Blue,
Yes there is this "evidence" that oil with some wear debris produced less wear than clean oil. I'd like the read the actual studies. How many engines, how used was the oil, what was the engine and its condition? Was it still breaking in, and therefore metals reduced per mile of use regardless of oil used, etc. Were the engines torn down and tolerances measured before and after the test? What were the enviromental conditions? Did the seasons change during the test?
They say compulsive oil changers are causing more engine wear. Again, what were the parameters? Was the filter pre filled each time? If not this could explain the increased wear with more changes. Finally, note the word "some wear debris" in the text in your study. What is "some"? 10% more debris than new oil? 50% more? What is the point the oil became too dirty and wear began to increase? Oh, they don't tell us. These studies are far too loosey-goosey for us to claim a definitive answer.
Then, let's look at empirical evidence. I have seen dozens of motors that have had and contine to have a long life with oil changes in the 3k-5k range. Conversely, I have seen at least 5 engines that went to an early grave and had spotty oil change history. Granted it is a small sample, but my real world experience has been that engines with shorter oil change intervals seem to last longer than engines that don't.
One more point: I travel constantly for business. Some years ago I became curious about the practices of taxi drivers and how many miles they get out of their engines. I have spoken to drivers in every major metro area in our country. None have ever said they get less than 250k miles out of an engine. Several said they get 400k. Now, how often do they change the oil? 3k miles. Most drivers I have spoke with change it every week to two weeks, depending on wheter the cab is use 24-hours a day or not. This equates to 3k-3.5k intervals. This includes Yellow cab in NY. Now if long intervals didn't matter, why would this company bother with changing the oil every week?
In any case, I'll keep doing what I want until you pry my 14mm 3/8 drive socket from my cold dead hands.
Yes there is this "evidence" that oil with some wear debris produced less wear than clean oil. I'd like the read the actual studies. How many engines, how used was the oil, what was the engine and its condition? Was it still breaking in, and therefore metals reduced per mile of use regardless of oil used, etc. Were the engines torn down and tolerances measured before and after the test? What were the enviromental conditions? Did the seasons change during the test?
They say compulsive oil changers are causing more engine wear. Again, what were the parameters? Was the filter pre filled each time? If not this could explain the increased wear with more changes. Finally, note the word "some wear debris" in the text in your study. What is "some"? 10% more debris than new oil? 50% more? What is the point the oil became too dirty and wear began to increase? Oh, they don't tell us. These studies are far too loosey-goosey for us to claim a definitive answer.
Then, let's look at empirical evidence. I have seen dozens of motors that have had and contine to have a long life with oil changes in the 3k-5k range. Conversely, I have seen at least 5 engines that went to an early grave and had spotty oil change history. Granted it is a small sample, but my real world experience has been that engines with shorter oil change intervals seem to last longer than engines that don't.
One more point: I travel constantly for business. Some years ago I became curious about the practices of taxi drivers and how many miles they get out of their engines. I have spoken to drivers in every major metro area in our country. None have ever said they get less than 250k miles out of an engine. Several said they get 400k. Now, how often do they change the oil? 3k miles. Most drivers I have spoke with change it every week to two weeks, depending on wheter the cab is use 24-hours a day or not. This equates to 3k-3.5k intervals. This includes Yellow cab in NY. Now if long intervals didn't matter, why would this company bother with changing the oil every week?
In any case, I'll keep doing what I want until you pry my 14mm 3/8 drive socket from my cold dead hands.
