Best no BS motor oil/filter comparison?

SMS > wrote:
>
>A lot more engines are destroyed by a loss of coolant than "worn out"
>oil. My nephew destroyed a three year old BMW X5 by not knowing or not
>noticing the temperature gauge, after the water pump started leaking.

This is unfortunately a known issue on these cars. But in Driver's Ed,
didn't your nephew get taught to run his eyes across the gauges every
couple minutes and make sure everything was okay? You gotta watch them.

>Alway a pet peeve that the manufacturers don't put in some sort of an
>audible warning of when to pull over and stop the vehicle. Click and
>Clack used to say that the temperature idiot light shouldn't say TEMP,
>it should say $3000 (this was a long time ago), since that's what
>repairs will cost if you don't stop immediately.

Look, if the driver isn't watching the gauges, who is to say a red light
or a buzzer or a gadget that pokes him in the side is going to do any good
either? I recently saw a Corolla whose engine had melted down into slag.
The owner noted that the oil light had been on for a couple weeks and he
kept meaning to have it checked.

It's important to pay attention to the gauges.... that's what they are
there for.

Your nephew's problem MAY have been accelerated by the fact that a lot
of newer BMWs don't have real temperature gauges any more, just gadgets
with a needle that indicate three positions. Seems BMW doesn't trust
modern drivers either.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

RM v2.0 wrote:
> ">
>> I was really only suggesting that analysis might be a good idea for those
>> people that don't understand how needless it is to do a 3000 mile oil
>> change on a modern engine. They've been brainwashed by companies like
>> Jiffy Lube and/or they remember what their father or grandfather told them
>> back in the 1960's, and haven't updated this knowledge to account for
>> higher quality multi-weight detergent motor oils, versus cans of SAE 30,
>> even though every independent test has shown how needless 3000 mile
>> changes actually are.
>>
> I dont get this either, both my Dodge truck and car recommend 7500 mile
> changes for light use. Yet every place that changes it insists on sticking
> that 3k mile interval on my windshield. I know why they do it, more changes
> = more money for them but why do owners put up with it?

The typical owner doesn't know any better, so they believe the
quick-lube place. It's the same way some of these quick-lube places sell
unneeded, and often harmful, additional services.

> I bet we could save
> a significant amount of oil if we stopped all the useless changes.

True, but since the oil is cleaned and re-used, it's mainly the cost of
the recycling that would be saved. I used to give my old oil to a group
that burned it in restored locomotives, until the air quality management
board put a stop to the practice.

Years ago, a friend gave me a 1955 chev. It wasn't a thing of beauty
because it had been sprayed with flat black primer - without masking
off the chrome. It burned so much oil that my friend had been using
drain oil to fill the crankcase! I sold the car for $5, and bought
a case of beer.

Dick

"RM v2.0" > wrote in message
news
> I dont get this either, both my Dodge truck and car recommend 7500 mile
> changes for light use. Yet every place that changes it insists on sticking
> that 3k mile interval on my windshield. I know why they do it, more
> changes = more money for them but why do owners put up with it? I bet we
> could save a significant amount of oil if we stopped all the useless
> changes.

Even conventional motor oil has improved significantly over the last 25
years, and at one time 3000 mile change intervals were not a bad idea.

Toyota's recommended interval was 7500 miles in the later 1990's (maybe even
before that, I don't recall) but Toyota decided to lower it to 5000 mile
intervals after quite a few reports of sludge (all numbers are for normal
driving).

Scott Dorsey wrote:
..
>
> Look, if the driver isn't watching the gauges, who is to say a red light
> or a buzzer or a gadget that pokes him in the side is going to do any good
> either?

I used to make the same argument. But the truth of the matter is that an
audible warning when any one gauge goes out of range isn't a bad thing.
Airbus and Boeing do it that way now, it just is another way of reducing
operator workload and allowing better focus on one task at a time.

> I recently saw a Corolla whose engine had melted down into slag.
> The owner noted that the oil light had been on for a couple weeks and he
> kept meaning to have it checked.

