changing oil too often is a problem

[JHZR2]

Hi,

I have heard references to discussions findng that chainging oil too often can be bad... I dont understand this one, and searching didnt find me any good results/info. Can someone please explain the issue with changing oil too often?

Thanks!

JMH

 

[SteveD2]

Where have you heard this? As far as I'm concerned, if you drained your oil every night your engine would probably last forever - maybe longer.

 

[Thomas Pyrek]

quote:

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Originally posted by ZmOz:
Where have you heard this? As far as I'm concerned, if you drained your oil every night your engine would probably last forever - maybe longer.

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oh, How about this. Buy two trucks and a trailor. Change one trucks oil every evening (maybe leave the filter on for 3mo or so) and have the other truck's oil changed every 3k with the same oil. Drive one truck to work and tow the other one. On the way home, Drive the towed truck and tow the driven one. This could be an interesting study!

 

[Al]

There was a thread on this within the last year-it was from an SAE report. Can't find it right now

. Don't remember the reason. Sorry

 

[Thomas Pyrek]

SAE Technical Paper 2003-01-3119

 

[Swift]

First time I've ever heard this one.

 

[pasopaul]

I have read that changing Mobile 1 synthetic too often will cause more wear on your engine, I am trying to find out where I read this and post for you.

 

[dickwells]

Well, that guy down in Ga. turned a million miles on his '95 Chevy truck and he changed every 3K miles while putting on about 800 miles a day. I would think this would be overchanging but it didn't seem to hurt his truck!

 

[Thomas Pyrek]

so how fast was he driving and did he do anything other than drive.

 

[therion]

quote:

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Originally posted by Thomas Pyrek:
so how fast was he driving and did he do anything other than drive.

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Exactly, at 800 miles a day i doubt he was experienced many cold starts.

 

[Thomas Pyrek]

quote:

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Originally posted by therion:

quote:

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Originally posted by Thomas Pyrek:
so how fast was he driving and did he do anything other than drive.

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Exactly, at 800 miles a day i doubt he was experienced many cold starts.

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Uh oh, mayday!

I'm down right being skeptical about 800 miles a day! Let's go by the numbers. He did 800 miles a day. Let's pretend he took sundays off, so that's about 300 days a year of 800 mile driving.


Let's say he "passed" 1,000,000 miles back in 92 and bought the car in 1995. That would be over 1,680,000 miles.

That can't be right. Let's give him saturday off as well (250 days a year). That's still 1,400,000 miles. And if he changed the oil "every 3k miles" then he has to have changed the oil in someone's parking lot. I sure as **** doubt he did that. So lets assume he changed it every 4 days, that's at 3,200 miles. Not 3k.

Now, lets see how long it takes to drive that. From what I recall, those P/U's have a speed limiter of 95 mph. So assuming he drove at 95 mph all the time, that is still almost 8 hours and 30 minutes of driving. Now lets assume he drove 75 (sometimes drove 60, sometimes drove 90. It's a good average). That's near 11 hours of driving! That would be a terrible job assuming he has one (unless he robs gas stations of oil, food and gas).

 

[Mamala Bay]

Talk of humor, this better than Candid Camera...TP makes my DAY!!!!

 

[therion]

quote:

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Originally posted by Thomas Pyrek:

quote:

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Originally posted by therion:

quote:

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Originally posted by Thomas Pyrek:
so how fast was he driving and did he do anything other than drive.

---

Exactly, at 800 miles a day i doubt he was experienced many cold starts.

---

Uh oh, mayday!

I'm down right being skeptical about 800 miles a day! Let's go by the numbers. He did 800 miles a day. Let's pretend he took sundays off, so that's about 300 days a year of 800 mile driving.


Let's say he "passed" 1,000,000 miles back in 92 and bought the car in 1995. That would be over 1,680,000 miles.

That can't be right. Let's give him saturday off as well (250 days a year). That's still 1,400,000 miles. And if he changed the oil "every 3k miles" then he has to have changed the oil in someone's parking lot. I sure as **** doubt he did that. So lets assume he changed it every 4 days, that's at 3,200 miles. Not 3k.

Now, lets see how long it takes to drive that. From what I recall, those P/U's have a speed limiter of 95 mph. So assuming he drove at 95 mph all the time, that is still almost 8 hours and 30 minutes of driving. Now lets assume he drove 75 (sometimes drove 60, sometimes drove 90. It's a good average). That's near 11 hours of driving! That would be a terrible job assuming he has one (unless he robs gas stations of oil, food and gas).

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Or sounds like someone with infinate gas money and nothing better to do. Hey, I drive around pointlessly hours at a time daily.. It's better for the engine than driving 2 miles to my school. But my gas money limits my travels only so far. I wish i had all the resources this guy had.

 

[mikemc]

I would think the only problems associated with changing oil too often would be A) 'dry' starts after changing the oil and not being able to get the new filter 100% full of oil, B) wearing out the threads on the oil pan and C) a waste of money and more used oil and filters put into the environment.

 

[therion]

quote:

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Originally posted by mikemc:
I would think the only problems associated with changing oil too often would be A) 'dry' starts after changing the oil and not being able to get the new filter 100% full of oil, B) wearing out the threads on the oil pan and C) a waste of money and more used oil and filters put into the environment.

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I heard that on engines where the oil filter is mounted sideways (Flat 6, and some I6's) you should unplug the distributor wire or coil and crank a couple times before starting the car to get oil in there. Now the only problem i see with doing this is excessive fuel being put in the cylinders. Do the consequences (fuel in cyl.) outweigh the benefits (oil pressurizing)??

 

[DriveHard]

Instead try pulling the fuel pump fuse, and leave the distributor (ignitiona system) alone...

 

[Thomas Pyrek]

quote:

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Originally posted by DriveHard:
Instead try pulling the fuel pump fuse, and leave the distributor (ignitiona system) alone...

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or go for the engine computer fuse so the engine won't start. On some cars the engine will still start and run for a moment with the fuel pump getting no power.

 

[VaderSS]

quote:

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I heard that on engines where the oil filter is mounted sideways (Flat 6, and some I6's) you should unplug the distributor wire or coil and crank a couple times before starting the car to get oil in there.

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Cylinder pressure at idle is not a lot higher than cranking pressure. I honestly think that just pulling the spark does almost nothing to reduce dry start wear. Pulling the plugs however, that would pull 99% of the pressure off of the bearings, which can range up over a ton of force just from compression. Of course, then you run the risk of stripping plug threads in the head from pulling them so often, but then, I remember when I used to pull them with every oil change to clean them anyway.

 

[TallPaul]

quote:

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Originally posted by therion:

I heard that on engines where the oil filter is mounted sideways (Flat 6, and some I6's) you should unplug the distributor wire or coil and crank a couple times before starting the car to get oil in there.

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On my Ford 300 cid straight six with sideways (horizontal) filter mount I have enough room to put the filter on from above. I can fill it practically to the brim, hold it verticall right up to the mounting stud, and then quickly flip it up onto the stud with minimal drippage. Makes for some nice smooth after-oil-change starts. Another thing I sometimes do is squirt some oil into the pump outlet hole next to the mounting stud, just in case the pump happened to lose prime (had it happen once). In fact, I may just do that, but squirt a lot of oil down that hole to see if I can get more old oil pushed out into the pan and drained.

 

[JohnnyO]

As I recall from before, the discussion centered around the filter being more effective as it got dirtier (to a point).