Determining the Proper Oil for Your Engine - Email from Lake Speed Jr

[altaylar]

Looks like a nutrition suggestion coming from pro bodybuilders. Too many oil changes and too many UOA, and I have serious doubt if UOA provides as accurate and statistically informative information as he hopes it to.

Personally, I have never put more than 60K miles on a car, and i have sold most of my cars before 60K mile mark. I don't think they would warrant spending $1K for each car during my ownership to optimize my oil choice this way, even if we assume you could optimize it this way.

Also, dont forget that oil formulations change with time as well. If you found your ideal oil after t years, probably you wont be benefiting from it for too long

 

[buster]

Personally, I have never put more than 60K miles on a car, and i have sold most of my cars before 60K mile mark. I don't think they would warrant spending $1K for each car during my ownership to optimize my oil choice this way, even if we assume you could optimize it this way.

Also, dont forget that oil formulations change with time as well. If you found your ideal oil after t years, probably you wont be benefiting from it for too long

Valid point. This site and guys like Lake really target a very small % of the population. Those more obsessed or interested in the subject of lubrication and maximum engine longevity.

 

[Hohn]

Looks like a nutrition suggestion coming from pro bodybuilders. Too many oil changes and too many UOA, and I have serious doubt if UOA provides as accurate and statistically informative information as he hopes it to.

Personally, I have never put more than 60K miles on a car, and i have sold most of my cars before 60K mile mark. I don't think they would warrant spending $1K for each car during my ownership to optimize my oil choice this way, even if we assume you could optimize it this way.

Also, dont forget that oil formulations change with time as well. If you found your ideal oil after t years, probably you wont be benefiting from it for too long

I can see why someone in your situation wouldn't want to spend money on UOA. After all, that money is better spent paying for the fortune in depreciation costs from having perpetually new vehicles.

But many people are keeping their vehicles for a much longer time now because it's more cost-effective to do so. The average age for a passenger car in the USA is now 14 years. That's the AVERAGE.

That data strongly suggests that the BITOGER trying to keep the vehicle alive to 300k miles is not at all the outlier, but rather the person living large on perpetually young vehicles is in fact the one that is the outlier.

https://www.bts.gov/content/average-age-automobiles-and-trucks-operation-united-states

 

[rstcso]

But many people are keeping their vehicles for a much longer time now because it's more cost-effective to do so. The average age for a passenger car in the USA is now 14 years. That's the AVERAGE.

That data strongly suggests that the BITOGER trying to keep the vehicle alive to 300k miles is not at all the outlier, but rather the person living large on perpetually young vehicles is in fact the one that is the outlier.

I have a tendency to agree with you, but would like to point out that were it not for those wanting "perpetually young vehicles", many people, including here on BITOG, would not be enjoying their new-to-them vehicles.

The small percentage of buyers ending up here will be concerned how good it was taken care of before acquiring it (or not), and will fret over using the "best" oil and filter, and yes, whether the crush washer should be replaced each OCI. Endless "how-to" and "what-if" discussions will ensue, "Old-timers" will roll their eyes and add the obligatory "Not Again!" posts to the threads, and life will go on.

 

[Hohn]

Agree completely. If not for the wealthier people eating gobs of depreciation, there would be no pool of cream puffs from which to draw cheaper good vehicles.

 

[Plumb Bob]

LSJr's approach to wear metal accumulations are, well, misinformed at the very least.
He is, IMO, making good money off giving average-at-best advice.
He makes three very important mistakes in his approach:
- he combines wear metals to get a "total" per 1k miles; as if those metals can be lumped together to understand wear traits ... (SMH)
- he completely ignores the topics of macro and micro statistical analysis
- he completely ignores the topics of understanding process variation

UOAs are great tools, but they have to be understood as to what they are and are not good at. And more importantly, once you have the data, how to accurately and properly process that information.

His "prowess" in Math and Statistics is lacking, to put it mildly.

 

[tired]

His "prowess" in Math and Statistics is lacking, to put it mildly.

His shortcomings in oil comparisons are really stunning, given his background, as @dnewton3 summarized well. I guess it gets views on Youtube though.

 

[Plumb Bob]

His shortcomings in oil comparisons are really stunning, given his background, as @dnewton3 summarized well. I guess it gets views on Youtube though.

He also gets an unwavering following in this format. To each his own.

 

[f1jim]

There is no one that is without criticism these days. In fact, it seems to be the norm to tear down anyone with an indepth knowledge of ANYTHING. I find his knowledge helpful and enlightening. For those that feel the need to rip him apart, have at it. None of the "experts" I read in this blog would withstand the same scrutiny. Enjoy your moment of pleasure on "king of the hill" here.

 

[Plumb Bob]

There is no one that is without criticism these days. In fact, it seems to be the norm to tear down anyone with an indepth knowledge of ANYTHING.

Criticism is the lifeblood of knowledge. Point I was making is that he doesn't seem to have an in-depth knowledge of statistics, not just ANYTHING.

 

[kschachn]

There is no one that is without criticism these days. In fact, it seems to be the norm to tear down anyone with an indepth knowledge of ANYTHING. I find his knowledge helpful and enlightening. For those that feel the need to rip him apart, have at it. None of the "experts" I read in this blog would withstand the same scrutiny. Enjoy your moment of pleasure on "king of the hill" here.

Oh please.

Enjoy your moment of pleasure of being the "enlightened one" in this sea of ignorance.

 

[Wireman1987]

Textbook definition of insanity for sure

 

[f1jim]

Lake has to make the information understandable for us newbies to oil and it's many layers of complexity. I appreciate his drumming down the process so I can understand these layers. If somehow that makes me enlightened, so be it. I just hate to see people spreading knowledge by people claiming even greater knowledge. Ironic, actually. I hate it when people play "see, I'm smarter.". I do agree criticism is part of good science but I see a lot of piling on, similar to my experiences in grade school. Live and let live. Take what one finds informative and let the rest go. Everyone is in a different place of understanding on every topic.
f1jim