US car longevity

There must be something in it. Although oil should be able to last twice this, even under hard conditions, most Americans find the concept of keeping the same oil in the engine for 10,000 miles as perverse. For 20,000 miles as lunacy. 5,000 miles is perhaps slightly high.

I thought I was being slightly excessive by having the oil replaced every half service interval (5,000 miles for the last two, including this one), until I spent time in California, where it's common to have it done once or twice between services. And good oil too...

The rationale is that good oil is cheap, labour is cheap, temperatures are very high in the summer, cars don't corrode and so they just last. Dad's

1989 Porsche 944 S2 is on a quarter of a million miles...

Back to the Ka, where's a pattern. More frequent oil changes do _appear_ to keep that rattly pushrod donk in the Ka as sweet as can be. Most people just don't believe that he's covered 60,000 miles, indeed some W--Ka Klubbers think that the Endura-E "just gets noisy at 30,000 miles," which is tosh.

I only know of one other Ka that's treated to interim oil changes and it, too, is quiet and sweet. Conversely, I know of many Kas that only get the standard servicing and sound well rattly at 40K point.

A lot of NY cabs get sold after 3yrs with 250k on the clock and still running fine. The interior is usually a bit tired but the materials are hard wearing.

Gareth

In news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com, Gareth A. decided to enlighten our sheltered souls with a rant as follows

Most of the limousines that are imported secondhand from the US have done

250-300k in three or four years. They run them constantly and service them every couple of weeks. They get treated like cabs, two drivers on shifts, but they still drive well when they get here. I know of one limo company in the UK that bought a 1995 Caddy Fleetwood that had covered about 900k and still drove well.

Not bad for something that weighs about 3 tons unladen, is auto, carries 8 people most of its life and tends to get driven pretty hard.

I must be lucky - The Metro's got Rover on the badge, IIRC, and the Triumphs (the BL ones anyway) have the circle of doom on the pedal rubbers and wings. Oh, and the bootlid, which oddly enough is the rustiest part on both of them..

Once saw a Fiesta ohv with 13000 miles on it, no oil change from new and needed a new engine LOL

Except in Bristol where the grit bins contain unsalted grit.

I'm astonished to hear this. Toyota have had many problems in the US with one V6 sludging up the cambox. It's widely though to be due to lack of oil changes.

So it seems those that do oil changes, do them very often, while those that don't, never have an oil change done.

Oil change and service interval on all UK models is usually about 50% longer than for the same vehicle sold elsewhere in the world. Handbook has a bit of small print about more frequent changes for short journeys and long periods idling. Makers pandering to fleet buyers low life costs and F**K the person that buys it off them when it's 3 years old.

I have used some of the fast fit places and always had a branded oil filter, quality oil and no problems. Economies of scale prevail. However, the Peugeot dealer managed to overfill the 206 on the last service (it's still under warranty) so you never can tell! I presumed that most of the US lube bays don't remove the old oil through the sump plug?

I have the 206 serviced as per Peugeot recommendation, but take in Millers XFD fully synthetic for them to use. Our old 1.4 ZX I do every 5000 (instead of 9000) and use any SJ rated 10-40 petrol engine oil which is on offer. I did learn recently not to use Motoquip filters, especially since GSF are selling Mann filters at under £2 each! A pack of 6 sump washers cost 65p at Carrefour in Calais on a booze cruise. Servicing has never been so cheap.

Agree totally. Hosed and sponged off 6000 miles worth of mud and salt this afternoon, found perfectly preserved paint underneath, and revealed that it's a sort of gold colour too :-)

What do you mean by "last"? Any oil with 6000 miles of contaminants, etc. is going to be worse at protecting the engine than new oil of the same quality. If you want to know just how quickly the oil picks up crap, check your dipstick every week after doing an oil change and see how long it takes to go the same colour as the stuff you drained out.

The reason many manufacturers have increased service intervals is to appeal to fleet buyers who tend to only keep their cars for the first few years of it's life (lower maintenance costs to keep the warranty) - the extra sales more than offset the occasional engine they have to replace or repair due to the extended servicing.

FWIW, I change my oil quarterly which works out about 4-5000 miles - it may well be a waste of money but I've never yet had any lubrication problems on

*any* car I've owned, even at high mileages...

Darrem

You are quite incorrect in your assumption. The colour does indeed show a level of contamination but that contamination may be in no way detrimental to the performance of the oil or have any implication for engine wear or life. Had you ever run an old diesel you would know just how black a new charge of oil gets within the first five minutes of changing.

I have seen several modern extended drain capable engines serviced at 20,000 mile intervals exceed 200,000 miles and running perfectly.

Neither have most people who service according to the manufacturers schedule. Your justification is ridiculous as you cannot prove that similar cars driven similarly would have a reduced service life if serviced according to official schedule. While you are perfectly at liberty to change the oil as you like, it is rather infantile that you have to try and justify it in this way. Why not just admit that it just makes you feel good, rather like getting satisfaction from a job well done?

Huw

So by this reasoning in the 3000 mile oil change days, engines lasted longer?

I've got news for you. In the '50s, a family car engine was unlikely to exceed 70,000 miles without a full overhaul. Many did much, much less. My father, who was a motor engineer to trade and looked after his cars well, clapped out the engine in a Morris Minor in under 40,000 miles.

The message from "Darren Jarvis" contains these words:

Well, I'd better change my oil every week then.

About thirty seconds then if you own a diesel.

Oil analysis of my drain show that it hasn't degraded significantly at 7500 miles and is only just going off on the base number at 10k - its still showing no appreciable loss of viscosity etc.

YMMV of course.

How'd he manage that? Or was it before the A series was fitted? I know of at least a few 948 A series kicking around stored less than well that would be fine after quick strip down to clean the gunge out of them, and I've had several 998s that have been just run in at 100k. Even 1098s last forever if you can live with a little oil burning and don't rev them too hard.

Of course, my 1275 (first I've ever had) seems utterly shagged at 88k, going by how much I could rock the pistons in the bores and the omminous knocking, but I'm not sure it's been all that well looked after mechanically, which might explain it.

Top end of the 1300 in our Marina needed overhauling at 21000m, still it was 13 years old.

Lots of short journeys? Cause 21k at 13 doesn't sound like it got much use at all!

I've yet to be convinced by this 1275 malarky, I've had 1098s that have pulled very nicely, all day long, and 998s that have been nippy enough when needs be. All I seem to get with this engine is rattles coughs and splutters, but it's not put me off A series engines in general, just this one. I honestly believe that the A is a very reliable, long living engine in general, and 100k plus is absolutely nothing for one that's had any sort of care in its life. I had one with about 150 on it, and it still ran as sweetly as ever :)

Can't say the same for either of the VW lumps I've had, or the pushrod FIAT ones.

It was a '53, with the first version of the A Series, the 803, which was also rather lower geared than the 1000.

I used to change my oil every 1500 miles or so :) it didn't do any harm and it sure as hell kept the engine going for a good few more miles than it should have done

I had a 1275 and I can happily say it was the biggest pile of unmitigated crap I've ever had the misfortune to apply a spanner to. Dead at 70k and I looked after it (although the previous owner - my brother - I cannot speak for) The 1.1 was a much better engine - I picked up an 80k lump from a scrapper and it ran sweet for at least another 50k.