30,000 mile drains, police cars

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http://www.government-fleet.com/article/story/2016/11/when-should-you-change-oil.aspx

Quote:
Hart began researching oil, oil additives, and filters in an attempt to reduce downtime. In 2010, he began making changes. The fleet purchased an oil analysis machine, switched to extended performance oil filters, and began using full synthetic oil. This allowed the fleet to extend filter changes to 10,000 miles and oil changes to 30,000 miles. Previously, it changed oil in pursuit vehicles every 5,000 miles and on administrative vehicles every 7,500 miles.


Looks like some great results in terms of reducing waste, and achieving higher ROI. By removing the emphasis from "changing" the oil, and doing proper maintenance/monitoring in other aspects of the engines, they are achieving higher overall reliability than maintenance regimes that were obsessed with the relatively short manufacturer-recommended drains.
 
Wonder if people would start using oil analysis if the option was stocked prominently in the oil and filter section in the stores or will way more education be needed?
I know the farm tractor dealerships have them and changing oil on tractors can be a drum at a time project so a few bucks to check before dropping could be a major $$$$ saver.
 
Some other maintenance or check items might suffer between extended oil changes. Do police officers check under the hood or tire pressures before starting a shift?
 
Originally Posted By: OneEyeJack
Some other maintenance or check items might suffer between extended oil changes. Do police officers check under the hood or tire pressures before starting a shift?


Probably will need a new engine at the 30,000 mark from not adding oil. Maybe not when new, but once they put some miles on and the engine starts burning oil.
 
Originally Posted By: Danno
Doesn't talk about other efficiencies of doing less oil changes. Any head count reductions?

Highly doubt it in a gov't operation.
+1
 
Originally Posted By: Ram01
I'm changing my oil too much then . 6k oil changes

Maybe, maybe not.
 
Sounds like snake oil to me, but then Hart will see that some miles down the road when he gets sacked for having ruined a bunch of engines for lack of maintenance.
Not even EU drain recommendations extend to 30K and they don't expect 200K out of an engine as a North American fleet operator does.
 
Originally Posted By: Danno
Doesn't talk about other efficiencies of doing less oil changes. Any head count reductions?

Highly doubt it in a gov't operation.
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Saving time on oil changes? What do they take, 20 min tops? And that's every few months. Spread out over time that's seconds per day. You could easily regain that time by more efficient driving and routing including watching mpg, traffic control, optimized break and lunch periods, better communications, etc. The oil change is not the problem. What the staff does for 8-10 hrs/day is where things could be trimmed. If you're paying officers overtime for oil changes they're best served by taking their time on them...and being "thorough." Why can't they be done during work hours where head of the line privileges at the Lube Center could be arranged.
 
If they are monitoring the oil properly there is no harm. I am more curious as to what additive they are using.

The change in oil filter results in replenishing the TBN as well if they ate topping up.

There is a note about viscosity drop which means it's not oxidizing and thickening like you would see in oil that is getting close to the end of its useful life.
 
This whole thing doesn't even make sense. How could they possibly run 30,000 mile oil changes when they don't even shut their patrol cars off when they're on their lunch break?
 
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I read the same article with some interest last week when it came out. The payback on the oil analysis equipment is real long though...... I almost felt that they were trying to justify the investment. Good though to keep trying to find the line of waste of resources and time.
 
Originally Posted By: c502cid
I read the same article with some interest last week when it came out. The payback on the oil analysis equipment is real long though...... I almost felt that they were trying to justify the investment. Good though to keep trying to find the line of waste of resources and time.


From the article it doesn't sound like they were trying to save money on the oil itself, but the down time of having the vehicle off the streets
 
Originally Posted By: motor_oil_madman
Originally Posted By: OneEyeJack
Some other maintenance or check items might suffer between extended oil changes. Do police officers check under the hood or tire pressures before starting a shift?


Probably will need a new engine at the 30,000 mark from not adding oil. Maybe not when new, but once they put some miles on and the engine starts burning oil.


if they change filters every 10k, they'll bea dding oil at those points anyway... add another few pints here and there and the oil got changed mutliple times in those 30k...
 
I don't recall reading anything about a blanket 30k oci anywhere in the article.
For big fleet operators not changing the oil until just before it starts to offer maximum protection may well usher in useful savings. Maybe the biggest benefit of oil analysis is detecting faults before the become a big deal. A leaking injector and bad egr valve were two examples offered.
The police departments mentioned stated it was each officers duty to check under the hood daily. Unfortunately a few lazy individuals won't bother, which is a downside.
In mining oil analysis has been used for years to plan downtime, however a drilling rig broken down deep underground has far reaching consequences, much more than a vehicle on the roadside due to breakdown.

I think the talk of the cars won't make 50k before needing a new engine is utter nonsense, provided a proper regime is in place, that is one which doesn't allow vehicles to be used with degraded oil the saving could be significant. In the case of police departments and public utilities it frees up funds for better service or a local tax reduction.

Claud.
 
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