The truth about oil change intervals and analysis

[cvd537]

They do it because it produces less waste oil. Less is more in the eyes of the government regarding ANYTHING that is fossil fuel related. So..... CAFE gives what amounts to cash incentives to manufacturers, who lengthen them as much as possible...

(Or as much as the manufacturer is willing to gamble on, in getting the engine past it's warranty). This doesn't help in overall longevity one bit.

1). Longer oil change intervals = less waste oil being produced.

2). "Lifetime transmission fluid" = less waste transmission oil being produced.

3), "100,000 mile coolant" = less coolant contamination introduced into the environment.

4). Water thin oils = minuscule mileage gains, which translates to less fossil fuel (gasoline) being used.

None of this benefits the actual life of your vehicle. The actual "knowledge" comes in separating what is good for them, from what's good for you and your vehicle in the long term.

I have heard this as a plausible incentive for manufacturers to extend oil drain intervals, but is this actually written into CAFE or is this just internet lore? It sounds plausible to me, but I cannot find anything written into CAFE regarding oil change intervals and manufacturer credits. I was hoping someone can literally cut and paste from CAFE if I am just missing it, or confirm that it is not in CAFE.

 

[Plawan]

Are there any YTers who don’t catch hate around here? Amateurs get trashed. Professionals get trashed. Trash talkers get trashed.

I imagine it is pretty hard to create compelling content on the regular about something as mundane as oil. I’ve seen less shade tossed at the junior high school girls lunch table. Give him a break. Let him eat.

Why are you hanging out at JR highschool girls tables?? Lol

 

[Plawan]

Key points,

3000 OCI
Lower viscosity / Faster Flow to important engine areas

This is a funny one.

 

[SammyChevelleTypeS3]

This is a funny one.

I enjoy lots of his videos but I swear I dont know how the guy can sleep at night with so much
running thru his head! Woof.....he can make my head spin sometimes when he gets rolling. It
can be hard to keep up.

 

[userfriendly]

My average monthly payments for cars, trucks, lawn tractor, pressure washer, snow blower and 4 stroke lawnmowers totals about $1,600 for the last 20 years.
Oil and filters for all those critters, maybe $40 a month even changing the oil and filters way early.
In the big scheme of things, when insurance, tires and fuel are calculated, that $40 is like a deck chair blowing off the Titanic.

 

[Redhawk454]

I’d venture to say that there is a (sometimes silent) crowd here that still feels that way - however 5k is the new 3k

I’m not silent about it… I usually use amsoil signature series and change every 3k miles or so. I’m in the Rocky Mountains and the constant climb might mayhaps put me in the severe service.

Of course, I’ve got a feeling most BITOGERS are flat landers and older people driving under the speed limit

Ymmv

 

[Al]

Wow !!! After 30 years of learning about oils this made it sooooo clear!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Tgator]

Does anybody have any statistical evidence that DI gasoline engines are failing (due to lube related problems) at an earlier mileage than non DI? Most high volume brands are at least a decade into production with it so early returns should be coming in if it's problematic.

I have no stats (sorry since that's what you asked for) - but 3-4 years ago we were car shopping for the kid, found a CR-V he liked, searched online for known issues...there were a quite large number of complaints, including IIRC on BITOG, about the then current CR-V series (2017+) where they'd gone to the 1.5 DI turbo. People with very low mileage engines consuming crazy amounts of oil, and the dealers were telling them "it's normal". Can't quantify how many engine failures resulted but that would have to increase the chances considerably, would it not?

I'm curious...Lake says in the vid that 1 qt/1000 miles oil consumption would be considered normal. I thought I didn't hear him right and backed up to listen again, and yes, he did say that. I guess their overall context is race/performance engines, so maybe so in that context...but dang, if I had a street vehicle using that much oil, unless it was very, very high mileage, I'd say that's way excessive. My experience with numerous cars over 40 years of DIY OCs, I've never seen a quart used between OCs, whether 3k w/ conventional back in the day, or 10k w/ synthetic in recent years. Current cars* use so little as to be essentially none (stick halfway between the indicators w/ fresh OC, still halfway or barely less just prior to next change).

*2006 Odyssey, 228k
2016 Camry, 85k

 

[billt460]

What does it matter if it's CAFE or environmental reasoning for longer OCI's, when this is the result?

 

[Kira]

1 qt/1000 miles oil consumption would be considered normal.

I always took the 1 qt./1,000 mi. amount as a convenient threshold at or below which, one could call the oil consumption of a vehicle, "acceptable"; perhaps to deny a warranty claim.

 

[Titan]

What does it matter if it's CAFE or environmental reasoning for longer OCI's, when this is the result?

