Extended Oil Drains for Diesels.....

[roydok]

Mga Sirs,

How long is the longest possible oil change interval (beyond 5,000 kms) acceptable for diesel engines using a good mineral diesel engine oil to save on maintenance costs? Nagtanong kasi ako sa may mga bus fleets at every 15,000 kms daw oil change nila using a good mineral oil (Shell Rimula X, Delo Gold Multigrade, etc...).

Thanks. :confused:

[revoGSX]

roydok,

kuripot lang mga bus companies kaya every 15T ang palit hehe..

pwede naman up to 10T kms ang palit ng diesel oil, kaso mas more na ang wear and tear ng engine...

nakalagay din sa car manual kung kelan tamang palit ng oil depende sa driving habits/style ninyo..

i would suggest na at least every 5T km or 3 months palit ng oil (ordinary mineral oil) para laging nasa top condition yung engine...

for me, hindi ko titipirin ang mga engine parts/fluids.. sa mga body parts/accessories na lang ako magtitipid... opinion ko lang po ito...

[benchph1]

ako sa rev-x all terrain every 10t kms. (kia carnival) 2.9)

[vinj]

I'd still feel safer with 5K and regular mineral oil because of our harsh driving conditions (stop and go traffic, humidity, rains, dust, etc).

Its always brought up in different threads and one of the reasons i state is the build-up of sludge that i've seen on cars that have extended their drain intervals (even with synth oil).

If you're in the province and log long steady drives on the highways, then extended drains would be more viable.

[OTEP]

10K is a bit too much for a mineral oil. I wouldn't even try it with synthetics.

Yup, nagtitipid lang ang bus companies. Just look at the smoke their buses spew out on our air every single day.

[pajerokid]

Alam ko max na yung 5k for pure minerals. If i were to guess, 6k would be the max max. hehe

[jackaroo]

Think it's possible to extend oil drain intervals if certain conditions are met:

1) Large oil sump using 10 or more liters which means more oil to absorb the soot.
2) Oil filter system in use has both a full flow and a bypass filter. The bypass is a finer filter which keeps the oil clean longer.
3) Air filters are changed more often to keep pollutants from adding dust in oil.

[benchph1]

how about fully synthetic oils like rev-x all terrain? advisable ba every 10t kms ang oil change?

[jackaroo]

benchph1

Think 10k km on full synth oil is ok if you change oil filter every 5k km and use the orig filter. Change air filter every 10k km.

[mangyan]

How about changing oil every 7000 kms. using Mobil Delvac 1 synthetic oil? Ok lang kaya ito?

[jackaroo]

mangyan,

Ok lang if you're using an orig oil filter and change air filter often. I've done 7k km interval on delvac 1.

What's the vehicle?

[Jeepcruizerph]

paging kimpoy...

do u remember about the TOP 1 semi Synthetic i bought...for my 2 vehicles...

hmmm i did a change oil on both vehicles yesterday...parang tubig nung lumabas (very smooth...malabnaw)...pero of course black to...after 5000km ...70thous. km prado...40thous. km xwind

ang galing...kaya pala top1 gamit mo...kaya lang 200 pesos per liter huhuhu

no sludge? maganda ba ang ibig sabihin nito?

tnx po

[mangyan]

Jackaroo: thanks for the reply, sir. My ride is a strada 2002 and I am using Finer Air Filter. I Clean my filter every 5000 kms and I am using the orig. mitsu oil filter.

[jackaroo]

mangyan,

Is your oil filter MD069782? Think it's a combined bypass- full flow filter which means your oil will stay clean longer.

[vinj]

You wont see the sludge going out as it sticks inside the engine... Kung parang tubig, baaad oil.

Change the oil filter every 5,000km pa rin if you decide to extend your drain interval as aforementioned. Kung budget-minded, its still cheaper to use mineral and change every 5K then using synth and changing every 10K given the costs of synths nowadays.

[Dieseler]

I change oil and filter every 10K, using Mobil Delvac 1. Air filter is replaced every 5K. Yoko ma-asthma ang ride ko!

But this time around, I'll be doing the 5K.

10K-5K-10K etc. intervals since mahal ang synth waaah!


****

Vinj, is there a way to remove sludge from your engine?

[vinj]

If its not that bad, flushing the engine with oil can help. Kung bad case of sludge, you'll have to open her up (engine and oil pan) to remove and clean everything up.

[mangyan]

Sir Jackaroo: thanks for the info. Nakasanayan ko na kasi ang synthetic at medyo bago pa ang engine(30k) kaya ayoko pang mag-mineral. So I am finding ways na makatipid ng konti sa synthetic by extending oil drain. Hirap kasi ng buhay ngayon.

[theveed]

hmm ako every 4500 oil change... rimula x

[ondoy]

One of the best, if not the best guides whether to extend drains of diesel engine oils is the used-oil analysis program. At certain intervals, the sump oil is sampled and the sample tested in the laboratory. The TBN, viscosity, and in addition, the chemistry of the used oil are determined, and the results used to guide the user whether to extend use of the oil or not. Unfortunately, in our setting such UOA is either not easily accessible or not affordable.

IMO (in the absence of jackaroo's schemes and non-availabilty of the UOA), extending the oil change interval (OCI) should only be done if one is using semi-synthetic or fully-synthetic diesel engine oil. For the pure dino oil, it is most prudent to stick to the engine maker's recommendations, and in its absence, a 5,000 km. or 6 months (whichever comes first) OCI should do.

As jackaroo said, a fully-synthetic oil can last one year with a mid-year oil filter change. I think a semi-synthetic should have an OCI in-between that of the dino and the fully-synthetic.

On the matter of engine sludge....
With advancement in the technology, nowadays, it may no longer be necessary to open-up the engine in order to clean it up and remove the sludge. Please take a look at this Auto-Rx site. The Auto-Rx in my 4JX1 Trooper is just at the beginning of its cleaning phase, while in my 2.0L Adventure and 1.6L Mazda 323, the cleaning phase by Auto-Rx is halfway through. Since I should be changing oils and oil filters after the cleaning phase, it should be interesting to see if dirt has really abnormally accummulated by opening-up the filters. Once I have enough information on results of Auto-Rx application in my rides, I think this deserves a thread of its own.