Never changing oil - Stories

[occupant]

Originally Posted By: 360kid

If someone did this to my vehicle I would call the police. Friend or not. Even if they didn't get arrested for vandalism, at least they would have the trouble of dealing with the police for a bit.

Oh yeah, I would have been calling the police in under a minute. Otherwise losers like that will think they can get away with these things.


It wasn't worth the trouble. She is one of those people who puts her own foot in her mouth all by herself.

The mess of oil got her evicted from the property. Van was in her carport spot and they got [censored]. No deposit refund, either. She came home a few days later to changed locks and a nice orange sticker. Had to be escorted off the property and came back at an appointed time with a sheriff to oversee her removing her stuff.

She blogged about it all and I sat back and laughed.

The new car she had bought ate a timing belt after the warranty was up.

She blogged about that, tried to sue, got laughed at by an attorney. Blogged about that too. Too bad the blog is gone now, I'd link y'all to it. Borderline Personality Disorder makes for amusing times.

 

[lexus114]

Originally Posted By: StevieC
I will go first...

My aunt had a Ford Contour and drove it on Factory Fill until it died at 68K KM. I don't know if it would have kept running if topped up regularly, because the oil was all gone when the engine seized.

The oil pan plug was caked on and would hardly budge.

Well stevie,that really isnt a good example because the Contour was a Ford embarrassment!!

 

[91boz]

A friend had a Plymouth Champ I forgot the year but he had asked me to change the oil. I removed the drain plug and the oil was as thick as molassas and no more than 2 quarts came out. Asked him when was the last time he changed the oil and he replied never did. The car had a little over 90,000 mile and all he did was top it off. I proceeded to remove the filter and it was stuck o real good. When I forced it off with a screw driver driven thru the whole cast broke off. To make a long story short we replaced the filter housing from a junkyard but his engine froze a month later.

Years later this person was complaining to me about a loud noise from his Toyota Tacoma engine and when we took off the valve cover you wouldn't believe what we saw. The valve train was surrounded by hard caked on oil which I would describe as coal like. I couldn't believe that his engine could run in this condition. I could take a screwdriver and jam into the caked on mess and it would break off a chunk stuck on the end. Again due to a lack of oil change.

 

[daves87rs]

Originally Posted By: lexus114
Originally Posted By: StevieC
I will go first...

My aunt had a Ford Contour and drove it on Factory Fill until it died at 68K KM. I don't know if it would have kept running if topped up regularly, because the oil was all gone when the engine seized.

The oil pan plug was caked on and would hardly budge.

Well stevie,that really isnt a good example because the Contour was a Ford embarrassment!!

 

[Jerryb]

Thirty years ago my father drove to my house in his 1969 Dodge with a 383 ci engine. I checked his oil and it was bone dry. I added 5 quarts of oil to his car. He told me he had his oil changed, drove from NYC to Philadelphia and back. He hen drove 35 miles to my house. I figure he drove about 240 miles with no oil, most of it on the NJ Turnpike at 65MPH. That car lasted another 6 years till someone stole it.

 

[StevieC]

Originally Posted By: Jerryb
Thirty years ago my father drove to my house in his 1969 Dodge with a 383 ci engine. I checked his oil and it was bone dry. I added 5 quarts of oil to his car. He told me he had his oil changed, drove from NYC to Philadelphia and back. He hen drove 35 miles to my house. I figure he drove about 240 miles with no oil, most of it on the NJ Turnpike at 65MPH. That car lasted another 6 years till someone stole it.


My dad had and old Dodge Dart or Duster, don't know the engine because I wasn't around then and he can't remember. He used to give it out to his customers to drive while servicing their cars... When he sold his station and he didn't know what to do with the car so he drained the oil out of it and drove it for almost 2 weeks to/from the station!

Then the engine finally seized...

Do that today!

 

[hal]

Originally Posted By: cronk
I used to work at a Chevy dealership, the local Army base brought in a full size Chevy Express van. They complained that the engine made noise and now wouldn't run. It turns out the van had over 30k on it and still had the factory fill oil and original filter. I think they never even checked the oil until it was to late, the bottom end was spanked. I new engine, at our taxpayer dollar!
Warranty was voided due to lack of maintenance.



