Oil related engine failure and warranty survery.

[casperfun]

Oh I was just wondering out of the some 30,000 registered members here, how many bitog'ers have experienced oil engine related damage and/or failure. People seem to worry about keeping their warranty while doing their OCI's which is understandable. But how many in here actually had oil related damage WHILE UNDER WARRANTY?

I also understand the people in this forum are car enthusiasts and more likely to keep their car well-maintained. Hence, I expect the numbers to be low compared to the general population of drivers. With that said, can those who had engine oil damage please post here. Thanks

 

[D189379]

I've had no oil related failures, no one I know has had one, and I don't recall even reading about one that wasn't a result of incorrect oil used or a sludgemonster engine design. It kind of begs the question....What are we all doing here?

 

[Jim 5]

I've personally done the maintenance for my vehicles and my wife's/significant others for the past 20+ years. I anticipate that the number of kilometers put on the vehicles over those years is at least 600,000.

I have never experienced an engine oil related problem.

I think we are here because we love our vehicles, and because with the complexity of the machines and the relative simplicity of maintining them (no more carb adjustments, distributor points etc.), all that is left for the moderate DIYer is oil changes. Well, that and detailing, in-car electronics/stereos etc. which explains the huge interest in those subjects on the internet as well.

 

[lexus114]

Well said Jim A!

 

[tpattgeek]

Originally Posted By: D189379
It kind of begs the question....What are we all doing here?

After seeing this: http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1938875#Post1938875 I think I'll just cancel my account here

j/k

 

[paulswagelock]

I have personally driven almost 1 million miles so far and owned ~40 cars, everything from a VW bug (humble beginnings) to upscale German cars. As I became older and the cars were more expensive, I paid more attention to the maintenance, but some of those early ones, not sure if I ever changed the oil (AMC Hornet, Chevy Sprint, Chrysler Aspen, Mercury Cougar, the list goes on and on). Never once have I had a problem, and some were run well into the 100k miles range.

Now, engines are ore sophisticated, and hopefully so am I, and the art of maintenance is enjoyable. Hence I joined this amazing group of oil brainiacs.

 

[SLCraig]

None for me... I've never owned a car that doesn't burn oil, but I know the flaws of each of the cars and understand why they burn oil. I'd probably have problems if I didn't top them off though

 

[bullwinkle]

I did-ran my '72 Pinto out of oil when I was in college-tossed a rod within a 1/4 of a mile! Other than that-no.

 

[tpattgeek]

Originally Posted By: bullwinkle
I did-ran my '72 Pinto out of oil when I was in college-tossed a rod within a 1/4 of a mile! Other than that-no.


I would classify that as a "lack of oil" failure rather than a failure because of the actual oil. If that's the case, I've heard of several blown motors from lack of oil

 

[Scienceman]

Not here.

 

[casperfun]

That's my point, I think people who worry about oil related engine failure/or damage while under warranty and making sure they don't upset their dealership/munufactuer is overrated.

It just shows how good motor oil is made these days. As long as you change your oil routinely and KNOW YOUR VEHICLE ( have a feel for your car ) THAN there is no way in hellicopter

your vehicle should have oil related damage.

To have somebody in here who never heard of anybody having an oil related breakdown on Bitog is a VERY STRONG STATEMENT in itself!

Statisically, there is always some failure in any control group, but to have nobody in here experience damage means worrying about ruining your warranty just because you do a couple of long OCI's not supported by your car manufactuer should not stress anyone as much as it should.

A Warranty is good, but I believe a higher number of people in here will experience a car accident and a ruined car more than an oil damaged car.

"Any changed oil is good oil"

 

[Doug Hillary]

Hi,
casperfun - I have had one oil related engine failure. It was a suspect formulation from a major Oil Company and had the respective engine Manufacturer's Approval

I have seen many engines fail (heavily sludged etc) due to the use of incorrect specification lubricants. I have seen many engine suffer bore related issues by the same cause

I did a survey last year and without restating the details one "Premium" car maker's technical staff said that they could not recall a lubricant related engione failure when using Approved lubricants. One Engineers said he had not seen one in the last 25 years

My advice, which is based on many years experience in this area, is to always use an Approved lubricant - especially when under any form of Warranty

 

[Bill in Utah]

While the chance of having a oil related issue is rare, I think ignoring the legal document called the Owners manual and its recommendations is not too smart.

IF (and a big IF) you have anything go wrong, why give them ANY chance of hassle?

I have been asked for receipts when I had head gaskets go bad in a vehicle that never has those type of problems. They felt if I did not do proper OCI with the correct oil, it could overheat the engine and cause the issue.

But I agree and over the way too many miles I've driven and decades of ownership, oils are excellent! Esp the oils from mid 90s to today!

