Best oil for a one year oci short tripper

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I am looking for suggestions. I want to do a one year oci on my mom's dodge caliber using a off the shelf oil. My options are 5w-20. Mobile 1 ep, Penn ultra, castrol edge, royal purple sn, or regular Mobil 1. The vehicle only sees 5-6000 miles per year with very little highway mileage so I think it needs a pretty stout oil. I thought amsoil would be overkill but now with all the short trips in mind it might fit the bill.
 
Considering the cost you'll spend on oil every year...buying the best isn't a huge leap, really. Amsoil is good but yeah, you can't go wrong with PU either. Mobil 1 EP is great too.
 
Dare I recommend M1 AFE 0w20 ?? Better for a short tripper, oil gets upto temp faster.

If you still want to use 5w20, then I recommend PP 5w20. One of the lightest 5w20 in the market.
 
i use quaker state syn 5w20 its a good oil and its cheap i do once a year oci's on moms grand marquis... If the price goes up on qs syn i will change to something else
 
Originally Posted By: surfstar
Any data that shows just how much faster (in mins or miles) that a Xw20 gets "up to temp" vs an Xw30?

I don't know of any.......
 
I'm doing that once a year thing now with my Hyundai. It sees about 200 miles a week. I use the Max Life SynPower. Turns dark fast but my Hyundai might have been abused in the past before I got it.

Pennzoil Platinum is also another good choice.
 
I don't think that Maxlife full syn is a good choice for a year and 10K.
While I like Valvoline oils, they don't seem suited to long drains based upon their TBN retention that you can review in the UOA forum.
If you run this oil a year and 10K, I think we'd all like to see a UOA.
 
Originally Posted By: fdcg27
I don't think that Maxlife full syn is a good choice for a year and 10K.
While I like Valvoline oils, they don't seem suited to long drains based upon their TBN retention that you can review in the UOA forum.
If you run this oil a year and 10K, I think we'd all like to see a UOA.


Well, once a year, not a whole year. I'm not brave enough to take it out to 10k. This time around I put it in around the beginning of August and I will change it in May or June. Not 'technically' a year but longer distance than an average 'OCI'.
 
The best oil for this use would be a FAR one changed every six months.
Short trips are brutal on the oil, especially during the winter, if you live in an area that sees it.
Lots of water and lots of fuel.
I don't think that a one year OCI is reasonable for a car that sees almost entirely short trip use, and there is always some FAR oil available to use in your mother's car.
 
Are you going to have a UOA done?
Wait for the next Amazon dirt-cheap Wix UOA kit offer, and try a couple on your rides.
There is no other way of knowing how an oil does in your cars as you use them.
 
I decided to go with Mobil 1 ep. I am going to change the filter at 6 months and do a uoa after 8 to see if a year is reasonable.
 
For no more oil than its going to take, I would just change it every 6 months and be done with it. Better peace of mind.
Oil and filter doesn't cost that much anyway.
Just me...
oldhp
 
I'd use conventional and change it every 3000-5000 miles. This fits within the "severe duty" OCI rules recommended by many vendors. If you want to go >5000 miles, I'd try a synthetic for the peace of mind.

If the car sees a lot of short trips, you may want oil that's as thin as it get when engine is not fully warm. Toyota's 0W20 synthetic oil has gotten very good reputation in this regard. It's a very stout oil, with good UOAs, but it may not be the cheapest.
 
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