GM should have honored the warranty since they are LIVING OFF TAX PAYERS ANYWAY.

 

[Audi Junkie]

Originally Posted By: occupant
Originally Posted By: 360kid

If someone did this to my vehicle I would call the police. Friend or not. Even if they didn't get arrested for vandalism, at least they would have the trouble of dealing with the police for a bit.

Oh yeah, I would have been calling the police in under a minute. Otherwise losers like that will think they can get away with these things.



It wasn't worth the trouble. She is one of those people who puts her own foot in her mouth all by herself.

The mess of oil got her evicted from the property. Van was in her carport spot and they got [censored]. No deposit refund, either. She came home a few days later to changed locks and a nice orange sticker. Had to be escorted off the property and came back at an appointed time with a sheriff to oversee her removing her stuff.

She blogged about it all and I sat back and laughed.

The new car she had bought ate a timing belt after the warranty was up.

She blogged about that, tried to sue, got laughed at by an attorney. Blogged about that too. Too bad the blog is gone now, I'd link y'all to it. Borderline Personality Disorder makes for amusing times.



Best advice I've seen in a long time was from a lady on Judge Judy (I know, I'm a classy guy watching JJ) all she said was ,"stay away from crazy people". My wife and I both lol'ed. Exactly the kind of profound intellect I'd expect from a participant on JJ.

 

[Audi Junkie]

Originally Posted By: lexus114
Originally Posted By: StevieC
I will go first...

My aunt had a Ford Contour and drove it on Factory Fill until it died at 68K KM. I don't know if it would have kept running if topped up regularly, because the oil was all gone when the engine seized.

The oil pan plug was caked on and would hardly budge.

Well stevie,that really isnt a good example because the Contour was a Ford embarrassment!!

Some people love those cars.

 

[StevieC]

It was a good car to her, until it couldn't deal with no oil.

 

[bretfraz]

My parents bought a Chevy S10 4x4 brand new in 1984. Factory ordered, pretty much every option imaginable including the 2.8L V6.

For most of its life it was well cared for. As my brothers and I came of driving age, the truck became the family taxi, always in service with someone driving it constantly. It seemed to be running 10 hours a day, every day.

While we all were pretty good at taking care of our cars, no one seemed to take care of the truck. I don't recall changing the oil myself but I do remember it was a PITA to do, so we just took it to the dealer or wherever. Well, since the truck was always going, no one bothered to make sure the oil was changed.

One day my youngest brother was driving it on the 405 Fwy in So Cal when the engine blew up. It spun a main bearing and threw a rod out the bottom of the oil pan. My folks were on vacation so we had it towed to the local Chevy dealer. They pulled the engine, then called me to come over and take a look. The mechanic took a putty knife to all the sludge in the oil pan. I had no idea when the oil was last changed but based on the sticker it went 13,000 miles on an OCI.

A new short block was installed at a steep price. When we got the truck back it ran great, but my folks thought it was cursed so they sold it to a dealer for cash. My folks bought a new Toyota truck for my brother to drive. No one has ever forgot to change the oil in any car since.

 

[chet2]

i dont think peopleare stupid, just indifferent

 

[Gearhead]

A co-worker went 65,000+ miles on a factory oil fill in a 2.9L Ford in a 1989 Ranger. He beat the [censored] out of it, and it ran well & was quiet.

 

[ekpolk]

Originally Posted By: chet2
i dont think peopleare stupid, just indifferent

Both perhaps?

 

[yeti]

chet2 -- a friend, who is brilliant in marketing, has a few signs on his office wall. one states -- never underestimate the stupidity of the consumer. food for thought.

 

[Newtonville]

Lowes where I live had a couple lawn mowers out with bad engines put out, one I saw had a hole in the side of engine. I knew someone who bought a mower, ran it without oil till it quit, then when told to put oil in filled it to the top of the fill tube which was above the engine. It wouldn't run then either. I "fixed" it for her (sorry but it was a her) by putting the correct oil amount in. It started up and ran fine.
The same person never changed the car oil, car only got added oil when relatives visited, 90K miles, but still ran fine. Any kind of oil from the nearest store. The oil light on means shouldn't drive it too much more. Her game was also to try to floor it as soon as it was started in the morning and run it wide open through the gears from ice cold. This was Toyota Camry and it seemed to take the abuse without complaint.

