Never changing oil - Stories

[caravanmike]

knew a contractor with a 1979 half ton chevy (350 carborated) that had the truck for ten years and never changed the oil, he just added when it was low. he sold it running. he thought oil changes were waste of money.

my work has a 2001 tahoe (5.3L) that didn't have its oil changed from 98,000 miles all the way up to 127,000 miles, and that was on penzoil dino. changed it 2 weeks ago and their doesn't see to be any damage? mike

 

[mva]

Back in the early eighties, my girlfriend's dad never changed his oil. But, he traded in his car for a new one every three years. He always drove a nice car and he saved a lot on maintenance; but, I always felt sorry for the guy that ended up with his trade-ins.

Oil back then wasn't nearly as good as today either.

 

[Audi Junkie]

A lot of people buy used and believe the seller or used lot ~totally~ services a car before sale. Typical used car lot? You're luck if they topped it off or even checked themselves.

I do know a guy, South Philly Used Car Lot Salesman of the Year, he said they kept a case of Motor Honey equivalent that they would toss into smokers, up to 100% concentration.

My MiL had a beater LTD (302?) wagon that had a rusted oil pan, the oil would seep through. I'd add 4+ quarts of the 10w-50 Delux FiL had stashed. She got that A6q V6 which drank oil and would let it go 2+q down. My niece has that car now in it's final throughs. After find it down 3 and 2 quarts the last two checks, I topped it with Delo and MLEP and announced I'm DONE WITH IT!


Running low on oil is not the subject, but oil would have never gotten chaged either w/o me doing it.

 

[oilyriser]

Originally Posted By: LOLVO
Mobil 2 is hilarious.

Anyone got mobil 3?


Every so often I see abandoned jugs of used oil sitting outside the service bays at Canadian Tire. Free beater oil, anyone?

 

[TLMjared]

I had a Ford Econoline Van come in at work last year, was 39000 miles since last oil change on a conventional (I believe wal-mart's Supertech oil) we did his oil change, he came in 2 weeks later complaining of an oil leak, His rear main seal was shot spewed oil everywhere.

Also when I was in High School a teacher donated his late 80's early 90's s10 pickup to the school shop program, he had never changed the oil since it was new and now had just under 200k miles on it- I think he only topped it off occasionally - it was ticking loud and low on the stick. The teacher said lets try something, so we floored it in park for about 5 minutes until a loud bang occurred and the engine stopped solid. Then we got a new engine for it and sold it

My cousin has horrible oci habits, nothing too horrible though only like a year on conventional, I'm trying to fix this - but he always seems "too busy to change his oil"

 

[addyguy]

I worked at WM years ago with a guy whose parents bought him a 1986 Pontiac 6000 V-6 with about 50k km on it. He drove it a lot, about 30k km a year, but never changed the oil, just checked it occassionally and added a bit if needed.

I pointed out that our store did oil changes, and he could drop his car off before a shift, and pick it up at the end. He said, 'yeah, I should do that..' but for some unknown reason, never did. Funny thing is, he always talked about how much he liked the car.

So myself, and a couple of other people got on his case about how easy it was to start taking care of his car. He let our garage do an oil change, and the oil came out so nasty, they told him to come back in a week and get it changed again. So he did, but it was too late - the car spun the rod bearings on the highway while he was heading home from work soon after that. Car had about 190k km on it.

 

[Trajan]

If anyone remembers the TV show Happy Days, there was an episode in which two girls take their car to Fonzie's garage.
I forget exactly the reason, but when asked, one said "I just put gas in it and go."

Looks like alot of people in the real world do the same thing.

 

[StevieC]

After all these posts, I'm not so worried about doing extended OCI's past 6K (10K KM) on my Amsoil. I mean if engines can make it 30K+ without seizing on regular Dino oil, I'm sure the Amsoil will stand up in my "easy on oil" V6

 

[HM12460]

in 1997 my son's mother bought a 1993 ford escort with low miles. it was a pretty clean little car. never changed the oil in it as far as i know. numerous times i'd hear the engine knocking and upon checking the oil, there would be nothing on the dip stick. one time, i put in 3.5 quarts of oil to top it off. that car ran and drove good up to about 140,000 miles. it was getting rusty, the rear main was leaking badly and the a/t slipped. it went to the junk yard. she doesnt treat her 2003 buick century any better.

 

[addyguy]

bump - these are great threads. I love them!

 

[panthermike]

My brother owns an 01' F150 w/ the 5.4. It has 190K miles and runs pretty well. He averages 10-17K OCI's, on conventional oil. Matter of fact, me and some of my brother's used it last memorial day weekend, and again in March of this year for camping. The last oil change was the 08' Memorial day camping and again for the March camping, 17K miles and 2qts low.

Truck still runs fine though?

 

[KLowD9x]

Originally Posted By: wgtoys
Who buys something like an XC90 and then skimps on oil changes? That makes no sense!


