i gave a guy at work a $2 (clearance and rebate) jug of valv 10-40 for his 100$ 93 geo with 200k...he has changed oil maybe twice in 50k so i asked him when he was going to change the sludge and he said DS was low and he added quite a bit of oil so he is quite content to leave "well" enough alone haha...in his mind this counts as a OC, 3 qts of new oil with 2 qts of filthy 5-30 with 20k on it....mobil one should see if anything they make can stand up to his maint schedule..a supertech DIY oil change would be 13$, but that would be 2 packs of smokes and way over maint budget for car...60 miles RT to work too
another funny "just add oil" story
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The amazing thing is that his car will probably last 250,000 miles doing that.
The amount of abuse many of the designs out there can handle really is astonishing.
The amount of abuse many of the designs out there can handle really is astonishing.
Originally Posted By: SuperDave456
The amazing thing is that his car will probably last 250,000 miles doing that.
The amount of abuse many of the designs out there can handle really is astonishing.
+1, sounds like the way my brother treated his 92' F150. He would add a quart of oil when it started to knock. Didn't change the oil in 50K miles, ran fine when he sold it w/ 252,000 miles.
The amazing thing is that his car will probably last 250,000 miles doing that.
The amount of abuse many of the designs out there can handle really is astonishing.
+1, sounds like the way my brother treated his 92' F150. He would add a quart of oil when it started to knock. Didn't change the oil in 50K miles, ran fine when he sold it w/ 252,000 miles.
Just goes to show how over the top we bitogers are with being fanatical about every little aspect of our oil, and how unneccessary it is to do so lol
Most people fall somewhere between this guy and bitogers.
Most people fall somewhere between this guy and bitogers.
Patman
Staff member
I think that with a lot of engines if you get to the point where they are burning a quart every 2 or 3k, you could probably just change the oil filter every 5-10k and keep adding oil as needed and never really need to change the oil ever again. I think my wife's 2000 Civic is getting to that point now (it burns a quart of oil every 2000 miles)
This is exactly why I will never purchase a used car. I would rather save money for 10 years to pay for a car than purchase something that someone else has abused.
Frequent OC cause excessive wear due to high detergent activity in fresh oil. But Car needs clean rings and hyd tappets though. Its the classic Scylla-Charybdis scenario.
Most likely I would not do such a thing, but I would not laugh at this guy either, for all we know he might've treated this car very well for the first 150k or so, and at this point he just wants to cut as much as possible from car expenses. Who knows maybe he just wants the car to die and get another one, but can't bring himself to sell it since it keeps working and he would get peanuts for it anyway
Originally Posted By: Patman
I think my wife's 2000 Civic is getting to that point now (it burns a quart of oil every 2000 miles)
Off topic: How did it happened? I did not think Hondas were oil burners.
I think my wife's 2000 Civic is getting to that point now (it burns a quart of oil every 2000 miles)
Off topic: How did it happened? I did not think Hondas were oil burners.
Originally Posted By: friendly_jacek
Originally Posted By: Patman
I think my wife's 2000 Civic is getting to that point now (it burns a quart of oil every 2000 miles)
Off topic: How did it happened? I did not think Hondas were oil burners.
Mine does.
Originally Posted By: Patman
I think my wife's 2000 Civic is getting to that point now (it burns a quart of oil every 2000 miles)
Off topic: How did it happened? I did not think Hondas were oil burners.
Mine does.
An uncle of mine supposedly drove a 1966 Mercury Comet (bought new) with the 289 V-8 for 100,000 miles without changing the oil. My dad and other uncles swear to the truth of it. He just added oil when it got low.
I worked for Pacific telephone on a line crew in Vallejo, CA in 1965. The didn't change oil in cars or light utility vehicles (1/2 ton pickups and light vans). They routinely got 50k to 70 miles, often more out of their engines before the needed a cheapy rebuild. When you consider most of those vehicles made short trips most of the time...
I normally drove a 1.5 ton line truck that got reasonable maintenance. When ever I drove a 1/2 ton, I checked the oil. Anything with over 10k miles looked bad.
About then my brother's friend bought an ex-PGE 1958 6 cylinder Ford Sedan with 80k miles from PGE for dirt cheap. When we pulled the valve cover off it was almost a solid mass of black goop. I think they might have had had the same maintenance program.
I normally drove a 1.5 ton line truck that got reasonable maintenance. When ever I drove a 1/2 ton, I checked the oil. Anything with over 10k miles looked bad.
About then my brother's friend bought an ex-PGE 1958 6 cylinder Ford Sedan with 80k miles from PGE for dirt cheap. When we pulled the valve cover off it was almost a solid mass of black goop. I think they might have had had the same maintenance program.
my friend at work was genuinely surprised at how easy his Geo starts now with the new 2.5 qts of oil in it...i think 10-40 will be good for engine, maybe it will slow burning...his driver side door doesnt open so we will see how much he is willing (or able) to pay for a insp sticker...i get the feeling he would do this with new rig or beater...he must love vavoline now and will insist on it if he ever changes oil again in this life or next
Originally Posted By: chet2
xs650, why didnt they change oil occasionally on those phone trucks? or even once haha
The story I got was that it was cheaper to have a cheapie rebuilt engine put in some of the cars than it was to do proper maintenance. The company had very conservative management, probably didn't occur to them that there were options other than the binary choices of no oil changes or frequent oil changes.
xs650, why didnt they change oil occasionally on those phone trucks? or even once haha
The story I got was that it was cheaper to have a cheapie rebuilt engine put in some of the cars than it was to do proper maintenance. The company had very conservative management, probably didn't occur to them that there were options other than the binary choices of no oil changes or frequent oil changes.
My Metro got to the point it would burn a quart in 300 miles (300, not 3000). I still did oil changes since the oil ended up quite dark despite weekly topups. I did stretch the OCI out to about 6k miles or so. His car will keep running for a while yet.
Patman
Staff member
Originally Posted By: friendly_jacek
Originally Posted By: Patman
I think my wife's 2000 Civic is getting to that point now (it burns a quart of oil every 2000 miles)
Off topic: How did it happened? I did not think Hondas were oil burners.
I honestly don't know what went wrong, because for the first 80,000 miles her engine did not use any oil, I would get the same amount of oil coming out at the end of the interval as I put in at the beginning. Then on one interval when I put in Petro Canada Supreme 5w20 it just started consuming oil all of a sudden and it's gotten worse ever since. On my last interval I thought I'd try Schaeffer Supreme 7000 blend 5w30, hoping the thicker 30 weight would burn less but it burned even more. I'm kinda hoping the Toyota 0w20 I'm running in it now will clean the rings up and lessen the consumption.
Originally Posted By: Patman
I think my wife's 2000 Civic is getting to that point now (it burns a quart of oil every 2000 miles)
Off topic: How did it happened? I did not think Hondas were oil burners.
I honestly don't know what went wrong, because for the first 80,000 miles her engine did not use any oil, I would get the same amount of oil coming out at the end of the interval as I put in at the beginning. Then on one interval when I put in Petro Canada Supreme 5w20 it just started consuming oil all of a sudden and it's gotten worse ever since. On my last interval I thought I'd try Schaeffer Supreme 7000 blend 5w30, hoping the thicker 30 weight would burn less but it burned even more. I'm kinda hoping the Toyota 0w20 I'm running in it now will clean the rings up and lessen the consumption.
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