Never change oil again, just add!

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quote:
Originally posted by Kompressor:
I worked for a guy that bought a Nissan pickup brand new (mid 80's model) and ran it for over 80K miles without ever changing oil or filter. Still ran OK when he traded it in, they'll go alot farther than you may think. My dad was another bad one for this, he had a '72 Buick Riviera (455 engine) that went well over 250K miles, and I bet you could count the number of oil/filter changes it had on one hand.
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That is very interesting....but did the guy ever peaked inside the engine? I have a friend which is an SAE certified mechaninc and also has his own shop...anyway, a friend of his bought a mid 90s Z71 pick up...the dude stated the original owner never changed the oil, but just added when it was low.....to make a long story short, my friend took off the valve covers and the best way to describe what I saw is that the crud was about 2 inches high in some places and looked like brownie dipped in oil.....to call this "nasty" would be an understatement.
Rick
 
quote:
Originally posted by Speed racer:
BUT apparently the military DID do this test on various types of vehicles just to see what would happen if the oil was never changed. The results were amazing; the microscopic worn metal particles suspended in the oil actually provided excellent lubrication and cushioning for the bearings and other moving parts. The metal particles turned into little "ball-bearings" which provided the lubrication & friction reducer.
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I have no idea whether this ever happenned or not, BUT it must have been just a "test".....the military (at least the Air Force) does change their oils....in fact, I'm sitting about 100ft from a few hundred gallons of oils and fluids.
Rick
 
Hmmmmm....disposable cars...what a great idea!!!

Maybe just disposable engines, cause the rest of the car is in really good shape after so few miles...
grin.gif
 
At my last job in florida, a maintenance guy said his grandpa had a 70s car, with a v8 that didnt have any oil changes on dino for 65k miles!

He said the engine ran great, and had a thick coating of sludge. He changed the oil when he inherited the car, and it started having a noisy valvetrain, LOL. He said he should have not changed the oil because the old oil must have acted like a grease. Anyhow, it ran great until he changed the oil, LOL.. But it was a POS cause it was running due to sludge!
 
Didnt pennzoil market their Pennzoil Synthetic with their Pennz-9 additive (or whatever that NASA thing waas) as microscopic ball bearings or something??

Coulda been just iron filings HAHAHA
 
Speed racer, this sounds almost like an urban myth. I like Click n' Clack but they've passed along some urban myths they've heard before without checking. The homemade rocket-powered car is one I remember.

Now, there have been some documented cases of abused cars surviving and even seeming to do fine as other people have documented in this thread ... but there have been an equal or greater number of expensive disasters.

I just don't see any virtue in torturing an engine due to cheapness, laziness and/or ignorance.
nono.gif


--- Bror Jace
 
It is just common sense to get your oil changed on a regular basis. Or perhaps, in this world of today, uncommon sense.
 
There is a post in Interesting Articles entitled 'Sludge Monster.' Go to that post and check out the photos.
 
In my original post on this subject; I pointed out that these were just experiments that were being conducted by the military and informally by Click and Clack. AND I wondered if anyone had heard the show and the results of the informal test; (which may still be going on.)
I never recommended this kind of mantinance on your real car; but it seems like from these posts, some have unwittingly volunteered their engines for this experiment.
I had no idea how long and far a motor could go without regular oil changes. It seems like the less stressed cooler running larger motors (v-8) fare better that a small hot running high revving motor. (honda)
Cool!
 
I can verify that the Air Force does indeed change oil. However, they certainly don't change it often. I can't speak for all bases but at my last one it was a 12 month change interval regardless of mileage. This was in NW Florida so the oil got to see some varying conditions, from freezing to 110 heat in summer....salt in the air, lots of sand from the ranges etc.

Don't know how well they faired on that regimen.

Mikie
 
I found the article I was looking for (3-13-02 L.A. Times). These are a few excerpts of comments by Norm Hudecki, a retired Valvoline oil researcher and "among the best-known lubrication experts in the nation":

-Through industry surveys, most people change their oil an average of every 9,000 miles.
-Many engines will tolerate dirty oil in a crankcase and go far beyond 10,000 miles...without triggering a catastophic engine failure.
-Sludge -- also called gelation -- begins to form about 12,000 to 15,000 miles after an oil change.
-Most oil will last probably 12,000 and 15,000 miles, even if it is in a city vehicle by somebody like a cab driver or police. If you are out on the highway, most oils will last 15,000 miles with no problem.
-Not long after the 15,000 mile mark, however, the oil is full of crud and the dispersants are saturated.

In his comments he's not suggesting that one extend drain intervals to 10,000+ miles, but is simply describing what physical characteristics conventional oils attain at that point, and whether an engine can survive same.
 
nono.gif
If you want to go that route I can tell you what worked for me. Years ago I had a flat head Merc 1950.It used oil and it ran good but I didn't want to put any $ into it. I used to buy drain oil for .15 a quart today this wouldn,t be allowed but the valves rod and crank bearings knocked finally it just quit. So help the enviorment not like I did as a stupid kid get a engine that doesn't smoke and your better off.
 
I worked for Pacific Telephone in the mid 1960s. They didn't change oil on passenger cars or pickups. The higher priced trucks did get oil changes.

Engine life ran 50,000 to 80,000 miles IIRC.
 
I have not changed my oil since Dec 2003. I used M1 5w-30 and i just change the filter at 3 months. We are now at almost 6 months (3000 miles) and i am considering just doing a filter change and topping it off. I think i would rather have old M1 than new dino oil. I was going to use dino in the summer, because i feel there is no benifit of synthetic in the summer. If you say it can handle the heat better, all oils, dino or syn. can handle the same heat. If your engine gets to hot, mechanical fixes are needed, not synthetic oil.
 
I guess people don't remember working on older VW bugs. They didn't have a full flow oil filter, just a screen, and almost all Bugs seemed to develop a nice thick layer of sludge inside the engine. Alhtough you could get a stock Bug to last awhile, they did much better with a larger oil cooler, a full flow filter that added a quart to the oil capacity, and regular oil changes as they were hard on oil.
 
quote:
Originally posted by JonS:
I have not changed my oil since Dec 2003. I used M1 5w-30 and i just change the filter at 3 months. We are now at almost 6 months (3000 miles) and i am considering just doing a filter change and topping it off. I think i would rather have old M1 than new dino oil. I was going to use dino in the summer, because i feel there is no benifit of synthetic in the summer. If you say it can handle the heat better, all oils, dino or syn. can handle the same heat. If your engine gets to hot, mechanical fixes are needed, not synthetic oil.
Click to expand...
But what if you're stuck in the middle of a huge traffic jam and your radiator fan stops working, or your thermostat sticks open? Do you honestly think that a cheap dino oil is going to handle that extreme heat situation as well as a full synthetic? So that one instance alone could make the difference between your engine living or dying. With dino and a major overheat, it could definitely spell disaster.
 
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