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Sign of shagged engine oil?

2001 Ford KA, about 5 - 6K miles since last change with no needed top ups - the engine oil was black, stank of petrol (and so did I after getting some of the oil on my hand) this was the proper 5W30 stuff. 17K on the clock. It'd been in about 6 months.

1993 Rover 820 Vitesse - About 8K miles since last change, but had a healthy number of top ups - oil was still golden brown, and smelled like new oil.

114K on the clock. This oil was originally 5W40 but was topped up with Shell's 10W40 semi-synth as I had to stop and buy some. Had also been in about 6 months.

Why did the KA's oil stink like that? Was it just well and truly shagged?

I put it down to every trip the KA makes is about 3 - 4 miles tops, wheras the Rover does at least 12 miles but usually much more each journey (although there's the odd mile or less pick up or lift when it's raining).

The other factor is the KA never gets revved much, but the Rover sees 4 - 6K usually once a journey up a sliproad (this is also why I have to top it up every month or so, as apparently oil gets blasted out the turbo at high revs).

Lumps in neither so i'm not worried.

Both now have Castrol GTX 10W40 Semi-Synthetic in, because i got it for £10 a bottle. The KA's much better with this in, it's not as tappety, and from what I gather Ford only reccommend 5W30 to standardise oil across the range.

Rover engine still much quieter after 114K than the 17K Ka :) Flushed it's engine the previous three oil changes and used Mobil1 0W40 twice (90K and 96K), and then Chevron (Texaco) 5W40 (106K) so let's see how it fairs on the Castrol, certainly much cheaper this time!

Thanks Paul

Reply to
Paul. A. Latham
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Could be because it's a modern OHC design instead of an ancient pushrod type?

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Short journeys kill the oil like you wouldn't believe. They also kill engines pretty quickly too.

If you've got a car like yours, i.e old engine technology plus short journeys, you need to reduce the oil change interval to something daft like 4000 miles.

Reply to
Conor

that's not a short journey though is it sour means less than a mile to the sops and back for grandma because her electrochair won't go back again without a recharge :)

Reply to
dojj

What is classed a short journey? I drive 12 miles to work in the morning and 12 miles back. The journey is made up of driving at speeds ranging between 30 and 70mph. The journey takes me between 20 and 30 mins depending on the traffic.

Reply to
D.A.L.

My Rover 600 is used for 3 mile journey to station and back Monday to Friday and a longer 80 mile round trip at the weekends.

I get the oil changed every 3 months regardless of mileage.

Reply to
John

I see the logic, but if your journey takes 30 minutes the car is warm in 5 at the most if your journey take 3 minutes the car hasn't even got up to temp so it doesn't ever get a decent run to move everything about that's what a short journey does I drive to work, it takes about 4 minutes then I leave the van there while I load up which can take up to 3 hours then I give it death so even though my journey to work is short, the fact that I have to drive after that for upwards of 400 miles that day,, it jets everything working

Reply to
dojj

You get wear that's massively higher relative to the mileage. & if you read the manufacturers manuals it says that if used for maily short trips they'll require more frequent servicing.

Reply to
DuncanWood

Hello,

I think that is an urban legend about short journeys. How many people get in a car and do hundreds of miles in one trip! Most cars are used for stop-start short journeys, so I am amazed the manufacturers don't mention what you say. I don't hear them stating, "oh, don't use this car for short journeys". How silly.

Reply to
klf
12 miles is a short journey compared to 50 miles, so that's why the person was asking what is classed as a short journey. I doubt he will get a sensible reply. A car should be designed to be used for all types of journey.
Reply to
klf

A short trip is usually anything less than around 7 miles, but it will vary depending on the weather, type of car/engine, and how it's driven.

Reply to
Peter

Yes you are silly. If you actually owned a car with a service record book you'd see that the service intervals are REDUCED for cars doing short journeys.

Reply to
Conor

You're OK. Short journeys are those where the car doesn't have time to get up to operating temperature. By operating temp I mean OIL and not what the temp guage says.

Reply to
Conor

Am I right in saying that a 2001 car should need no top ups at all? If so, there is something wrong with the engine, isn't there? My 8 yr old Nissan Micra doesn't need topping up between yearly oil changes.

Bruce

Reply to
bruce phipps

bruce phipps (bruce snipped-for-privacy@my-deja.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

No.

No.

Some engines just do use a bit of oil/water. Fact of life.

Reply to
Adrian

The message from bruce snipped-for-privacy@my-deja.com (bruce phipps) contains these words:

No. Cars vary - some use oil and others don't. There's also considerable variation between identical engines.

Driving style makes a fair difference, too.

Reply to
Guy King

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