Dumb question about oil changes?

[OGMix376]

My personal opinion is 3 months conventional, 6 months blended, and 10-12 months full synthetic… just my opinion though.
I drive roughly 25k miles a year so I’m changing oil pretty regularly around the 2 month period.. syn blend..
Pretty sure climate will play a role in what your service intervals should be, me thinks….mild climate you could probably be absolutely fine with lengthy periods..

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[mtsoxfan]

As far as the oil change reminder goes...
I recently accepted the change of terms on FORDPASS, so now I can use it, and when I reset my oil change reminder, instead of 10k, it appears it is now 7k. Ford changing their mind? Or is it programed that after 50k the recommendation goes down to 7k?
Not trying to open the when to change oil debate, just talking about the reminder change of mileage.

 

[WhyNot21]

I follow the manual and do it once a year. My Ranger will be 4 years old this month and has 10k miles. Those are basically 3 long trips, one a year. It just sits in the garage the majority of time. It's never even seen snow. Since we just purchased a travel trailer, I will probably be changing it more often, even with the low miles.

I've only had the tires rotated 1 time. I'm pretty sure they'll age out way before they wear out.

 

[Canadian Ranger]

The only way to truly know the condition of your oil to get an analysis done of your old oil. They send back info on all the ingredients and how they've held up, or haven't held up.

 

[subquark]

I follow the manual and do it once a year. My Ranger will be 4 years old this month and has 10k miles. Those are basically 3 long trips, one a year. It just sits in the garage the majority of time. It's never even seen snow. Since we just purchased a travel trailer, I will probably be changing it more often, even with the low miles.

I've only had the tires rotated 1 time. I'm pretty sure they'll age out way before they wear out.

I must be in the same mileage club as you! Typically one longer trip a year and the rest are under 5 miles. I hitting 3 years in May and have 7,800 miles.

I've only done the yearly oil change and do live in New England. Even though I have a "free" yearly oil change, it is the Ford blend and I'll probably start doing my own with full synthetic - maybe in addition to the freebie and why not?

Never hurts to do them more often than needed.

That said, I did leave Mobil One in my FJ40 for 5 years and about 40,000 miles. I know it's fine because I rebuilt the engine after that with the wrong size compression rings, which all broke into 3 to 12 pieces with several pieces tearing through one piston skirt, bouncing around the cylinder and lodging into the piston head. I drove about 1,500 miles in that situation to get home and yank the engine back out. Not even scratches of the freshly honed cylinder walls and the original connecting rod bushings were fine too (I had replaced those in the overhaul).

We're excited to go up to Bar Harbor for a 3-day vacation (the last time I had a longer vacation was in 2008 - I might be a bit of a home body!). =p

LOL, we're excited by this 226-mile trip but it'll also involves day trips of a few hundred miles.

Looks like this former country mouse is gonna be jet setting in the Ranger! =D

 

[mtsoxfan]

Love the Portsmouth NH area. Been a few years, but it's on our radar to return. Great walking around kind of town.

 

[got3fords]

According to this article, it's the mileage that matters, not the age. I would not change more than once a year, if that. It's a waste of good oil. The oil in my zero turn is several years old (yeah, I should change it). But if you are hard bent on changing once a year, I would time it with my state inspection so I only had to make one trip a year to the dealer.
https://www.thedrive.com/news/motor-oil-age-doesnt-matter-as-much-as-mileage-study

 

[Dereku]

Yeah, we could merge oil threads with air threads....what is the best air to put in your tires ???
Cold air, hot air, new or old air, air from high or low altitudes, free air or air you buy.....
Oh, decisions decisions decisions.......

I preferred the canned air from space balls. Make me feel more elite.

 

[Big Blue]

Yeah, we could merge oil threads with air threads....what is the best air to put in your tires ???
Cold air, hot air, new or old air, air from high or low altitudes, free air or air you buy.....
Oh, decisions decisions decisions.......

You forgot about Nitrogen. Do we get better mpg with pure Nitrogen or air, which is 78% Nitrogen anyway.

 

[FM AZ]

You forgot about Nitrogen. Do we get better mpg with pure Nitrogen or air, which is 78% Nitrogen anyway.

True that. Nitrogen is such a scam for car tires. It’s necessary for jets because it doesn’t hold much moisture so freezing isn’t a problem, it expands and contracts less with temperature and pressure changes, and it’s expensive. Plus you can only service with nitrogen, or your back to normal air again. I’m sure airline tech can list a few more reasons for aviation use.

 

[got3fords]

True that. Nitrogen is such a scam for car tires. It’s necessary for jets because it doesn’t hold much moisture so freezing isn’t a problem, it expands and contracts less with temperature and pressure changes, and it’s expensive. Plus you can only service with nitrogen, or your back to normal air again. I’m sure airline tech can list a few more reasons for aviation use.

I remember the days of topping off the tires on P-3's when I was in the Navy. Had to roll out the nitrogen cart that had six tanks on it.

 

[subquark]

Helium - that's the secret. Virtually no friction, so that reduces angular momentum which means more torque. It's lighter, so you float over bumps and increase your payload by at least a long ton.

Plus, when you air down, you can huff it and talk funny!

Only downside, when rotating, they can float away.

 

[theprinceofsnj]

The old school rule used to be every 3 months every 3,000 miles. My grandmother changed it in her 1972 VW bus maybe once or twice a year. She did oil changes more frequently when she got her 1993 Escort wagon. I do every 3,000. Since I've retired, that takes me about 3-4 months. As opposed to every 6 weeks when I was working. I'm about to hit 72,000.

It's in for the oil change. I'm 12 miles short if 72,000

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