Drain intervals: Short or long?

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There is no question that recommended drain intervals are increasing for vehicles in general.
The main benefit for me is the convenience of not having to get under the car as often. Cost isn't really an issue since I can do a change using M1 AFE or EP 0W-20 and an Ultra or M1 filter for around fifteen clams by taking advantage of store deals and MIRs. Cost would be more of a factor if I were paying $80.00 a pop for a synthetic oil change.
What do you folks think are the pros and cons of longish drain intervals?
We have the shinning example of tig, who has done 10K drains using M1 for decades and who recently posted top end pictures of his wonderfully clean Ford four cylinder after more than 200K.
OTOH, we have some experienced members who would recommend more frequent drains.
Does anyone see any actual benefit in doing shortish, like maybe 5-6K OCIs?
I'd love to hear from guys like sonofjoe on this question.
 
Company van (Transit 3.7 in my sig) has been getting 5K changes with VWB & Valvoline filter, oil is getting dark when changed-it gets worked pretty hard on cheap oil & filter, so I don't want to push my luck. OTOH, wife's xB gets (roughly) 1 year/10K changes on M1 EP, 2 changes per XG3600 Ultra, it doesn't work as hard as the Transit. IMHO, it's all about how good the oil & filter is-I wouldn't run 10K on an Ecore or combo valve filter with cheap dino, even if it was "allegedly" good enough.
 
To many variables to address your specific situation so I'll tell you mine.

I live in a cooler climate and I like to change my own oil but I do not have a garage, so it must be done outside.
For the last 30 years I change the oil in late fall [November] and early spring [April] This is approximately a 5 month / 7 month split. This puts the more frequent oil change in the winter months where the oil suffers from more cold starts. I use any oil that meets spec and mileage is usually about 8,800 during the summer OCI and 6,200 in the winter. Only draw back I find is that my engine is not as clean, internally, as some I have seen here.
 
On my daily driver, I do 5k oci with syn blend which is about every 4 months. I go 7500 miles if using syn. My escalade gets approx 5k miles per year so I do that once a year with syn or syn blend. The Camry get 5k oci w syn blend approx twice a year. My oil stash consists of mostly syn blends, minimal full syn and no dino oils. I don't mind doing maint on vehicles so it's cool. But if u don't like getting under her, go full syn oil w 10k oci.
 
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To me, there is no need to extend the oil change interval. I am not against it, but oil is cheap and I like to get under the car, it's a good opportunity to check underneath.

My drain intervals are (for Honda, or any Japanese brand except Subaru)

3-4K OCI with Conventional
4-6K OCI with Blend
6-8K OCI with Synthetic (or follow MM for Honda)

Once I used PYB 10w30 for 5.5k miles on my Civic SI. After the oil change, I immediately felt the difference, the car felt way more responsive. Lesson learned the hard way. No matter how good your UOA, if you feel a difference with just changing the oil (better throttle response, easier revving, less noise), you need to shorten the OCI.
 
Link to Tig's pictures please.

10K mile OCI isn't really an extended OCI IMO. Dodge calls for that in my van with dino.

I think it's a preference thing. Long with syn and quality filter, or short with cheapest dino and budget filter. Either will get you past 200K miles.
 
Well, then there is this: https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/4445186/Amsoil_SS_5w-20,_62,000_miles,#Post4445186 That is 62,000 miles on same oil with by-pass and full flow filtering ...

I don't think any BITOGR's are actually using up their oil ... Most change intervals seem to be based on belief or feel-good, and not data. I'll freely admit that I'm in that court.

