I switched to full synthetic oil on my last change and since the truck is parked for 6 months while we are in Tucson (only driven once a month or so) and used at our summer cabin for six months now…(4000 miles) and the oil dips a bit low and looks darkish… it has been in the truck for a year now…should I change it or not? The truck has 81K miles.
YES. Change it.
Does Dodge recommend changing oil at least once per year? If so, I would change it.
Many/most manufacturers say to change the oil at LEAST once a year, even if the vehicle sees very limited use
That means if a year has elapsed, change it, even if the oil life monitor is not yet asking for an oil change
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it has been in the truck for a year now…
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It’s been in the ground for millions of years.
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Yes, change it and the filter.
Yep, once a year or 3-5000 miles whichever comes first. Doesn’t matter if its dino or synthetic.
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Whenever you’re in doubt about whether or not to change the oil, change it. Even if it doesn’t need it. No harm can come from changing your oil.
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Re. oil looking dark: some folks (like on BobIsTheOilGuy) claim that synthetic oil has stronger cleaning properties than conventional.
So the first time synthetic is put into an engine that has been using conventional the synthetic will dissolve deposits left behind by conventional oil and get dark.
Note that visual appearance says very little about oil condition, although I’d be inclined to change oil early in a non-diesel if it’s coal black.
One winter as a experiment I used 0w-30 synthetic instead of 5w-30 conventional to see if there were any change in mpg.
The oil did get a bit darker over 5000 miles than conventional, so maybe there’s some truth to cleaning properties of synth.
Thanks, Circuitsmith… for sharing your thoughts… I went ahead and changed the oil anyway…just to be safe…
J.R.