pennzoil ULTRA PLATINUM 5W-30 OIL

[Jeff92se]

I'll clarify that the OLM monitors the driving habits and adjusts accordingly. But the OLM can't pick up if something in the engine is going wrong etc...

As far as the age of the oil. I think 1 year is just fine. Even mobil 1 is advertising oil that can last a year

[tchr49]

So what about the actual AGE of the so called oil? Here in MI my car sits idle for about 6 months..I always change it and filter in the spring regardless of miles (some years only around 500). I have been told you should never leave oil in a car for over a year regardless. Thoughts? There must be some kind of shelf life yes? I only have 23K on the car and maybe my analness is overkilling it? BTW I use Mobil 1 full synthetic.

Michigan winters do suck.....
I’m just a hair over 19,000 miles and the car sits from the end of November until about now (weather permitting). I change the oil and filter just before I put it away, regardless of how many miles it went in a season. Sometimes I feed the oil to my POS Ford Ranger so,it doesn’t go to waste.

[Napalm]

chemically speaking - from what I've read all the modern synthetics can live in open air for 1 year and still easily meet all the required corrosion resistance and anti-foaming requirements.

No maker will come out and claim anymore than that. Which incidentally is the other reason OLM systems on cars stop at or around 10K. NO auto maker will put the system out there that would allow you to run oil in the engine longer than a year without throwing up a light. because no oil maker would agree to oil living any longer than one year.

In theory however it's been tested on a few stand engines. With regular light use it's possible to go about 3 years - issue again is that oil filter and the cleanliness of the air around you. It is however not recommended by any stretch.

Conversely - it is recommended to not ever change the oil but even 3-6 years like flushing your coolant. I know shocker - but again long term tests show it would actually be better for most people to run the car with a periodic oil filter change - and oil top off for some time - with a occasional full fluid swap. Your top off oil however would be mostly additives and corrosion agent. The oil however - if it never got hot (read 400 or so degrees) would be perfectly happy.

It is however so far from conventional wisdom that only commercial vehicles tend to accept this idea.

[hflores3]

So what about the actual AGE of the so called oil? Here in MI my car sits idle for about 6 months..I always change it and filter in the spring regardless of miles (some years only around 500). I have been told you should never leave oil in a car for over a year regardless. Thoughts? There must be some kind of shelf life yes? I only have 23K on the car and maybe my analness is overkilling it? BTW I use Mobil 1 full synthetic.

I'm no engineer - but cars that are left "sitting" for extended periods of time are more prone to "oxidize." When you drive your car - you heat it up to where accumulated moisture is evaporated off. thus .... a car that is static for long periods of time may need to be run and/or oil changed sooner.

[Napalm]

So what about the actual AGE of the so called oil? Here in MI my car sits idle for about 6 months..I always change it and filter in the spring regardless of miles (some years only around 500). I have been told you should never leave oil in a car for over a year regardless. Thoughts? There must be some kind of shelf life yes? I only have 23K on the car and maybe my analness is overkilling it? BTW I use Mobil 1 full synthetic.

As I stated in my other post this is mostly true. So far no oil company I know of will warranty the properties of their oil past the one year mark if opened to the outside air. which in your crankcase is considered that. IE on the shelf in sealed bottle - all is peachy keen. Crack that joint open - all bets are off. So yes that is mostly true - and I would say quit spending that extra money but it's not hurting anything either. Bigger issue I would see. in 6 months time you might have sat long enough for the oil film to leave some of the metal bare. As in exposed and oxidizing. Thus I would ask how do you start your car after that first run out? That's a far bigger concern.

I'll clarify that the OLM monitors the driving habits and adjusts accordingly. But the OLM can't pick up if something in the engine is going wrong etc...

As far as the age of the oil. I think 1 year is just fine. Even mobil 1 is advertising oil that can last a year

So that's not exactly true. Depends on the system and who made it - but newer OLM systems do add on determinants for noted misfires, anytime there is a significant vibration event, missed starts, etc. Now yes if you are eating a cam bearing - it can't know that - and neither do you. If you are changing your oil without some UOA - you might not even see it with monthly oil changes.

I'm no engineer - but cars that are left "sitting" for extended periods of time are more prone to "oxidize." When you drive your car - you heat it up to where accumulated moisture is evaporated off. thus .... a car that is static for long periods of time may need to be run and/or oil changed sooner.

while that is mostly true - and useful if you run a catch can. the bigger issues is if the oil film has sat long enough to depart the metal. The oil can oxidize but most full synthetic products have additive packs for that. Of course some are better than others. But really if you sit more than 6 months I'd give a strong thought to moving down to dino oil for that time sitting - and marking your calendar to start the car once a month for about 10 minutes. Even if it is on jack stands and the tires rotate at idle.

Similar issues apply to trans fluids and diff fluids too - not to mention your brake fluid.

[Napalm]

So far off topic though.

If you like pennzoil ultra platinum - get some. I just got another 3 - 5 quart jugs last week. 25 dollars for 5 quarts is just too hard to pass up today

[GXPaycheck]

So far off topic though.

If you like pennzoil ultra platinum - get some. I just got another 3 - 5 quart jugs last week. 25 dollars for 5 quarts is just too hard to pass up today

Cheap at Walmart.com and Pennzoil has a rebate going!

[MIEngineer]

I have run Amsoil and M1 without any major issues for the last 10 years plus. Castrol here or there as well in my moms Saab to use up some extra syntec synthetic 5W30 I had [and that car has all of 34k on it].

I really prefer the Amsoil but the accessibility was difficult at the time and I bought in large quantities - I used to do the once a year on my old 2002 Avalanche and that truck absolutely loved Amsoil - my 2013 is not in love with Mobil 1. So I am looking to move to the M1 extended performance before I may drive back to Amsoil for that. I bought some M1 extended performance recently to try out in the mean time.

I will run the regular M1 synthetic until my stock depletes [as my oil changes will be on 7 cars instead of 9 this time around (as I do the changes now for myself, my parents, my fiancée and her parents as well - as needed when her dads lease runs out of Buick freebies)

Since the dealer did an oil change on my 16 at around 4500 miles [and I did a break in after I arrived home with it] it should be fine

My fiancées 17 has 2 dealer changes [and of course I did a later break in change due to weather].

The GXP had a fresh change before storage

So that cuts down my oil quantity quite a bit

Also picked up a "free" VW turbo beetle from a friend who was going to scrap it due to an international move [and it needs some tinkering - plan to sell it after some small work]. Who knows maybe I'll find it decent enough as a tinker toy to keep it and sell it later on...it has 2 sets of wheels already

My beater Volvo wagon will be getting some attention this year finally - hopefully with the engine sitting 3 years on a pallet back in service...and the car parked for a decade with a few trips around the neighborhood here or there.

So maybe I do need all that oil!