 

[Cutehumor]

Originally Posted By: parmijo
this is a funny thread.

So my brother in law, 26 yr old grad student in electrical engineering, is going to school and needs a car. We buy him a Chevy Prizm. To this day he thinks it is a Toyota Corolla. Even though it says Prizm all over it.


ah hem....cough..cough

owned

 

[XS650]

Originally Posted By: ekpolk
Originally Posted By: chet2
i dont think peopleare stupid, just indifferent

Both perhaps?


Person 1 "Which is the bigger problem, ignorance or apathy?"

Person 2 "I don't know and I don't care."

 

[StevieC]

Originally Posted By: StevieC
I got a story to top it all! My uncle (dad's brother) calls him up yesterday and says that his '92 2000 Eagle GTX (Mitsubishi 4 cyl engine) has failed the emission test miserably and he needs his help to make it pass. (2 years ago it just squeaked by)

So my dad says ok, bring it over... So he brings it over and my dad goes out and starts checking things to find the source of the problems...

Well I just couldn't not have a look at it too because I know how little my uncle does in terms of maintenance.

So I'm havin' a cup of coffee in the drive way while my dads checking it and here is the story.

1) The car has over 340K KM (212K Miles) on it and the last oil change was done at 227K KM. That's 113K KM (70K Miles) on this oil!!!!!

Now the car does burn oil but the original filter has been on there that long and it was in really bad shape and leaking. (Uses Pennzoil YB)

So my dad changes the oil with fresh oil and filter. He had to practically destroy the filter to get it off it was so bad.

2) My dad checks the spark plugs which have barely any center electrode left in them. So these are changed.

3) The PCV is barely functioning and has quite the junk built up on it. So this is changed

4) The Air filter is almost plugged solid and has leaves and pine needles in the air box. So this was replaced and cleaned out

5) The throttle body looked like someone sprayed it with black spray paint and had a very gooey residue on it. (there's a surprise). So this was cleaned

6) The Oxygen sensor (up stream) wire had touched the exaust and burn't and was not functional. (Gee I wonder why the CEL was on)

7) The Cap/Rotar needed replacement and 1 wire was definitely grounding out on the side of the engine housing so all this was replaced.

So my dad puts in a can of engine flush (GUNK) and takes it for a drive. Then comes back and drains the oil out and refills. The stuff looked like Nutella (chocolate toast spread) coming out. He then refills with fresh oil and a fresh filter and starts the car up.

The car now runs like a million bucks and is scheduled for it's emission retest next week. My dad told him to take it out on the highway and do an Italian tune up a couple of times over the next week before the test.

The oil sludge that came out of that engine stunk and made me nautious... Was really gross, and yet the car kept on running!

My dad gave him $#!@ by the way...

Forgot to add to this list. The Thermal vacuum switch that allows the EGR to open under vacuum when the engine is at operating temperature also wasn't working so the EGR didn't come on. This was replaced and the EGR hole cleaned...

Fingers crossed for the E-Test this coming week!

 

[Craig in Canada]

Originally Posted By: occupant

*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!



I read a lot of stories (many of them on BITOG) about old beaters kept on the road far longer than they should be, nothing works but the engine was good enough if you could see through the smoke etc.... Most times the posters wear this like a badge of honour.

I fully realize that different people have different means, have to live within a budget or can fall on hard times, but as I get older I'm bothered more and more by the people driving around in junkers at 130kph, tailgating people with possibly only one working brake, low air in the bald all-season tires running in the snow, stuff falling off, shocks that don't keep the car on the road and a 10 year old alignment that is visibly wrong at merely a glance and pulling all over the place.

One doesn't have to drive something fancy, flashy, fast, new or trendy, but if you share the road with my kids and I you had better keep it safe.