Engine Life - how much do you gain

[Jim Miller]

Understood, can't predict in individual cases but was hoping someone would make me feel better about changing oil at 5000 miles and its payoff.

Anyone have statistics on the typical life of a 2.5 L engine?

[pothole]

Originally Posted by Jim Miller

Understood, can't predict in individual cases but was hoping someone would make me feel better about changing oil at 5000 miles and its payoff.

Anyone have statistics on the typical life of a 2.5 L engine?

My impression is that the 2.5 lump is pretty sound by the standards of the M96 engine. There are quite a few known issues - porous blocks, liner failures etc. However, I believe these issues shake out pretty early on in terms of mileage. If your car is 50k+ on the clock, I think the risk of these issues cropping up is much reduced. The 2.5 also has the double-row IMS bearing, and I *think* doesn't score too highly in terms of bearing failure compared to other M96 lumps.

From reading around and looking at the mileage on cars for sale, etc, my anecdotal impression is that 150k isn't an unreasonable expectation for most well maintained 2.5s, especially if the thing has already done, say, 70k and is running well. I still think they can fail at any mileage. But if you've made it half way to 150k, I think it's much more likely than not you'll make the other half without catastrophic failure.

[Jake Raby]

Originally Posted by Jim Miller

Understood, can't predict in individual cases but was hoping someone would make me feel better about changing oil at 5000 miles and its payoff.

Anyone have statistics on the typical life of a 2.5 L engine?

Trust me.. Its not a bad thing.

Ever thought about all the contaminants the oil is susceptible to? Coolant intrusion, fuel intrusion, condensation are just a few that need to be purged from the engine at an oil service. Seeing what we gather from UOA and what I noted while using an Intellistick device in one of our test cars, even 5K is pushing it for the oil in these engines.

Well trust me Jake, I may have surfed the fortune 100 wave but their ways are not mine. I thought if you were using a major oil manufacturer to formulate this they would certainly have a stake in production, I was wrong.

I don't care anything about a Fortune 100 Company.. As long as I can work on the property where I grew up, take an afternoon off to go fishing at our on site Pond or go Hunting out in the woods below the shop I am perfectly happy..

These oils are low production runs, made in batches of less than 500 gallons, or in some instances only 5 gallons. Due to this the volume isn't that critical and dealing with a company like Gibbs who has 400+ employees all dedicated to supporting just 3 NASCAR teams, they understand development, its cost and how the game is played.


I will post data logs of street oil temps and race oil temps later along with some pictures of some secret sauce in 5 gallon pails down in my lab. I am trying to finish an engine on the dyno currently.. Took a break to grab some chow and relax for a few minutes.. Day started 14 hours ago and I haven't stopped yet :-)

[Jim Miller]

[QUOTE=Jake Raby]Trust me.. Its not a bad thing.

Ever thought about all the contaminants the oil is susceptible to? Coolant intrusion, fuel intrusion, condensation are just a few that need to be purged from the engine at an oil service. Seeing what we gather from UOA and what I noted while using an Intellistick device in one of our test cars, even 5K is pushing it for the oil in these engines.


I will most probably change my oil at 5,000 miles because I have always in the past and I am really enjoying this car. The original question comes from discussing cars during lunch at work. The majority feel Im just wasting money. If you don't keep the car till it dies or if other parts fail before the engine your wasting money. Of course every car I have owned I plan on keeping it for life but it never works out.
My bad weather car is a 89 BMW 325i (oil change every 3000). engine internals clean and strong, everything else looking old.

[Brucelee]

Spending money for your own peace of mind is not "wasting money."

[mikefocke]

Keep the kind of statistics that enable them to cost justify their oil change intervals. How would you or I ever quantify Jake's track car versus my go to the dump car (with occasional blasts and one 6k+ revs romp every trip) versus your usage?

The closest we can come is for people like JFP and Jake who see dozens of engines a month and who do UOAs and record the engines history to tell us their conclusions after they analyze their data. And they universally say change early and often.

Its good enough for me.

(How long has it been since you changed your brake fluid? Said as one whose son lost his ABS system because the brake fluid had absorbed moisture over 8 years and took out about $1.5k in parts on his '94 Mazda.)

[Jim Miller]

Brake fluid is one thing I don't think about, how often should it be done if you just use your car as a daily driver?

[jmatta]

Change your brake fluid every two to three years if just driven on the street...doesn't matter if it's a sports car or your truck.