62,000 miles without an oil change
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Would any of you care to respond my other question: will oil change intervals of less (more frequent) than the manufacturer's recommendations bring any benefit to they typical car owner who plans to keep their car for a typical length of time?
No
1. 1980's 1.6L VW used around 1 Qt of Oil per 3000 mi.
2. German Fleece Type Oil Filter good for 24 months.
3. 62,000 mi in likely 24 months.
Seeing as how the car may have had basically a oil change every 12,000 mi I have no problem with the results.
Until I see the actual full test and data I cant really say how good or bad the engine faired.
Their may haver been some sludge and corrosion issues without current wear issues.
2. German Fleece Type Oil Filter good for 24 months.
3. 62,000 mi in likely 24 months.
Seeing as how the car may have had basically a oil change every 12,000 mi I have no problem with the results.
Until I see the actual full test and data I cant really say how good or bad the engine faired.
Their may haver been some sludge and corrosion issues without current wear issues.
Does anyone think that this level of neglect is what actually causes oil consumption? I've had plenty of cars with 62,000 miles and more that never used more than 1/2 a quart of oil in a 3000 mile period. My sister, on the other hand neglected her 79 Mustang 2.3 and her 84 Bronco II pretty severely and they were both using oil by the time they had 60K on them. Not just a little oil...so much that you had to add to them before 3000 to keep them above minimum. I've NEVER owned a car that used oil to that extreme.
At some point, additives and friction modifiers break down and metals (rings) begin to wear. Would that VW have ever consumed oil if it had been given a few oil changes?
At some point, additives and friction modifiers break down and metals (rings) begin to wear. Would that VW have ever consumed oil if it had been given a few oil changes?
If you follow the manufactures recommended lubricant specifications and oil change intervals for your driving conditions the engine will likely last an average of 280,000 mi. If you can avoid a major parts or cooling system failure 400,000 is not that unusual. In some extreme cases up to 1,000,000 mi is possible with factory recommended intervals. Most of the really high mileage guys use synthetics not to increase engine life but to reduce the number of services required.
1 Qt / 3000 mi was normal for the VW 1.6L in my experience.
Many engines will use oil at this rate and still last 200,000-400,000 mi.
If it was synthetic and was burning a little oil so that they could keep adding new then I can see that this is possible.
Does it make sense to change your oil more often than the mfg. recommends? Depends on how long you keep your car. I've got 199,000 on mine and plan to keep it a while longer so I have always changed mine more often. I've been doing some Used Oil Analysis lately to see how far I can push it with my car and with my driving style. I definitely fall under the "severe" use requirements (3000 oci) but I use synthetic and it looks like I can go at least 6-7k between changes based on my UOA's so far. If I find the right oil maybe even farther. Each car is different. I like the manufacturers that put a oil life monitoring system in the vehicle to help you estimate the best time to change the oil, it takes out a lot of the guess work and allows you to run longer than if you had to pick from either 3k or 7.5k oci's. It might let me run 5k or 6k even though the 7.5k was not acceptable. Most people don't keep their cars as long as I do but I still think it is best to change the oil when you should otherwise you're going to burn the next owner potentially. I had a rod knock and a lifter tick in the same engine once. I can only assume it was from poor maintance of the previous owner. I hate it when I have to replace the engine.
Does it make sense to change your oil more often than the mfg. recommends? Depends on how long you keep your car. I've got 199,000 on mine and plan to keep it a while longer so I have always changed mine more often. I've been doing some Used Oil Analysis lately to see how far I can push it with my car and with my driving style. I definitely fall under the "severe" use requirements (3000 oci) but I use synthetic and it looks like I can go at least 6-7k between changes based on my UOA's so far. If I find the right oil maybe even farther. Each car is different. I like the manufacturers that put a oil life monitoring system in the vehicle to help you estimate the best time to change the oil, it takes out a lot of the guess work and allows you to run longer than if you had to pick from either 3k or 7.5k oci's. It might let me run 5k or 6k even though the 7.5k was not acceptable. Most people don't keep their cars as long as I do but I still think it is best to change the oil when you should otherwise you're going to burn the next owner potentially. I had a rod knock and a lifter tick in the same engine once. I can only assume it was from poor maintance of the previous owner. I hate it when I have to replace the engine.
I would think that the "typical length of time" a person owns a car is less than 100,000 miles, BITOG memebers excluded. Given that, I see no benefit to changing the oil more often than the manufacturer's recommendations.
One of my good friends only topped off his Ford F-150 and never changed it. Engine failed at 47K miles. Ford indicated substandard oil change intervals and refused warranty. So, yes, it happens. To me, personally? Nope! I take care of my engines.
So what is the point? With Amsoil synthetic and highway driving you could probably go 35,000 or more miles. I think the oil filter would need to be changed occasionally and new oil put in to replace that lost in the oil filter. With a high quality bypass oil filter and Amsoil synthetic a person could probably go 100,000 miles with occasional oil filter changes and new oil added to make up for oil lost when the oil filter is changed.
This is old news. People have already done it using bypass oil filters. But who even wants to do it? Isn't 35,000 miles on 1 oil change using Amsoil good enough?
This is old news. People have already done it using bypass oil filters. But who even wants to do it? Isn't 35,000 miles on 1 oil change using Amsoil good enough?
