Long life maint (500k & up)/low $ maint forums?
 

Are there any forums specializing in people who want to use their cars, trucks, or internal combustion engines for "extended periods" (try half a million miles and up) or whom are trying to reduce the costs of enhanced maintenance and might know of clever DIY tricks or something not commonly done, because it doesn't matter to the majority of people who are content driving a car 6-8 years then dumping it at 100k?

I figure there must be some kind of "extreme life vehicles" forum somewhere but i'm not sure what search terms to use to find it or where it might be.

Two examples of topics on my head:
- Getting extended life from your oil WITHOUT endangering your engine. I've heard claims of people who do things like remove oil, hyper-filter it, then stick it back into the engine. Or sometimes who do something they claim revitalizes it. By which I mean replace some the additives that may be depleted after the few thousand miles of running. Alternately i've seen reports that two thirds of engine wear is actually acid wear, not from particles in the oil. If you filter the particles, put back in whatever additives are worth having, and do something to counter the acid, could you use oil near indefinately?

- The toilet paper oil filters. Most people may not be familiar but in the 60's or so a company came out with a bypass oil filter (it doesnt replace your oil filter, rather it bypasses and "super filters" a small amount down to sub-micron levels... and people who have done oil analysis seem to show yes they actually work, and no they dont dump toilet paper gunk into your engine either) using a common roll of toilet paper to act as a super-filter. Extremely extended engine life and reduced wear was commonly reported even among people with much longer than normal oil change intervals. (and among some people who DIDNT change oil, just changed the toilet paper, even for 250,000 miles)

Now random web anecdotes is one thing, but a dedicated forum or board or discussion group where people actually research such things a little more scientifically is what i'm looking for. I'm hardcore enough to send in oil for analysis myself and get to the bottom of various claims, being able to trade notes with people who have done the same is what i'm looking for. Such discussions are not specific to any one model of car though and so arent best located on one models forums.

I change my oil once per year. Here's what I have so far:

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y26.../Acura12-3.jpg

engines and oil have come a long... long way since the recommended 3k mile oil change. personally, in our vehicles i let them go 7-10k miles. there was a guy in California who ran is late 90's dakota 25k miles between changes, every oil analysis was normal. conventional oil not synthetic.

best thing you can do is check the oil and makes sure it is filled to the correct level. if you drive more city miles, especially in winter, you need to change oil more often or go for a long (hour or so) drive every couple weeks.

Shush! Don't tell anybody, otherwise where will I buy a 6-8 year old car with 100K miles on it when mine give up the ghost?

Honestly, just buy a Honda or Toyota, and follow factory recommended maintenance. After 100K miles, they're just nicely broken in.

With my two vehicles (Insight at 160K, Toyota pickup at 225K) and the amount I drive them, they're likely to reach 500K miles just about the time I celebrate my 100th birthday.

Well i'm curious because my dad was a fleet mechanic, and swore by oil analyses, as of ten years ago (before he retired) he was still doing oil changes on everything every 2000-2500 miles religiously. What I mean is unless something radical happened in the last ten years he was still changing even 'newer' year 2001 era oils every 2-2.5k, period. Every vehicle he touched had a magically long lifespan (for instance my Saturn is "supposed to" be using a quart every oil change at it's 200k miles, it doesn't use a drop, i'm the only Saturn user with this many miles to report this according to the boards) because he said that around there was when bearing wear started to geometrically increase along with certain acids being deposited in the oil and.. other things I dont understand actually as I wasn't into cars at that time as much. It was still what "they" would call negligible until later but he stuck by his often oil changes along with other tricks and always had vehicles last abnormally long, and need far less than expected maintenance in other ways. When he was replaced by a bean counter who said factory intervals were fine, every single vehicle (the ones he was previously in charge of) returned to "normal" expectations of so many things breaking by X date, or wearing out, and similar. So it wasnt just a lucky run of vehicles.

Unfortunately I never learned all his secrets before he died. :( Just the advice to change ahead of schedule. FWIW what i've spent on oil could have bought a rebuild, but...

I'm curious about whether there are other places where maintenance like this favoring extreme long life and low downtime are discussed and researched, and also people finding it unnecessary and getting the same results maybe with better than average filtration and such. Those of us that will happily drive the same car for 30 years and 500,000 miles to gather and talk. I have no intention of getting rid of my Saturn, I consider it finally broke in at 200k. :)

Yrs ago there was only one type of filter, today there are 3 types (each w/ tighter filtration) I use the best. I have 269000 on my Infiniti Q45.
I also use blackstone:
http://i678.photobucket.com/albums/v...rt_page001.jpg

Keeping an engine running is relatively easy with regular maintainance.
The trick is to change out as much rubber as possible reqularly. The various mounting points and suspension rubber.
Most quit driving an old car because the ride has deteriorated to a point where it is obvious.

here is a thread where I documented my expenses on my Q45
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This is only a question of satisfaction.

Choose a "date of expiration" and keep it as new as possible (factory parts only over cheap aftermarket) and on a maintenance schedule that reflects daily, weekly, monthly, qtrly, annually intervals. Let the miles fall where they will as time will do what miles will not. Keep it garaged, and wash it weekly.

Total miles doesn't matter so much as does the lowest cost of ownership/operation as reflected in cents-per-mile calculations. High miles in 15-year ownership schedule (above 20k annually) is a problem needing other solutions.

I have 316,000 on my Ford Escort. I change my synthetic engine oil every 6k, trans oil every 20-25K. Never the less, I am on the second engine and trans and these are now starting to show some wear. The nice thing about an Escort is that it is not a high value car like a Civic, so the parts costs remain low. My second engine cost $150 and the second trans cost $63 and junkyard parts are easy to find vs. the imports which get picked over quick.
Keeping a car on the road a long time just means you gotta master maintaining it. I don't get obsesed over oil and lubes, I just replace the parts when they wear out, it's not really that hard :-)

These are YOUR PEOPLE....

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Thank you, bookmarked taking your word for it. :) I havent looked at topics much yet but yes i'm hoping either they can send me on further if even better places or they will know things themself.

That being said were there specific topics youve seen there or knowledge that made you recommend it? Do others there seek 500k engines?