110,000 miles and never changed oil

[opus]

20 yrs ago I had a friend who's Dad had a 1964 Olds with a 300 something cu in engine. He had never changed the oil on it, just the filter every now and again.

We're so critical about what oil, what filter, what weight and so on, didnt seem like it mattered in this case......rather interesting.

 

[TC]

I'll take your word on this as gospel, although I know that sometimes stories like this are inadverdently morphed via time and retelling from person to person.

That engine might have still run, but it may have had a wickedly thick "butter" of sludge coating its internals -- an eventual recipe for engine failure. Sometime back I posted some comments by a Valvoline researcher on neglected oil, taken from an L.A. Times article. Among other things, he said that after about 15K miles, conventional oil starts to progressively gel -- I can't even conceive of a functioning 110,000 mi oil. Also, due to issues such as heat, smog controls, and RPM, a 2005 Ford Zetec engine (a random choice) is going to be tougher on oil than a "couch potato" 1964 Olds engine.

 

[opus]

You should have known these people....oh yeah, its gospel for sure. Had 2 of them for that matter. They had a 1965 Pontiac Lemans that got the same treatment.

 

[Bobert]

Maybe his car burned oil and he simply just topped up for the cars entire history. If he was changing filters, he would have at least topped up for the lost oil from the filter. The filter changes could have been just enough to filter the crud from building up too much in the engine.

 

[XS650]

quote:

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Originally posted by opus:
You should have known these people....oh yeah, its gospel for sure. Had 2 of them for that matter. They had a 1965 Pontiac Lemans that got the same treatment.

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I worked for Pacific Telephone about the same time. They didn't change oil in the company cars or light duty trucks. They normally got over 60,000 miles before they beeded to replace the engine.

According to the bean counters, it was cheper to do that than to follow recommended oil change intevals when you considered maintnenance costs for proper oil changes. Rebuilt engines were real cheap in large quantities then and it didn't take long to swap one out.

They data was flawed somewhat by that fact that many of the people assigned company cars that got to take them home changed their own oil at home. They couldn't stand to see their compsny cars abused like that. Maybe that was part of the bean counters plan.

 

[Jackpot01]

I knew a guy in HS who's family just didnt change oil in anything. He had an 80-something Dodge 1/2 ton pickup with a Slant-6 and he didnt change oil in it. He just topped off when needed. That thing ran forever, it had 200k on it when we were right out of school. Not sure whatever happened to the Grey Ghost, next time I see him I will have to ask him.

Eric

 

[SWS]

I have a co-worker who drives 50 minutes on the interstate twice per day to/from work. Climate is Tennessee. His experience and OCI philosophy is completely different from mine, a short-trip in-town driver. He changes the filter and tops-off with dino oil regularly, but seems rather casual about performing full oil changes. He can get-by with this, with '90s-vintage car & truck, due to his daily driving pattern. I am quite sure that I could not do this with my in-town driving pattern on my high-revving Hondas.

That being said, note, however, that there are several posts on this board about sludge and mechanical damage when the Owner's Manual OCI has been followed, even with mostly highway driving.

My limited observation is that some of the people who will not change oil on a "reasonable" interval have a false sense of confidence and other personality flaws. Over time, they have a lot of mechanical & functional problems with everything they own (not just cars), but they never learn a lesson. I used to be QUITE frustrated with such people, but then I realized that this type of consumer will eventually push the car makers and other product suppliers to build more robust product, which will benefit me. Therefore, I gladly let them do "abuse testing" on stuff, and if they ever recommend something then I know it is good!

 

[Tim]

quote:

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Originally posted by Bobert:
Maybe his car burned oil and he simply just topped up for the cars entire history.

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Exactly my thought. Given this treatment, one might expect it to burn a fair amount, starting as early at 30-40,000 miles.

He probably did oil changes, all right. Just slowly instead of all at once

Tim

 

[2019CRVlx]

quote:

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Originally posted by XS650:

Originally posted by opus:
[qbAccording to the bean counters, it was cheper to do that than to follow recommended oil change intevals when you considered maintnenance costs for proper oil changes.

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Perhaps the bean counters were correct when you factor in the down time of the crew = lost labor hours.