But I have moved to once a year changes because anything shorter seems silly now, unless you are in truly "severe service" environment
smile.gif
 
I change both the Kids cars on 5K intervals as it is mostly short trip and with my son at school in MN it would be considered severe service Daughter in Iowa and sees hiway use on week ends ,,,,my wifes car also as she is a local teacher and 3 miles to school one way so her car doesn't hit the highway until the week ends

I run 5 k on my 04 sonata just because it has 278k on it but my commute is 25 miles all hiway

I try to run them all on Valvoline full syn 5 w 50 to keep my stash consistent but with the walmart thing cleaned up there are no more 3 5qt jug deals , I am a shopper ,,, just grabbed some citgo syn for 3.99 a qt with a 2.oo per qt rebate ,,,oil is cheap insurance and all of my drain oil goes to a recycling center so I can minimize the environmental impact
 
After doing a few UOA on both my Hyundai Sonatas now all my oil changes are done at around 15 000 miles.

That is with Amsoil, Castrol gold bottle or Pennz Ultra full synthenic oil.
 
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I did 10k OCI's on my turbo diesel, and started going longer when others said UOA's indicated it was ok to do so. Towards the end I started to pull back to 10k 'cuz "it was getting older". Was fine after 300k though.

My 2011 Camry has gotten 10k OCI's since day one, although I think it's starting to burn a little. No need to add over 10k so I don't care a whit. But I think while 0W20 is the bee's knees for winter I might chop it to 5k in winter service as the wife tends to do shorter trips.

My 2010 Tundra will stay at 10k as I don't use it "hard" and with an 8 quart sump and "good" synthetic I just don't see a need to go short. I believe it's got an oil cooler someplace so the oil should be at the "proper" temperature.

My '99 Camry was "born" with 5k OCI's, and after seeing how much Maxlife darkens after 5k I'm just going to leave it at 5k with a cheap synthetic.

I go by miles, as I'm usually impacted by the weather. Unless if it's raining, I usually can change pretty quickly. Easy to go by the odometer. Plus at 25k/year on the 2011, 25k/year on the 1999 and... 5k/year on the 2010? I'm not sure I can go by spring/fall schedules. I do tire rotations every 5k also, so it's just one more thing to do on the 5's or 10's.

I know none of my vehicles are hard on oil, and they don't see city driving, but I've settled into this routine.
 
I think it depends on the engine and the usual drive or use of the vehicle. My Camry is very easy on the oil and has had 4 10K oci's in its years with me. That said, I usually stick to between 5-6k between oci's. The oil would likely hold up longer but as said in a post above, it gives me peace of mind and I like to tinker. With the add packs these days motor oil is completely different than it was even 15yrs ago. Blackstone has even shown some of my UOA's on a 4.0 wrangler at 4800 (conventional PYB) being capable of going much longer. I don't change on a whim but I do agree that oil is cheaper than repairs.
 
Originally Posted By: webfors
Link to Tig's pictures please.

10K mile OCI isn't really an extended OCI IMO. Dodge calls for that in my van with dino.

I think it's a preference thing. Long with syn and quality filter, or short with cheapest dino and budget filter. Either will get you past 200K miles.


I've been doing 10K OCIs for 39 years with M1 oils.
 
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With higher quality oils and older engines, (port injection) I think you can go many miles such as many here have.

But who knows what DI and DI-T engines will end up looking like after 200K of 10K mile OCIs?

I don't think TIG's 07 fusion is DI is it?
 
Originally Posted By: tig1
Originally Posted By: webfors
Link to Tig's pictures please.

10K mile OCI isn't really an extended OCI IMO. Dodge calls for that in my van with dino.

I think it's a preference thing. Long with syn and quality filter, or short with cheapest dino and budget filter. Either will get you past 200K miles.


I've been doing 10K OCIs for 39 years with M1 oils.





For some reason I can't bring pics from Photobucket to BITOG.
 
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When i was commuting 60+ hwy miles a day the OCI was going to 12k+ miles. I usually changed between 7.5K-10K miles. Now my commute has shorted up with 50% stop & go in town traffic, and the OCI looks to be aiming in the range of 9-10K miles. I am conservative on a car I want for the long haul, and never go over 10k miles, or drop below 20-25% OL indication.
 
I have an 8 qrt sump for an engine that in the past would have had a 5 qrt sump. So in my case a 10K OCI has been designed especially for the car.
 
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