40K miles, no oil change, engine seized, Yikes!

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Originally Posted By: chainblu
Originally Posted By: donnyj08
the sad part is most of it is Ignorance.


You have to wonder what these folks think when they drive by an oil change business.


OMG, my Iphone has a feature I have never seen before! BTW, further down in the story the mechanic has a pic of the sludge that he had to submit for the warranty claim hahahahaha! good luck with that warranty claim! Here is the pic http://imgur.com/2w5GVuI notice the air doesn't even rise to the top, that stuff isn't even liquid.
 
Originally Posted By: TiredTrucker
Originally Posted By: CT8
It brings in profits for the repair shop it is not all that bad.


Yeah, the modern political method for economic growth.
It keeps the shops busy. Probably a trip to Waikiki! Can't blame any one for this except the owner of the vehicle.[you can pay me now or pay me later]
 
Originally Posted By: bullwinkle
Dude's an idiot-3 gallons of even cheap 15W40 & a cheap filter every 10K & that wouldn't have happened. Bet that engine's $9K to replace.
I bet its closer to double that cost
 
I've never personally done a Cummins long block, but I've heard from other Dodge techs that they run in the neighborhood of $15k.
 
Originally Posted By: Chris142
Originally Posted By: bullwinkle
Dude's an idiot-3 gallons of even cheap 15W40 & a cheap filter every 10K & that wouldn't have happened. Bet that engine's $9K to replace.
I bet its closer to double that cost
I have always found it interesting that it takes $200,000 in parts to build a $50,000 truck.
 
Originally Posted By: CT8
Originally Posted By: Chris142
Originally Posted By: bullwinkle
Dude's an idiot-3 gallons of even cheap 15W40 & a cheap filter every 10K & that wouldn't have happened. Bet that engine's $9K to replace.
I bet its closer to double that cost
I have always found it interesting that it takes $200,000 in parts to build a $50,000 truck.


The economies of scale.
 
He likely could have gotten the majority of the required oil changes performed for free at only 40k miles. I would guess there was some kind of failure that led to the oil sludging up like that. Stuck EGR, lots of idle time that prevented the engine from ever heating up, and an arrogant owner who never lifted the hood to check the fluids or do any maintenance. What a shame.
 
Originally Posted By: Cujet
Yet, there are guys who use bypass filters, extremely long oil change intervals and get excellent engine life. Hmmmm.


But they keep the oil topped off.
 
Thread resurrection to post bad info?

Three gallons in a stock 6.7 RAM like mine.

Are you adding another gallon for good measure?
 
Brain phart.....3 gallons, I must be thinking of the neighbors RV and getting old
......3 gallons......
 
FWIW Mercedes recommends 1200 hr OCI on my engine, the OM906LA - 6.4L 6cyl, 260hp, 700ft-lb. Quite similar to the 6.7 Cummins except that it has unit injectors, no regen system AND a 7.7 gal sump. And a bypass centrifuge.
I've never gone over 21K mi (600 hrs) but the oil came out looking like normal oil and a recent UOA at 17.5K mi showed 36ppm Fe and little else in the way of wear metals, TBN was 12.4....

Charlie
 
I'm just in the process of removing the oil pan from my car (for gasket replacement because of a minor leak) which hasn't had its engine oil changed in roughly 65,000km, or just over 40k miles.

Pictures will be posted next week, but based on what I've seen beneath the valve covers, 40k isn't a problem. In fact I am so confident things will be okay that I'm going to re-use the ~40k-mile used oil by running it through a paint strainer/filter after I've collected it and have to put things back together.
 
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Originally Posted By: FFeng7
I had a uncle that had a Chevrolet Impala with a 3.4 V6. He bought it brand new in the early 2000's. He drove it a little over 30K miles before it locked up. Dealer told him it was full of sludge and needed a new engine. He says he didn't know it needed an oil change. I really thought he was joking when he told me the whole story but I think he was being serious. Crazy how some think new cars don't require maintenance.


I'm thinking that it was more than likely LIM failure and/or oil depletion that got that engine (unfortunately very common on the 3.4/"3400"). Not actual lack of oil changes. I have a very similar engine in my car (the Impala's 3.4 is actually a later up-rated derivative of it) and 40k on the same oil is perfectly do-able.
 
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