Some of the early Ford 4.6L car engines had valve seal issues. It is typical to see a early 90's crown vic our town car spitting out blue smoke. As far as I know, Ford fixed this issue in the mid-90's.
What do the Taxi Companies Run?
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medic is correct...Ford changed the design and composition of the valve seals in late '95 or early '96...it's rare to see a newer CV/GM/TC blowing blue smoke...
FWIW, I live in NYC. We have lots of combo car wash / quick oil change places. All these places have special taxi rates (for both services
). I figure alot of the indies (ie, non-fleet drivers) use them.
I took my GTI to one last night (usually they're 24 hour operations). Got it washed (no, I didn't let them do the oil). It looked like a good operation for it's kind. The oil section was completely Castrol-centric. They had a good retail selection of Castrol, including GC 0w30 and BC 5w40.
I took my GTI to one last night (usually they're 24 hour operations). Got it washed (no, I didn't let them do the oil). It looked like a good operation for it's kind. The oil section was completely Castrol-centric. They had a good retail selection of Castrol, including GC 0w30 and BC 5w40.
Taxi cab test
One thing that was interesting was the video of the engine tear downs. They put 116k miles on one of them, with 15,000 mile drain intervals. Virtually no wear when torn down. I wonder what the UOA's would have looked like?
One thing that was interesting was the video of the engine tear downs. They put 116k miles on one of them, with 15,000 mile drain intervals. Virtually no wear when torn down. I wonder what the UOA's would have looked like?
^^^I was a service advisor at a Ford Dealership, we serviced the local police cars. They ran them at least 130k, beyond that waited until some higher cost maintenance was required then retired them. These were 03 and up Crown Vic's. I never saw a transmissino fail on any of them. Fluid was changed at I believe 30k miles.
Several of the cab companies in las vegas have converted their fleets to run on propane.
I'd bet the inside of those motors are spotless..
I'd bet the inside of those motors are spotless..
One of my accounts in London Ontario Canada (Checker Limousine)has a fleet of about 35 Lincoln Town Cars. They have been running AMSOIL 10W30 for the last 12 or so years. Every 20,000km they change the filter 40,000km they change oil & filter. Most are retired at 750,000 to 900,000km. They run great, but because of the year of the vehicle they can not be used in service. Some of them in the last couple of years with the higher km have been running the AMSOIL 10W40. The newer ones are not as good as the older ones so says the mechanic.
We have done tear-downs for insurance claims and have done work for fleet management groups. On the west coast many such groups run Chevron 10w-30 with good results. Taxi service may look harsh but if the cars are not actually abused but just driven hard it's not really that tough. As mentioned by one of the moderators the lack of cold starts and running through warm up time is a big benefit. The way you monitor the vehicle for service is fuel used, brake wear and tire wear. Too much of any of those three get the fluids changed more often, not oil analysis. Mileage does not mean much when all the vehicles get the same use the service intervals are driven by experience not science.
Asking the drivers what's under the hood is proof that you don't have to know anything about that to be a good taxi driver. There most important task is to not get shot. Second is how to find a fare and third is how to get around and all of this without having an accident. We had a taxi driver in here last summer that was retiring after 50 years, no tickets no accidents that were his fault, stabbed once and shot twice, all in Los Angles. When he started in 1957 just out of high school the oil was 30w and the interval was 2k miles. You changed the oil checked the points and plugs and replaced them if necessary.
Asking the drivers what's under the hood is proof that you don't have to know anything about that to be a good taxi driver. There most important task is to not get shot. Second is how to find a fare and third is how to get around and all of this without having an accident. We had a taxi driver in here last summer that was retiring after 50 years, no tickets no accidents that were his fault, stabbed once and shot twice, all in Los Angles. When he started in 1957 just out of high school the oil was 30w and the interval was 2k miles. You changed the oil checked the points and plugs and replaced them if necessary.
Don, any feedback on how often they top up? And how much top up they use between changes? (Seems like it works out to 2 oil changes per year)
Alex.
Alex.
Originally Posted By: caprice_2nv
^... I never saw a transmissino fail on any of them. Fluid was changed at I believe 30k miles.
A while back there was a reference on this board to an article in a fleet maintenance mag about a taxi company which bought well-used Crown Vics. At first they changed the trans fluid at acquisition, and never had any trans failures. Eventually they gave up on the fluid change,.... and still had no failures! Surely one of the best modern automatic transmissions.
^... I never saw a transmissino fail on any of them. Fluid was changed at I believe 30k miles.
A while back there was a reference on this board to an article in a fleet maintenance mag about a taxi company which bought well-used Crown Vics. At first they changed the trans fluid at acquisition, and never had any trans failures. Eventually they gave up on the fluid change,.... and still had no failures! Surely one of the best modern automatic transmissions.
I know a guy who has broken two Crown Vics in the past couple years. They were ex police cars and had the 4.6 V8. On one, the timing chain went and the engine was ruined because of the interference valve arrangement. On the other he let the oil get to low or something like that. Also he had a tranny go bad, was leaking a quart every 50 miles and had it replaced. So he recently went out and bought another Crown Vic.
Don't know about OCI schedules, but when I was working at Wal-Mart, we had a few local taxis come in, and I will tell you, it NOT the oil in the engines you have to worry about with these cars, its the TIRES!
Every car we had come in had really badly worn-out tires on them. If they were in to have the tires changed, you could GUARANTEE that the tires were right down to the metal belts every time, and some tires had even deformed b/c there was so little rubber around the belts. No exaggeration here at all...
Every car we had come in had really badly worn-out tires on them. If they were in to have the tires changed, you could GUARANTEE that the tires were right down to the metal belts every time, and some tires had even deformed b/c there was so little rubber around the belts. No exaggeration here at all...
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