I like to change my oil every 3k miles. Right now I'm using regular oil and I put very little miles on my vehicle. About 4k a year. Do I have to change it before I get to 3k based on how long it's been? Right now it's been 9 months since my last oil change but I'm still under 3k, should I be doing it every 6 months regardless?
Length of time between oil changes
- Thread starter gtp405
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I'm not the best guy to ask because I change my oil every 4 months no matter what the mileage is.
I would say since you are still under 3k and its been 9 months, 'by the time you reach 3k it should be around 1 year so that would be a somewhat ideal time to do it' barring a UOA that tells you there is acid buildup, fuel dilution from too many short trips etc and making you do it earlier like if you reach 3k before 1 year, do it then kinda thing.
If you heed Merk's advice above then you could err on the side of conservative and do it at 3k if you think you will reach it way before the 12 months are up. I mean, you have to to it by 12 months anyway so I don't think this is too complicated.
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You could probably do Amsoil once a year and be fine. I'll let Pablo or Gary recommend to you which one.
I see you are in llinois,so i would go ahead and change now for the winter months and then again in march for summer.
For what it's worth to this discussion, I do annual changes on almost all my vehicles and equipment, including a Honda Accord V6 (about 6K miles on a mix of Castrol 4 GTX + 1 Syntec), a Ford diesel pickup (again 5-6K miles per annum on 15W40 Rotella-T, just switched to 10W30), and two farm tractors. UOAs (some of them posted on BITOG) confirm no bad results. That said, I agree with the comment above about driving cycles, fuel dilution and such. I live in a rural area, so my vehicles have an almost ideal cycle and do almost no start and stop driving. They get started and drive at least 6 miles (the nearest tiny town) at 50-60 mph before being shut down, and usually more like 20 miles (the nearest larger town). The tractors are usually run for hours at a stretch. With lots of stop and go on my stuff, I'd run six months and UOA.
thanks for the replies guys
So I'm releived to here that I'm not up a creek. I had a thought in my mind that non-synthetc oil had to be changed every six months, I didn't know it could go for up to a year. I just bought some mobil-1 synthetic oil today and am going to do the change when I'm done with my work today. I even got the mobil-1 filter, whether it was worth the extra cost I'm not sure.
Thanks for the advice!
Another quick question, if I change the oil for the spring I should use 10w30 and for the winter use 5w30. If I do one oil change a year should I use 5w30?
So I'm releived to here that I'm not up a creek. I had a thought in my mind that non-synthetc oil had to be changed every six months, I didn't know it could go for up to a year. I just bought some mobil-1 synthetic oil today and am going to do the change when I'm done with my work today. I even got the mobil-1 filter, whether it was worth the extra cost I'm not sure.
Thanks for the advice!
Another quick question, if I change the oil for the spring I should use 10w30 and for the winter use 5w30. If I do one oil change a year should I use 5w30?
Use Mobil 1 5w30 year round and change every 6 months....
Patman
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Are you suggesting that the original poster do this, or merely telling us that's what you do?
If you're suggesting the OP do this, then that's a huge waste of money, as he told us he only goes 4k a year, so he'd be changing his M1 every 2000 miles.
If he's going to run synthetic, and only drive 4k a year, he's probably safe to go 2 years between changes. That's what I do with my mom's car (she only drives 4k per year), and the oil analysis proves it's safe.
Im sure the oil will be fine...from time to time just start her up and change it every year.
I'm doing a 1 year/5k mile oil change with 5w30 conventional. Just use the latest SM/GF-4 spec'd oil. Changing once a year in your situation should be plenty good. Just make sure oil stays topped up if the engine uses any oil.
The 5w30's 10-12 years ago (Group I days) were considered a little on the weak side compared to 10w30's so some people didn't like to run them during the summer months. Modern conventional 5w30's (Group II/II+ based) are very good oils these days, run them year round -- no need to change out to a 10w30 in the summer.
The 5w30's 10-12 years ago (Group I days) were considered a little on the weak side compared to 10w30's so some people didn't like to run them during the summer months. Modern conventional 5w30's (Group II/II+ based) are very good oils these days, run them year round -- no need to change out to a 10w30 in the summer.
I agree with the others who said that you will be fine with a conventional for 1 year. I wouldn't worry about it. I run 5k mile OCI's. Sometimes thats 4 months, others it's a year OCI. Always with conventional. I don't drive enough miles, or have cold enough weather to justify synthetic in my transportation device.
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