Oil Change = Engine Failure ???

[Perfectlap]

I sometimes wonder about the element of time, or how long the engine is running.
Add up all the time waiting at stop lights, intersections, drive thrus, stand still traffick where little if any mileage is racked up. Add up all that time over the course of an engines life. I'd be curious to see how many hours are actually 'driven'. That alone makes me think the oil interval is too long.

What I would really like to see is some sort of telemetry that analyzes the oil and relays to the driver when its begun its decline. But then that might put some folks who rebuild engines out of work!
Seems like it would be good for the oil industry though..

[jmatta]

No offense, but I'd like to know the dollar value exchanged between Porsche and ExxonMobil for the "exclusive" fill sticker. If you trust a Porsche engineer, then you also trust the accountant that made him trim the parts back to save a few Euros on each car.

I've read enough independent study (as well as track experience) to know that changing your oil often can be critical to engine life. The high mileage guys will tell you the same thing, with out getting into which oil is better. I know the brands I prefer and M1 is not one of them, nor would I ever recommend it to a friend.

[Lil bastard]

Originally Posted by Perfectlap

I sometimes wonder about the element of time, or how long the engine is running.
Add up all the time waiting at stop lights, intersections, drive thrus, stand still traffick where little if any mileage is racked up. Add up all that time over the course of an engines life. I'd be curious to see how many hours are actually 'driven'. That alone makes me think the oil interval is too long.

What I would really like to see is some sort of telemetry that analyzes the oil and relays to the driver when its begun its decline. But then that might put some folks who rebuild engines out of work!
Seems like it would be good for the oil industry though..

Good point! And it's idle time which is most abusive to oil because of high temps and poorer combustion.

On many other machines - aircraft, boats, heavy machinery, it's the hrs. or time interval, not distance, which are counted and the basis for most service intervals.

You could add an hour meter to the car. It's be simple enough to wire one in and there are many to choose from - Hour Meters , even Sunpro offers an analog and digital ones - SunPro ... all less than $50.

'Course then the arguement would shift to 'how many hrs.?' instead of 'how many miles?'... guess you can't win.

[rick3000]

It is interesting to see everyone's views on this, I am starting to think I should do the oil change every 5k miles, instead of 7500k miles.

Although, if you take ideal conditions of 60mph over 5,000 miles, that's 100 hours. So everyone start changing your oil every after every 100 hours of use.

Rick3000, what did you really expect your mechanic to tell you? Business is slow. He's just trying to make a living.

[cnavarro]

We've done the used oil analysis and 7500 mi is pretty much tops for a drain interval for street driving. By 10,000 mi, the oil was crap quite a few miles before that point. 5000 mi is honestly a very good point to change the oil. Sooner may be overkill, but certainly can't hurt. Take it from someone who has seen many intermediate shafts with long drain intervals and the kind of crap that fills the IMS tube (and not to mention what the bearing looks like) once the seal stops sealing (happens pretty quick once there is even the slightest play in the bearing).

[spine911]

Originally Posted by cnavarro

We've done the used oil analysis and 7500 mi is pretty much tops for a drain interval for street driving. By 10,000 mi, the oil was crap quite a few miles before that point. 5000 mi is honestly a very good point to change the oil. Sooner may be overkill, but certainly can't hurt. Take it from someone who has seen many intermediate shafts with long drain intervals and the kind of crap that fills the IMS tube (and not to mention what the bearing looks like) once the seal stops sealing (happens pretty quick once there is even the slightest play in the bearing).

Personally, i'd take this guy's opinion. An oil analysis is the best objective way to scientifically measure the oil's performance. I also go with 7500k oil change intervals just to be safe.