 

[Russell]

had a bmw e28 with very bad valve guides. It used a quart of 20w50 castrol and one container of bardol no-smoke every 700 miles. I drove it about 100,000 miles that way. I "officially" changed the oil and filter perhaps once a year/15.000 miles. never got worse. It was self changing. LOL.

 

[Gene K]

quote:

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Originally posted by Jackpot01:
I He had an 80-something Dodge 1/2 ton pickup with a Slant-6 and he didnt change oil in it. He just topped off when needed. That thing ran forever, it had 200k on it when we were right out of school.

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You cant kill a Slant 6. They almost all leak oil. At 1 Qt of add oil per 1000 mi they will run forever. Pre-1980 models had mechanical cams and I have seen those with 200,000-300,000 mi that never had the valves adjusted.

Gene

 

[michaelc80]

I've rebuilt a number of old tractor engines from the 40's and 50's that probably never had the oil changed from the factory fill, and they were still running when I rebuilt them. The older motors were no where as strict for tolerances, and once they started using oil it was just a matter of a gradual change instead of all at once. But, the inside of those engines was incredibly sludged up, and reasonable oil changes would probably have prevented the rebuild in the first place.

But not changing the oil on my vehicles? No way.

 

[rshaw125]

I had a Volkswagen Beetle (70 model) Hateful car.It leaked from the main seal and burned a little oil. I added a quart every 500- 750 miles. No filter to change. Never did change the oil. Just bought a few quarts of Havoline every few months to top it off. I put about 75,000 miles on it and sold it for more than I paid for it.

 

[opus]

So, the magical question....

Does changing oil every 50 miles (lol!) really contribute to longer engine life?

Common sense would say yes, but seems there are a bunch of those 'other'folk who have proven us wrong.

BTW, yes, I wil continue to change my oil at my specified intervals.

 

[TomJones76]

quote:

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Originally posted by opus:
So, the magical question....

Does changing oil every 50 miles (lol!) really contribute to longer engine life?

Common sense would say yes, but seems there are a bunch of those 'other'folk who have proven us wrong.

BTW, yes, I wil continue to change my oil at my specified intervals.

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I've seen people on this board argue that the additive chemistry in motor oils expects to be "activated" by heat, and may not be at peak performance when freshly changed.
If you look at the chart listed under Interpreting Wear Metals here: http://neptune.spacebears.com/cars/stories/mobil1.html
you'll note that the parts per million of many wear metals per mile travelled is actually HIGHEST at the lowest mileage. It seems like you change your oil, drive 2 miles, and BAM, the oil has 50% of its wear metals back again.
As long as we're talking about what harm changing your oil does, look at stinkypeterson's discussion of what's in "virgin" oil: http://theoildrop.server101.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=008994

 

[1sttruck]

The link below includes a project to have NIST simulate used oil for wear testing. As I recall an earlier suggestion was to add abrasives to new oil in an attempt to develop a standard 'used oil'. I'm still looking for some of the referenced studies, but so far it doesn't sound like used oil generates less wear than new oil.

http://www.eere.energy.gov/vehiclesandfuels/pdfs/high-strength/4a_improved_friction.pdf

 

[kenw]

If you add a quart of oil every 500 miles and your car holds 4 quarts, then you have technically "changed" your oil every 2000 miles.

It's math, not rocket science.....

 

[XS650]

quote:

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Originally posted by michaelc80:
...and they were still running when I rebuilt them.

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Sounds dangerous

 

[pitzel]

quote:

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Originally posted by 1sttruck:
http://www.eere.energy.gov/vehiclesandfuels/pdfs/high-strength/4a_improved_friction.pdf

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Look on PDF page #3, Table 1. The coefficient of friction is lower for used motor oil as opposed to the virgin 15W-40 motor oil.

quote:

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but so far it doesn't sound like used oil generates less wear than new oil.

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That document seems to contradict your statement, it would seem that they found even less friction, and thus, less wear, with the used motor oil.

 

[Terry]

Lower cF does not neccessarily equate to reduced wear in the example cited by pitzel.

More than likely born out by vis reduction caused by the used oil shearing out of design grade. Which would allow increased wear over time in a less controlled environment.

Heat activated additives also contribute to virgin motor oil be less lubricious until they have been in use for a few heat cycles.

Pitzel I did not read the whole study but will give it a read when I can.