Changing oil based on engine hours

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Does anyone use engine hours as a schedule for oil changes? I remember an interview where the "expert" said using a 150 hour cycle for changes was a good way to simplify maintenance.

Well my car's trip computer is almost always at 150 hours when I get to 5000 miles. ( my interval)
This last time it included a fast drive to Chicago so 5000 miles came up almost 30 hours sooner. My brother has a long highway commute every day, he can put 5000 miles on his car in two months, his car sees almost no city driving.
I'm thinking of putting an hour meter on his car for him, to see if this gives a more accurate indication of oil life. It could be more accurate for a city driven car as well, you could subtract some hours for heavy a/c use...etc. Joe
 
I guess I have never really thought about doing it that way. My gut reaction is that this would be better for engines running under steady state or consistent conditions and loads as opposed to the variety of conditions and loads encountered by most autmobiles.
 
There is no perfect, simple way to determine the correct oil change interval. Hours is used for industrial engines and vehicle engines that spend a lot of time not driving...cement mix trucks, crane trucks, etc. 150 hours is pretty short for this service, but it depends on the service and the engines.


Ken
 
Nothing wrong with using hours in place of mileage. IMO, hours is better than mileage considering all the idling/traffic/....that cars go through.
Or, gallons of fuel burned could be used. Mileage is overated.

Too bad that noone is keeping "hours" with all those UOAs. I would wager that an expected oil change interal would be more accurate(wear expectations/oil condition) with "hours run time" or "gallons of fuel burned" when compared to "miles driven".
 
quote:

Originally posted by mirou:
Does anyone use engine hours as a schedule for oil changes? I remember an interview where the "expert" said using a 150 hour cycle for changes was a good way to simplify maintenance.

Well my car's trip computer is almost always at 150 hours when I get to 5000 miles. ( my interval)
This last time it included a fast drive to Chicago so 5000 miles came up almost 30 hours sooner. My brother has a long highway commute every day, he can put 5000 miles on his car in two months, his car sees almost no city driving.
I'm thinking of putting an hour meter on his car for him, to see if this gives a more accurate indication of oil life. It could be more accurate for a city driven car as well, you could subtract some hours for heavy a/c use...etc. Joe


operators manual for my 'little' tractor lists 50 hrs as the engine oil, 200hrs as the tranny oil
 
Hi,

yes, many earth moving equipment users, refrigeration units ( carrier, ThermoKing ), and some truckers use hours as the factor
Probably the very best parameter - other than analysis - is based on fuel consumed. This takes into account the "activity" of the engine

Regards
 
I just changed my oil based on my oil pressure gage. If the pressure is consistently lower than normal when the oil gets to normal operating temps, then it's time for a change. After I change my oil yesterday, the pressure is back where it should be. The reason for the lower pressure is the thinning of my oil at normal operating temps. I had almost 7000 miles on my Royal Purple 15w40.

Leo
 
The 150 hours sounds not too bad.

Sydney traffic is reported to flow at 27km/hr (average, including lights). That's 4000km (2500miles), and about 3 months for the average Sydney commuter.

Average around here would be typically 80km/hr, giving 12,000km (7500 miles), or around 6 months. Funnily enough, this is the point where the 4Runner drops about 1MPG.
 
On boats, one uses engine hours since it's difficult to gauge miles! I think engine hours is more indicative of wear rather than miles. In Japan the recommended changing interval is like 1K miles. Why? Because people mostly use their cars for recreation (esp during the summer), and spend much of the time sitting in gridlock. At least that's how it was near my house, which had one of the famous "drives." So eventhough used engines have < 30K miles on them, the engine hours might be equivalent to that of a car in the US w/ 60K miles on it. But at least those engine hours are at idle.

OTOH, in a car, it's difficult to gauge hours vs miles, unless you just drive nearly a fixed amount of time each day. Plus you still need to keep tract of miles for drivetrain service.

[ July 14, 2003, 11:47 AM: Message edited by: James Chow ]
 
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Hours meter, mileage interval...when should I change my oil.
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Man, the GM oil life monitor do all that for you
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Gm system monitors idling time, high rev, temp. much more precise than the 3000miles interval let say one oil change after 70% highway 25 % city and 15% idling or
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did we use the oil 62% highway, 15 % city, 23% idling ??

Hours not much better 100 hrs of top end speed ...25 of ,,.,,you get the picture ?

It is maybe not the best system, but it is much better then relying on memory in regards of oil utilization.We have the system lets use it
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Nothing wrong to do an UOA to confirm the data from the GM oil life monitor.

Thats my opinion and I respect it
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The manufacturer's sticker on my car states "15,000km or 12months whichever comes first". I think that's a simple rule to follow. And of course it means under normal use. Figures are halved under severe use.
 
I change by hours, every 2,160 hours regardless of how little the car is driven. Short trips and frequent cold starts make for lots of condensation and blow by. Even if I do make some longer trips, likely there is stuff to clear out by that time. An ST 3950 and 6 quarts of Pennzoil 5W-30 runs me $10 for my truck. Still haven't found a cartridge for my Cavalier for less than $7. Hours might make good sense if your driving includes being stuck in traffic a lot.
 
It depends on use. More than half my customers use hours, as they are either farming or construction. Run between 400 and 500 hours as a norm. Trucks and cars by the Km, except for boom trucks that use the truck engine for the hydraulic basket so the engine runs all day with few km. Caterpillar uses a guideline of 9500 gallons of diesel fuel, to be confirmed in individual applications with oil analisis. Volvo Trucks say 20,000 liters of fuel (forget if that was VDS or VDS2) VDS 3 would obviously be higher.
 
I have a new Chevy truck that has an hour meter built into the dash/ odometer...

I do know that they started coming with hour meters in 2000 or 2001.. the only trick is that the truck had to be turned off and then to the ACC position or something while holding down the button in the instrument cluster.

the 2003's have it built in as sort of another way to tell engine wear.. it cycles through total mileage, trip mileage and hours on engine.


Luke
 
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