There's no cure for stupid, on that I do agree. People still have to
know that if its the temp gauge going out of range, they can turn off
the AC, turn on the heat full blast, and look for the next safe place to
pull over. But if its the oil pressure gauge sitting at zero, they
better cut the engine and coast to a stop NOW. But most people still
think that the oil pressure gauge or light means they might need to top
off the oil tomorrow or next week. Sheesh.

"Ashton Crusher" > wrote in message
...
> Please God, Make it stop!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Debates about motor oil and oil filters will continue long after Armageddon.

Ashton Crusher wrote:
> Please God, Make it stop!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Goto >File >Messages >Ignore thread. Simple.

--
"Boy, I've spent my adult life dealing with people like you.
There are few things that intimidate me; and a
post-adolescent, semi-literate cretin ain't one of them." - LSP972

Scott Dorsey wrote:
> SMS > wrote:
>> A lot more engines are destroyed by a loss of coolant than "worn out"
>> oil. My nephew destroyed a three year old BMW X5 by not knowing or not
>> noticing the temperature gauge, after the water pump started leaking.
>
> This is unfortunately a known issue on these cars. But in Driver's Ed,
> didn't your nephew get taught to run his eyes across the gauges every
> couple minutes and make sure everything was okay? You gotta watch them.

There is no more driver's ed in schools.

> Look, if the driver isn't watching the gauges, who is to say a red light
> or a buzzer or a gadget that pokes him in the side is going to do any good
> either?

An audible warning is tough to ignore. A gauge or an idiot light doesn't
mean much to people that don't understand what they mean, and I suspect
that most drivers fall into that category. Most consumer devices
automatically shut down before they destroy themselves, that's what
over-temp sensors, fuses, safety valves, etc. are for. But most vehicles
will just keep running until they fail catastrophically.

"WARNING! Engine Failure. Pull Over and Shut off Engine!"

In multiple languages of course.

On 2008-12-03, SMS > wrote:
> Scott Dorsey wrote:
>> SMS > wrote:
>>> A lot more engines are destroyed by a loss of coolant than "worn out"
>>> oil. My nephew destroyed a three year old BMW X5 by not knowing or not
>>> noticing the temperature gauge, after the water pump started leaking.
>>
>> This is unfortunately a known issue on these cars. But in Driver's Ed,
>> didn't your nephew get taught to run his eyes across the gauges every
>> couple minutes and make sure everything was okay? You gotta watch them.
>
> There is no more driver's ed in schools.
>
>> Look, if the driver isn't watching the gauges, who is to say a red light
>> or a buzzer or a gadget that pokes him in the side is going to do any good
>> either?
>
> An audible warning is tough to ignore. A gauge or an idiot light doesn't
> mean much to people that don't understand what they mean, and I suspect
> that most drivers fall into that category. Most consumer devices
> automatically shut down before they destroy themselves, that's what
> over-temp sensors, fuses, safety valves, etc. are for. But most vehicles
> will just keep running until they fail catastrophically.

with computer controls it would be entirely software to shut down the
car now. Well an over-ride switch is probably needed in case its
just a sensor issue a person needs to get home, that might add 25
cents to the cost. Then again some magic combination of control usages
could do it do, so it's back to software.

> "WARNING! Engine Failure. Pull Over and Shut off Engine!"
>
> In multiple languages of course.

"SMS" > wrote in message
...
> Scott Dorsey wrote:
>> SMS > wrote:
>>> A lot more engines are destroyed by a loss of coolant than "worn out"
>>> oil. My nephew destroyed a three year old BMW X5 by not knowing or not
>>> noticing the temperature gauge, after the water pump started leaking.
>>
>> This is unfortunately a known issue on these cars. But in Driver's Ed,
>> didn't your nephew get taught to run his eyes across the gauges every
>> couple minutes and make sure everything was okay? You gotta watch them.
>
> There is no more driver's ed in schools.
>

Our local high school still offers driver's ed.
--

Ray O
(correct punctuation to reply)