Innovations Extend Life Of Oil In Newer Vehicles

[Ming]

Innovations Extend Life Of Oil In Newer Vehicles
Feb 24, 2005

DENVER (CBS4) There are three things to keep in mind when deciding how often to change your oil. Top of the list is: how old is your car? And how often do you drive it? And how far do you go?

The answers to those questions make a big difference.

Driving in the Mile High city isn't always easy. But what does it mean for your engine? Everyone seems to have a different rule for when your engine's oil should be changed.

Some say every 3,000 miles. Others go with 4,000 miles. Some just change the oil when they think of it.

Businesses that specialize in oil changes say change it every three months or 3,000 miles.

"It's just a lot better for your engine in the long run," one mechanic said.

The mechanics at Leetsdale Lube Express say if you wait much longer than that, "you're probably getting really bad gas mileage. You have a good chance of blowing a seal."

So why do many car makers recommend longer intervals, especially with newer cars?

"They run a lot cleaner," one automotive company spokesman said. "The oil doesn't break down as fast."

General Motors is taking the guess work out of when to change your oil with a product they are calling the oil life system. The new system automatically monitors how a car uses oil.

"Not just how many miles are driven, or the amount of time the oil's been in the car, but actually the revolutions it's seen and whether those revolutions were fully warmed up," a GM spokesman said.

One dash indicator tells the driver how much the oil has broken down, or its viscosity. When the oil life is almost gone another light indicates it's time for a change.

"Typically, with our drivers, we're seeing between 5,000, 6,000, maybe 7,000 miles," said the shop foreman at Mike Shaw Buick, who added if your car doesn't have the oil life system you can figure it out yourself, depending on your driving patterns.

If you start your car every day and drive at least 10 miles each way, "that's ideal," the shop foreman said. "You'll probably see the 6,000 or 7,000 mile interval, then."

If you take shorter trips, "the engine never gets to operating temperature, you tend to develop a lot of condensation in the crank case," he said.

In that case, you're back to three months or 3,000 miles. The same goes if you drive in the mountains.

"For a couple of reasons," he said. "There's a lot of dust in the mountains. There's sand on I-70, so it's going to suck that in the crank case."

Full Article HERE: http://news4colorado.com/localnews/l...055123827.html

[BigAls87Z28]

I agree with this, but always keep this in the back of your mind.
Its anywhere from 20-30 bucks for your average oil change, and its 4-8k for an average new engine. If you dont have an oil life monitor, keep it at 3-4k miles at 3-4 months.

[Havasavana]

There is very good information available to support longer intervals in changing oil. First, a study is in progress and reported at http://neptune.spacebears.com/cars/s.../oil-life.html. The person doing the work first tested Mobil 1 and kept it in for 18,000 miles. The second test was with AMS oil and it lasted 14,000 miles. Some interesting info is available on his site.

Second, a paper is available at the SAE site; you have to pay I think $12 for it. This paper, 2003-01-3119, documents a study done by Ford and Conoco-Phillips. I have read the paper and the findings support what you see at the link above. That is, that longer intervals are better; the highest wear rate occurs just after a change.

My savanna has an oil life monitor and it usually indicates a change is due at about 9,500 miles. I change at about 7-8k though. I almost never go less than 10 miles per start-up, so the conditions are near ideal for oil life.

Also, Cummins has an oil management system called Sentinel that involves burning off lubrication oil by injecting it into the fuel stream and making up the lost oil with fresh oil. This lets users go as much as 525,000 miles between changes. It's my understanding that filters are changed during this time, and of course the incremental removal/replenishment is what makes this method work.

[BigAls87Z28]

While sythnetics are fantastic, and I use them in all of my vehicles, id say that most people go to a shop and pay the 20-25 bucks and have Joe Mechanic do it for them.
Working in the biz, I can tell you that most people dont even know there is differnt types of oil...hell, Id be surprised if most the people that come into my shop even know how to check there oil!
I have seen countless examples of 7, 10, and even 15k miles between oil changes. People who get there oil change when the little light is on, thoes are the ones that scare me, cause thoes are the SAME people that go till the steel belt sticks out of teh side wall, till the brakes come to a evil grind, and guess what...they are driving next to you.

