going through my owner's manual, normal OCI is 5,000 miles. under "special conditions" it lists dusty conditions such as unpaved roads as requiring a 3,000 mile OCI.
It says in there that these special conditions apply only to vehicles that frequently operate under the specified condition (there are several).
I live on unpaved roads and drive on gravel anywhere between 3 and 15 miles every day, so i would qualify that as "frequently"
so what i'm wondering is can i tell from a UOA if i should be changing the oil more frequently than the 5k listed under the normal schedule? will silicone be my smoking gun in this case?
I just mailed off a sample today on a 5k OCI, but it was a TON of long interstate trips, so i'm not sure how representative it will actually be as that 5k came in just over a month's worth of time which is about 1/2 of normal.
the rest of the story:
I just put in 7qts of PP 5w30 (silver bottle) and a Bosch Distance+ filter hoping to get through winter without changing oil in the bitter cold. I'd like to get at least 7500 out of the PP to get me into the warmer months, but i'm beginning to think that more than 5k might not be a good idea due to the gravel roads i drive.
thoughts?
2006 expedition 5.4 3v 125k miles.
It says in there that these special conditions apply only to vehicles that frequently operate under the specified condition (there are several).
I live on unpaved roads and drive on gravel anywhere between 3 and 15 miles every day, so i would qualify that as "frequently"
so what i'm wondering is can i tell from a UOA if i should be changing the oil more frequently than the 5k listed under the normal schedule? will silicone be my smoking gun in this case?
I just mailed off a sample today on a 5k OCI, but it was a TON of long interstate trips, so i'm not sure how representative it will actually be as that 5k came in just over a month's worth of time which is about 1/2 of normal.
the rest of the story:
I just put in 7qts of PP 5w30 (silver bottle) and a Bosch Distance+ filter hoping to get through winter without changing oil in the bitter cold. I'd like to get at least 7500 out of the PP to get me into the warmer months, but i'm beginning to think that more than 5k might not be a good idea due to the gravel roads i drive.
thoughts?
2006 expedition 5.4 3v 125k miles.