Re: Plan on driving a new car on a 3000mile highway trip. Bad idea?

"Hachiroku ????" wrote

Dude....you got that right.

Heh...no shit.

Peace, Polfus

I used to get a new car every two-three years, not entirely by choice! In 1980 I bought a Corolla SR5 Coupe. I liked it and kept it 6 years and

244,000 miles. It's replacement was the 'hachiroku' (1985 Corolla GTS hatch) Magnificent car. Still in my backyard with 259,000 waiting for the rust work to get done. I have an '05 Scion tC coupe I bought in '06, and I like that car too.

Add to that an '88 Supra with ~200,000 miles I picked up for $600 4 years ago, an '89 Mazda 626 in mint condition for $150, and an '89 Subaru Coupe for winter driving. And I change the oil on all of them at 3,000 miles! The Scion gets ~7,000 miles a year, the Supra ~10,000, the Mazda ~12,000 and the Subaru ~6,000. I change the oil on the Supra and the Subaru when they get parked for the season, then I drain that and put in fresh oil when they come back into service. The Scion gets synthetic every 4,500.

All in all, cheap insurance. I wish I knew what moonbeam has against changing oil.

Good question. It also depends on the formulation. Mobil One is, I believe a "Full" synthetic. I have been using Castrol Syntec (I've been using Castrol GTX for >25 years) but I recently found out it is not a full synthetic, but is made from by-products from the refining process, so it is based on dino oil. No one really seems to be able to tell me the difference. I guess from looking around that a true synthetic breaks down less that a dino based synthetic, and is more 'slippery'. But that's from websties, nothing official.

Take a closer look.

The Mobil 1 that's on the shelves today bears little resemblance to the Mobil 1 that was introduced, when--30+ years ago?

"Elmo P. Shagnasty" wrote

Help me out here...whats the difference?

I haven't looked recently..so please do tell.

Peace, Polfus

If you read my response to you, there isn't a lot of info about the difference. Of course, I didn't spend a lot of time looking.

Or, are you just sticking it to Mike...

"hachiroku ????" wrote

I seriously want to know what he thinks the difference is.

Peace, Polfus

indeed.

in short, there are three types of "synthetic". group v, ester based, group iv, olefin based, and group iii, highly refined mineral oils.

most modern "synthetics" are group iii, the others being much too expensive. and utterly irrelevant if they're not properly used, i.e. discarded after only 4500 miles!

that's right - and most manuals have two schedules: normal usage and "severe". with those, you try to provide for what is statistically most common. but there are always a few statistical outliers and you simply cannot economically allow for them all.

the famous oil sludge problem for instance is i think only "famous" because it was documented on the web. i've seen situations like that a couple of times in my past, and neither have been toyotas, so while that story may be dramatic, it's not representative of toyota in particular.

again, who cares about statistical outliers? you /could/ provide racing grade "dry" lubrication for all engines, with a 200 liter oil tank, marine grade large and small particulate filters, and computerized on-board chromatography... that should pretty much cover all usage scenarios, but it's not reasonable for all but a literal handful of users, and even then, they are the types that would still have problems through ignorance and neglect.

ever heard the expression, "ignorance is temporary, stupid is for ever"?

here's how it works: you use oil analysis to determine the oil change interval for your regular driving pattern. if analysis determines that you can extend your change interval to 12k miles, for instance, you get to save money on your previous change history.

math [and saving money] doesn't get much simpler.

3.5 quarts at $3.00 each = $10.50 1 filter = $4.00

call it $15.00 with drain plug washer.

oil analysis costs $22.50 [blackstone].

4 changes at 3000 miles each = $60.00 1 change at 12000 + 1 analysis = $37.50

what? you don't work for nasa???

it's called "profit". drilling a grease nipple into a joint /after/ assembly damages the joint and contaminates it. thus reducing life. and each subsequent grease injection can introduce more contamination too.

so, as a one-man profit center, you're an unscrupulous service manager's dream. that's not "no charge".

"jim beam" wrote

Plus $5.00 S&H.

Corrected:

Corrected:

2 changes at 6,000 miles each, and filter changes every other oil change, and drain plugs = $26.00

I'm still at $26.00.

Do *YOU* change your oil every 12,000 miles?

If so, then knock yourself out.

Polfus

"jim beam" wrote

ever heard the expression, "you're an asshole"?

Re-read what you ignored about this point.

I tell you what...*you* change your oil every 12,000 miles and enjoy yourself.

Good luck with that.

Polfus

filter every other time? that's not clever.

you're either dishonest or delusional. you've stated many times how you do your changes yourself every 3k, 4.5k for synthetic. now here you are suddenly at 6k.

actually, based on my usage, i go 12k.

i'd much rather introduce you to reality. for a 6k change interval, over 24k we can still say:

4 x $15 = $60 for the blind faith approach.

vs.

2 x $15 = $30

• 1 analysis .50 [only needs to be done every 30-50k]

that's $57.50. analysis still saves you money.

over 48k we have

8 x $15 = $120 blind faith.

vs.

4 x $15 = $60

• 2 x analysis =

that's $115 saving money /and/ knowing the health of your engine. seems like a real easy decision to make to me.

As the drill turns, since you're drilling from the bottom, the havings fall away. Those that don't get driven out when fresh grease is installed.

The fittings were put in in 1986. The car was being driven until 2003. No damage to rack and pinion, and still on original ball joints wher the grease fittings were added.

I guess that *really* paid off for them, eh?

How is that 'irrelevant'? Should we wait until the oil is thoroughly contaminated before changing it?

For the life of me, I can't see how changing the oil 500 miles early 'damages' anything. Please explain this.

Not any more.

I generally run my cars no more than 5 miles per trip, and I try to plan it so trips are 10 miles or more. This gives the oil a chance to get warm enough to deal with any contaminents built up from starting and helps to keep it from turning acidic longer. I also try to run my cars as fast as possible (observing local laws, of course) generally 40-50 MPH wherever I go. I live in a rural area so it's easy to do. All this helps the oil better than a number of 2-3 mile trips with long stops in between, or stop and start driving.

And I still change dino oil at 3,000 and synth at 4,500.