Never change your oil? You get what you deserve

like this Saturn rental:

http://jalopnik.com/5235675/saturn-rental-car-never-gets-oil-change-engin
e-carnage-ensues-after-30000-miles

 

Let's fix that link up a bit...
<http://jalopnik.com/5235675/saturn-rental-car-never-gets-oil-change-engine-carnage-ensues-after-30000-miles>


My own site has a few interesting pics:
<http://www.tegger.com/hondafaq/sludge/index.html>
and
<http://www.tegger.com/hondafaq/sludge/cleaning_sludge.html>

 

Let's fix that link up a bit...
<http://jalopnik.com/5235675/saturn-rental-car-never-gets-oil-change-engine-carnage-ensues-after-30000-miles>


My own site has a few interesting pics:
<http://www.tegger.com/hondafaq/sludge/index.html>
and
<http://www.tegger.com/hondafaq/sludge/cleaning_sludge.html>

 

the funny thing is though, neither of those two engines show signs of
extraordinary wear. sludge, yes. [typical of short trip stuff where
the motor doesn't warm up properly.] should they have changed their
oil, yes. but those cams are not distressed so no mechanical harm done.

 

the funny thing is though, neither of those two engines show signs of
extraordinary wear. sludge, yes. [typical of short trip stuff where
the motor doesn't warm up properly.] should they have changed their
oil, yes. but those cams are not distressed so no mechanical harm done.

 

I was told (by more than one mechanic) that so long as the oil pickup
screen isn't plugged, engines can survive a lot of sludge. What ultimately
kills them is blockage of the oil pickup screen.

 

I was told (by more than one mechanic) that so long as the oil pickup
screen isn't plugged, engines can survive a lot of sludge. What ultimately
kills them is blockage of the oil pickup screen.

 

At which time all kinds of alarms should be going off such as low oil
pressure often accompanied by overheating etc.

OTOH, old worn out oil can be hard on bearing surfaces. I had a failure
on a V6 cam, (right after the second lobe), after a run of 10K between
oil changes including a few "check engine" lights. Car had 160K on it
and it failed suddenly and took about a month of tryin' this 'n that
before finally pulling the intake manifold which revealed the ugly truth.

Thankfully, the rearmost bearing was ok but the others not so good but
in a position to replace without pulling the engine.

Now, I'm pretty fastidious with regard to oil changes... Usually about
5K with dino oils.

JT

 

At which time all kinds of alarms should be going off such as low oil
pressure often accompanied by overheating etc.

OTOH, old worn out oil can be hard on bearing surfaces. I had a failure
on a V6 cam, (right after the second lobe), after a run of 10K between
oil changes including a few "check engine" lights. Car had 160K on it
and it failed suddenly and took about a month of tryin' this 'n that
before finally pulling the intake manifold which revealed the ugly truth.

Thankfully, the rearmost bearing was ok but the others not so good but
in a position to replace without pulling the engine.

Now, I'm pretty fastidious with regard to oil changes... Usually about
5K with dino oils.

JT

 

People who let their oil go that long are not the sort to pay much
attention to how well the engine is running. Or else they studiously ignore
any evident problems, perhaps in the hopes that they will go away on their
own.

I'm 3K or less, with synthetic. Yeah, I know. It's "recreational" oil
changing. It makes me feel better.

 

People who let their oil go that long are not the sort to pay much
attention to how well the engine is running. Or else they studiously ignore
any evident problems, perhaps in the hopes that they will go away on their
own.

I'm 3K or less, with synthetic. Yeah, I know. It's "recreational" oil
changing. It makes me feel better.

 

i let my oil go long, but i pay studious attention to how well the
engine's running.

dude, with respect, that's crazy. a quality synthetic is formulated to
let you run long. the conditions to be met include:

1. base oil doesn't break down
2. additives don't break down
3. other additives cope with the chemistry

conventional oil bases do break down, their additives break down, and
because of the first two, they also have a correspondingly lowered
ability to cope with chemical load like acids. given that #'s 1 & 2 are
easy for synthetics to achieve, #3 is the one to look for, and it's
/loaded/ so it can go way beyond your 3k.

discoloration of the oil doesn't mean a damned thing since the filter
ensures particles are below the wear threshold. my buddy who works for
exxon-mobil has a chevy tahoe. the fall-back factory service interval
on that is 3k. using the analysis resources he has available, he has
the service interval pushed out to 25k. again, that's a 25,000 mile oil
change interval based on analysis.

conclusion: 3k on synthetic is crazy.

 

i let my oil go long, but i pay studious attention to how well the
engine's running.

dude, with respect, that's crazy. a quality synthetic is formulated to
let you run long. the conditions to be met include:

1. base oil doesn't break down
2. additives don't break down
3. other additives cope with the chemistry

conventional oil bases do break down, their additives break down, and
because of the first two, they also have a correspondingly lowered
ability to cope with chemical load like acids. given that #'s 1 & 2 are
easy for synthetics to achieve, #3 is the one to look for, and it's
/loaded/ so it can go way beyond your 3k.

discoloration of the oil doesn't mean a damned thing since the filter
ensures particles are below the wear threshold. my buddy who works for
exxon-mobil has a chevy tahoe. the fall-back factory service interval
on that is 3k. using the analysis resources he has available, he has
the service interval pushed out to 25k. again, that's a 25,000 mile oil
change interval based on analysis.

conclusion: 3k on synthetic is crazy.

 

When I was a kid, I had an old Rambler that leaked/burned so much oil,
it was in a state of perpetual change.....

 

When I was a kid, I had an old Rambler that leaked/burned so much oil,
it was in a state of perpetual change.....

 

I had a 79 Civic, same thing. When the oil light flickered on a hard
right turn, it was time to add more.

 

I had a 79 Civic, same thing. When the oil light flickered on a hard
right turn, it was time to add more.

 

well, he DID say it was recreational.

I think fishing is crazy, but...

 

well, he DID say it was recreational.

I think fishing is crazy, but...

 

So is skydiving.