Remember the golden rule of collectors. We drive our vehicles for at least thirty miles every thirty. We also change the oil every six months despite low mileage, to remove the products of combustion that may have accumulated
Reminds me of an older gentleman my daughter introduced me to a couple of
> years ago, her next door neighbor. He has an old Chevy Nova he keeps
> mostly parked in his driveway. Drives maybe 1/2 mile one way on his
> weekly trips to the grocery store or what not. He complained about his
> carburetor needing a rebuild recently due to buildup as he seldom drives.
> Son-in-law did the rebuild. He found the plugs a bit fouled, but not too
> bad. The oil, only a few months old was very thick and very black. He
> pulled a valve cover, and found that cream colored greasy substance on it,
> water contamination. No such in the oil itself or similar indication in
> the antifreeze. After futher investigation, we all came to the same
> conclusion. The lack of continuous driving time was causing the oil to
> foul as the rings are probably not set any more. The creamy substance at
> the inside top of the valve covers was due to dew buildup as the mornings
> are terribly moist sometimes, and the engine never got hot enough to burn
> out the water.
>
> Its an extreme exaggeration of what can happen to current vehicles (which
> run hotter/faster nowadays), but, it drives home a point about the need to
> put adequate highway miles to keep the contaminants down in the oil. >
> --
> Dave
>
>> The following is JMHO!
>> NORMAL driving is considered driving on the highway for an extended
>> period of time. OK what percentage of drivers have commutes like that
>> especially with the price of gas today? ;-)
>> This is great for an engine to operate at normal operating temperature to
>> help burn off any moisture in the oil and maybe any carbon in the engine.
>> These engines can last a very long life (100s of 1,000s of miles) and the
>> oil does not get dirty too fast generally!
>> I have seen many different engines live long lives this way, foreign and
>> domestic. Of course there are some engines that just designed to fail
>> after XXX miles no matter how they are driven.
>>
>> Most vehicles are NOT driven this way but are driven in the city. The
>> engines use more gas, create more carbon and the temperatures are usually
>> colder than normal adding condensation/debris to the oil.
>> These engines require more frequent oil changes!
>> I have even seen VW engines get sick prematurely. :-(
>> --
>> later,
>> (One out of many daves)
>>
>>
>> snip
>>
>>>
>>> I have driven 480,000 km (300,000 miles) with my 98 camry up to now.
>>> Last week opened the valve cover and everything looked like new!!
>>> No sign of any sludge at all!
>>>
>>> But I must say, I generally drive long distances (over 50 miles) and my
>>> fuel is propane.
>>> I change (synthetic) oil every 30,000 km (19,000 miles).
>>>
>>> Jan.
>>>
>>
>>
>
>