Rotella 10w 30?

Oh, its all right then. I was worried you had 3 years of short trips, which really isn't ideal.

Your driving description minimizes the moisture in the crankcase (good). That's one of the main issues with short tripping and why its so bad.

 

Thats good stuff. Might be the best "off the shelf" oil for our trucks.

 

mehhhhhh if it really does bother you. I'd throw some seafoam in there today and drive it around a few days and do the oil change this weekend. I think seafoam says like 500miles?

 

you think so? I may give Mobile1 a try in about 2 weeks to see how it goes. I've always used Valvoline

 

Seafoam boils at 82 degrees C, which is 180 F.

It quickly boils away once your truck gets up to temp. Save your money.

 

Valvoline is fine too. I usually buy Valvoline or Mobil 1, whichever is on sale at Walmart.

 

I do. The engine really seems "quieter", overall, than compared to others I've used. Valvoline is what I used forever, so I'm not trying to knock it.

 

This ^^ on both accounts.

On the operating temp bit, basically, if you can take off your fill cap and find froth on the inside (extreme example here), you're probably NOT running at operating temp long enough to get water vapors out of your crankcase. There are signs like this to watch out for.

One guy on here said he'd put on ~2k miles per year on his truck, but he only drove it quarterly for a 500mi round trip. In case like that, I'd probably say, "eh, feck it" and let it go for a couple years. But oil does degrade with [time] and [heat cycles], amongst other things. It's something to keep in mind.

Would I do it? Probably not. Am I absent minded enough I may have it happen? Absolutely.

I'd agree, but one rub there. The additive package oil companies add to their oil for things like lubricity, "high mile" gasket plumping, those would also boil off if unmixed. But it's not unmixed, it's added to the oil, and blends with the oil as all additives do. It's not like cooking something and adding brandy or wine and watching it evaporate and leave things behind.

I'm no chem-E so I can't rattle off the how/why, but I've seen the burn-off claim with Seafoam and other treatments before. Seafoam is a highly refined petroleum product, just like much of what BG and LiquiMoly make, and like the additive packages oil companies add to their oils to differentiate them from others, it acts as a modifier. It's not going to boil off once it's incorporated, which happens pretty quickly once it's in the oil pan, and definitely once it starts getting blasted around in the crankcase.

That's what I'm typically running, 300-500 miles on it. For what it's worth, you can still smell it in the oil when draining.

That's my go-to, but honestly, if cost is an item, the younger bro of it with less additives is solid also, and what I've been picking up my last couple OC. I think the main difference is a reduction of additives in the package for seal rejuvenation.

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I'm a culprit of short trip driving on a low mileage 2006 . . . it's just my living/ life situation.
Under my valve covers probably looks like Yoda's swamp planet Dagobah ! LOL.
But I do try to do as much 'preventative' maintenance as reasonably possible.
One thing I have noticed, is that when I go out to the desert on a 500 mile round trip in 100+ degree weather, afterwards my truck runs a little 'crispier' on acceleration.
So there's gotta be some truth about 'blowing things out'.

 

I know I can get hung up on doing things "right" based on what will preserve the truck's longevity. But I try to remind myself that we have vehicles to use them for what we need them for. I didn't love that I've towed a ~3,000lb camper trailer that pulls behind my Tacoma like a parachute, but...that's my lifestyle. Sure, a bigger truck would have better, but the Tacoma is what I had, it's what I wanted, and it did pull that trailer thousands of miles over the last 7 years. Cut some years off its life, definitely. But I had a truck, a trailer, and did what my lifestyle at the time demanded.

Just meant I needed to keep up on oil changes (especially tranny & rear diff) and suspension components.

Use the truck the way you want to use, with your eyes open about how that type use will affect it. Modify your maintenance schedule accordingly.

I always used Castrol GTX synthetic blend in my Tacoma, almost solely because it came in 5 qt jugs at the local auto parts store, and I wasn't looking for full synthetic. So much easier to pour used oil into one 5 qt jug than 5 1 qt jugs. Worked great for me.

When I did the first oil change on the Tundra, I think because based on the Carfax oil change intervals I saw I figured they must have been using synthetic, I decided to go with Synthetic. Went to O'Reillys, and Mobil 1 comes in 5 qt jugs. Seems like just about any parts store I go to, they've got Mobil 1 in 5 qt jugs. So...that's what I went with. Didn't put a whole lot more thought into it than that.

There is a Costco a couple hours away though so I should look into that. I'm so new to Costco it's far from the first place I think of for stuff like engine oil, tires etc. Can't remember what I paid for 7 qts of Mobil 1 at OReillys.

But...5w30, without a doubt.

 

We need a rule - no new threads on oil!

 

I run 10w30.

 

Fixed