What oil's can help you reach a million miles?

[Patman]

I know it sounds silly to argue with the habits of a guy who has as many miles as Irv has, but I wonder why he's changing his oil so often? With oil changes in the 2-4k range he must be under his car quite often! I'm sure that he's doing enough highway driving that he could've easily been going longer between changes with the same results.

As an aside, does anyone know how many times he's had to rebuild the engine in his 2 million mile car? I'm sure it's not completely original, it must've been opened up a number of times.

 

[427Z06]

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On average, ~90% of the wear comes from cold starts, so given a perfect selection of oil versus a substandard one, the most you could possibly affect the life of the engine through oil selection, is 10%, assuming one at least follows manufacturer recommended maintenance intervals.

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Another factor that I think both of us might be forgetting is the fact that a lot of engines eventually die because the oil wasn't keeping things quite as clean inside as it could have. So your choice in oils plays a big role there too. This is of course keeping with the subject of this thread, and that would be shooting for a million miles since I still believe that most people do not keep their cars long enough that it makes much difference what oil they choose (so long as they aren't pushing that oil too long given their driving habits/climate, etc.) But as I've mentioned before, it's nice to have good UOAs so I can sleep better at night.

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If you're following the OEM maintenance interval and the engine gets dirty enough to effect it's life, then it's a defective engine or incorrect maintenance recommedation.

UOAs do help you determine if the engine is defective and/or if the maintenance recommedation is correct...and for some, replace the need for nighttime sleep aids.

 

[Cujet]

""then it's a defective engine or incorrect maintenance recommedation.""

To that I would add that piston ring and land deposits may be a factor of conditions and fuel used. A stuck ring results in blowby, and results in rapid failure.

This is a common in high mile engines. It is often the reason for engine failure.

It is my belief that quality synthetics greatly reduce ring sticking problems. So, I would go as far as to GUESS a dino UOA may show great results right up to the point where a ring sticks and the downhill slide begins.

Also, highly loaded turbocharged engines often show better UOA results on quality synthetics. This may be due to heat related issues.

Chris

 

[Volvohead]

I'll confirm Irv Gordon's use of Castrol GTX 20w-50. He said it during an interview on NPR in the mid-1980's. Heard it clear as day. But he was annoyed that one of his several engines in that car held up for "only" 400k miles.

These folks claim to have the oil behind "million mile engines":

http://www.schaefferoil.com/supreme_7000.html

 

[427Z06]

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It is my belief that quality synthetics greatly reduce ring sticking problems. So, I would go as far as to GUESS a dino UOA may show great results right up to the point where a ring sticks and the downhill slide begins.

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Maybe in the distant past, but they test for such problems with current dino oils. The million mile Chevy truck used only dino oil and obviously his rings didn't stick. And many here have gone 200K-300K miles with dinos with nary a problem.

 

[carock]

Tests conducted on diesels show 30-50% improved engine life as tested by TACOM- Tank Army Command. Of course, Castrol's own tests published in the SAE papers show that diesel engine life doubles with synthetics.

There are two failure modes I commonly see in engines that die prematurely:

1. Overheats in traffic - numerous causes
2. Head gasket leak

On high performance cars I see lubrication problems all the time. That is how I became interested in this site. You will see more lubrication problems on "normal" cars in the near future as variable valvetrains start to age.Turbo cars have preferred synthetics for a long time.

 

[babyhuey]

None.I see these claims all the time.I dont think any engine will make 1m without a timing chain or belt,and at 400k compression leakage through the valves would be a show.I guess if you count missing and smoking as still running I guess its theoretical.I know toyota built their rep on the 22re and other simple engines with double roller timing chains,and I think a gear drive diesel passenger car like the old mercedes 240d had a potiential to go a long{smokey}way,but I wonder how many of these million mile engines have had major work.I think if major components have been replaced,then you start your mileage count all over.

 

[hominid7]

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By its very nature, 1 million miles implies a LOT of extended highway driving. Even at 50,000 miles/yr, that's a 20 year period. Most people would consider 25,000 miles/year to be well above the norm: 40 years to get to 1 million. That type of operation is generally kind to the powertrain (thus the typical high mileage used car ad referring to "highway miles").
How many 20 yr old cars have enough value remaining in the other vehicle systems to worry about the engine condition?
Just a thought.......

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Value is hard to measure. I think with a lot of cars once you get 100,000 miles on them, people tend to want to sell them. Once they get over 200,000 miles people tend to get an urge to see how far they can go.

For Irv, it turned out to be a good deal as Volvo gave him a brand new Volvo for free.

I know when i sold my Jetta at 225,000 miles, all put on by me, it was hard to see it go. It wasn't the engine or tranny that was problematic for that car, they were both still in VERY good condition, it was instead the electrical system that drove me nuts.

German electrical systems dont seem to do well in the Texas heat.

 

[hominid7]

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There are two failure modes I commonly see in engines that die prematurely:

1. Overheats in traffic - numerous causes
2. Head gasket leak

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The two friends that i cant think of that had engines seize were from the two problems above. Generally speaking, just a lack of maintenence which ended up costing them thousands.