Oil change every 12 months

[HoosierTrooper]

WOW such a critic. Guy does all tests at his own expense, gets right to the point and sure makes a little $ for his work. Nothing wrong with that in my book. And again, he sent his sample to Blackstone, didn't do it himself. Just trying to give the OP a resource to answer his question. That's what many posts on here are about. Watch him or not, I don't care. He's an independent resource in a world with very few of them left. Have a good one.

Yep, definitely a critic of someone using made up testing methods that provide wildly inaccurate results. If pour point, CCS and MRV winter performance, Noack volatility and other oil qualities is important to someone it can be found on the oils product data sheets and at reliable test sites like The Petroleum Quality Institute of America, pqia.org. I highly doubt that Mobil, Shell, Warren or any of the other majors send a check to PF and ask him to run out to his garage and run some of his “tests” to see how their product stands up against their competition.

Edited to add: An inexpensive Blackstone UOA will provide no useful information to the OP or any other person to help them decide what the proper OCI is for their particular vehicle and driving conditions.

 

[GKIII]

I find Project Farm's videos entertaining, but nothing more. It's important to remember that the tests he puts oils through are not representative of what happens in an engine. A poorly performing oil in his "wear scar" tests may very well be a superior motor oil in the application it was designed for. The closest analogue to that test would be if you were using a flat tappet cam/lifters, and even then it's a huge stretch (not to mention, you are likely not going to consider any of the oils he is testing anyway hah).

The lack of statistical controls and dissimilar testing make his oil testing series kind of useless for making an educated/informed decision on what motor oil is best for your engine. Entertaining? Yes, yes it is.

 

[Rebelguy2020]

My local Stelantis dealer did the second oil/filter and fuel filter changes on my ecodiesel at 31,000km I supplied the oil filter, the fuel filter and the engine oil, they supplied the air filter. The labour plus air filter totaled just over $200 Canadian, the air filter was $23 the rest is labour cost.
Just to compare, my first oil change at the same dealer, I supplied the oil and filter, the cost was only $31.
I will be retiring before my next oil change and I will probably do the next fuel filter change myself to save on the labour cost. I will YouTube it. Any advise on what to watch for?

 

[392DCGC]

I find Project Farm's videos entertaining, but nothing more. It's important to remember that the tests he puts oils through are not representative of what happens in an engine. A poorly performing oil in his "wear scar" tests may very well be a superior motor oil in the application it was designed for. The closest analogue to that test would be if you were using a flat tappet cam/lifters, and even then it's a huge stretch (not to mention, you are likely not going to consider any of the oils he is testing anyway hah).

The lack of statistical controls and dissimilar testing make his oil testing series kind of useless for making an educated/informed decision on what motor oil is best for your engine. Entertaining? Yes, yes it is.

Even though his tests aren't lab quality, I think there is still value to them. His wear scar/film strength tests are consistent. No, it's not an engine, but wouldn't film strength be just as relevant in an engine as it is on his test bench?

 

[GKIII]

Even though his tests aren't lab quality, I think there is still value to them. His wear scar/film strength tests are consistent. No, it's not an engine, but wouldn't film strength be just as relevant in an engine as it is on his test bench?

He is testing a lubricant vs a localized pressure point rather than a distributed load across a wider area. This is problematic because this in no way represents the conditions necessary to test shear stability in an engine. Also, the nature of the test ignores friction modifiers (since, again...localized point vs distributed load) since even the most robust friction modifier is removed from a metal's surface once there is a high enough localized load. The physical interfaces of modern internal combustion engines are designed to prevent such localized point loads. If your engine has such a condition (perhaps from say...bad valvetrain geometry), you have hard metal-metal contact and no oil is going to save it.

I would bet the vast majority of the wear happens on those bearings very, very early in the test (since he's running the side of one cylinder orthogonal to the axis of the other cylinder), and he would eventually reach a steady state where the bearing doesn't wear anymore once there is enough of a distributed load to permit the friction modifiers to 'stick'. I would find the test more applicable if the bearing was mounted in such a manner where the axis of both the wheel and the bearing were parallel. However, we'd probably see wear that wasn't nearly as impressive and therefore not as effective for entertainment purposes.

