Calling Ultragauge users! Data Request

I'm running an ultragauge mx, I upgraded to it for the capability to read transmission temps(my old ultragauge couldn't). I love it, it's so handy to have so much data at a glance if you're into that sort of thing (I am). I however don't use my truck in the same manner as I would assume many of you do. My truck sees daily short trips of less than a mile and a lot of idle time. For example I changed my oil 4 days ago, at which time I reset the engine Runtime counter on my ultragauge. In roughly 50 miles since I changed my oil, I have accumulated over 6 hours of runtime. I typically drive 6,000-8,000 miles per year, sometimes more, sometimes less. I've been doing 3,000 mile oil changes with Mobil 1 EP 5w-30, and the OEM Toyota filter. Usually that works out to an OCI every 6-7 months.

On my last oil change I ran conventional oil (whatever the dealer was using) and a Toyota filter, I had my oil changed by the dealer while I had my truck in for the leaf spring recall... having the dealer change the oil is something I almost never do. The oil and filter on this truck, since new, have only been changed 2 times by someone other than myself. I got my oil changed at the dealer in May of 2016... Four months pass and I decided to pick up a new ultragauge, I had sold my old one to a friend earlier in the year. So in September I got my ultragauge MX and installed it the day I received it. So this is when it begins counting engine hours.

Alright, so fast forward to now, April 2017. I just changed my oil a few days ago and reset the engine hour counter.
I had accumulated ~200 engine hours over ~4200 miles, but I suspect that the actual count was closer to 300 hours, remember....I didn't have the ultragauge in the truck for the first 4 months of this OCI.

What I wish to find out from you guys is how many engine hours you guys are going on a typical OCI?

I want to know how many miles you are clocking in your OCIs and over how many months.

If you could include your average speed, as reported by your ultragauge that would be helpful as well.

What type of oil are you using? (you can just say conventional or synthetic, or specify exactly what you're using...it's up to you)

This is just to satisfy my own personal curiosity and get some data together about oil change intervals and how they can vary with different usages.

Many Diesel engine manufacturers say that you can change oil in their Diesel engines every 500 hours. But remember that diesels usually run hotter (which keeps the moisture boiled out of the oil) and are typically in service for longer stretches of time, meaning more time at operating temperature and less cold starts in between oil changes. Also bear in mind that Diesel engines typically hold much more oil than a gasoline engine, which helps to extend the oil change interval as well. Most gasoline engines are serviced in mileage incriments rather than by engine hours, whereas diesels are almost always serviced based upon engine hours.
Engine hours is a lot more relevant, in my opinion, than mileage, because mileage doesn't account for time in service when your vehicle isn't moving or is moving very slowly.
I found an article by Ford talking about engine failure in trucks that are used in stationary positions rather than over the road types of service. They said that one of the main causes of failure was due to failure to change oil in a timely manner, because people weren't accounting for idle time and were instead relying on the mileage to tell them when to change their oil. According to Ford, 1 hour of idle time is the equivalent to 25-30 miles of driving.


So, using those numbers, let's pretend that 25 miles represents 1 hour of runtime.
Toyota says to change the oil in these trucks every 5,000 miles.
5,000 / 25 = 200 hours.
5,000 / 30 = ~167 hours.

I haven't kept track of my average speed here lately, but when I did before, I was averaging 16 mph. Therefore:

5000 / 16 = 312.5 hours of runtime on one OCI, which I believe is why they recommend every 5,000 miles or 6 months.

Another example would be, if you drove for one hour per day and changed the oil every six months, that would be an oil change every 182.5 hours.

The only real data I could find for gasoline engines in terms of service intervals in hours was a stationary generac generator, which uses a Ford 5.4 engine. Generac calls for an oil change IIRC every 150 hours or once per year.

I know this is a long read, if you're still with me, I applaud you. Let's get this data together and get some real world numbers! Thanks in advance for anybody willing to help me out!

 

I don't keep track of engine hours on my gauge. My OCI are done on a 4 month cycle. I just switched to penzoil platinum synthetic. 5W30, and see how it looks in 4 months.

Our fleet garage at work wants our vehicles serviced every 100 hrs. We have hour meters in the trucks.

 

If you keep your gauge plugged in all the time like I do, would you be willing to reset your runtime hours on the gauge when you change your oil and tell me how many hours you run in an OCI? I realize I'm not gonna collect much data in a short amount of time. This thread is intended to collect information over time.

 

Sure will. Not sure if it will be any help being that I put about 350 miles on a month.

 

I'll have a look at my UG, but I usually account for extra time at idle by shortening my OCI.

 

That's perfect, I'm looking to get data from people on both ends of the spectrum, highway and city or lots of short trips/idling. That's the whole point of this thread. I want to see how different driving conditions impact the oil change interval. I see people saying all the time that it's a waste for people to dump synthetic oil at 3-4,000 miles.... what they don't account for is the fact that I may actually have more engine hours in that timeframe than they would in say 8 or 10k miles.

