I just changed the oil in my SSVR Ute after 9 months and 155km's. Oil looked practically brand new but I'm thinking is an oil change really necessary at 9 month intervals when the car isn't driven much? An oil analysis in these circumstances would likely confirm if the oil change intervals could be extended. I'll start my Ute up 2 or 3 times a week and move it between sheds and take it for a spin around the block sometimes, with a few cold start and condensation factors at play that I'm not sure how relevant that is to oil deterioration.
My SV6 Ute did 3300km's in 9 months and the oil was starting to discolour a bit and worthy of changing I thought.
I‘d expect it’s the condensation from moving cold cars between sheds that can be the problem in your use case… the oil never really gets hot enough to boil out any water or fuel condensate.
An analysis may be interesting to see whether the oil can stay longer but as I’ve mentioned, it’s probably not economical to do at a cost of $30 - $50 when oil on discount isn’t much more. And the “therapy” of an oil change can’t be dismissed
Having said that, I still think modern oils have some extra headroom as compared to the stuff I felt with when first starting to work on my cars… The following testing method may be of interest to some:
Seems like modern oils are rather better properties these days, especially the more expensive stuff, so @ 2000kms, we may be throwing away good oil when it’s unnecessary to do so… But I don’t really know… .
An interesting side thought, as my concerns are cold running, I wonder whether those engine block heaters used in freezing climates could help to get our cars warm before the first engine start. Such may allow them to get up-to temp much quicker, especially in aussie winters. Thus we avoid those cold start wear issues and oil dilution issues while more quickly boiling the condensate out of the oil on not as long drives
PS: Seems a block heater can cause a P0116 “Engine Coolant Temperature Range Mismatch” error since a warm block & cold air intake confuses the system at startup. So GM uses a block heaters (p/n 12367827) with thermostatically controlled cable (p/n ?) that only turns on below 0F (-18C) presumably because it’s below a threshold where such a DTC can be flagged. Kinda makes it useless down under … Fcuken modern cars, can’t even chuck on a block heater with out dramas