The Completely Pointless Thread II

[LKTraz]

0

WTF......can't they read?

[Twitchin Kitten]

0

apparently not. It even says the oil weight on the engine in big red letters.

[TenFour]

0

does it burn oil a little bit like caddy STS northstar engines? 4k miles is pretty frequent these days.

[Twitchin Kitten]

0

Nah, this car is tight, oil clear.

[TenFour]

0

lol if the oil still looks clear go another thousand anyways

[Biker Dude]

0

Nah, this car is tight, oil clear.

4k would be WAY early these days. Does your car not have the oil life indicator? Unless you are beating the shit out of it I would expect you to be able to go 5-6k. Easy. Put synthetic in it.

[AnthonyG]

0

I only do my first oil change at 5k after that 7500k easy if its synthetic I go longer, big decider is how the oil looks etc. Alot of the dealers do the 3k/4 months because they want to "train" the purchaser to come in to get it changed more frequently so they make more money. By saying to do it in 4 month intervals instead of 6 they are getting double the money out of the person every year in oil changes.

[LKTraz]

0

If you go over 1,000 miles and your oil is still clean then you need to change brands/formulations. Oil has several functions. Lubrication, cooling, cushioning/gap sealing and detergent.

Lubrication is the obvious job.

Cooling becomes obvious after someone brings your attention to it.

Cushioning/gap sealing doesn't occur to most people. All engines have necessary clearance gaps. Without them they would be too tight to work! Due to this oil seals these gaps while allowing the engine to operate and cushions parts against hard impact with other components.

Detergent action removes particles from normal wear and those that are by-products of combustion. If your oil is "clean" after 1,000 miles it isn't doing its job removing and suspending particles. It should turn slightly cloudy by the 1K mile mark, deepen in color by 2k, take on a grey-ish color by 3k and turn black after that. The real indicator of time for a change is viscosity breakdown. Near change time it will start to thin out and thus lose some of its lubrication and cushioning ability.

[Twitchin Kitten]

0

Nah, this car is tight, oil clear.

4k would be WAY early these days. Does your car not have the oil life indicator? Unless you are beating the shit out of it I would expect you to be able to go 5-6k. Easy. Put synthetic in it.

They most likely figured by the miles I had on it from the day of purchase and figure I drive it that often.
Took it in March, oil change now. Considering I did a road trip to Md and lots of trips into the city, that's a lot of miles for me. Normally the car sits all week until the weekends.

I only do my first oil change at 5k after that 7500k easy if its synthetic I go longer, big decider is how the oil looks etc. Alot of the dealers do the 3k/4 months because they want to "train" the purchaser to come in to get it changed more frequently so they make more money. By saying to do it in 4 month intervals instead of 6 they are getting double the money out of the person every year in oil changes.

They're getting as little out of me as possible. First change is free and now I'm going to Tranz Connection from now on. I'll be going to Bobby sometime next week anyway. Assholes never rotated the tires for me or changed the tranny fluid. Yeah, I know you don't have to, but I like to maintain good care habits from day 1 and not have to hear anyone tell me I can't change the fluid now due to slag sloughing off from the gears and shit like that. Never mind the bullshit they told me about 20 weight oil.

I'm old school. I will always do it at 3K. I don't mind spending $20 at Bobby's to do a simple oil change at 3K instead of 5K. If I go over a little with this schedule then I know I am still OK and no need to worry about the delay.

[Biker Dude]

0

If you are breaking the oil's viscosity down, then you probably need a different vehicle for whatever you are doing. That is EXTREME oil wear. If you run synthetic you could conceivably never need to change your oil. All you would need to do is refresh they additives. The base oil stock would be fine forever. That and change the filter.

Of course 'gap' sealing. Oil seals the 'gaps' between bearings. There is no metal on metal contact if you have proper lubrication. The zinc and phosphorus in the oil is the main protection against this. But it's protection is brief. Oil pressure is real protector.

Synthetic will help here. it is better at cooling, and it doesn't leave behind the varnish and sludge that dino oil will. Mostly because it's flash point is so much higher. A large part of what you are seeing in oil changing color is the oil itself changing from vaporization, not contaminants in the oil.

People have really been brain washed into the '3k oil change or you are a bad car owner!' bit. It's is well done on the repair industries part. 5k is easy. Figure how much money you will save over the life of a car. And I always do my own. I end up changing my trucks way too often, if it even gets it twice a year. Last year I put 7k on it. Most of it is winter driving, during the summer I can go 5-6 weeks between fill-ups.