Excellent! I shorted my OCI as well, because I idle a lot and drive a lot of short trips. I want to see how many hours you are putting on your engine in a typical Oil change interval. I am also interested in seeing different peoples average speed. Right now my ultragauge is reporting 13mph average. If you keep track of your mileage and runtime you can figure out your average mph, then you can see how accurately your ultragauge is calibrated.

 

Here is the Ford information I referred to earlier. Ford OCI

 

Currently at 102.2 miles on this OCI.
8 hours 36 minutes of runtime.
Average speed 11.9 MPH.

 

I'd like to help but my Ultragauge fell off the mount last week...while I was closing the door. It's dead Jim. Probably need to pony up the bucks for a new MX.

 

Found this thread over on bobistheoilguy, lots of good info there.

I may start tracking fuel consumption as well.

Let's assume you can change oil based upon fuel consumed, the Tacoma has a combined fuel economy of 17 mpg, oil is supposed to be changed at 5,000 miles.

5,000/17= 294.12 gallons of fuel burned per OCI.

In my case I'm getting roughly 12 mpg, so to burn the same amount of fuel I would only need to drive (294.12 X 12) 3,529.44 miles.

Also a little update: 485.5 miles, 37 hours and 23 minutes, avg speed 13.0 mph.

 

I sent Blackstone an email and asked them a few questions and they emailed me back right away. Here is what they had to say:


This is at my most recent fill up: I also added the 'Gals trp' which keeps track of gallons used, I'm not sure how accurate it is, but I took this pic so I can see how much it shows that I have used in comparison to how much my tank holds at my next fill up. I have noticed that there is a slight difference in the trip mileage shown by my ultragauge and my truck odometer, I'm curious to see how much difference there is by the end of this OCI.


Also, this is unrelated to the Tacoma but I think it's interesting. I was looking through the book for one of our tractors, a John Deere 7210 that we purchased in 2001 I believe. The service book recommends changing the oil every 250 hours. Below that it states that your OCI can be extended to 375 hours if you use John Deere PLUS-50 oil and their John Deere Filter.
Then below that it states that you must change your oil every 125 hours if the diesel fuel you are using contains more than 0.5 percent sulfur.

Now John Deere has what they call PLUS-50 II, they say you can run for a 500 hour OCI if you use their oil and filter. They will warranty your equipment using 500 hr service intervals and I have seen UOA's on Bobistheoilguy that actually show that this oil is actually capable of running longer than that in some applications.
This is a 6.8 liter 6 cylinder Turbo Diesel engine (PowerTech 6068) that holds 5 gallons (20 quarts) of oil.


That is interesting to me, think about the flex fuel Toyota vehicles, if you use E-85 you have to change the oil every 2,500 miles according to Toyota. It makes you wonder how much fuel quality can affect your oil. It also tells you that oil has come a long way in recent years. While I think the JD oil is good stuff, I think there are a lot of diesel oils on the market that are capable of running 500 hours. If an engine that holds 5 gallons of oil can only go 250-500 hours, how long can a gas engine that holds 1.375 gallons of oil go on an oil change? For whatever its worth we have John Deere 2940 with over 12,000 original hours on it, it has always been ran on JD oil.
We also have a Massey (3 cylinder Perkins diesel) with over 10,000 original hours (the hour meter broke when it rolled over to 0 at 10,000 hours). The Massey has been ran on Chevron Delo 400 oil its whole life. The recommended interval on it is 100 hrs I think. When it was new it was changed every 100 hrs (filter at 200 hours), but I think the OCI has been extended out as it has gotten older. The Massey had an option for either a gas or diesel engine and both engines held the same amount of oil... the OCI was the same for both, this was in the 70's though.

 

Is this "Run trp" only available on the MX, or is the lesser model capable of this feature also?

 

My old one had the hour counter. I think it was a 1.2 or version 1 maybe. I think all ultragauges are capable of counting hours.
Edit: I would verify with UG before I ordered one, but so far as I know they are all capable of counting engine hours. I sold my old UG and bought the MX because I wanted transmission temps.

 

I just changed my oil this weekend and reset the run time. I will share my findings here when I change it next time. Even though I run synthetic oil I try to change it around 3,000 miles.

 

@topcathr have you got any data on this?

 

Do all of you leave your ultragauge plugged in all the time (i.e. 24/7 365)? I guess the only way to keep track of the data is to write down all the data before you unplug it and then add it all up in the end

 

I always keep mine plugged in unless I have to pull codes on another vehicle

 

I keep mine plugged in. It only records the data if it's plugged in. If it's showing 40 engine hours and then you unplug it for 20 hours and then plug it back in, it will still only be showing 40 hours.

 

Does it lose your previous data when you
Unplug it ? Or does it retain it

 

I've never lost any data by unplugging it, if unplugged for an extended period of time, maybe.... but I don't know for sure.