It's an every day thing at my dealer. 10K OCIs are not uncommon. We put a sticker in the window that says "Come back in (5000) miles!", the service reminder indicator comes on at 7500 miles and stays on for two minutes, eventually, the service light never turns off (about 10K miles, I assume) and then they decide to bring the vehicle in for service.

We have had to switch to semi-synthetic to keep turbocharger replacements on 10K OCIs at a minimum.

 

[hogpops]

Back in '83, we owned a '76 Olds 98, bought used with about 70,000 miles. My wife called from the grocery store and said the oil light came on and what to do? I told her to drive it slow, but come on home and I would check on it. A few minutes later she called and said it died in the middle of a major intersection and the battery was dead. She said it wouldn't do anything when she tried to restart. I went down and hooked up a chain and towed it home. I checked the starter and it worked and started up with a lot of engine rattling. Shut it off and checked the oil on the 455 v-8. It wouldn't show on the dipstick, so I added 3 quarts and that brought it up to the bottom of the stick. Started it again, and the oil filter spewed oil out fast. It had ruptured. Went to the auto parts store and purchased a new filter and 7 quarts of oil, installed it and drove it several more years with no engine trouble.

 

[JT1]

My sisters vehicles never see the inside of a shop unless a tow truck takes it there.

Can you believe she asked to borrow my camaro(i built the engine myself). I couldn't say no fast enough,lol.

 

[Klutch9]

A buddy of mine's fiance drives about 10,000 miles a month... dont ask. its a newer Chevy Aveo 5-speed, nice car actually. Her current oil is about 20,000 miles old, and its bulk dino oil! she just bought the car not long ago, and unfortunately, i dont think it'll last very long. thankfully, 99 percent of those miles are highway.

 

[occupant]

I can't say I ever went THIS far without an oil change. But I did have my 1991 Aerostar 3.0L in 2004-2005. Nicknamed, "The Van Of Questionable Mechanical Integrity". I replaced EVERYTHING on that van short of the engine. And in all retrospect it should have been the first thing to go.

I bought the van for about $1100 with the odometer showing 148,000 or so and it had an oil change sticker on the windshield showing next due at 145,500. So in theory it was already 5500 into the OCI. I had the oil changed at 152,000 (about a 9500 mile OCI) at a Firestone because I had a coupin for an $11.99 oil change. I did not change the oil again, added about a quart every 2000 miles, and concentrated my money on the rest of the van.

Transmission
U-joints
Radiator
Muffler and Tailpipe
Starter Solenoid
Cap and Rotor
Plugs and Wires
Rack and Pinion
Heater Core
Power Steering Pump
Front Brakes*

At 171,000 miles I tried to buy a 2000 model Saturn from a friend by taking over her note lot payments. I left my Aerostar at her apartment complex and drove the Saturn for the next two weeks, paying her for the privilege by depositing $60 a week into her checking account, and then she was supposed to call in the payments on her debit card.

The car got repossessed and I was left without a vehicle. My wife was kind enough to drive me 45 miles away to get my van back. I fired it up and oil sprayed everywhere. I thought, oh crud, 19K miles on this still fairly clean oil, and I just blew up my motor. My wife walks over, says, listen to your voice mail, I did, and there's a message from my now former friend, "hope you don't have any car trouble on your way home". I got under the van and saw two screwdriver holes in the oil filter. The drain plug was barely finger tight. The dipstick had a clear fluid sitting on top of the regular amber oil. I'm guessing they loosened the plug, poked the filter, and then poured something in the oil filler, maybe water, or Sprite, or brake fluid.

Since I no longer cared for this person or their apartment complex, and I needed to be at work two hours prior, I drained the mixture onto the ground, rode with the wife to OReilly, bought a filter and a 5qt of their cheapest 10w30, took care of it, and babied the thing to work. I sold the van for $750 5K later, having NOT changed the oil again. Don't know what happened to it other than it got impounded and sold at auction for $200.

*the front brakes were down to 3/32 thick...and I'm not talking about the pads...I'm talking about the ROTORS...the pads were nonexistent, even the rivets were sheared off. I dropped one pad on the ground from a 4' height whilst turning around to ask my wife something, and it shattered into six pieces!

 

[AFmedic]

My mom drives a 96 Kia and it"s lucky to have the oil changed once a year> She drives about 90 miles a day and has for the cars life. My dad takes it to have the oil changed whenever he gets around do it. The thing keeps on chugging along>

 

[law3500]

My last job as a Toyota technician was to put a new engine in a Toyota Matrix with 19,000 on the factory fill/filter with no top up It was not pretty, But Toyota did goodwill warranty it for her....

 

[wannafbody]

If Toyota continues to be that stupid with warranty claims they'll be the next GM

 

[law3500]

That was back in 2004, from what I hear they have tightened up their goodwill like everyone else has.