Changing oil not Necessary

[Frank Lee]

Perhaps the idea of never "changing the oil" is valid; as time goes on and the engine starts to use more oil- say a quart/1000 miles- if it holds 5 qts then it's "sorta" an oil change every 5000 miles.

[JRMichler]

Once upon a time I paid $60 for a car that was burning a quart of oil every 90 miles. The previous owner had not changed the oil in several years because, as he said, "it changed itself".

After replacing the valve stem oil seals, the oil consumption improved to 150 or 180 miles per quart. I changed the oil, drove it around the block, and the new oil was black. Compression was good, it started good, it ran good, gas mileage was good.

Just for grins and to see what would happen, I changed oil every time it was down the second quart. Oil consumption slowly, but steadily, improved. After four years, it got 950 miles per quart. Then I sold it for $100.

I do not buy into the theory that oil "changes itself".

Four years with negative depreciation is not bad.

[Frank Lee]

That one must have had stuck rings- can't think of anything else that would "fix itself" like that.

[JRMichler]

That's what I thought at the time. Just the oil control rings were stuck/sludged up. The compression rings were still working because the compression and gas mileage were good.

[Frank Lee]

A Seafoam soak in the cylinders, followed by more in the intake, fuel, and in the crankcase probably would have sped that process up tremendously and saved a bunch on oil and filters too.

[JRMichler]

At one point, I poured a can of Miracle Magical Sludge Dissolver into the crankcase. I forget the real name, it was whatever was in the hardware store that day. After a half hour drive, the oil was so black and gunky that I changed it quick before the gunk in the oil clogged something up.

When I got the car, the valve train had so much sludge on it that it looked like some kind of Japanese sludge monster. Did anybody make a movie titled "The Sludge Monster That Ate Tokyo?" If a Japanese monster movie producer had seen that engine, he could have used it to give the monster maker people some ideas.

[Artan]

[QUOTE]

Originally Posted by euromodder

This is ridiculous, really.
The low temperature viscosity isn't the real issue either, it's the high-temp viscosity you need to know and measure.


Many vehicles have magnetic oil drain bolts.
They collect a fair bit of metal parts that you can really feel.
Even small metal parts in oil are abrasive when they get in between the surfaces they need to lube. All this junk accumulates over time.

Metals are also an indication of the wear of the engine.

In a diesel, soot also accumulates in the oil.
That's not good either.


Never may be a very bold claim, but oil is often changed far too frequently.

A friend of mine went 90.000km / 56.000 miles on the original (and very expensive) oil in his diesel Beemer.

Many trucking companies run long oil change intervals, with multiple filters, including a low flow, very fine bypass filter to get the smallest particles out.
A car usually has but 1 filter.


Direct contamination with fuel or water will certainly ruin the oil quickly.
Oil dilution has become an issue with more modern diesels with particle filters, or when you're running biodiesel.

The oil in the engine isn't sealed off from the atmosphere, so some water vapour does get in and out with temperature changes.


Remaining TBN is the factor to look for when you want to run your oil for extended periods. It will go down over time, and ultimately will indicate when it's time to get rid of the oil - if it hasn't accumulated so much crud that it needs replacing before the TBN drops too low.[/

Think logical, did the science showed proof in front of the public ever testing two similar vehicles one with oil change and the other without? Never! I will change the oil filter every 30.000 km but never the oil. I will just monitor the level and add oil when neccesary. So far for 30.000 km i added 0.3 liters of oil.


The big metal particles worn in the engine will be stopped by the filter, the very small particles are nothing even if they travel around the engine. Even water if it is highly pressurised can be abbrasive for the metal but we are talking about 3-4 bar (50-60 psi) oil pressure and very small not important particles of metal in the engine. All in all as i mentioned before i will monitor the oil. if it losses viscosity and it thickens it means the oil is dead, otherwise if stays thin it is perfect. We will see. Lets verify ourselves if we really need an oil change. The oil companies want to sell as much as they can, this what they want. Do we really need it? this is something else.


If we talk about wear the amount of metal weared from the engine it absolutelly small amount that won't affect the engine at all. The labs are finding some metals in the oil but thats normal, the new oil itself contains some metal elements. The labs are manipulating! This is a very big bussines. Even human blood contains metals! The propaganda for oil change is big thefore people are scared not to drain the oil. I am convinced and i will never change the oil of my car. 33.000 KM (20500 Miles) in my car passed absolutelly no problem with that oil!

[lowglider]

Artan, I`d like to go down your road some day, but first of all I need to learn a lot in order to deeply understand all the factors that affect oil in an engine.

Do you measure the pH of the oil in your engine? Which oil do you use? How do you prevent oil sludge and the accumulation of water in the oil? Do you use vaseline to seal the air leaks on the air filter like the OilSaverChip website suggests?

Once I did an oil change on a 1.8TD Mondeo which went way over 20000km (suggested interval 15000km) on one oil and the stinky slimy mess that came out of that engine was awful, not to mention the engine ran way quieter after the oil change.
It`s just a risk I`m not willing to take, especially on a turbo engine where the turbo lubrication pipeline can easily get clogged with gunk and then you can say goodbye to the engine.

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by Artan

If we talk about wear the amount of metal weared from the engine it absolutelly small amount that won't affect the engine at all.

At that point, the engine is already affected.
More metal in the oil only speeds up the process.

The labs are finding some metals in the oil but thats normal, the new oil itself contains some metal elements. The labs are manipulating!

That's weird.
I've actually worked in the lab of an oil company.
Nobody manipulated me, nor even remotely tried to do so when I fell in for a sick colleague who usually did these oil analysis.

You can go on believing your own conspiracy theories, but I can't be bothered anymore.


But the US 3000mls OCI is ridiculous when using good oil in a decent engine.

[gone-ot]

...habits (not religious type) are hard to break!

...with dino-juice oil, I adhere to a 3,000 mile change interval; but, with 100% synthetic oil, I go 10,000 miles, but always "check" the oil for both color and acidity.

...of course, the GM Oil Life Monitor (Cruze) saying the oil is "good" for 12,500 miles lends lots of "piece-of-mind."