Re: 225/Oil

On Tuesday, 7 October 2014 12:46:40 UTC-7, Plucked Chicken wrote:

Well peeps most def change oil too often - with the 3,000 / 2 month mantra still being promoted by quick oil change places, and auto parts chains.

This is absolutely true. The 3,000-mile oil change is one of many oil-related myths flushing around in the autosphere. Some of these myths are grossly outdated "wisdom" passed down through generations or clung to long past their expiry dates. Some of them are put out by scam artists selling miracle oil additives or "engine treatments" or toilet paper oil filters other such bulk wrap. Some of them are (do I sound like a broken record yet?) the result of people misunderstanding what they think they've seen. And some of them are just made up out of whole cloth.

Today's engine oil is vastly better than yesterday's. Yes, even for flat-tappet engines. Yes, even without high levels of zinc. And it's possible to buy much better filters today than we could back in the nonexistent "good" old days. But the myths persist, so a lot of people use oil of inappropriately high viscosity rating, play Driveway Petrochemist with additives and "treatments", and change the oil far too often. Heavier-viscosity oil is only "better" if you are trying to squeeze the last few miles out of a whipped engine overdue for a rebuild. In an engine in basically good condition, a high viscosity oil (20w50, straight 30, etc.) does NOT protect anything better. All it does is reduce fuel economy and performance and greatly accelerate engine wear (takes forever to reach critical junctions on cold startup).

But oil-related matters are a matter of deeply-held religious beliefs for a lot of car guys. Right or wrong, they're very certain and will not be convinced to abandon the mayhem they're perpetrating on their cars.

\6D