Oil change miles -- how often do you change oil?

[DanW]

Bought a 2024 JT. Used to have 2012 JKU with almost 250,000 miles on it. As with my JKU, I will probably stick with changing the oil and rotate five tires at 5,000 miles. With that being said, I used Valvoline High Mileage Full Synthetic oil on my JKU before I traded it in. What is the recommended oil for the Gladiator? Thanks for your assistance!

I have said much of this before, but this thread is so long that it is worth repeating.

I usually go 5k with Mobil 1 EP 0w20. My JL has 96k on it and this has been it's diet, for the most part. I have run it to 7500 or more maybe 2 or 3 times. I did a used oil analysis (UOA) on those runs and the oil was still in very good shape. But I like 5k.

Think about this. These new oil formulations (SN+, SP) are formulated to handle the harshest service a turbo direct injected engine can throw at them, a long with ethanol laced gasoline. The Pentastar is normally aspirated and not direct injected. So it really is not even beginning to challenge a good SP rated oil, even 0w20. Then look at a high end oil, like Mobil 1, Red LIne, Valvoline EP, Pennzoil Platinum Ultra, or others. I've seen UOA's on Pentastars that ran close to 20k on Mobil 1 EP and Amsoil and the oils were still serviceable.

The internet famous Pentastar that ran to 625k miles did it on a diet of mostly "regular" Mobil 1 5w20 with occasional runs of Valvoline Advanced synthetic 5w20, with typically 7500 mile changes. The owner occasionally ran past 7500. The engine was sidelined by broken timing chain guides. The wear parts of the engine still looked great and it was very clean inside with no sludge and very little varnish. That engine ran hard, in a Promaster commercial van, which is heavy and was often carrying a load. I believe I read that it idled a lot, too.

So if you decide to use the oil life monitor with a good quality oil, your engine will love you for it and will go the distance. And you can sleep well and worry about other things, like the oil filter you are using. (LOL)

I've got another round of Mobil 1 EP going in this weekend. I'll be at about 5200 miles.

Here is something else. I use the Tazer JL and Tazer mini in my Jeeps and I disable the Electronic Start Stop. Constantly stopping and starting simply cannot be good for an engine. They did put a high tech anti-wear coating on the wearable internals of the engines and they put a MUCH heavier duty starter on board, but I still don't like it. If those coatings work and the starter is as robust as I have been told, then these engines should easily surpass half a million miles if you don't use that feature and maintain them well. That was the advice I was given by one of the engineers who was on the design team for the original Pentastar.

These are outstanding engines. I plan on running both of mine for a long, long time. I've had zero issues with either of them in their combined 150,000 miles.

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[ShadowsPapa]

That was the advice I was given by one of the engineers who was on the design team for the original Pentastar.

That was a very different engine, though.

I'd bet that a lot of the PUG engines will easily go hundreds of thousands just as they are from the factory.

My oil labs come back saying I had additives left even at over 7,000 miles.
The wear indicators found are really minimal. Mine gets used - not off-roading, but a snow plow and towing in the hill isn't like a leisurely drive down the flat interstate.

My car's 4.0 is like new inside - Mobil 1 oil since I first built that engine. No leaks, no oil consumption, clean inside (under the valve cover which I've removed to check into a crack on the front of the cover, likely happened when the Jeep it came out of hit an embankment and flipped end-for-end a couple of times)

COLD starts and shorter drives = HELL on oil (and thus, engines)
Warm starts are nothing, oil is there, galleries not drained back, the film is there, vs. cold starts which are many times worse.

 

[TheSolarWizard]

UOA on of the same oil I used in ecos says 7-8k is fine but I assume I use my jeep 30% harder than the average person so 5-5.5k is where I change it and fuel filter. Air filters checked every other full day of wheeling and changed 2-3x a year

coolant, diffs 25k
Transmission, brake fluid and power steering 30-40k

its certainly not free to be this aggressive but every system involved costs way more to repair/replace and its kinda fun

 

[Rocksalt]

I dont care what the so called doohicky computer things or "internet experts" say. I chenge my full synthetic every 5 k with tire rotations.

 

[DanW]

That was a very different engine, though.

I'd bet that a lot of the PUG engines will easily go hundreds of thousands just as they are from the factory.

My oil labs come back saying I had additives left even at over 7,000 miles.
The wear indicators found are really minimal. Mine gets used - not off-roading, but a snow plow and towing in the hill isn't like a leisurely drive down the flat interstate.

My car's 4.0 is like new inside - Mobil 1 oil since I first built that engine. No leaks, no oil consumption, clean inside (under the valve cover which I've removed to check into a crack on the front of the cover, likely happened when the Jeep it came out of hit an embankment and flipped end-for-end a couple of times)

COLD starts and shorter drives = HELL on oil (and thus, engines)
Warm starts are nothing, oil is there, galleries not drained back, the film is there, vs. cold starts which are many times worse.

Yes...my point is that if the gen 1 Pentastar can go to extremely high mileage, this engine, treated properly, should be able to go further. Without ESS, those anti-wear coatings are still there and are not being challenged as they are with many more starts/stops.

Agreed...cold starts and short drives cause fuel dilution and water to be present in the oil, since it cannot burn off. That degrades the oil much faster. But these oils are designed to handle direct injected engines, which tend to have higher fuel dilution and other issues (particulates) far in excess of what will be seen in a non-DI Pentastar.

The ingredients are there with our engines to last a surprisingly long time.

7k in the PUG is a breeze. I just do 5k because I like doing it and that puts me on pace for a spring and a fall oil change, typically.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

The ingredients are there with our engines to last a surprisingly long time.

7k in the PUG is a breeze. I just do 5k because I like doing it and that puts me on pace for a spring and a fall oil change, typically.

There's another great reason to "adjust" the miles on oil - hitting seasonal changes.
If I went strictly by miles on some vehicles, it might be 2 years - ugh, no way.
Better shorter to make it at least the major season changes.
That's a great point and reason.

 

[Capngeo]

I’m in the land clearing business; my machines get run HARD. They all use Rotella T6.
Trucks with oil life indicators typically go ~15k miles to oil service, machines go from 500-1000 hrs depending on application. Oil analysis backs up that interval.
I change my Diesel Glad at 7500 miles. Thinking of using T6 in it too. (So far Penzoil euro)

 

[DanW]

I’m in the land clearing business; my machines get run HARD. They all use Rotella T6.
Trucks with oil life indicators typically go ~15k miles to oil service, machines go from 500-1000 hrs depending on application. Oil analysis backs up that interval.
I change my Diesel Glad at 7500 miles. Thinking of using T6 in it too. (So far Penzoil euro)

Rotella T6 is stout oil!

A few years back, I bought on clearance a bunch of Shell Rotella Gas Truck 0w20 and ran it in my JL and JK. I did a few analyses and it always showed very well. IIRC, one run was about 8500 miles and the oil was in excellent shape. The Pentastar in Jeep service is a cake walk for that oil. Too bad it didn't do well in the marketplace. I felt it had some better base numbers than Pennzoil's Platinum or Ultra, which are both very good oils, IMO. For example, it had a significantly higher flash point.

I ran T6 in my ATV's back in the day when I had a few quads, too.

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