I was speaking with my neighbor, and we got on the topic of motor oil. He always has an interesting story of some sort, and today was no exception. Although I find some of his stories hard to believe, they keep ending up to be true.
Anyway, he claimed that he hates his company car (Lincoln LS). He had previously told me that he is the 2nd person to have this car. The first driver of the car was let go by the company, and appearantly that did not go over well. Before turning in the car, the prev driver loaded all of the various cavities of the car with dog food (the goal being that the car would attract dogs, racoons, rats, etc..). I did not fully believe this. I have ridden in the car, and the rear end makes a lot of noise. No one knows why, but the prev driver might have tampered with it.
Long story short, my neighbor claims that he will not change the oil, so the engine will fail, and he will get a new car. I did not fully believe him. Either he is joking, or at least exagerating.
Well, I called him on his oil change story. I came over to his house with my Blackstone sample kit and pump. He checked the oil change sticker on the windshield, which indicated the oil was 18 months old, and had 26,000 miles. He said that was done immediately before the car was turned over to him, and that the hood had never been opened since he has had the car.
We next opened the hood to check the oil. As the hood was lifted, I heard the noise of small things sliding around inside the hood. When I asked what the noise was, he said "that is the dog food from the prev driver". Indeed, some kibble did fall out. Another story verified. Next we checked the dip stick. The oil barely registers, only a little on the end. The oil is a dark brown/black, but not as dark as I expected.
We then pulled a sample from the dip stick tube, which will go out in Monday's mail. I will post the results as soon as I get them. The results should be interesting.
What should we expect from this UOA? Has anyone here ever submitted a UOA of a dino oil at 26,000 miles (with no make up oil added)?
26,000 Miles on Dino Oil?
- Thread starter DockHoliday
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I bet it's ugly! ![[Freak]](/forums/graemlins/freak2.gif)
We'll probably see a new low for TBN, can they go negative? Oxidation is going to be high, but I don't know about wear metals. It might not have gone too far yet. I don't think insolubles are going to be too high either, it's amazing how much crud a filter can hold.
We'll probably see a new low for TBN, can they go negative? Oxidation is going to be high, but I don't know about wear metals. It might not have gone too far yet. I don't think insolubles are going to be too high either, it's amazing how much crud a filter can hold.
Sounds like this guy is like my previous neighbor. Every time I went over to see him I took this meter and it was always looking like this:
Cressida - Good question. I did not think to check it. I talked him into getting his oil changed afterwards. I explained how some poor sole would buy this car from a used car lot, and would end up with a lemon. If he did get the oil changed, we will have lost the audit trail of the prev oil.
Keep in mind that the story of miles could be false. I am doing this partly to determine if he is telling the truth. I am really kind of wondering how a car could go 26,000 miles on dino oil without becoming totally out of oil. Burning a qt every 5K would result in no oil. I estimate that the car is down around 2 qts, so this car does not burn much oil if the story is true.
[ October 18, 2003, 10:23 PM: Message edited by: DockHoliday ]
Even if not true, I'm ROTFLMAO!!
You gotta get the brand.....of dog food.
quote:I can see the story now... "Consumer Reports: New York Taxi Cabs run 60,000 miles on Alpo. We pulled the engines apart to find next to no wear!..."
Originally posted by Pablo: Even if not true, I'm ROTFLMAO!! You gotta get the brand.....of dog food.
quote:Only a guess. But it fails the levels safe for continued use. Will this prevent in of itself the engine from going 300K, IMO a resounding NO for sure if it was an older engine, with todays light weight parts and plastic parts, how knows. The reason why I say this is because a couple members of the family (one in mind) ran the car barely adding oil and changing the filter once and awhile, til it SLUGGGGGied up, then they would flush a few times and do it again, by the third time around 300+ the while engine was shot, leaking and burning oil about a quart every day or two (tank to 1/2 tank of gas)they would get another car and repeat the process... this was their acceptable method and it worked for them most of their life.
