Oil: I'm Not Convinced It Ever Needs To Be Changed

[k0ua]

I think I will keep to the Maint. schedule for my tractor I drive a dodge minivan as a company car. It has over 255,000 miles on it..Yes that's right a Dodge minivan on the original engine. It followed the scheduled oil changes from day one.. The transmission was rebuilt at 142,000 but the engine is still motoring on. I am of the opinion that following Maintenance schedules is a way to make your equipment last longer. YMMV

James K0UA

 

[Redneck in training]

Gas turbines driven machines use two separate oil tanks. The hot part use synthetic and the colder part such as load uses mineral oil that is much cheaper. The oil gets changed only during major overhaul and it can take quite few years of continuous operation. Sometimes additives are added. Steam turbines use mineral oil in both the driver and the load.

 

[94BULLITT]

I have no problem running Valvoline oil in my gasoline engines but when I open up a diesel engine with 6500 hrs on it and it looks as clean as this one did, it would take a lot to convince me to change from the DELO to save a few bucks.

Brian

If you are happy with it have seen what it did on a machine with that high of hours I would not change brands either.

 

[brain55]

You are right JOHNTHOMAS. My statement has no proof that their store oil would be any less effective. My point was why change what was working, which you seem to agree with. I have been wowwed twice in my career by the condition of diesel engines when I have pulled the valve covers off. Once was the story I just told and the first time was probably 15 years ago. I was working for an equipment dealer doing maintenance on one of the local municipalities machines. Similar story. I pulled the valve cover to do a valve adjustment and was stunned by how clean the engine was internally. I actually called the customer to find out how recently they had rebuilt the engine. Their response was never that they used DELO oil and changed it as scheduled. That machine had 4000 hrs on it. I have used nothing but DELO since. I realize that my small sample does not prove anything but in my 25 year career I have had many diesel engines apart and these two cases will keep me using DELO until something can dethrone it as my oil of choice. I'm sure it is not just the oil itself but also change intervals and the amount of use. I'm guessing that since the oil in the Kubota R-series that I'm talking about gets changed every 5-6 weeks and is run 6 days a week that the corrosion that happens on lower use machines doesn't happen here.

Brian

 

[joshuabardwell]

My mom has a North Star V8, which from the day it was made, uses a quart of oil every 500 miles, (GM said that is acceptable). At that rate of replenishment, I suppose you could consider it a continuous oil change. :confused3:

Since the crankcase held six quarts if I had added another quart at four thousand miles instead of changing the oil and filter and instead only changed the filter I don't think the engine would have know since I would have already replaced a large percentage of the oil by adding the quart every thousand miles.

I'm not sure this logic holds. I think it depends where the oil is going. If the vehicle has an oil leak, then the old oil is running out, and maybe the logic holds. But if the vehicle is burning oil, any sediments or deposits in the oil are still there, because they can't burn off. So by regularly topping off, aren't you just concentrating the sediments and deposits over time? Eventually, you will have a vehicle with 100,000 miles of sediments and deposits floating around in otherwise-perfectly-fresh oil.

 

[ray66v]

I'm not sure this logic holds. I think it depends where the oil is going. If the vehicle has an oil leak, then the old oil is running out, and maybe the logic holds. But if the vehicle is burning oil, any sediments or deposits in the oil are still there, because they can't burn off. So by regularly topping off, aren't you just concentrating the sediments and deposits over time? Eventually, you will have a vehicle with 100,000 miles of sediments and deposits floating around in otherwise-perfectly-fresh oil.

I would suspect at least some of the contaminates are going to be blown out of the engine with the exhaust. Particularly if the oil is entering the combustion chamber via the valve guides.

 

[JOHNTHOMAS]

Several years ago there was an article in one of the Car Magazines that contained an interview with a Molecular Engineer. He was asked about Oil and specifically about how often to change it in an automobile. He said Oil never wears out and will continue lubricating forever but that it did get dirt. So he was asked how often he changed his oil in his car. He said every 3000 miles (yes, this was several years ago) why would he take such a risk for $20.

 

[BobRip]

People talk about if a car uses oil and you add new oil then you can reduce the changes. My feeling is that the thinner components of oil will leak/burn leaving behind the thick oil and dirt. Yes adding new oil can add some needed substances, but the thick stuff builds. There is no law requiring oil changes, for me I will follow the manal's recommendation. They know a lot more than I do about the subject. For those who don't change oil let us know how that works for you.

 

[BlacknTan]

Would you use similar logic to deduce from the fact that because Keith Richards will soon be 70 and the Jim Fixx died at age 52, that smoking, drinking, drug abuse and herion addiction is healthier than regular exerecise?

I wonder if one could make a case for that?? LOL

 

[Combustix]

Theoretically if you add a quart every month after six you've done a complete change theoretically that is