Royal Purple: really how far?

[AF808fighter]

I have been running royal purple in my 4runner for the last 2 years and I now have 132,000 miles. On this oil I have 3200 miles and I've always changed it right around 3,000. Every one says to go longer on RP, but really how long is safe? My daily driving is short 3 miles trips to and from work with a lot of stop and go, low RPM. I only drive 600 miles a month so this oil has about 5 months on it...including some cold winter months.

 

[kball]

3 miles? lol, ride your bike. You'll never have to change your oil again!

Seriously, I think you can go longer. I would take it out for longer drives though to make sure you are not building up condensation with all those short trips.

 

[drinknmolson]

6000 miles, I agree with kball, you need to get that vehicle out on the highway and open it up to get all that carbon out of it. I drive alot further 54miles round trip/day for work and every chance I get I open her up and let that engine breath.

if you change your oil every 6 months you will be totally fine even though thats still in the 3k miles range, I personally would change the oil 1/yr driving that few miles and running rp.

 

[RonMAIDEN]

With your mileage I'd just change it once a year since mileage won't be a factor but I would go as high as 8000-10000 on most synthetics but I never go longer than a year.

 

[brian2sun]

With your mileage I'd just change it once a year since mileage won't be a factor but I would go as high as 8000-10000 on most synthetics but I never go longer than a year.

:iagree: I run Mobil 1 5W30 w/ a M1 filter and I have been changing it every 6K. It always looks clean still. Now that I have a different DD though, I'll probably only put on ~2K this year so now I'm just going to adopt the once a year rule like Ron said.

 

[GMZ]

Its not really carbon youre worried about but condensation and acids in the oil. You want to make at least a highway trip each week to bring your oil up to full operating temp to "burn" that stuff out. City driving is hell on oil, but you could easily do 1 yr on RP, even giving the fact that its a mediocre oil IMO. More important I think is your filter selection. From trending UOA data the M1 filters have shown to be excellent and if you buy the AA/AZ M1 oil change special its a steal.

 

[bgmac]

From trending UOA data the M1 filters have shown to be excellent and if you buy the AA/AZ M1 oil change special its a steal.

You totally lost me here with all the abbreviations?

 

[GMZ]

You totally lost me here with all the abbreviations?

Sorry...

UOA=Used Oil Analysis
M1= Mobil 1
AA= Advanced Auto Parts
AZ= Auto Zone

 

[AF808fighter]

Thanks for the input guys. I'll open her up a little more. My freeway trips are still only 4-5 miles to get to the city. Can I change my filter without losing much oil; I've never just changed the filter before... I've been working on cars my whole life but oil is still a mystery to me.

 

[echo4tango]

I change my oil every 15,000 miles or 18 months which ever comes first. However i only use Napa Spin Flow filters (Nascar) and change them every 3 months no matter the mileage. I use royal purple and Mobil 1 and switch between the two every 2nd oil change.

Synthetic oils will go only as far as your filter will allow. So dont by Fram filters or some other cheap filter. Buy Napa or Kn or a Purealator

I know a guy who ran 60k with out an oil change using M1 just to see how far he could .. but he did change the filter every 2 months or 5k. So the point is dont skimp on the filter

and yes you will lose some oil when you change the filter just buy an extra quart just fill the new filter up with the new oil ,start then engine and run it for about 30 seconds check for leaks , and turn the car off , wait for apx 5 min and check oil level, add if any is needed.

JT