Take care, Bill

 

[fsskier]

I have likely had an "oil related" differential failure but no engine failures.

Working with a bunch of technophiles in the early 1970's era, I put Mobil 1 5W20 in my new VW 412 engine, and Amsoil (75W90?) in the differential.

The engine ran fine, the differential burned up the ring and pinion within 5K miles. Wore the teeth completely off, gone!!

VW had never seen anything like it, called in a local differential and driveline specialist to rebuild the differential, all under warranty.

After a short time, I switched the new diff.. to Amsoil.
It wore completely out again..... now the sports car club, SCCA, etc is not that big a world and the dealers service dept knew what I had in there.... and it burned the teeth completely off again.

However, the Amsoil was "recommended for' but did not have any api certifications, just a small company with large ambitions.

This time the Diff... was rebuilt, but with my money.
Now, a downside from buying a product from "true believer" friends. They will not consider a product shortcoming, and will tell everyone you are a hot rodder, abusive, poor maintenance.... whatever comes to mind - ignoring that I got 50K miles out of the original tires, and only 15K miles out of two differentials!!

Anway, when rebuilt again, I used only approved lubricants, and it never went bad again.

Soon after, Amsoil sent lots of pamphlets, flyers, literature, etc to their dealers that they had "improved the diff lubricant and increased the film strength by 4 times" What little tech information I could glean indicated that they realized that a synthetic lube could not do it all, some of the regular ep agents, metal soaps and other additives that mineral oil used was necessary in synthetic lubes also.

After 40+ years in the aviation industry, testing systems under environmental stress conditions I have found hundreds of new products that outperform the old products except:

They fail after 50 large temperature changes ( you get one every takeoff to high altitude)

they fail when humidity soaked (every airplane descending gets lots of this)

They fail at high altitude (hey, its an airplane)

Repeat, for 50 more things.

Short story: if your product and not been rigorously tested and shown to pass all the requirements, then you have no idea if it will or not.

 

[D189379]

Originally Posted By: tpattgeek
Originally Posted By: D189379
It kind of begs the question....What are we all doing here?

After seeing this: http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1938875#Post1938875 I think I'll just cancel my account here

j/k


Hahaha, thats the best thing I've read on here in a while.

 

[Pablo]

I had a Dana differential fail filled with a famous synthetic oil. I will not name names, because people will call me a tosser and such. It failed before I was an Amsoil dealer.

Never had any sudden engine problems caused by motor oil, but when I was a teenager I ran 20W-50 dino Castrol in everything. Pretty sure it wasn't the best choice for cold starts - all my cars turned into oil burners really quickly.

 

[tinmanSC]

A very long time ago, in a land far away (ok, not that long ago, and only about 20 miles away) my mother elected to try and add coolant to her car by herself. She was quite proud of herself, in fact for taking care of this with only simple instructions from me. She added the coolant at home and left. A few minutes later we get a call, her car had broken down. I asked her what had happened, she said she followed my instructions. She topped off the coolant by adding it until it was at the top... sadly, it was not the coolant cap she used.

It would seem that the crankcase and head in a ford focus can hold about 2.5 gallons of coolant and water.

 

[tpattgeek]

Originally Posted By: tinmanSC
A very long time ago, in a land far away (ok, not that long ago, and only about 20 miles away) my mother elected to try and add coolant to her car by herself. She was quite proud of herself, in fact for taking care of this with only simple instructions from me. She added the coolant at home and left. A few minutes later we get a call, her car had broken down. I asked her what had happened, she said she followed my instructions. She topped off the coolant by adding it until it was at the top... sadly, it was not the coolant cap she used.

It would seem that the crankcase and head in a ford focus can hold about 2.5 gallons of coolant and water.


O. M. G. I hope it wasn't a fairly new, or fairly valuable, or... aw man just... wow...

The curiosity in me wants to know exactly what happened? Most people probably know this but.. what? engine just seized?

 

[tinmanSC]

Originally Posted By: tpattgeek

O. M. G. I hope it wasn't a fairly new, or fairly valuable, or... aw man just... wow...

The curiosity in me wants to know exactly what happened? Most people probably know this but.. what? engine just seized?


This was a 2000 Ford Focus 4 door, 4 cyl. It had 110K miles on it, and, amazingly, that engine is still in service today. no joke. We found water everywhere, in the intake, in the exhaust, everywhere. And it had all mixed with the oil pretty good. She didn't get very far. really just down the block. But it did start, it did run, and it did take her about 300 feet. The dealer did the clean up, that's a bit above my pay grade for hobby work.

 

[tinmanSC]

Originally Posted By: fsskier
The engine ran fine, the differential burned up the ring and pinion within 5K miles. Wore the teeth completely off, gone!!


Did AMSOIL ever pony up and give you a new diff/compensation?