I do find some tests he runs on other products somewhat useful though...paint, liners, tape, etc.

 

[HoosierTrooper]

The API has numerous engine wear tests that are highly regulated under ASTM testing protocols that involve actual engine components that are weighed and measured before and after the testing to accurately measure wear. These tests are very expensive, detailed and time consuming and are conducted by trained professionals using specialized equipment. As GKIII explained very well he’s using an unapproved test to reach inaccurate conclusions. The same can be said, which I did, about all of his engine oil “tests”.

If anyone is really interested in the testing required by the API to have an oil certified they need to download and read API 1509. It gives the details on every test that an oil has
to pass. After reading 1509 it should be obvious how ludicrous it is to think that an amateur in his garage with no training using unapproved tests and equipment should be taken seriously.

 

[lacobi]

Most all folks use Blackstone Labs. However, for me, I think it's kind of silly to do oil analyses unless there is an issue you are very concerned about or just plain old bored. IMPO, if you choose any high quality fully synthetic oil like Pennzoil, Amsoil, Castrol, Valvoline and Mobil1 you really can't go wrong. Some folks will try one brand, then do an oil analysis and then try another and say like "this OA has far more magnesium blah blah blah...." Just use a solid oil, change it when you're supposed to and never look back! Paralysis by analysis In most cases, regardless of what you do, your engine will outlive your truck and, if the engine does have issues, it certainly won't be because of your full synthetic oil selection. grease monkey oil change prices

When I bought my ED I negotiated a prepaid package with the maxcare plan... now that I'm out of oil changes, I was looking at doing it myself. However, I think it's going to cost me more to do it myself?? The prepaid package from my dealer works out to be $75 per change. For the DIYers, is anyone doing it cheaper than that?

 

[SD Rebel]

When I bought my ED I negotiated a prepaid package with the maxcare plan... now that I'm out of oil changes, I was looking at doing it myself. However, I think it's going to cost me more to do it myself?? The prepaid package from my dealer works out to be $75 per change. For the DIYers, is anyone doing it cheaper than that?

I love doing my own oil changes. I don't do it to save money, but it does save money compared to dealership services.

The only up front cost for you is a set of ramps, I use Rhino 16,000 GVW ramps, $60 at Advance Auto is the cheapest I've seen them. You can get 12,000 GVW at Walmart for $50.

Oil pan, get the deep 2-gallon one for $25. Filter wrench $14 or so. A socket set you should have laying around.

For the cost of the oil change itself, expect about $60 for 2x 5-quart jugs of high quality synthetic like Penzoil Ultra-Platinum, then $10 for the Mopar MO-339 oil filter. However on the next oil change it will be cheaper, since you already will have 3 extra quarts from your last oil change, so you only will need 1x 5-quart jug, your next oil change will only be $40.

That will put you at around $40-$70 in supplies, which is about $30-$60 cheaper than your typical dealership oil change (without bundle deals). But for me, it's the fact I know it's being done right, my filter and oil is being used and actually changed, it's torqued correctly, no worries about dings on my car or grease in my interior from a tech who doesn't care about my vehicle.

 

[fishslayer]

I, personally, would never let DINO oil in any new engine over the last 10+ years based on the tight tolerances and higher operating temps and let it go for over 3-5K miles. Full Syn is cheap and like $22 for 5 quarts of a high quality oil like Pennzoil Platinum or many others at Walmart. Just my 2 cents.

I agree..been using synthetics for decades in my work trucks pulling heavy trailers every day..consistently got 300K miles out of all of them

 

[Bwarren2]

What’s the recommendation for us retired folks who don’t drive much, regarding changing the oil every 12 months regardless of mileage? I changed my oil at breakin at like 1000 miles and 12 months later only added like 3000 more miles. I try and drive it 2 or 3 times a month.

6 months