The latest repair geek video

[Grumpyolman]

The repair geek just posted a video about one million mile engines. The studies done kind of turns everything you think you know about oil on it's head! One of the findings was that synthetic oils offered no better protection than mineral based oils long term . Another thing mentioned is that 80% of wear occurs before the motor gets to operating temperature, not just at startup.

 

[BobsArmory]

One of the findings was that synthetic oils offered no better protection than mineral based oils long term .

Assuming that the engine is run for long intervals, and kept hot the majority of the time.

 

[Grumpyolman]

True the average person will never get a million mile engine. I thought it interesting though that the synthetics didn't show better protection.

 

[D60]

Anecdotally, kinda interesting because the 2004 Ford 5.4 3V (yeah, I know!) I saw that went to 412k miles was owned by a guy who said he religiously used a block heater. Most of his time was spent in Montana where I imagine block heaters are far more common than much of the country.

 

[nascarnation]

A lot of racing series use oil heaters. But for the street, I wonder how much the proliferation of 0W-XX oils improves the cold start situation?

 

[MrkofXcellence]

All my vehicles rust out or have some other body related malady before the engine gets much beyond 250k on it

 

[SC Maintenance]

The Xterra is at 420K on mineral oil and still running great. Sporting Havoline 10W-40 currently.

 

[50yr Street Mech]

All my vehicles rust out or have some other body related malady before the engine gets much beyond 250k on it

Agreed. Not practical to drive the same vehicle through the four seasons of the " Rust Belt". The rust will get ya before the engine craps out. When I was in my early 20's, many moons ago, I purchased a used 89' Buick Regal Gran Sport that was a year old. Beautiful car with an LED cluster in the dash. Loved that car ! Actually went as far as buying a $ 500 buck beater to use in the winter months, and moth balled the Regal. Never got a million miles on the Regal though. Life got in the way. Marriage, house, kid, etc. Sold that Regal without a spot of rust under it. Still miss it -(

 

[Ericm]

The repair geek just posted a video about one million mile engines. The studies done kind of turns everything you think you know about oil on it's head! One of the findings was that synthetic oils offered no better protection than mineral based oils long term . Another thing mentioned is that 80% of wear occurs before the motor gets to operating temperature, not just at startup.

Thanks for sharing this. I was also surprised that oil viscosity seemed to make little difference in wear in the GM study.
And, that preheating the engine seemed to cut fuel dilution and wear in half.
It would be interesting to compare cold start wear of a gasoline engine to an identical propane or natural gas engine. Assuming those would not dilute the oil film during cold starts (?)

 

[mrvmax]

I guess you could move to an hot spot (literally) in Arizona and not have to worry about a block heater. I’m in South Texas where it is hot 10 months out of the year and pretty warm the other 2.

 

[Kurtatron]

I watched a video by Freedomworx that explained the cause of cold start wear. His explanation made more sense to me than any other explanation I’ve heard.

It’s not tolerances and thermal expansion rates.

It’s not even much to do with oil viscosity.

It’s condensation. Combustion products include water. Water condenses on a cold cylinder bore. Acids form in the water from combustion and wear down the metal on the cylinder. It all happens so quickly but, according to Freedomworx is the primary mechanism of engine wear.

 

[KGMtech]

The things you regularly touch will fail far before most drivetrains even with good maintenance. Seats, steering switches, mirrors, glass, doors, gas caps, HVAC stuff. And now it's all the electronic accessories with sealed IC modules.