opinion on limited use truck / oil

[Soundguy]

ok.. I have dropped my 98 dodge ram down to limited use as a farm truck. probably gets a couple trips a week.. way less than 6000m a year.

I had been doing 3000m oil changes using palin walmart oil the last few years, as the use of this truck has declined.

Looking at the cost of doing 2 changes a year on the plain walmart 10w30 vs using the walmart syn oil. It will actually be cheaper for one oil change on the syn oil per year than 2 changes for the dino oil... milage should be within the extended drain interval very easilly as it will be 6000m or less.

opinions?

soundguy

 

[alvanko]

Everyone has an opinion, and you know what they say.................
My opinion, the synthetic would be fine as well as once a year changes, as long as you get the truck up to temperature everytime you use it. If not, the twice a year oil change may be better to drain off any condensation that forms.

 

[bp fick]

Soundguy

Since we have moved to our retirement home and our lives have changed, our mileage is way down as well. On my wife's old Honda (150K miles) and my little Ford truck. I have come to a similar fork in the road.

I still do all my own service, but crawling under them isn't quite the "joy" it may have been 40 years ago. Each vehicle now only get 8K miles a year. I am down to one or two oil changes on each annually. I use synthetic in them just to be sure they can go the full 8K between changes. No issues. I have used Warren Oil's (synthetic Super Tech) since the beginning in the Honda. 11 years and 150K and it runs like a top. When Honda mechanic did the valve adjustment/timing belt at 100K he said the inside was spotless and looked as perfect as new. It uses not a drop.

Your plan is absolutely workable. Shoot, I only change oil in my small engines and tractor once a year. To me, there would be no difference. How is it one bit different? Not to my mind.

 

[Soundguy]

this is sounding good.

as for trip time. yep.. I usually drive the truck on fridays and go pickup my paycheck, cash it at the bank, then hit my farm pasture feed the animals, then back home. engine gets to run an hour and a half to 2 hours. plenty of time to come up to temp. then it sets and waits for the next trip.

the 1xyr oil change with syn supertech will save a buck or two but thats not the issue. time for service and ann.. the creeper and jack stands..

 

[buck12]

I have a 93 F150 that is a limited use truck, mostly hunting. It is driven about 3,000 miles a year. I continued to use the same schedule I have used for it since new - Motor Craft 10w30 every 3,000 miles. Not sure it is the best practice but I can't bring myself to drain oil that only has 1500 miles just to say I changed the oil every six months.

 

[DEWFPO]

Your plan is fine. I have some vehicles that only get a few hundred miles a year on them and I let them go 5 years between changes. When I do use them, it is for a good run so everything is gets good and hot between runs. No worries. I've been doing it for at least 20 years on a variety of vehicles and equipment and have never had a single problem.

DEWFPO