Random Chit Chat

[Smart_Guy]

I'm gonna change the engine oil for my Ford CV today. First time out of the dealer after the 5 years/200,000 KM warranty expired (I reached the former).

I think I'll go with synthetic blend 5w30.

 

[Celery]

Few days ago I picked up a 5 qt jug of 10w-30 for mine. I change my oil every two years.

Now before you say why so long consider the mileage I've put in.

Bought car in 2008 with 83126 miles on the clock.

First oil change (with filter):
09-05-2009 with 85160 (2034 miles)

Second oil change:
04-08-2011 with 87351 (2191 miles)

Third oil change (with filter):
08-19-2013 with 91239 (3888 miles)


Now I'm at 94318 (3079 miles). Yep, time to change the oil.

 

[cb600fshornet]

What type of oil do you use? I personally don't change it at such low intervals (usually more like 8000 miles), so I tend to use fully synthetic.

 

[Smart_Guy]

I'd go with factory recommendations or at least with it covered in my alternatives; e.g. recommended engine oil is 5w20, I'd use 5w30 to preserve the cold start viscosity and keep my peace of mind for the max tolerance.

I don't see ~11k miles, Celery, a good period to judge if 10w30 and 2 years change intervals is a safe bet. Longest change interval recommended by manufacturer I've ever seen was 1 year. Just be careful, man. I heard mineral and blend oils (not sure about full synthetics) could start sludge and residue if left for a long time.

I drive much so I use the mileage count to change oil and never the time period. The 5,000 miles change interval goes by in less than two months. But anyways, I wouldn't leave the oil for more than 6 month in the CV per the recommendations (1 year in the MB in comparison).

Mineral oil quart can come for like $3.5 USD here. Is that a good price?

 

[cb600fshornet]

Here they recommend fully synthetic, especially for modern turbo diesels...

A modern turbo-diesel is quite sensitive, they have EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculation) which sends exhaust gases back through the engine to reduce the car emissions. This has the unfortunate side effect of leaving a lot of crap in the engine, which can be cleared by regularly running the engine to red line to burn the crap away (you get black smoke out the exhaust). Another side effect of this is that the oil gets dirty really quickly. The pipes which supply the turbo with oil are really quite thin, so when the oil leaves deposits etc it blocks the pipes, starves the turbo of oil, and the turbo no longer has any lubrication, so fails.

The only real legal preventative measure for this is to use fully synthetic oil as it doesn't get dirty as quickly. A lot of people take the illegal measure of disabling the EGR valve (so the exhaust gas isn't recirculating), this actually produces a huge measurable difference in how dirty the oil becomes...

 

[Smart_Guy]

Gassers are the trend here, but still synthetics are recommended for everything except costs. Old cars are every where here and public transportation is like zero, which means cars with old engines (with internal leaks and burning oil) are driven regularly (more oil changes), so mineral and blends are still widely used for their cheaper prices compared to synthetics.

My gasser MB has +400,000 KM (+250,000 miles) on the clock on a factory sealed engine. It burns oil and I drive it much, so using synthetic won't be an economical choice. I did try it and the burning was of the same amount. I still use 20w50 mineral on it in summer and 10w40 blend in winter.

 

[Celery]

I use the high mileage oil (75000+). Every time I change oil it comes out clean. It showed used but not sludgy.

 

[Smart_Guy]

Doesn't sludge stick to the internal parts?

 

[cb600fshornet]

Gassers are the trend here, but still synthetics are recommended for everything except costs. Old cars are every where here and public transportation is like zero, which means cars with old engines (with internal leaks and burning oil) are driven regularly (more oil changes), so mineral and blends are still widely used for their cheaper prices compared to synthetics.

My gasser MB has +400,000 KM (+250,000 miles) on the clock on a factory sealed engine. It burns oil and I drive it much, so using synthetic won't be an economical choice. I did try it and the burning was of the same amount. I still use 20w50 mineral on it in summer and 10w40 blend in winter.

Ah good point, if you're putting a lot in it could get quite expensive..

 

[Celery]

They do but the oil I got have cleaning agents against sludge.

ETA: in response to Smart Guy.