WWYD: Change the oil or leave it?

[The_Nuke]

Engine: 5.7L Hemi (w/ MDS) and > 115K miles on it

Oil & filter: Pennzoil Platinum High Mileage 5w-20 w/ std. Mopar oil filter which both have right at 3K miles of daily work commutes in DFW traffic accrued.

I will be driving that engine to Atlanta tomorrow and commuting in Atlanta traffic for 4 days before driving it back to Dallas. So I can expect to have at least 5K miles on the oil in it now if I leave it in there for the trip.However, I have been contemplating changing the oil before I leave.

What would you do?

 

[Shannow]

Leave it.

 

[RichR]

Leave it in and change it
when you get back to Dallas!

 

[dishdude]

Leave it, not even a question about that.

 

[JLTD]

5K? ...and you've been here 5 years?

 

[SubieRubyRoo]

Leave it. That much highway driving in a short period won't even be a challenge.

 

[JC1]

Originally Posted By: RichR
Leave it in and change it
when you get back to Dallas!


+1

 

[bbhero]

Originally Posted By: dishdude
Leave it, not even a question about that.



Spot on.

Watch that speed on interstate 20 east. Barney may well be waiting for you.

 

[Onug]

Leave it..that oil is still young. And I don’t know anything about Mopar filters, but I can’t imagine they’re not good for at least 5,000 miles. I haven’t seen anything that can’t last 5,000 miles these days.

 

[The Critic]

How many months has it been?

 

[oldhp]

Originally Posted By: RichR
Leave it in and change it
when you get back to Dallas!


+2

 

[FCD]

Leave it, change when you get back.

 

[SR5]

5K miles on a name brand full synthetic, you will be fine and you could probably go a lot further if you had to.

 

[demarpaint]

Change it when you get back. Just be sure to check the level from time to time, before the trip and along the way.

 

[The_Nuke]

Originally Posted By: The Critic
How many months has it been?


1 month

 

[The_Nuke]

Originally Posted By: bbhero
Originally Posted By: dishdude
Leave it, not even a question about that.



Spot on.

Watch that speed on interstate 20 east. Barney may well be waiting for you.


Having never made this trip by car, I don’t have any idea where the potential trouble zones for LEO harassment are, so I pretty much planned on abiding the speed limit the whole way...all...14...hours...ugh

 

[The_Nuke]

Originally Posted By: JLTD
5K? ...and you've been here 5 years?


Just because there was a seemingly obvious answer to the question posed in my initial post doesn’t mean there aren’t several members here that are genuinely struggling with a similar scenario at any given time. Yet, I suspect that a good portion of people who want advice on such issues decide not to ask for it because they worry they will be made to look foolish or somehow lacking in the requisite knowledge for forum membership merely by asking the question in the first place.

There was never much doubt in my mind which way I would end up going, as might be evidenced by the fact that I didn’t check responses to this thread until after already on the road. But I’ve been asked enough questions along the same lines as this by friends, coworkers, and friends of coworkers to know that the answer to this question and many like it are far from already decided in the minds of a lot of people out there....and on here as well.

———————————————g

TL;DR - Rhetorical questions make poor answers to guenuine inquiries.

 

[Kira]

Add another to the "change when you return" camp.

As dermarpaint suggested: Check level before AND DURING the trip. I feel this is a "new thing" which has to be done by responsible vehicle owners.

At speed some valve or regulating diaphragm in an oil box can stick and you can get high speed oil consumption. Such consumption might not be rapid but it's good to know.

Every once in a while my car sucks down a cup of oil during a frequently made 700 mile run.

Just good to know. Have a nice return trip.

 

[PimTac]

“.....At speed some valve or regulating diaphragm in an oil box can stick and you can get high speed oil consumption. Such consumption might not be rapid but it's good to know.....”



Is this the Veeblefetzer valve you are speaking of?

 

[dbias]

I'd leave it in and change once you're back home. Heck the long highway run will probably correct any fuel dilution the stop and go may have caused.