since my ranger does very little miles, thought i would see what would happen letting the usual oil change interval lapse.. in a big way, lol

so i changed it last august with the usual dino 5w30 valvoline, and a motorcraft filter. fast forward to a week ago, it was 50 deg F outside so i changed the oil and filter. mileage for the 6 months or so was only around 3000 miles.

the old oil draining out was as black as tar..
and the filter was heavy as well...

from now on it's getting changed out every 3 months no matter what the miles are.

just a heads up for anyone who may be in the same situation..

 

So that's not synthetic oil? I've been using the same synthetic stuff since last July.

 

Yeah it is not good for your motor to have old oil sitting in it for extended periods of time. There are alot of acids and solids that get left in old oil, especially if you are not putting many miles, or stopping and starting a lot. If you do alot of city driving, it puts you on the severe usage schedule. Look at your owners manual, it give you a XXXX miles or X months, which ever come first.

 

not synthetic.. as said it uses dino...

 

I dont even come close to 3000 miles in 3 months

I change it every 3 months anyways. All city driving about 20 miles a day.

 

it gets a good highway run once every 10 days or so.. but the rest is in town..errands/dump/lawns.. etc...
so not much total miles in 6 mos...

really, the stuff was bad.. needed changing lol

owners manual? that's like using the help function on a computer...
lol

seriously ford says dino oil can go 5k miles.. maybe....but i think as u say time is the enemy here.

 

if you do 20 miles/day average that would be 3600 in 6 months..
a bit more than i did..

still with in town driving .. i'm thinking you have to change at 3 months...for the sake of the engine.

also, i can do a change myself with dino for about $18 .. 5 qts valvoline 5w30 and a motorcraft filter..

 

alot of city driving will always be harder on the oil. The motor usually heats up more, and you do not burn off enough carbon, because you aren't generally on the gas for extended periods of time.

My dad has an old Jag, and every saturday he takes it for a good burn. It is good you are too.

 

your dad does that because he wants the oil temperature to get high enough to burn off any water condensation...
a smart man .. it will extend the life of the engine big time... which is essential especially in a Jag

 

See the deal with my city driving.

3:30am I don't have to stop all signal lights are flashing so I have a straight shot
Take maybe 8 minutes to get to work.

3:30pm It will take at least 25 - 30min to get home hit every single traffic light,

I say why push it just do it and maintain a good running engine.


8 times out of 10 my truck doesn't start back up til Monday morning when I park it Thursday after work

 

My owner's manual says every 5,000 miles or 6 months, whichever comes first. I don't put many miles (about 2,000-3,000 in six months) on it so I change it every six months like clockwork. I use Mobil 1 synthetic oil. I just changed mine last week and it was dirty. The new oil just looks better, nice and clean. So every six months works for me.

 

Not dinkin Valvoline by no means, but you'd be better off usin Motorcraft, as it's semi-synthetic or if your a diehard Valvoline guy, use their blend...........I use 5/20 & 5/30 in all our vehicles, Ford & otherwise!

 

wouldn't say die hard valvoline fan.. have used castrol gtx as well.. don't see too much difference between the 2. tried syn blend in the past but found no difference ..

very reluctant to put a full synthetic in this engine which has 129k on it and been running dino (i think) oil all it's life.

 

If you think your engine may have some sludge in it, which wouldn't be a surprise with the city miles and 129k, you may want to consider running a flush in the crankcase at the next oil change. And like 94Ranger355 mentioned, a synthetic blend may be a smart choice even if you don't really think there's a difference between regular dino and blended oils.

 

well i ran some of that though an old vw once (with a LOT of miles on it!) and
it didn't really seem any different, but i might give it another try...