the flyin' scotsman

so what do you plow the snow with?.............surely not the 928

H2

You guys aren't going to believe this (and I'm not sure I do either) but I had a neighbor in Virginia who would swear on a Bible that he didn't "believe in changing oil...just a plot by oil companies, etc." He claimed he had 112K miles on his Buick. Lot of highway miles, but still....

Maybe he was jerking me around.

When oil gets "dirty" I can actually see contaminents, clouds caused by water, etc. But if it still looks pristine, I'm not yet convinced that it needs changing. Installing clean oil for over the winter while the car is sitting does make some sense...if the contaminents are really that bad, but it shouldn't have to be changed in the Spring.

I once bought a 1929 A-model Ford pickup truck that had not been run in 14 years....and the oil was dirty and I pulled the pan to clean it and it was pristine inside. I ran the heck out of that engine trying to blow it up to justify putting a V8 in it. It would never blow....but the axles, trans, or tires would give...but not it that order.

BTW, did you know that you could use a fresh pork skin for a front and rear mail oil seal in an A-model? Lasts until you can get to town anyway. Hasn't technology come a long ways? i got the A-model up to 85mph once...down hill.

Harvey

checkmate1996

My 79 says every 8000 miles!

bronto

I just received a new '79 manual and was reading through it, and it said 15,000 miles. I wonder if some were misprinted, what should have been 15,000 kilometers?

Nicole

Many of the newer European cars now have recommended oil change intervals of 30k kms - about 20k miles. With modern oils there is no good reason to change more often, and in Europe, Oil is more than twice as expensive as here. Yet, they don't have gazillions of engine failures there...

ROG100

I change mine very year - maybe - if I remember to do it.
If I forget and it is 2 years I do not worry. I would probably change it after 20k miles just because I can.

Most Europeans - me included - laugh at Americans who have been brain washed by marketing people to change there oil every 3K.

If my car was sitting for 6 months I would definitly change it every year.
Why because I can.

To many "old wives tales".

Joe '87 S4

I change mine every year with about 5,000 miles on it because I don't do it myself and have a general maintenance check done at the same time.

Shark Attack

this brings up some experiance.

I had a 87 vett. I never changed the oil. I put 80,000 miles on the car and beat the snot out of it. Not one internal failure. total miles on the car was 122,000. I changed as i went. I would wait for it to be down over a qt then put a full qt in.

Then bought my first new car. a 6 cyl mitsubishi galant. changed oil every 3000 like clock work. engine failed at 80K, main bearing

rhys

Holy Moly! I change my oil every 3-5000, which is about every 2-3 months. Mine is a daily driver, although I don't put a lot of miles on it day-to-day. Other than cost, I absolutely don't believe there is a downside to oil changes of that frequency.

FlyingDog

Yes, there actually is.

FlyingDog

My SAAB mechanic hates the 20,000 mile oil changes. It's not because the oil can't go that long, it's that people don't check their oil level. He said a lot of people ignore the oil level or pressure light because they had not yet reached the oil change time in miles.

DANdeMAN

Have I not read on the "oil thread" that an oil reaches(sp) it's full protection potential at bout 3K miles!?... Before that is where the engine get worn?

H2

So...some modern cars now recommend oil changes every 20K miles??? Wouldn't that imply that it doesn't need to be changed every 12 months? If changing oil out EVERY 12 MONTHS OR 20 20K MILES, whichever comes first would be good, why would they not state it this way? Perhaps modern cars can handle it? Or is it the oil?

Oops! I just saw Checkmate's post...forget what I said.

Harvey

H2

No wonder oil prices are going up!!

H2

checkmate1996

Seriously, just think if everyone changed there oil every 6-12 months, the oil companies would become trazillionaires!!!

It sounds like too many people are over-maintaining there Pcars. It just sounds like a lot of wasted $$$, time and resources too me. If the manual back in 79 says I can atleast go 8000 miles on Dino oil, what's changed?? CLUE: marketing...