As long as the proper oil level was maintanied and the Car burned some oil (So as to be replenished often) then I see no reason why it couldn't have done it. The dirty oil it's self does not cause a problem per se. But the sludge that it creates does because It can block oil passages causing Oil starvation.
Changing oil more often than the manufacture recommendes WILL NOT extend the life of you car/truck/suv. Im not saying go crazy with it but follow the time and milage guidelines and you shouldn't have a problem.
Changing oil more often than the manufacture recommendes WILL NOT extend the life of you car/truck/suv. Im not saying go crazy with it but follow the time and milage guidelines and you shouldn't have a problem.
I personely had to work on a Ford Tarus Wagon that went 50,000 miles on the Autobahn with OEM fill and constant topp off's. I do not know how long this young officer had been in Germany but he did not know that oil had to be changed. He thought you merly needed to top it off. The engine still cranked but would barley run. His compression was next to zero and was so low that out guages would not read it. The valves would not close all of the way due to carbon build up. Once we had the heads off the you could push the pistons up and down in the their bores with one or two fingers. SO while the engine did not self destruct in a violent manner it was beyound worn out at an early milage. We had to rebuild the engine.
That guy was an officer? I am waiting to see if anybody on this web site says that he would be willing to go 62,000 or 100,000 miles on one oil change.
When you consider you can often buy motor oil and oil filters on sale and it is normally not that tough to change oil on a car or truck it is beyond my understanding why anybody would try to go so far on one oil change. You might be able to find quality oil on sale for .60 cents a quart or something like that and the oil filter for 2 bucks. Even if you could not find quality oil on sale conventional oil of decent quality would probably cost about 2 bucks a quart or so and a few bucks for the oil filter. This is high finance?
Do the oil change yourself and you can probably do it for $15.00 or so. Heck, you can take the car to a JL and have them do the oil change for thirty dollars or so. I can't find a whole lot of excuse for not getting the oil changed.
If you are going by time write down on your calendar that you need to change the oil every 6 months. You come across the note and go get the oil changed. Should not be that hard for anybody with any smarts at all. Some young lady with totally zero interest in car maintenance could get it done. Or her boyfriend could take care of it for her.
I would rather pay for the oil changes every 3-6 months/3000-5000 miles than have to pay thousands for a new engine. My Dad taught me that. He was a mechanic.
When you consider you can often buy motor oil and oil filters on sale and it is normally not that tough to change oil on a car or truck it is beyond my understanding why anybody would try to go so far on one oil change. You might be able to find quality oil on sale for .60 cents a quart or something like that and the oil filter for 2 bucks. Even if you could not find quality oil on sale conventional oil of decent quality would probably cost about 2 bucks a quart or so and a few bucks for the oil filter. This is high finance?
Do the oil change yourself and you can probably do it for $15.00 or so. Heck, you can take the car to a JL and have them do the oil change for thirty dollars or so. I can't find a whole lot of excuse for not getting the oil changed.
If you are going by time write down on your calendar that you need to change the oil every 6 months. You come across the note and go get the oil changed. Should not be that hard for anybody with any smarts at all. Some young lady with totally zero interest in car maintenance could get it done. Or her boyfriend could take care of it for her.
I would rather pay for the oil changes every 3-6 months/3000-5000 miles than have to pay thousands for a new engine. My Dad taught me that. He was a mechanic.
You speak the truth, brother. In 1985 VW changed the valve stem seals on this engine design specifically because of the extremely high oil consumption. Additionally, I bet you'll find quite of few pre-1985 Rabbit owners who will tell you they used much more than 1 Qt/3,000 miles.
That German magazine wrote a story on a car that was in perpetual partial oil changes.
I don't buy the premise of the original post. A rather sketchy reference which doesn't even include the issue date of the magazine has little credibility.
Fairly common in Heavy Diesels with Synthetic and Bypass Filters. I have seen the inside of a CAT 3406E with 300,000 mi without an oil change and 1,200,000 miles total. Clean as a whistle. However he changed the bypass filter and added 1 gallon of oil every 6,0000 mi. And changed the full flow filter every 60,000 mi and added an additional gallon. This engine had a 10 gallon capacity so he was actually replacing 110% of capacity every 60,000 mi. Oil was Mobil Delvac 1.
1. As GeneK indicates a quart every 3000 miles is very common consumption for German engines. The effect of topping up at this rate would likely keep additive and TBN up to acceptable levels.
2. I think you will find consensus on this board that there are likely few to no benefits associated with exceeding recommended OCIs particularly if you are measuring benefits over the typical first owner life cycle of a vehicle. There are two aspects to this. Recommended OCIs are usually conservative and any benefits are more likely to appear later in a vehicle's life.
2. I think you will find consensus on this board that there are likely few to no benefits associated with exceeding recommended OCIs particularly if you are measuring benefits over the typical first owner life cycle of a vehicle. There are two aspects to this. Recommended OCIs are usually conservative and any benefits are more likely to appear later in a vehicle's life.
I think all women drivers never get their oil changed.
When I got my sister's 77 4 cylinder Mustang @57,000 miles, it required a quart of oil every day. I drove it 15 miles every day. Blue smoke came out of the exhaust at all times.
I was sad because I had driven it when it was brand new, it ran great then.
When I got my sister's 77 4 cylinder Mustang @57,000 miles, it required a quart of oil every day. I drove it 15 miles every day. Blue smoke came out of the exhaust at all times.
I was sad because I had driven it when it was brand new, it ran great then.
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