6 month oil change

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tiger862

tiger862

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As the title states do you do 6 month oil changes? I don't put alot of miles but mine are mostly low rpm around town with some hwy squeezed in. Last year was 7000 miles which is unusual but only be about 2900 miles at next OCI in October. I will be going back to Synthetic Blend (Valvoline Daily Protection) and sticking with this as don't see full synthetic is any better.
 
I do 6 month oil changes in my daily driver because 95% of the roughly 3500 miles that it gets in those 6 months are very short trips. Like 1 to 4 miles. Maybe once a year a long 400 mile trip, and maybe 4 times a year a 150 mile trip. I use full synthetic oil, mostly QSUD, and a Fram ultra filter, which I change once a year. Possibly it is overkill, but what the heck.
 
On one hand you have the oil manufacturer claim mileage that does not consider individual manufactured vehicle. (Or the weight of the oil either)

On the other hand the car manufacturer has factored in the oil weight, engine blow by and every other conceivable factor. Some say that the car manufacturer is just shorting the time so that the dealer makes money on service. I do not believe this, if that is true someone would make a selling point out of longer oil changes.

The one to trust is the Owner's Manual. My new Miata has 2 schedules, severe and flexible. Severe is 6 months or 5000 miles, flexible is 1 year or 7500 miles. Since I do not drive a lot of long freeway driving, short trips are severe on oil, so I choose the severe and most likely will not make 5000 miles at 6 months. So 6 months it is...

The manual is smart. It knows a short trip driver is hard on oil, so the 6 month time is required.
 
I always go for high TBN oils so i go by mileage not time.

I change the oil at 3k on my Escort which comes out to twice a year ( i'm doing short oci's to make up for the previous owners lack of oil changes )

On the Capri i go 4.5-6k and it can take me more than a year to get there, for example i went from August '16 to July 18' without chaning the oil in it.
 
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I do. Every time I buy a used vehicle from an old fella with OCD, who usually cannot drive himself by the time, but still takes meticulous care of the vehicle for his lady - those cars run and feel like new. Demonstrably better condition of the vehicle.
And those are the guys who go by calendar even if it is only a few miles between the oil drains. Apparently, there is something in the miles or time recommendation the book has.
 
Originally Posted by JC1
You can go longer than 6 months with the Caravan. What oil filter are you using?

I am using Mobile 1 oil filter. Manual states 4k for severe duty and oil life monitor or once a year not to exceed 10k on conventional oil. My last 2 changes (1 was factory) were at 4500 miles with 6 months but that was due to extenuating circumstances. Most of my driving is 10 minute runs under 45 mph with an occasional hwy run. I was going to wait until 4k but after the 400 mile trip I just took I checked oil and still clean with Havoline ProDs so I got concerned as last 2 oil changes got dirty quick and fuel economy is also down. I always have ran fuel economy oil and never noticed that this oil change was not.
 
6 months is your safest bet.

Mom's car only goes about 2k per year and I change it every 6 months. My son's 09 IS350 only goes about 4K per year and it gets changed every 6 months.
But realize I don't buy into this over 5000 miles OCI. I change my daily drivers evert 3k. I'm a happy and content and many will say "ignorant" frequent oil changer.
 
I wish I could go 6 months but most likely can't ,,, About 18 miles to work (36 miles round trip) per day in suburbs Mon. - Fri. and the car sits most of the weekend (Hyundai 2.4L GDI engine) . I run a severe duty schedule 4 months / 3,750 miles and the oil comes out dark and sooty looking with synthetic and Fram Ultra , so I'm on a 3X per year oil change schedule ... I'm going to run a worst case winter OCI then get the oil tested to see if I can safely go with a longer OCI . With a GDI engine , I'm mot holding my breath .
 
Ignore time on oils. I'm retired an d away a lot, so it took 7 years to get 7700 miles on RX8.

I changed it at 7700 miles and 7 years, and sent off to Blackstone.

I don't think I hurt it one bit and could see through yellowish oil when drained.
 
6 months is a great interval. It accounts for both short trip driving as well as long highway miles.

It comes down to how tough your engine is on oil. At 7000 miles a year, you could do either 6 or 12 months, with a premium oil at 12, or two changes of 6 months with the most basic oil speced for your car. It is tough and comes down to personal preference.

I know that after a winter of short trip driving, I would want to dump the old oil out and start fresh for summer. imo there is no substitute for physically draining out old oil's contaminates and filling up with fresh friction modifiers, etc.
 
Originally Posted by Zolton
6 months is a great interval. It accounts for both short trip driving as well as long highway miles.

It comes down to how tough your engine is on oil. At 7000 miles a year, you could do either 6 or 12 months, with a premium oil at 12, or two changes of 6 months with the most basic oil speced for your car. It is tough and comes down to personal preference.

I know that after a winter of short trip driving, I would want to dump the old oil out and start fresh for summer. imo there is no substitute for physically draining out old oil's contaminates and filling up with fresh friction modifiers, etc.

+1
 
I was going to do 6 month intervals on the Santa Fe and Soul for warranty reasons, but then decided I like 5000 mile intervals better.
Santa Fe is very mixed driving, sometimes a month of short trips, but then we take a 200+ mile trip in it. It is 6-8 months for us to hit 5000 miles, so close enough IMO.
The Soul will probably be an annual oil change, but set the mileage limit to 5000, it may or may not get there in a year.
 
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