[AndrewGS]

Originally Posted by BigAls87Z28

While sythnetics are fantastic, and I use them in all of my vehicles, id say that most people go to a shop and pay the 20-25 bucks and have Joe Mechanic do it for them.
Working in the biz, I can tell you that most people dont even know there is differnt types of oil...hell, Id be surprised if most the people that come into my shop even know how to check there oil!
I have seen countless examples of 7, 10, and even 15k miles between oil changes. People who get there oil change when the little light is on, thoes are the ones that scare me, cause thoes are the SAME people that go till the steel belt sticks out of teh side wall, till the brakes come to a evil grind, and guess what...they are driving next to you.

Those are the same people that complain their cars are junk because they have to have stuff done to it.

I personally use Mobil 1 every 3,000-4,000 miles. I wait until the first opportunity after 3,000 miles, not waiting more than 4,000.

[GM_Guy81]

I personally have hoped my 93 Jeep Cherokee would throw a rod for years not so that I can get a different car. So its been a while between oil changes for it. But now that I have a job and have graduated college, My GTO (when I get it) will get new mobile 1 every 3-4k.

[MelvinJ]

There's a letter to the editor in Car and Driver this month from a mechanic at a GM dealership. He said that even with the oil life monitor, some people still come in and have the oil changed at 3000 miles, even if the oil life monitor says it's good for 6000 miles or more. At the end of the letter he said, "You know where the used oil from their cars goes? Right into my car."

I use Mobil1 in everything I have and I change it when the light comes on. I suppose that the oil life monitors are calibrated for non-synthetics and that I could go longer, but it usually end up being 5000+ miles and I do a lot of around town driving, so I'm happy with getting that many miles out of it.

[slaughter58]

I have a dent in the oil pan right around the drian plug on my olds so it never seals properly. I have to keep adding so much I probably don't ever need to change the oil, just the filter. =)

[casket_demon]

Most of my cars reccomend an oil change @ about th 5k-6k mark. My Buick's owners manual reccomends an oil chage once every 7500 mi and as 4 my Lumina......I've had it 2 years now and hasn't had an oil change yet. I wonder how long it will hang in there B4 it calls it quits (184k on it now).

[04bonnie]

If oils don't break down that much, like previously said, then is it ok to go 3,000 miles between changes, even if it takes me 6 months to get to the mileage? (I think 3 months is too often, when the miles aren't driven)...just wondering?

[doh]

Oil life monitor is a great option. What most people do not realize is that it requires the use of GP3 grade oil. GP3 is fomulated to last 20% longer than normal oil, and that is what the monitor bases it Change Oil Soon on.

The use of regular grades of oil will mean that you are stretching the oil life by 20%. Also there are other system that require checks at regular intervals, this is why GM has come up with it's semi annual maintance. Asking it's customers to come in twice a year regaurdless if the Change Oil Light is on or not. This makes for the possiblity of trips for servicing of up to 5 times a year for normal driving, where normal maintance would only require 4 trips for servicing with the same mileage.

[Taycron]

Originally Posted by Ming

The mechanics at Leetsdale Lube Express say if you wait much longer than that, "you're probably getting really bad gas mileage. You have a good chance of blowing a seal."

That reminds me of the time when I went to the Aquarium..

[SVT2888]

Originally Posted by BigAls87Z28

While sythnetics are fantastic, and I use them in all of my vehicles, id say that most people go to a shop and pay the 20-25 bucks and have Joe Mechanic do it for them.
Working in the biz, I can tell you that most people dont even know there is differnt types of oil...hell, Id be surprised if most the people that come into my shop even know how to check there oil!
I have seen countless examples of 7, 10, and even 15k miles between oil changes. People who get there oil change when the little light is on, thoes are the ones that scare me, cause thoes are the SAME people that go till the steel belt sticks out of teh side wall, till the brakes come to a evil grind, and guess what...they are driving next to you.

Thats my cousin. Had his car for nearly two years. Changed the oil right after he got it and only changed it one more time 1 1/2 years later. Changed the tires until they looked like racing slicks. Then he wonders why the car broke down. He curses the poor Super Coupe and calls it a piece of junk.

[SVT2888]

Originally Posted by casket_demon

as 4 my Lumina......I've had it 2 years now and hasn't had an oil change yet. I wonder how long it will hang in there B4 it calls it quits (184k on it now).

[KingElvis]

I brought my Blazer into quck lube, and the head 'mechanic' was full of doom and gloom. When you refuse something called an 'oil system flush' they start talking about the dire consequence of "blowing your engine" (whatever that it is).

Of course the jiffy people are going to say every 3000miles. Hell why not change it every 500miles if you want to avoid "blowing your engine."

The most interesting thing I saw here:

Most wear occurs right after the oil change. Why?