Engine oil

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servbice intervals are lengthened by car manufacturers for commercial reasons and not engines best interest

Sorry but you are wrong, do you actually have any idea how much testing goes into engine development and the setting of service intervals? Manufacturers work very closely with oil companies and set the intervals as a worst case scenario, they test hundreds of engines on all different drive cycles and analyse the oil for wear metals, soot content, viscosity and acid content. They dont just pick a number out the air and think 'yer that will be fine'

And I have probably seen more stripped down engines than most people here and oil thats been run so long in engines in extreme tests it no longer pours at room temp :D
 
Sorry but you are wrong, do you actually have any idea how much testing goes into engine development and the setting of service intervals? Manufacturers work very closely with oil companies and set the intervals as a worst case scenario, they test hundreds of engines on all different drive cycles and analyse the oil for wear metals, soot content, viscosity and acid content. They dont just pick a number out the air and think 'yer that will be fine'

And I have probably seen more stripped down engines than most people here and oil thats been run so long in engines in extreme tests it no longer pours at room temp :D

This is getting very interesting:5blurk5: So what are your qualifications to making such bold statements.
 
i agree with tuscan i started striping engins in 1962 and done many probably not as many as Tuscan but enough to know that you need the proper oil and do the service as and when and it will pay you in the end
 
This is getting very interesting:5blurk5: So what are your qualifications to making such bold statements.

5 years experience building and stripping prototype engines on a daily basis for Ford. Engines covered include Kent, Lynx, York, Puma, TDV6 and TDV8 diesels and Sigma, Zetec and DOHC petrols. I have also built Jag SC V8s, helped develop the fuel systems on the Lynx 1.8 TDCi and built the very first Puma 2.2.

This was followed by 10 years experience working more on the development side of things in the powertrain department including 7 years working on the oil analysis of test engines.

:)
 
5 years experience building and stripping prototype engines on a daily basis for Ford. Engines covered include Kent, Lynx, York, Puma, TDV6 and TDV8 diesels and Sigma, Zetec and DOHC petrols. I have also built Jag SC V8s, helped develop the fuel systems on the Lynx 1.8 TDCi and built the very first Puma 2.2.

This was followed by 10 years experience working more on the development side of things in the powertrain department including 7 years working on the oil analysis of test engines.

:)

Tuscan 1 Thor 0
 
Sorry but you are wrong, do you actually have any idea how much testing goes into engine development and the setting of service intervals? Manufacturers work very closely with oil companies and set the intervals as a worst case scenario, they test hundreds of engines on all different drive cycles and analyse the oil for wear metals, soot content, viscosity and acid content. They dont just pick a number out the air and think 'yer that will be fine'

And I have probably seen more stripped down engines than most people here and oil thats been run so long in engines in extreme tests it no longer pours at room temp :D
i never said they did pick a number out the air:confused: ,but they are looking for longer and longer intervals hence the testing ,regular change would still be better even if you can prove an oil may last ,pity they didnt test the filled for life gear boxes a bit more before they realised changing might actually be better ,now why filled for life if not commercial reason
 
5 years experience building and stripping prototype engines on a daily basis for Ford. Engines covered include Kent, Lynx, York, Puma, TDV6 and TDV8 diesels and Sigma, Zetec and DOHC petrols. I have also built Jag SC V8s, helped develop the fuel systems on the Lynx 1.8 TDCi and built the very first Puma 2.2.

This was followed by 10 years experience working more on the development side of things in the powertrain department including 7 years working on the oil analysis of test engines.

:)

Are you anything to do with the Ford Diesels that seem to smoke so much when you are following them:)

Seriously though an engine run for up to 2 years or 20,000 miles plus on the
same oil can`t be good for a long life.
Variable servicing may be good for fleet buyers who sell on after 3 years but not for an average owner who does under 10,000 miles a year or buys 2nd hand one of the aforementioned.
 
5 years experience building and stripping prototype engines on a daily basis for Ford. Engines covered include Kent, Lynx, York, Puma, TDV6 and TDV8 diesels and Sigma, Zetec and DOHC petrols. I have also built Jag SC V8s, helped develop the fuel systems on the Lynx 1.8 TDCi and built the very first Puma 2.2.

This was followed by 10 years experience working more on the development side of things in the powertrain department including 7 years working on the oil analysis of test engines.

:)

Wonderful am very glad to have some expertise in this field. To many on here are the arm chair/pub mechanics on here with my M8 said.

To many on here look cheap and use wrong oil and weight.IMO. Along with they drive to few miles a year and go with, I drive 6-7 thousand miles in 2 years so only have to change oil every 2 yrs:rolleyes:
Tuscan 1 Thor 0

thor got pwned!

Now you 2 above is not a matter of Tuscan getting over on Thor. It is a matter of who has talent and use that persons skill to the benefit of all. There are some very talented people on here. It is a matter of finding out who has what skill.
Are you anything to do with the Ford Diesels that seem to smoke so much when you are following them:)

Seriously though an engine run for up to 2 years or 20,000 miles plus on the
same oil can`t be good for a long life.
Variable servicing may be good for fleet buyers who sell on after 3 years but not for an average owner who does under 10,000 miles a year or buys 2nd hand one of the aforementioned.

Webley got a power stroke and ford says 5-7k between oil changes, have never heard of 20k miles between changes from any diesel motor for cars

Cat, International, Cummings or GM along with dutez or Perkins of John deere
Have extended plan of 10k on lorry's driving cross country where they put 10-15k miles a month. Some will get change every 3 weeks

The minimum change for a low mile car would be twice a year/ every 6 months if less than 6 thousand a year IMO
 
Seriously though an engine run for up to 2 years or 20,000 miles plus on the
same oil can`t be good for a long life.
Variable servicing may be good for fleet buyers who sell on after 3 years but not for an average owner who does under 10,000 miles a year or buys 2nd hand one of the aforementioned.


