100 year old man outlook on oil.

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I have a friend that is almost 100 years old.He changes his oil himself on his car,his garden tractor and his rototiller.His car has almost 100,000 miles.His garden tractor has in his opinion around 5,000 hrs cutting 5 acres of grass.Rototiller looks like it belonged to jesus it is so old.He has never had a engine related problem ever,so i asked him why.He replies is, i don,t use fancy oil indicators,or manuals telling me when to change my oil.I pull the dipstick run it through my fingers and if it looks like it is starting to get dirty it,s has to go.Luck is luck but a run of almost 100 years is a pretty good track record.Sometimes old school methods make alot of sense.No fancy gadjets allowed in his house. ( 2 men fishing one man says to the other man "my wife is an angle" the other man says your lucky my wife is still alive.)
 
Well back in his day oils were not what they are today. So I could see how one would want to change when it looks dark with an SA oil.
 
Changing your oil every 10 miles should make your engines last a lifetime, but people don't. 100 year old man advice or not, likely his methods meant he ended up changing it more frequently then necessary, which obviously works if you ignore the cost and waste of resources to do so.
 
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All that's missing is a 10 year posting history on BITOG and then we'd HAVE to listen to him.

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I'm just impressed that's he's still changing his oil and doing the lawn. It must be keeping him healthy.
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Originally Posted By: RiceCake
Changing your oil every 10 miles should make your engines last a lifetime, but people don't. 100 year old man advice or not, likely his methods meant he ended up changing it more frequently then necessary, which obviously works if you ignore the cost and waste of resources to do so.


SAE paper says otherwise.
 
I have eight cars with well over 100,000 miles apiece. I do use fancy synthetic oils and hi-tech gizmos on several of them that tell me when to change the oil.

I also have an old tractor, four old lawn mowers, and an ancient tiller. I don't even change the oil in those, they use so much I just keep adding fresh every time I use them.

I have every fancy gadget known to man in my house, plus seven cats.

And I'm only 33!
 
Originally Posted By: jamesonel
( 2 men fishing one man says to the other man "my wife is an angle" the other man says your lucky my wife is still alive.)


I don't get it. what kind of angle is his wife? acute or obtuse? and what does it mean?
 
None of my many vehicles in over five decades of ownership has ever experienced an engine related problem with over 100,000 miles either...100K mile durability is not difficult to obtain.
 
Originally Posted By: MinamiKotaro
I have eight cars with well over 100,000 miles apiece. I do use fancy synthetic oils and hi-tech gizmos on several of them that tell me when to change the oil.

I also have an old tractor, four old lawn mowers, and an ancient tiller. I don't even change the oil in those, they use so much I just keep adding fresh every time I use them.

I have every fancy gadget known to man in my house, plus seven cats.

And I'm only 33!


What gizmos do you have that tell you when to change oil?
 
Originally Posted By: mpvue
Originally Posted By: jamesonel
( 2 men fishing one man says to the other man "my wife is an angle" the other man says your lucky my wife is still alive.)


I don't get it. what kind of angle is his wife? acute or obtuse? and what does it mean?


Angel
 
Originally Posted By: FoxS
What gizmos do you have that tell you when to change oil?


The oil life monitor on the two Saturns and the Taurus, and the hour meter on the tractor. I guess you could count the trip odometer on the aftermarket speedo in my Bug but I don't use it to tell me when to change oil. I change it every twenty tanks of gas, I just use the trip odometer to see how far I got with those twenty tanks.

The other cars, it's just kind of arbitrary. "Hmm, when did I change the oil in [car] last? Dunno, but it looks dirty. Guess I'll change it."
 
Originally Posted By: RiceCake
Changing your oil every 10 miles should make your engines last a lifetime, but people don't. 100 year old man advice or not, likely his methods meant he ended up changing it more frequently then necessary, which obviously works if you ignore the cost and waste of resources to do so.


So when does frequent pm stop becoming a waste of resources? At the split second before the engine explodes from too long an oci? Apparently, anytime before that would be wasting resources.
 
Originally Posted By: MinamiKotaro
I have eight cars with well over 100,000 miles apiece. I do use fancy synthetic oils and hi-tech gizmos on several of them that tell me when to change the oil.

I also have an old tractor, four old lawn mowers, and an ancient tiller. I don't even change the oil in those, they use so much I just keep adding fresh every time I use them.

I have every fancy gadget known to man in my house, plus seven cats.

And I'm only 33!


7 cats? Are you talking about the ones in your cars?

man that's a lot of cats.
 
I thought they had something to do with telling him when to change the oil.
 
OIls have changed over the years that is a fact.The way one person has success doing something may differ from the way someone else has success with different methods.It does,nt mean they are right or wrong.I appreciate all the positive comments brought forward.
"A mans wealth is not judged by his money but by his actions"
 
I only being 21 am about to sound old. Sometimes in life we over complicate things. This is especially true with all the technological advancements we have now. Sometimes a simple way is the best. There isnt a good reason to reinvent the wheel. And as far as dirty oil goes. I know people do not agree but my opinion is the longer its in the dirtier it gets so I think there is some validity to the dirty oil method. And i would imagine that all the money he saves by not using any fancy gizmos probably saves him enough money that he can afford to change his oil a "little"To often.
 
Originally Posted By: johnachak
So when does frequent pm stop becoming a waste of resources? At the split second before the engine explodes from too long an oci? Apparently, anytime before that would be wasting resources.


When the manufacturer calls for 7500mi OCI's and you're changing it at 3000, that's wasteful. Since oil could become noticeably "dirty" at even 2000mi, which is where I could see some people would change it based on that assumption that "dark is dirty", is very wasteful. If you're using good oil that is still healthy to 10000 or 12500mi, you're starting to use oil more effectively (the manufacturer has a margin of caution, so with UOA's most people, here at least, know how far they can safely push their oil). Changing it according to the manufacturer is a solid baseline, if you can change it less frequently then that and have an oil that is well within its capability to handle the extended OCI, its being efficient and wise.

But your entire comment is ludicrous and ignorant. Oil gets better, testing shows that, proper preventative maintenance means you can go longer without it. Somehow you've equated my comment on changing your oil at proper intervals being less wasteful then overly frequent or recreational oil changes or feel-good assumptions that "dirty is bad and it always has to look clean to be working", to me somehow saying everyone should absolutely neglect engine maintenance and run nowhere on the side of caution and stress every single OCI to 20000mi or more; I never did, try reading next time.
 
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