As they stated: they don't know what this owner did. They "assumed" a lot. I've run 8-10,000 mile intervals on cars for years, and the valvetrains never looked like that. Here's a Honda K24 with over 100,000 mile intervals for an example:

 

[BMW Dom]

What does it matter if it's CAFE or environmental reasoning for longer OCI's, when this is the result?

No way that is 10k mile oil changes. Don't believe everything you see on the internet

 

[cvd537]

What does it matter if it's CAFE or environmental reasoning for longer OCI's, when this is the result?

It matters because not everything is a conspiracy or nefarious. Lake Speed Jr. said in the video at the top of this thread that the manufacturers are extending oil drain intervals because they get CAFE credits. It turns out that simply isn’t true. There is no direct money tie between the government and the manufacturers, in terms of oil drain intervals, to make the case they are doing this just for the money or for regulatory reasons. That may be the case with fuel mileage, but not with oil drain intervals. Now whether the long drain intervals are ok or not isn’t my point. Also, Lake Speed Jr. is very credentialed, but I have to ask myself what other misinformation he might be putting out that I just accept as fact without any scrutiny whatsoever.

 

[martinq]

It matters because not everything is a conspiracy or nefarious. Lake Speed Jr. said in the video at the top of this thread that the manufacturers are extending oil drain intervals because they get CAFE credits. It turns out that simply isn’t true.

How do we know this is not true/true?

 

[billt460]

It matters because not everything is a conspiracy or nefarious.

If money exchanges hands from one source to another, (in this case the government to private industry through, "CAFE credits"), in order to get the results the paying party wants to achieve, that is called bribery / corruption. They're just legally painting it with a different colored brush.

It's no different than the government giving out taxpayer dollars to bribe / entice citizens into purchasing electric cars, or to put solar panels on their roofs. These people wouldn't buy them without the monetary incentives.

 

[OilUzer]

Just because the internet shows one engine is clean and another (different engine) is dirty after x many miles, means nothing!

Unless you test the exact same engine under exact same conditions with varying OCIs.

Even then, you may need way more than couple of the "same" engines in case one was assembled on a Friday before a major holiday. lol

It's nice to see the pics and watch the videos ...
However, since there are so MANY variables involved, the best and the safest bet for an average driver is to avoid extended OCIs.

Having said that, I wouldn't hesitate buying a car from a bitog member.
I think the "extended" OCI members spend the time and the money to make sure their engines are hurting none! But that's not the way an average driver operates out there. i.e. they can be abusive maybe like the 2017 Land Rover video.

 

[cvd537]

How do we know this is not true/true?

How do we know this is not true/true?

https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/cafe-credits-for-longer-oil-drain-intervals.384598/

I have looked pretty hard thru the regs, and no one else can show CAFE says anything about oil drain intervals.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

It matters because not everything is a conspiracy or nefarious. Lake Speed Jr. said in the video at the top of this thread that the manufacturers are extending oil drain intervals because they get CAFE credits. It turns out that simply isn’t true. There is no direct money tie between the government and the manufacturers, in terms of oil drain intervals, to make the case they are doing this just for the money or for regulatory reasons. That may be the case with fuel mileage, but not with oil drain intervals. Now whether the long drain intervals are ok or not isn’t my point. Also, Lake Speed Jr. is very credentialed, but I have to ask myself what other misinformation he might be putting out that I just accept as fact without any scrutiny whatsoever.

It matters because not everything is a conspiracy or nefarious. Lake Speed Jr. said in the video at the top of this thread that the manufacturers are extending oil drain intervals because they get CAFE credits. It turns out that simply isn’t true. There is no direct money tie between the government and the manufacturers, in terms of oil drain intervals, to make the case they are doing this just for the money or for regulatory reasons. That may be the case with fuel mileage, but not with oil drain intervals. Now whether the long drain intervals are ok or not isn’t my point. Also, Lake Speed Jr. is very credentialed, but I have to ask myself what other misinformation he might be putting out that I just accept as fact without any scrutiny whatsoever.

I'd bet LSJ was thinking low viscosity oils rather than long drains.

Also, automakers can incur a financial penalty over their fleetwide CAFE score. US Domestics faced over $10B in penalties.

 

[anndel01]

6 month OCI regardless of mileage is what I use which usually less or close to 5,000 miles. New oil and new filter every time.

 

[cvd537]

I'd bet LSJ was thinking low viscosity oils rather than long drains.

Also, automakers can incur a financial penalty over their fleetwide CAFE score. US Domestics faced over $10B in penalties.

No, LSJ is very clear. He states the manufacturers get CAFE credits for longer oil drain intervals. This is false as far as anyone, myself included, can determine.