How long between oil changes?

[mikefocke]

I doubt I put 2k a year on my car, always 12 miles or more after start up before I stop so the needle does show 180. Never taken out when temps below 40F.

What is the science behind the 3 times a year recommendation?

[JFP in PA]

Originally Posted by mikefocke

What is the science behind the 3 times a year recommendation?

More than likely, the fact that so many M96 owners continue to run 0W-40 Mobil 1; so the less time it is in there, the better the chance it has not totally crapped out yet………..

[Jake Raby]

I knew I never should have tried to offer an opinion. Thanks for reminding me that I should keep my mouth shut totally on this topic.

But changing the oil would not have kept this failure from happening.. The piston exploded at 70 MPH on the freeway.. Female driver..

We just took this one apart an hour ago. Mofde of failure #21

[jmatta]

My, that isn't pretty. What would cause the piston to explode like that? As you say, oil wasn't the issue here, but frequent changes can help with the other 20 modes of failure.

I'm starting to save up for my IMS bearing replacement...

[Jake Raby]

Component failure plain and simple.


This car was owned by a Female from day one, she never tracked it and it only has 40K miles on it.. You can see how slow she has driven it in the carbon thats built up on the pistons/ etc.

[Frodo]

Originally Posted by Jake Raby

Component failure plain and simple.


This car was owned by a Female from day one, she never tracked it and it only has 40K miles on it.. You can see how slow she has driven it in the carbon thats built up on the pistons/ etc.

Jake, probably a dumb (or at least naive) question: Do you think there's a relationship between the carbon build-up and the failure of the piston? Worded differently, had this car been driven harder, would it have been less likely to experience such a failure? Or was it doomed to fail, sooner or later, the minute it was driven out of the dealership with a couple dozen miles on it?

[manolo]

There's nothing wrong with that motor.

That's the Porsche-Engineered "Inter-Cylinder Pressure Relief Air/Oil/Piston Separator" ™!!

It reduces crankcase pressure between cylinders and allows decreased rotational mass at higher RPM's.


HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[23109VC]

maybe i'll give this one a shot as a DIY. I have done brake pads/rotors on my own cars before, as well as suspension (shocks/springs). I'm no mechanic, but I can bolt/unbolt stuff and am not afraid to get dirty.

for me, it's the PITA / time factor. if it costs me $50 to do it myself and $250 to pay someone, and it takes me on ehour....i'd rather do it myself. if it costs me $50 to do ti myself, $100 to pay someone to do it, and it will take two hours and be a nasty dirty job, I'd rather fork over the $50 for some other person to get all dirty.

this job sounds like it's not too hard. i can do it myself in my garage. i just need that drain pain and the right tool to pull the drain plug out.

[Frodo]

Just don't do what I did the first time. I got, I'm pretty sure, the exact same drain pan that mptoledo linked. It's got one hole in the center to catch and drain the old oil. When removing the drain plug (which was still hot), I managed to drop it and, of course, it went into that one and only hole.

Ended up with a pool of used motor oil roughly 6' in diameter on the driveway. It was a terrifically fun clean-up, sarcasm intended. Afterwards, got my electric drill and put on the biggest bit I had (1/2") and drilled about 8 holes in the top, around the center hole. Predictably, I've never dropped the plug into the center hole since.

I still (and would recommend to others) put down newspaper below and around the catch pan. When the oil comes out, it often hits the top of the pan (the part I drilled the holes in) and sends out this wave of used motor oil beyond the outer perimeter of the drain pan. Last time I didn't get a drop on the driveway, though I make no guarantees I'll always be able to achieve that.