Long commutes and jobs that require people to be on the road can be very demanding on a vehicle. High daily, weekly, and monthly miles can have you changing your oil every couple of weeks or once a month. This adds up on the pocket book and is a real time suck.
If you could extend your time and miles between oil changes and still have great engine protection would you want to? There is an alternative to extend oil changes intervals which is long life synthetic oil and long life nano fiber synthetic filters. The key when extending oil change intervals is to not sacrifice protection. Here are three things to look for in long life oil…
A long life oil has to have a lot of reserve alkalinity. What that means is when the engine is running and producing acids from burning gas or diesel the oil has to have the alkalinity to soak up that acid. Overtime the oils ability to neutralize the acid diminishes. If you go to long you will have an acid bath eating out the inside of your engine. A long life oil will have plenty of additives to soak up the acids for longer periods of time. Look for an oil with a high Total Base Number called TBN.
All oils burn off a little bit when you run your engine. Its the nature of the beast! Some oils are designed better than others (of those that are really designed) to handle this issue. There is a test called the NOACK Volatility test that determines how much of an oil evaporates at high temperatures. You do not want your oil evaporating away and sludging up your engine long term. If an oil handles this test well it will last longer in your engine. Look for low evaporation losses as they indicate an oil will stand up longer in your engine and still offer good protection.
An oil that is thouroughly tested in the lab and in the field in real live engines could be offered with a guarantee. My experience is very few bottles of oil actually offer a guarantee along with a warranty. There are a couple that break out of the mold and offer extended drain intervals from 7,000 miles up to 35,000 miles but you have to find a filter to match. Go hunt them down and save yourself money, time, and the frustration of frequent oil changes.
If you would like to see the test data for the most popular oils you can get the best motor oil review white paper here.
