The suprising truith about motor oil !

I think the testing in this article is faulty! Testing on taxi-cabs is not a legitimate test as pertaining to an average consumers driving habits!

Cold start ups and short trips with some cool-down in between trips keep the engine operating temp below optimum. Also, there are factors that break down the engine oils lubrication factors other than just heat... blow-by gasses with particles of gasoline or fuel entering the crankcase area because of worn rings,, cold start up, excessive acceleration, poor ignition conditions, improperly tuned engine. Idling for long periods can cause some excess contaminates to enter the crankcase.

I have rebuilt many engines and a mechanic can tell when a customer is an avid oil changer! One young man's engine {327ci in a '66 corvette} was disassembled in the shop. The engine had 125K miles on the original engine... and it had rings busted in every cylinder (number 8 cylinder's top ring was busted in 13 pieces) because of his racing tendencies. But he changed his oil every 750 miles! The inside of that engine was "deposit free!" Not one sludge deposit, nor single bit of grime! The block and head castings looked as though the inside was new cast iron. Plus, there was only .010 to .012 wear on the top of any cylinder.

We change the oil in our veicles about every 3000 to 4000 miles. On tractors, it is about every 100 hours!

The claim is made about how hard idling is on the oil. I've never found any documentation or evidence to support that claim.

No mention was made of the oil additive packages, particularly what happens to them over time. Essentially, they dissipate or get used up, and you're going without them from that time on if you go for the extended oil changes. This important point was rather glossed over.

My own observations on standard dino juice oils has shown that at about 5k miles the oil will rather abruptly become somewhat gummy in texture. Varnish buildup will substantially increase. Oil pressure will be reduced. Internal engine noise will be increased. These are not operating conditions I personally care for, so I tend to change my oil more frequently.

I am far outside of the Consumer Reports target, in that I expect my engines to last several hundred thousand miles without problems. I don't consider 60k to be reasonable life by any means.

I hope a lot of people read the page because the oil topic comes up here all the time. If you read his discussion on multi weight oils it is interesting to know that 5W-30 performs with the same properties as 10W-30 at high temperatures and high pressures. That is great news for those of us who live in a winter climate.

Definetly food for thought.

--->Paul

Remember the hassle The Coca Cola Company had when they changed their formulas to New Coke, which tasted more like Pepsi? I noticed that they changed back within a few months. They might as well have named the new beverage Edsel!

Oils have improved greatly over the years and supposedly all have to meet or exceed the specifications for the level of oil they advertise on their label or cap. I still don't use store brand oil, although it may be just as good as the name brands.

What I was always told was to pick a good brand of oil and stick with it, as mixing different brands could cause problems from incompatable additives. I have had very good results with Castrol and Valvoline over the years and curiously, they seem to also be brands that are often on sale. Even at full price, oil is pretty cheap.

So a lot of people are asking questions. All that was wrong with the old scoreboard were 'some lights burned out' and a lot of questions about the money being spent be4 the contract was agreed to, and why the school should be in such contracts in the first place if there is so little pay-off and shouldn't they be more involved in educating kids about the 3 R's, not pop....

Turning into quite an interesting discussion, I don't believe that pop company is making any good publisity or life-long customers 'here'. ;)

I like Dr Pepper or Mt Dew, never cared for either cola. Don't care how they advertise it, I prefer my flavors, not the ad campaign.

Sorry for getting so long winded & off topic.

--->Paul