Miles on oil change

[Saluda]

have heard discussions saying this is not just about miles to a oil change, but the government trying to reduce the amount of waste oil in this country.

Heard it coupled with a discussion on the ability of garages to burn waste oil in Mass. Came from a friend (mechanic) who had one such burner .

 

[jcthorne]

Heard it coupled with a discussion on the ability of garages to burn waste oil in Mass. Came from a friend (mechanic) who had one such burner .

I burn all the waste oil from my shop in my truck (its an older diesel that is speced to run up to 7.5% waste oil) but that has no bearing on the recommended oil change intervals.

The biggest reason oil does not hold up well in the 1330s is the combined engine and trans. Motor oils do not hold up to shear from gears well and gear oils do not do well in engines. The engine oil in the 1330 breaks down to a thinner oil over time.

 

[jcthorne]

No matter what oil I would say it would be the worst same as when I was asking about tires. Everyone of the manufactures has the best. If you change oil every 4000 miles I don't see any problems. I would not think Can Am would offer the worst oil on the market.

I never claimed XPS was the worst oil on the market. I said it was the worst among those oils users here had submitted used oil analysis for. Its also the only NON synthetic in the group so a bit of an unfair comparison. Most owners that move away from the OEM XPS oil go to a full synthetic. The used oil analysis results have consistently shown that is a great move. Even if it does not allow 9300 miles on an oil change.

 

[missouriboy]

have heard discussions saying this is not just about miles to a oil change, but the government trying to reduce the amount of waste oil in this country.

Yes, it's true alright, according to a long article I read in an Auto Service Business trade magazine long ago. Here's the gist of it, as best as I can recall:

The government (EPA?) was concerned that literally tons of perfectly good oil was being discarded due to the standard recommendation of 3000 mile oil changes. The 3000 was intended to cover the worst-case scenario, to protect the engine (that was under warranty, of course). But, the vast majority of cars are NOT driven in worst-case conditions, so the 3000 mile rule was very wasteful for those cars. What to do?

The gubmint colluded with the smart folks at SAE, which resulted in the solution known as the computerized Oil Life Index that's found in most cars today. The rest of the article then described and discussed those index algorithms. I had just acquired a car with such an index (2001 LeSabre) so I was very interested in learning about them.

The computer tracks four metrics to compute the index: RPM, oil temperature, time, and (I forget the 4th one; number of cold starts, maybe?). As driving progresses, these variables reduce the "percent of life remaining" in the oil, which gives differing results for each vehicle depending on its actual usage. (When I change my oil every 6000 miles, the Index generally shows 30 to 50 percent life still remaining. The manual says don't go over 7500 miles, or 1 year, as a maximum.)

Since there was no history with which to define the algorithms, three different "best guess" formulas were developed. Each one was then assigned to Ford, GM, and Chrysler for testing. As dealers did oil changes the oil was analyzed and statistics were compiled for SAE to evaluate the formulas, and eventually select the best one. And also to make improvements to it, if indicated.

So it wasn't just "gubmint meddling." Sounds like mighty smart business to me!

 

[kep-up]

I burn all the waste oil from my shop in my truck (its an older diesel that is speced to run up to 7.5% waste oil) but that has no bearing on the recommended oil change intervals.

The biggest reason oil does not hold up well in the 1330s is the combined engine and trans. Motor oils do not hold up to shear from gears well and gear oils do not do well in engines. The engine oil in the 1330 breaks down to a thinner oil over time.

The best solution is to use motorcycle oil. It is designed to be used in engine/transmission applications. It can be purchased very easily from your local motorcycle shop. I have used HONDA's GN4 for many years in my motorcycles and now in my Spyder RSS. Have never had any type of oil related breakdown in over 30 years.