motor oil in this case if frequent OCI is to be practiced. I personally don't think this 3.8L engine is hard on oil.
Q.
It sounds like not much of an advantage to use a full synthetic under the conditions my wife uses the Kia Sedona . Possibly the only thing I may notice with full synthetic would be a little cleaner engine (varnish). I am going to try MC Syn Blend 5W 20 or PYB with Interstate trips every couple of weeks to burn off moisture and then drain at 3K ~ 4K miles. Not sure what more I could do to address oil requirements within the frame work of how the vehicle is being used .
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