First off, I do not own a digital camera, nor would my mother allow me to take the family film camera out of the house, so I was stuck with using a buddy’s cell phone camera to snap some pictures. So until (and if) I obtain the pictures from his camera, you’ll have to take my word.
Earlier today, I replaced the valve cover gasket on the 96 Saturn SL2 w/96,000 miles. The reason for the valve cover removal was to replace the leaking spark plug tube seals that have been causing a “swimming pool” in my cylinder #1 for the last few years.
Upon removing the valve cover, I found no sludge at all. The valvetrain only had a light coating of golden varnish. There was no dark, heavy coating of varnish at all. Everything looked great. The auto shop instructor (also mechanic) wouldn’t believe me when I told him my service schedule.
For the first 30-40k miles, the car was driven about 6-8k/yr and the oil and filter was replaced every 3-4k miles/6 months. For the last 50k miles or so, the car has been driven between 10-15k miles/yr (depends on the yr), and receives an oil/filter change every 7-10k miles. Most driving consists of 1-2 mi trips with the remainder consisting of 5-10 mi in-town driving.
Now, you may ask what oil has been used. The cheapest 5w-30 oil that Kragen has on sale; Chevron for the past few years, before that, Pennzoil, Castrol GTX, Flag, Valvoline, and a few bulk fills of Kendall by the local dealership during free oil change specials. Oil Filters? The cheapest available, mostly Penseke filters when K-Mart still existed, then a few runs of the orange can, and lately, Purolator PP. A few Saturn OEM filters as well when we had free oil changes at the dealership.
Oil consumption on this car has existed since new. From what I can recall, it was about 1 qt every 4000 miles for the early part of the engine’s life (0-30k), about 1 qt every 3000 miles for the next 30k miles or so (30-60k), then 1 qt every 1500-2000 miles from then ‘till now. However, I have always kept the engine filled to full…I’ve never allowed it to run lower than ½ qt low.
In conclusion, I think everyone is overly paranoid about changing their oil/filter on a super excessive schedule to achieve decent engine cleanliness and wear control. On average, I changed my oil/filter at 2.5-3x the recommended interval, yet my engine shows no signs of sludge or even heavy varnish. In my application, there was clearly no need to use synthetic oils to achieve a relatively clean engine…or even change my oil every 3000 miles religiously. If I had kept my oil changed every 5000 miles or less, imagine how clean my engine would be.
Therefore, I plan to continue changing my oil every 5k or so from now on. The new SM/GF-4 dinos are even better than the GF3 oils this engine has been run on for much of its life, so I know that my regimen works, but I’ll still make an effort to keep the oil changed more frequently now that I do all service work. On my next new car, I plan to follow the OLM religiously and change the oil when called for with mineral oils and the orange can (or equivalent)…and not even sweat it.
Until later,
Mr. Critic
Earlier today, I replaced the valve cover gasket on the 96 Saturn SL2 w/96,000 miles. The reason for the valve cover removal was to replace the leaking spark plug tube seals that have been causing a “swimming pool” in my cylinder #1 for the last few years.
Upon removing the valve cover, I found no sludge at all. The valvetrain only had a light coating of golden varnish. There was no dark, heavy coating of varnish at all. Everything looked great. The auto shop instructor (also mechanic) wouldn’t believe me when I told him my service schedule.
For the first 30-40k miles, the car was driven about 6-8k/yr and the oil and filter was replaced every 3-4k miles/6 months. For the last 50k miles or so, the car has been driven between 10-15k miles/yr (depends on the yr), and receives an oil/filter change every 7-10k miles. Most driving consists of 1-2 mi trips with the remainder consisting of 5-10 mi in-town driving.
Now, you may ask what oil has been used. The cheapest 5w-30 oil that Kragen has on sale; Chevron for the past few years, before that, Pennzoil, Castrol GTX, Flag, Valvoline, and a few bulk fills of Kendall by the local dealership during free oil change specials. Oil Filters? The cheapest available, mostly Penseke filters when K-Mart still existed, then a few runs of the orange can, and lately, Purolator PP. A few Saturn OEM filters as well when we had free oil changes at the dealership.
Oil consumption on this car has existed since new. From what I can recall, it was about 1 qt every 4000 miles for the early part of the engine’s life (0-30k), about 1 qt every 3000 miles for the next 30k miles or so (30-60k), then 1 qt every 1500-2000 miles from then ‘till now. However, I have always kept the engine filled to full…I’ve never allowed it to run lower than ½ qt low.
In conclusion, I think everyone is overly paranoid about changing their oil/filter on a super excessive schedule to achieve decent engine cleanliness and wear control. On average, I changed my oil/filter at 2.5-3x the recommended interval, yet my engine shows no signs of sludge or even heavy varnish. In my application, there was clearly no need to use synthetic oils to achieve a relatively clean engine…or even change my oil every 3000 miles religiously. If I had kept my oil changed every 5000 miles or less, imagine how clean my engine would be.
Therefore, I plan to continue changing my oil every 5k or so from now on. The new SM/GF-4 dinos are even better than the GF3 oils this engine has been run on for much of its life, so I know that my regimen works, but I’ll still make an effort to keep the oil changed more frequently now that I do all service work. On my next new car, I plan to follow the OLM religiously and change the oil when called for with mineral oils and the orange can (or equivalent)…and not even sweat it.
Until later,
Mr. Critic
