Anybody miss 'topping up'?

[addyguy]

This may seem like a weird post, but anybody here miss having a car that uses oil, b/c they miss out on the pleasure (we are oil freaks, after all) of topping up the oil every once in a while?

Up until about the mid-1980's checking and topping off oil regularly was essential for long engine life, b/c even between fill-ups a car could use half a quart. So you got to buy/choose an oil to add, break open the can/bottle, and watch the nice, clean oil pour into the engine. Or if you wanted to add a thicker/different oil w/o changing, you could.

These days, it is quite common for engines to go for an entire 5k OCI without requiring a drop of oil for top-up. I've been driving since 1993, and I don't think I've ever had to add more than a quart of oil between changes. Sometimes I wish my car would use some oil, so I could pop open a nice quart of oil. But alas, the level stays solid on the stick.....

Anybody?

 

[addyguy]

By the way, I am very aware that this situation of vehicles needing lass topping up is technically a good thing - less use of oil, less pollution, and less hassle are benefits. I'm talking purely about the asthetic pleasure of adding oil to a car, and not having it any more!

 

[BradC]

Since my first car in 1989, I've never had a car that consumed oil.

I just switched my car from dino to synthetic, so I am going to monitor the oil level should some oil be consumed during the initial changeover.

 

[SargeGTO]

No. And I don't miss filling the air breather up with oil either....and picking out the big bugs

 

[Stanley Rockafeller]

I had an 84 Rabbit in the late 90's that consumed a liter per every 1500kms.

...i didn't find anything enjoyable about always having to purchase more oil. What I do find enjoy able is after 10,000kms on my oil, thrashing the engine hard just to notice how clean the oil is, and how little oil consumption has occured.

 

[TallPaul]

Topping up is fun.

It's consumption, not burning. It's only burning oil if there is a blue fog. The purpose of catylitic converters is to absorb the blue fog so you don't have an oil burner.

 

[TimVipond]

I saw an old Amsoil ad from the 70's that showed NOACK volatilities for popular oils as high as 25% when Amsoil was 5%. I think most NOACK numbers are under 10% now. Maybe that is the difference? I remember gas station attendants sold alot of oil punching holes in those cardboard cans and adding a quart fairly regularly. I now do minimum 10,000 mile oil changes and 0 to 1/2 quart oil during the 10,000 miles on high mileage vehicles. They also sold quite a few fan belts and radiator hoses while checking under the hood for every fillup.

 

[troberts]

Sarge... Right. '55 Pontiac, oil bath air "cleaner." Grasshoppers. Lots of West Texas dust to peel off the bottom..... Don't miss it at all.

 

[aquariuscsm]

Ya,I`ve lucked out too. I`ve never owned a car that`s even used a single drop of oil (*knocking on wood*).

 

[wgtoys]

Uh, no, I don't miss it at all!

 

[buster]

...dude you guy's are nuts.

 

[Virtuoso]

My Saturn burns a quart every 600. I'm very familiar with topping up

Thank #@$%! our Windstar only seems to use a half a quart every 3k

 

[Cutehumor]

buy a saturn if you really want a vehicle that uses oil. I want a vehicle that doesn't use oil and so far my 06 vibe doesn't. whenever I say that, I get people to tell me that it will use oil. All the vehicles I have owned have used oil in terms of leaking or burning. 87 Toyota corolla, 92 Mitsubishi mirage, 96 Pontiac Sunfire. I had a 94 Ford Ranger but I never looked at the dipstick, but I totalled that truck back in 1997 when I was 19.

 

[mechtech2]

I wonder how well the top end is lubed when there is no oil use. It would seem that some burning is a good thing, and shows enough oil is present for the rings/bore.
Strangely, ring wear in modern engines is much better, as is oil usage.

 

[Jim]

I think ring wear is much less because fuel is more accurately controlled in modern engines. No more washing the cylinder walls with excess fuel.

 

[ThirdeYe]

Unfortunately my car doesn't burn or consume any oil. I've never had to top off before

Neither of my 3 cars have ever consumed oil.

 

[BrianWC]

Evry now and then I'll find my CR-V has gone thru half a quart over say 4-5,000 miles. But I go for the whole thrill and just change the oil.

But yes, I remember all the thrills if not on my cars (even my 82 BMW) but on my parents and grandparents. Here's the funny part. There were full-service gas stations where they'd add that extra quart FOR YOU! It's sad. I remember going to the gas station used to be a grand, entertaining event as a kid. The gas would go in, but the attendant would check your air pressure, oil level, wiper fluid (read water), then head for the squeegee and clean your windows. This was all great fun to watch from the backseat of my grandmother's tan '71 Plymouth Fury II. When I was two, she accidentally slammed the door on my index finger. It's a wonder I am not digit-less. She held onto it well into the eighties because she didn't want to drive one of those "little V-6 economy cars with catalytic converters." Ah, another memory-the attendant asking "regular or unleaded?" Yeah, I do miss those kinds of cars. I don't miss them not running right because of carb troubles though.

 

[i_r_teh_noobz]

I used to have a '92 Sentra that leaked about 1 quart per 1000 miles. I had to top it off almost daily. I don't miss that at all.

 

[Curious Kid]

Reasons unclear, I sometimes add just a little. the mark on the dipstick has rarely been below the top mark since joining this site (hehe). I like to atleast check the level even though it doesn't change much if at all (depending upon the changing conditions of the seals and type/miles on oil- oh bother).

OT - I stopped at the local coffee house the other day and noticed just how dark a fresh oil spot was as I walked past an empty space. Now I know color of an oil doesn't say much in the way of good or bad...it's just doing it's thing of keeping things clean inside the engine as it deals with other extremes. It does tickle my imagination...and just how little maintenance I can remember of the old pontiac grand my parents had in the '80's...one of the few memories I have of it was - run-on after using a little carb cleaner on the butterfly and around the orfices which lead to back firing and my mother giving me a short speech...I recall at the time it seeming so strange to have the keys in hand and the engine was still idling away. I then recall my mother attempting to accelerate on a mild up-hill grade with the engine only moaning, with a little smoke coming from under the hood once at our destination. That heavy vehicle did however manage to protect my sister when she encountered a tow truck at right angles, totaling the vehicle and nearly flipping the truck as was reported. It was a strange sound at impact as it only happened some 500 ft from where I was outside talking with a neighbor.

Take care.

 

[buster]

Why on earth would anyone miss topping up oil? It's one thing to like oil bc you want to maximize engine life but adding oil???