What event(s) started your OCD issues with oil?

Pennzoil motor oil
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J

JDD

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Time to come clean everybody---!
Now I always maintained my vehicles well. But something happened a few years ago and now I find myself on this site every week. There's got to be a connection. I bought used a '98 Chrysler minivan from someone I knew. Drove it and it seemed fine. Didn't check any fluids at the time. It had an ext factory warranty. They said they maintained it. Bought it, took it home and pulled the dipstick--no oil. Put in 2 quarts---didn't register. Put in just shy of 4 quarts. Needless to say, I stewed about that engine for almost 3 years. Worried about the wife and kids in it. Got to the point I sold it for cheap because it bothered me bad. This is before I knew about used oil analysis, Group I thru V, ZDDP etc. I became a bit oil OCD because I was just waiting for that 3.8 mopar to blow. Now I am compelled to find the right oil, OCI, ATF, coolant for every application that I own. I began to believe I maybe had OCD issues--until I found bitog and you guys. Now I know I am only slightly OCD. Thank you everyone. Still, when I grow up, I want to be Doug Hillary.
 
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When I purchased my Integra, I fell in love with it so much that I wanted to learn everything I could do to properly maintain it. I started to research engine oil and became hooked as to how much there is to know about it and how important it really is. It's a lot of fun to try to learn as much as you can. It's fascinating to me.
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Buying my SAAB 9-5. I knew it had some oil issues. But back when I got it in 2005, the sludge cases weren't epidemic and everyone was just chalking it up to improper care of a turbo car. In the two years prior to buying my 9-5, I only made a handful of posts on bitog (obviously on my previous account). But you can see how many I've made since then....

Plus, since taking on the 9-5, most of my SAABCentral posts have been helping other folks with their oil selection and sludge concerns.
 
Me,it was when I took out my very first ever car loan. It was a 1996 3000GT with only 30k miles. Caracus Red w/black leather and fully loaded! Always used Castrol dino in that car. Changed it every 2000 miles. It was kept in my garage and I even put a car cover over it even though it was kept in the garage. I had badddd ocd with that car! I think it was mainly because I knew the bank owned my soul until I got it paid for,haha!
 
OCD? Hardly. I realize you're kidding, and if you're having psychological issues with this stuff, my sympathies are yours. This stuff doesn't rise to the level of OCD except for the angry. Most of these folks here are engineers and grace us, the great unwashed, with their wisdom, education and professional opinions. Hardly the stuff of OCD.

Meanwhile, where did YOU get your OCD again, JDD?
 
I thought I had the perfect plan. All the self constructed buffers that I had been so frustrated in during past evolutions in my life ..I figured that this time, I'd do it all "right". Used all the stuff I had learned ...

Then I found this place. Found that most of my education was severely dated..that most things rarely turn out the way you expect ..and lots of stuff is widely unknown ..at least at our level.

..and the rest is future history in progress
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My wife's POS '98 Buick. When the coolant gasket problem reared its' ugly head, it made me think about vehicle maintenance from a new perspective--I used to just do what the manual said, but GM said her Dexcool would last 150 k miles which seems ridiculous now that I read more about it. So I became really interested in all aspects of vehicle maintenance and continue to be.

John
 
I never had an OCD concerning oil changes. But I changed my practices from following the manufacturer's 6K OCI to 3K OCI when I found from my colleagues at Chrysler's Engine Design group that there was a considerable difference with the internal condition of an engine between 3K OCI and 6K OCI in a controlled study.
 
Originally Posted By: JDD
Time to come clean everybody---!
Now I always maintained my vehicles well. But something happened a few years ago and now I find myself on this site every week. There's got to be a connection. I bought used a '98 Chrysler minivan from someone I knew. Drove it and it seemed fine. Didn't check any fluids at the time. It had an ext factory warranty. They said they maintained it. Bought it, took it home and pulled the dipstick--no oil. Put in 2 quarts---didn't register. Put in just shy of 4 quarts. Needless to say, I stewed about that engine for almost 3 years. Worried about the wife and kids in it. Got to the point I sold it for cheap because it bothered me bad. This is before I knew about used oil analysis, Group I thru V, ZDDP etc. I became a bit oil OCD because I was just waiting for that 3.8 mopar to blow. Now I am compelled to find the right oil, OCI, ATF, coolant for every application that I own. I began to believe I maybe had OCD issues--until I found bitog and you guys. Now I know I am only slightly OCD. Thank you everyone. Still, when I grow up, I want to be Doug Hillary.


