Why Extended Drain Intervals Are A Bad Idea

[johnsmellsalot]

I was on google trying to find a picture of my engine when I stumbled upon these pictures. http://www.jeepkj.com/forum/showthread.php?t=47101

It's just another reason to change the oil according to the owner's manual. On my car, its every 3,000 miles. On my parent's 2010 Honda Civic, its when the OLM gets to 5%.

Some people use oil such as Mobil 1 Extended Performance because they think they can go 15,000 miles on the same oil.

Here's a quote from the Honda Civic manual: "You may use a synthetic motor oil if it meets the same requirements given for a conventional motor oil: it displays the API Certification Seal, and it is the proper weight. You must follow the oil and filter change intervals shown on the information display."

I don't use synthetic unless it's required by the vehicle manufacturer. I also don't leave anything in there longer than I'm supposed to.

 

[JTK]

Umm.. I have a feeling that GM 3.1L was putting coolant where coolant doesn't belong. That's never happened before.

 

[tig1]

Sorry, you've been taken to the internet cleaners on this one. Don't believe everything you see on the WWW. 10K OCIs with a quality syntheyic did not produce that mess. However since it's a GM V-6 most likely an internal coolant leak. I have been doing 10K OCIs since 1978 and my engines stay very clean, even for 200-300K. As for Mobil 1 Extended Performance oils, I have a friend doing 15K with Mobil 1 5w30 in a V-6 Ford Windstar and his engine is still very clean.

 

[bepperb]

Even just a few posts into that linked discussion it was noted... that was caused by coolant leaking into the oil. It had nothing to do with the OCI, water plus oil = pudding. It would look the same at 1000 mile oil changes.

 

[beast3300]

Oil and coolant changes in one? Looks like the 3100 endured alot there. That is not just oil sludge/goo pictured.

 

[Jim 5]

Incompetence and neglect are a bad idea. Extended drain intervals are not.

3k miles on an engine that's going through a gallon of coolant internally every few weeks would have been an extended drain interval.

Not sure what we are supposed to learn from this other than when you know you have an engine problem, you should fix it.

 

[91344George]

This thread is incorrectly titled.

 

[poiuy223]

Originally Posted By: johnsmellsalot
I was on google trying to find a picture of my engine when I stumbled upon these pictures. http://www.jeepkj.com/forum/showthread.php?t=47101

It's just another reason to change the oil according to the owner's manual. On my car, its every 3,000 miles. On my parent's 2010 Honda Civic, its when the OLM gets to 5%.

Some people use oil such as Mobil 1 Extended Performance because they think they can go 15,000 miles on the same oil.

Here's a quote from the Honda Civic manual: "You may use a synthetic motor oil if it meets the same requirements given for a conventional motor oil: it displays the API Certification Seal, and it is the proper weight. You must follow the oil and filter change intervals shown on the information display."

I don't use synthetic unless it's required by the vehicle manufacturer. I also don't leave anything in there longer than I'm supposed to.

I think you brought bad ammo to the war...

 

[SEMI_287]

That Jeep thread was filled with all sorts of mis-information. I have pictures of my engine of my Jeep at 178k ran on 5-7k OCI's on DINO it's whole life. Maybe a few synthetic runs. No sludge..

 

[cchase]

That's silly.

That engines condition wasn't from running synthetic beyond 3,000 miles, more likely conventional 15,000 miles with a faulty thermostat or a ridiculous coolant leak (although there's no coolant present in the picture).

 

[gathermewool]

You thought this thread would go a lot differently, didn't you?

 

[EricG]

I just did the Lower Intake Gaskets on my daughters 03 Buick Century with that same 3.1. It has 133K miles and has always had Supertech or whatever was on sale with OLM oil changes. Engine was in great condition with some varnish and no such sludge. I changed the oil a week before I tore into it and found a small bit of (Milk) under the fill cap and PCV valve and knew the problem. The pictures in the link above show neglect from coolant getting in the oil for a long time!

 

[Jim 5]

Originally Posted By: EricG
I just did the Lower Intake Gaskets on my daughters 03 Buick Century with that same 3.1. It has 133K miles and has always had Supertech or whatever was on sale with OLM oil changes. Engine was in great condition with some varnish and no such sludge. I changed the oil a week before I tore into it and found a small bit of (Milk) under the fill cap and PCV valve and knew the problem. The pictures in the link above show neglect from coolant getting in the oil for a long time!


Right,


It was admitted right in the tread.

 

[Clevy]

Thread needs new title. How about " this is what a motor looks like when coolant get into the oil for an EXTENDED period of time. And the op is more than a bit mistaken but hey I guess those engineers and scientist guys who develop oils are wrong.
Hey op. How about I use Mobil 1 Extended Performance line or amsoil's SSO line and change it at 3000 miles.

 

[Cristobal]

I agree. this was not a normal engine on extended drains.

 

[C4Dave]

Besides hemorrhaging coolant at about 1 gallon per min it actually ran pretty good,about what you'd expect a 128,000mile engine to run like.That was the whole reason for the teardown was to replace the leaking lower intake gaskets and found all that sludge.The guy was more then mad to say the least.

 

[RTexasF]

I'm guessing the OP hasn't been here long enough to learn some basics or this is a test......yeah that must be it.

 

[daves87rs]

Yuck!!

 

[daves87rs]

Originally Posted By: gathermewool
You thought this thread would go a lot differently, didn't you?

 

[dwilly99]

i agree with the OP bad idea to run 10000miles without getting oil tested, and how many of you have torn down an engine with coolent in it, im gonna guess zero cuz thats not what it looks like, that looks like sludge im sure the car had an external coolent leak.