Originally posted by DockHoliday: *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* What should we expect from this UOA? Has anyone here ever submitted a UOA of a dino oil at 26,000 miles (with no make up oil added)?
I once had a young Captin bring his Taurus Wagon in to the shop. He was complaining that the engine was running realy poorly and had no power.
Well this young officer did not know that oil had to be changed. He was simply adding oil to make up for consumptuion. To make the problem even worse he was driveing this car on th German AutoBahn daily with conventional oil.
The car had 50,000 miles on it and half of the valves were so carboned up that they were unable to close. Some of the valves had carbon build up fromt end to end!
Luckily that job went to my foreman! In all my years I have not seen valves with that much carbon on them!
Great story. The sump probally does not go dry because the oil becomes "concentrated" into some ever-thickening glob. I changed oil in a friend's VW 2.0 today, 2.5 quarts low in a 4 quart sump. She was running around all summer with only a quart-and-a-half in her 20,000 mile car. I had to add 2 quarts before draining and run it to belch that old oil out. Sad. ![[Frown]](images/icons/frown.gif)
Rotella to the rescue.
Rotella to the rescue.quote:Doesn't just amaze you what some people do to their vehicles...
Originally posted by TSoA: Great story. The sump probally does not go dry because the oil becomes "concentrated" into some ever-thickening glob. I changed oil in a friend's VW 2.0 today, 2.5 quarts low in a 4 quart sump. She was running around all summer with only a quart-and-a-half in her 20,000 mile car. I had to add 2 quarts before draining and run it to belch that old oil out. Sad.
Patman
Staff member
The UOA on this car will be the one we've all been waiting for on here! I'm sure it will be ugly.
This is why I hate buying used!!!!
quote:BINGO!
This is why I hate buying used!!!!
![[crushedcar]](/forums/graemlins/crushedcar.gif)
On the flip side of getting used cars, who ever got my last few cars will be very happy. Mobil 1 changed a 7K intervals, all recommended dealer maintenance, no accidents, and lots of highway miles. The high mileage causes the cars to depreciate quickly, so several people have gotten real bargains.
A few months ago, I changed the oil in my friend's car with 30k on the oil. You would not believe the sludge that came out of it. The oil level was full, and did not seem to use any oil. She said the last oil change had been done by firestone (and the oil change reminder sticker on the windshield supported that), and it confirmed that it was almost 27k overdue. ![[Eek!]](images/icons/shocked.gif)
The paint on the oil filter was almost completely rusted off, and I could barely read the firestone markings. I can't even believe the car still ran. It really made me change my opinion of hyundai.
The paint on the oil filter was almost completely rusted off, and I could barely read the firestone markings. I can't even believe the car still ran. It really made me change my opinion of hyundai.quote:That is what's nice about used cars that came with an inclusive-service package when new. (Audi was the first in 1987) Completely free service attention from the DEALER for the first 3 years, oil changes too. Although it is usually dealer oil...at 7500 miles, it *is* better then nothing. I agree, used car purchase requires an owner interview. One car I bought, the older owner had 10 reciepts for OC at exactly 5,000 mile intervals from his corner mechanic and the dealer "freebies". I was pleased with paper records, but the electronic records at the dealer would give indication and assurance that some level of service was achieved. Also, I like to have the previous owner drive ME in the car before I buy so I can check for any bad habits like rev-starting, dropping into reverse before stopping, hard acceleration when cold, etc...
This is why I hate buying used!!!!
![[Confused]](images/icons/confused.gif){kind=icon}
Most companies that use or have cars for employees mandate that they change the oil at specific intervals and someone normally checks up to see that it is being done as this results in sale or trade in problems for the company and most companies let them go under 60,000.
Unless this neighbor works for a very small company and/or very lax in its' maintencance procedures I agree that this is high on the BS meter. Certainly if the engine fails the company should ask him for proof of maintenance and showing none he could be let go.
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