I got OCD on oil when my car came out like a lightweight from factory and I had to kick it's can around a bit with a large broken tree branch!
 
Originally Posted By: Kestas
I found from my colleagues at Chrysler's Engine Design group that there was a considerable difference with the internal condition of an engine between 3K OCI and 6K OCI in a controlled study.


I would like to hear more about, please!
 
23 years ago, working in a service station. (Shell Manuka, sprintman would know the place).

I had "mining rights" to the "empty" oil bottles off the forecourt. When a customer poured a litre into an engine, there were always a few ounces that didn't drain, and I got to harvest them.

Shell SF 20W-40 was the main item. I noticed the grey sludge at the bottom, and the mechanic told me it was additive fallout, so I assumed that I had the most additive laden oil around, being the dregs.

At that time, Shell intorduced XMO, a 15w30, very light on for Oz (even 20W-40 was considered "light"). Reports of engine failures everywhere on this 15w30. In hindsight, we never saw one, nor received a claim, but there were reports everywhere, which seemed to be confirmed when Shell released XMO-Hi, a 40 weight.

We also had a stach of the mystical Agip Synt 2000, a 5W-50 synthetic, that sold for $10/litre back then. Reputedly imiscible with regular oils.

Neighbour had a heavily turboed Volvo, the ate a few turbos on GTX, and he bought the stash of Synt 2000, running it 5,000km in his Volvo, draining it, and running it in his beater.

Then, years later, I discovered BITOG\
 
Just a constant fascination with how an engine can keep on running with oil and coolant... and fuel of course. It may be mundane to others, but to me it's always interesting. Oil, I find, does some amazing work inside an engine, and I'm still interested to this day after many years...
 
My obsession began when I accepted a 2 year contract that requires me to drive 950 a week, some of it in "remote" areas (no facilities for 35 miles) where weather can get interesting. I knew I HAD to keep my vehicle in top operating condition. Oil, tires, transmission fluid, visability, fuel economy - all became issues by necessity. Enter BITOG, car forums, tire forums etc.

Now after 5 1/2 years and 275,000 miles I can tell when one tire is 1/3 pound off from the others, I know every small sound of the engine/drive train/tires, and yes the "butt dyno" is tuned very well, thank you.

Regards,
GEWB
 
Guilt. I ran a perfectly functional car into the ground for no good reason other than I didn't like it. This time around I'm going to do right by my car.

I was pretty confident until I came to this sight. Sifting through myriad opinions has left me with few answers and a lot more questions than I started with. And a heck of a lot more oil in the garage.
 
Someone at the Ford Truck Site poined me to a thread on Rislone at BITOG and I was hooked. It was beyond my wildest dreams, a website/bb all about motor oil. Also, the Noria book on How to Select a Motor Oil and Filter was a major influence on me about the same time (think I found out about it here).
 
Going back to youth, I skateboarded a lot and they were open bearings, you could service them with a spray solvent flush and then re-lube them with pretty much anything. It was a nice feeling when they were clean.

I grew up with my Granpa, a 30 yr Olds mechanic, doing his changes with QS and a can of Rislone. Soon I was tweaking Dad's Porsches at about 12 years old. (Remind me to tell the story about getting pulled over by a NJ Trooper driveing the 914 at 9 years old).

Anyway, I carried on with my own cars, pretty much ignorant other than the basics of weights and the need to service frequently. I basicly ended up custom blending same brand but different weights to get the best "feel" for the engine.

In 2001, the service specs for the Audis were coming out with 10k intervals and we were all pretty perplexed by the thought of serviceing our oil at 10k. I said I would go and learn as much as I could about it, and here I am 7 years later.

fwiw, I donate to BitOG every year and think it's important to do that. I once said we should all sign our oil rebate checks over.
 
After finding this site was when i got hooked on oil. Now no matter how tired i am from working nights there's nothing like coming home and doing a oil change, hehe. My neighbors give me a hard time about it but its always a good thing. I just received my 12 bottles of Auto-Rx yesterday and i swear i was like a kid in a candy store.

One thing i do notice through anytime i look under someones hood i ask them if i can take a peak under their oil cap.
 
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