Another Champion C165. This one was run for a short (distance-wise) interval of 4700km/13months on my "fun" car, a model year 1984 (built 1983) Saab 900 GLE. 2 litres slant inline 4, 8valve, single overhead camshaft, 118hp, automatic gearbox (= absurdly high rpm).
Oil used was Mannol 10w-40.
When I removed the oil filter, I found this funny thing. It had somehow managed to get through the oil passageways and the oil filter flange, and was now sitting on the baseplate, above one of the entrance holes.
One side has a rough texture as pictured, the other is smooth and shiny. It is semi-brittle, that is it can be bend about 60-90°, before it breaks sharply. So no carbon, more varnish. Or both. Varnon. Carbish. Whatever...
Now to the filter itself.
The car has very low milage. I did this oil change at 125.020km (77,700 miles). This car has been neglected badly by the previous owner. When I bought it with 108.000km (67,100 miles), the engine was completely sludged up, the camshaft had seized in it's bearings and the timing chain was badly worn, in part due to the 1984 recall of the tensioner not having been done. (You can see pictures of the restauration here.) The engine has received a rebuilt head and new timing chain and gears but we did not open the bottom end - this is a bit of a hassle on classic 900, as there is no oil pan per se. The gearbox is under the engine, and the "oil pan" on a 900 is a just a depression in the gearbox housing. So we expected a lot of sludge and deposits to be there. The first OCI was extremely short, after only 1200km, the oil was pitch black, like in a diesel. From then on, 4000-6000km OCIs.
Here is what the dipstick looked like after 1000km on the first OCI after the rebuilt:
And here is the dipstick at the end of th ecurrent interval, after 4700km:
Even after this very short interval, the filter is noticeably dirtier and far more deformed than the same filter filter run for nearly 9000km on a different H-egine Saab with 570.000km - the difference? The latter has a well documented, flawless maintenance history.
Here are both filters for comparison. Both have been "dried" by wrapping paper towels around them.
At a 100& crop, the difference is even more astonishing:
I also took an UOA. It came out very ugly, but that was to be expected. (Will post soon. English is not my native language, so writing stuff takes a bit longer...)
If you want to read more on the car, here are the two blog posts I wrote about the current oil change. Text is in german, but pictures are international, and google or bing translator might help with the words. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
https://turboseize.wordpress.com/2017/05/08/ohne-maengel-oder-doch-nicht/
https://turboseize.wordpress.com/2017/05/11/ohne-maengel-wohl-doch-nicht-was-uns-das-oel-erzaehlt/
Lessons (to be) learned:
1.) OCI have to be adapted not only to driving conditions, but also to the maintenance history of the specific car. Even with similar driving patterns, a 33% extended OCI can be very smooth sailing with a well maintained engine, while drastically shortened (cut in half!) OCI on a preiously neglected engine can be borderline long.
2) even one of the cheapest mineral 10w-40 available in Europe has an add pack that is powerful enough to do a decent cleaning job -
and to dislogde deposits.
3) Beware of low mileage cars owned/driven by females.
Oil used was Mannol 10w-40.
When I removed the oil filter, I found this funny thing. It had somehow managed to get through the oil passageways and the oil filter flange, and was now sitting on the baseplate, above one of the entrance holes.
One side has a rough texture as pictured, the other is smooth and shiny. It is semi-brittle, that is it can be bend about 60-90°, before it breaks sharply. So no carbon, more varnish. Or both. Varnon. Carbish. Whatever...
Now to the filter itself.
The car has very low milage. I did this oil change at 125.020km (77,700 miles). This car has been neglected badly by the previous owner. When I bought it with 108.000km (67,100 miles), the engine was completely sludged up, the camshaft had seized in it's bearings and the timing chain was badly worn, in part due to the 1984 recall of the tensioner not having been done. (You can see pictures of the restauration here.) The engine has received a rebuilt head and new timing chain and gears but we did not open the bottom end - this is a bit of a hassle on classic 900, as there is no oil pan per se. The gearbox is under the engine, and the "oil pan" on a 900 is a just a depression in the gearbox housing. So we expected a lot of sludge and deposits to be there. The first OCI was extremely short, after only 1200km, the oil was pitch black, like in a diesel. From then on, 4000-6000km OCIs.
Here is what the dipstick looked like after 1000km on the first OCI after the rebuilt:
And here is the dipstick at the end of th ecurrent interval, after 4700km:
Even after this very short interval, the filter is noticeably dirtier and far more deformed than the same filter filter run for nearly 9000km on a different H-egine Saab with 570.000km - the difference? The latter has a well documented, flawless maintenance history.
Here are both filters for comparison. Both have been "dried" by wrapping paper towels around them.
At a 100& crop, the difference is even more astonishing:
I also took an UOA. It came out very ugly, but that was to be expected. (Will post soon. English is not my native language, so writing stuff takes a bit longer...)
If you want to read more on the car, here are the two blog posts I wrote about the current oil change. Text is in german, but pictures are international, and google or bing translator might help with the words. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
https://turboseize.wordpress.com/2017/05/08/ohne-maengel-oder-doch-nicht/
https://turboseize.wordpress.com/2017/05/11/ohne-maengel-wohl-doch-nicht-was-uns-das-oel-erzaehlt/
Lessons (to be) learned:
1.) OCI have to be adapted not only to driving conditions, but also to the maintenance history of the specific car. Even with similar driving patterns, a 33% extended OCI can be very smooth sailing with a well maintained engine, while drastically shortened (cut in half!) OCI on a preiously neglected engine can be borderline long.
2) even one of the cheapest mineral 10w-40 available in Europe has an add pack that is powerful enough to do a decent cleaning job -
and to dislogde deposits.
3) Beware of low mileage cars owned/driven by females.
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