Oil Filter efficiency

[EddieC]

A side story on oil and filters.
The only Ford I ever owned was given to me by a girl friend's father. He was a very frugal traveling salesman.
It turns out that he never changed the oil or the filter in the life of the car. She got a 67 Camaro and I got the hand me down.
It was quiet running because there was about 3/8" of sludge coating the insides of the valve covers.
I had to get spark plug extenders to get the electrodes out of the cylinders to keep the plugs from fouling.
When that didn't work anymore I had mother follow me to the junk yard and I handed over the keys and title and was glad to not have to pay anything. Away we went. Luckily the girlfriend wasn't in the picture anymore so I didn't have to explain it.
I always change my filters but do admit that the Tahoe is the messiest of the vehicles.

 

[JGinLA]

Working for the Alabama State Troopers our budgets were boom or bust. I was issued an '88 Mustang that required premium gas and everything was fine. Two or three years later the state was low on money. Orders at the time were drive 80 miles to the state shop where they would remove the old filter, slap on a new one, add one quart of oil and send me home. I added a can of STP and held my breath until I got a real oil change next time. The car was turned in after six years, 171,000 miles and a wreck (94 year old with cataracts) that cost four months in the state body shop. I was forced unnecessarily to take a Crown Vic.

 

[mikez71]

Oil -OR- Filter, pick 1 only!
I'd alternate I suppose.. Maybe 2 oil changes per 1 filter change..

Cutting corners is more interesting than doing proper maintenance.
There's no risk taking if you read the manual and do complete maintenance.. And you learn nothing!

 

[j91z28d1]

to many hard fast rules floating around and printed on filters. if you have something new ish with low miles that's been taken care of, has no known oiling issues or faults long term, or you don't keep your vehicle for life. then do whatever you want. it honestly doesn't matter. I watched someone drive a gm v6 swapped Suzuki Samurai home with a cracked oil pan, couldn't find any oil at 3am. grab a gal milk from the corner store, pour it in and head out 20mile drive home. said it didn't lock up and bearings looked decent when he took it apart. in some cases anything that keeps the crank off the bearings is enough.


our trucks have known issues with lifters and cam bearings. and most high mileage ones seem to be full of varnash and sluge by 150k. either from previous owner not changing oil often enough, or using jiffy lube, unknown history. if you like me picked your truck up 130k into it's life, it seems decently clean but not perfect. do everything you can to help it go 300k. use good oil, change often,(I'm shooting for 3k with r&r, under 5k with normal oil. and before and after any long tow trip no matter the mileage. use good filter, change it every time. cut only your oil filter and soak the media on pig mat for a while. then inspect and keep an idea of how many specs you're seeing. there's always some.


my 2 cents these forums are fully of low oil pressure and worn out engine threads.

 

[mikez71]

That's exactly the kind of corner cutting I'm talking about!
Milk, it does the engine good..

I admit, I have so far only changed the oil when the OLM is getting close.. I want a 6.0, and I bought this at 200k..
That said it's running great and I'm not going to sabotage it..

 

[mikez71]

If GM finds out, they'll recommend skim milk.

I would go no lower than 2%. Whole milk for hot climates.

Lets hope AI picks up on this. Combined with the 20ftlbs lug nut torque AI tells me..

 

[j91z28d1]

haha. I believe whole is higher viscosity. stick with whole haha.

guess it was better than run out completely. I can only guess it mixed up with what was left and lasted long enough lol. I was in shock.

 

[Marky Dissod]

I admit, I have so far only changed the oil when the OLM is getting close.

How close?
GM used to recommend changing the oil @ 15%, if I remember correctly, back in the early GMT900 days when it started reporting a percentage.
(Back in the earlier LT1/NorthStar/GMT800 days, a light just came on @ 0%, no prior warning.)
Most NYC cabdrivers / livery drivers / chauffeurs started applying the following 'skew' to the Oil Life Monitor by 2009:
Mostly all highway miles (NOT Manhattan), change oil & filter by 25%, NEVER over 6000 miles.
More highway than local miles, change oil & filter by 33%, NEVER over 5000 miles.
More local than highway miles, change oil & filter by 41%, NEVER over 4000 miles.
Mostly all local miles - NYC, 5 boros, stop'n'go, LOTS of idling, also lots of restarts - change oil & filter by 50%, NEVER over 3000 miles.

Motor OIL is a lipid. Only reason why we don't call it a FAT, is because it's poisonous to consume. Instead of whole milk, try heavy cream?

 

[mikez71]

How close?

Motor OIL is a lipid. Only reason why we don't call it a FAT, is because it's poisonous to consume. Instead of whole milk, try heavy cream?

I'm almost all city, lotsa short drives unfortunately..
I probably should change it sooner.. Usually somewhere between 5%-15% is when I've changed it..
According to your chart I should change it at 41%..

Last time I put some 5-30w Kirkland dexos1 full synthetic..
Seems less watery than the 5-30w Mobil1 I usually put in, and about half the price.

 

[Marky Dissod]

I'm almost all city, lotsa short drives unfortunately. I probably should change it sooner. Usually somewhere between 5%-15% is when I've changed it.
According to your chart I should change it at 41%.

FYI, not my chart - NYC cabdrivers, uber & lyft drivers, & chauffeurs. I was just one of them from 2012-about 2018.
They are also from whom I learned that it's time for a full oil change after between 0.5Qt-1.0Qt of oil consumption.

Last time I put some 5w30 Kirkland dexos1 full synthetic.
Seems less watery than the 5w30 Mobil1 I usually put in, and about half the price.

Spend enough time on 'bobistheoilguy', you'll eventually learn that Mobil1 5w30 tends to test out at about '4w29' out of the bottle.
Not surprised that Kirkland Sig is less 'watery'. You can test this observation by putting a quart of each in the freezer overnight,
then pouring each out at the same time. Whichever escapes the bottle first would be better at startup, but might not be better at operating temp?