Its all to do with useage IMO. If you are just driving a fairly good condition engine just up and down the motorway all day then long intervals will be fine, if however you are putting an engine under load at lot like in off road scenarios you will be producing more soot so it would be prudent to reduce the intervals accordingly. I would also change to a thicker oil on a high mileage engine as well as you will have larger clearances on things like bearings and rings. I run my Puma powered Mondeo on 10w40 now instead of 5w30 as its done 180k (well some of it has lol)

Fill for life gearboxes is a good point but its slightly different as most manufacturers deem a car to be past its useful life when it gets to 100-150k so this is probably why they dont list them as service items.
 
Its all to do with useage IMO. If you are just driving a fairly good condition engine just up and down the motorway all day then long intervals will be fine, if however you are putting an engine under load at lot like in off road scenarios you will be producing more soot so it would be prudent to reduce the intervals accordingly. I would also change to a thicker oil on a high mileage engine as well as you will have larger clearances on things like bearings and rings. I run my Puma powered Mondeo on 10w40 now instead of 5w30 as its done 180k (well some of it has lol)

Fill for life gearboxes is a good point but its slightly different as most manufacturers deem a car to be past its useful life when it gets to 100-150k so this is probably why they dont list them as service items.
so i wasnt wrong ,most of us lr owners want a lot more than 150k but if g/box life is excepted as that then so is the rest of the car its the same issue ,which is only reasonable in commercial terms as lr sell new ones , and service intervals take that into acccount (in that they get as small a service cost as possible whilst still maintaing an acceptable life),so its not unreasonable for us who want to do the best to preserve life as long as possible to change oil more often and use thicker as milieage gets high :)
 
Its all to do with useage IMO. If you are just driving a fairly good condition engine just up and down the motorway all day then long intervals will be fine, if however you are putting an engine under load at lot like in off road scenarios you will be producing more soot so it would be prudent to reduce the intervals accordingly. I would also change to a thicker oil on a high mileage engine as well as you will have larger clearances on things like bearings and rings. I run my Puma powered Mondeo on 10w40 now instead of 5w30 as its done 180k (well some of it has lol)

Fill for life gearboxes is a good point but its slightly different as most manufacturers deem a car to be past its useful life when it gets to 100-150k so this is probably why they dont list them as service items.

When I worked for Mercedes, some of them monitored usage and oil quality, then decided when the oil needed changing. On some motorway barges running the recommended Mobil 1 the highest I saw was 33,000 for an oil change the lowest about 12,000 unless it came in on time rather than miles! The real high milers that ran Mobil one were perfect, displaying no signs of wear, the cheapskates who put cheap 10/40 in for most of its life then you put Mobil 1 in the engine would rattle when they were around 80,000 or so! We looked after an e class taxi that'd done well over 300,000 miles and always run on Mobil 1 and the engine was perfect! So question is how much is down to oil and how much to quality engineering? Quality oil in a quality engine can easily go high miles between changes with no detriment to the engine! But if its been neglected in its life it may not apply! Problem is how do you know????
 
I think all the posts above are all fair points.

Maybe we should have a strip and show your engine thread.
Its all down to your own piece of mind in the end.

Myself I will stick to 10,000 mile or once a year changes on my TD4 using full
synthetic 5w 40w 143,000 miles

Vw Tranporter 1.9 TD 5,000 miles or twice a year.Its done 249,000 miles now
Standard non variable vane turbo so it gets 10w 40w semi synth

Its the variable servicing I think causes the problems,where sensors monitor the oil condition plus the fact that many people do not check the level like we used to do when I were a lad
Modern engines come out of the factory with synthetic oil now and while they
don`t suffer the wear because of it this also seems to slow the bedding in period and they do use oil.
 
One thing that concerns me on newer vehicles is the deletion of the good old dipstick in favour for a level sensor. 10 years down the line when they start going wrong there will be all kinds of the preverbial hitting the fan :(
 
So my 2001 rover kv6 petrol Freelander auto which the manufacturers says it should have 10W40 in does constant short trips of about 4 miles. I take it for a run every so often at a steady 60mph for 20 miles as I've been told this is good for it. Wamrs it up propper (it's hot after 2 miles anyway). It also goes oft road and does about 8 miles in a day in 1st or 2nd gear, a few times a year currently. Should I stick with 10W40? Mileage is 33k.
 
So my 2001 rover kv6 petrol Freelander auto which the manufacturers says it should have 10W40 in does constant short trips of about 4 miles. I take it for a run every so often at a steady 60mph for 20 miles as I've been told this is good for it. Wamrs it up propper (it's hot after 2 miles anyway). It also goes oft road and does about 8 miles in a day in 1st or 2nd gear, a few times a year currently. Should I stick with 10W40? Mileage is 33k.

Its up to you.

It will blow a head gasket before it wears out anyway;)

I would stick to what your using.I just like to use full synthetic in the TD4
mainly because of the variable vane turbo.
 
One thing that concerns me on newer vehicles is the deletion of the good old dipstick in favour for a level sensor. 10 years down the line when they start going wrong there will be all kinds of the preverbial hitting the fan :(

Good point.
Why do they insist on using an electrical system to monitor a mechanical one.
Can`t beat a good mechanical oil pressure gauge as well.

When I started driving we used to fit as many gauges as possible and one of them stick on heated rear screen things that used to block out as much of the
view as the condensation.
 
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