I do understand what aklim is saying about the age of the oil. But I would like to share some thoughts
I have on the subject of oil changing in general
How to reduce our dependency on foreign oil
Today we have motor oils that are rated for 5, 10, or 15 thousand miles of use before being changed. However because great grandpa advocated changing his oil every 3 thousand miles it became the national standard (remember this was in the days before synthetic or blended oils). And also the manufactures recommended we change the oil this frequently (again because of less effective filtering and short trip driving). Now we fast forward to today’s real world were the engines go 250K instead of 50K as in the days of old.
So let’s try to put this in perspective as to how it impacts our dependency on foreign oil.
If you drive a car 100,000 miles and change the oil every 3,000 miles that will take 33 oil changes. But if you only change every 6,000 miles you only have 16.6 oil changes. Each oil change will take 4 quarts of oil so you have used 33 gallons of oil at 3,000 mile change intervals as opposed to 16.6 gallons at 6,000 miles.
If 1,000,000.00 people every day change their oil at 3,000 miles instead of 6,000 we will be prematurely disposing of 16,600,000.00 gallons of oil a day (Adding to our environment problems). Carrying this further take the daily figure and multiply by 365 days a year and you get 6,059,000,000.00 gallons of oil that has been wasted.
I believe that we out of a lack of knowledge want to cling to the way we have always done it approach. For example I remember when radial tires became the new kid in town people actually bought new cars and then took them directly to a tire store to replace the radials. Or when disk brakes were first introduced the horror stories that were told about how you would have to replace everything but the crank for the passengers window when the brakes needed to be replaced. Or more recently the acceptance of seat belts, air bags, anti lock brakes. So until proven wrong I for one will accept that what I learned as a teenager from grandpa and dad has been improved with technology and the old truisms no longer apply. I will however keep an open mind and if my car goes through a sand storm I would then off course replace the filters and oil regardless of the mileage on them.
I whole heartedly AGREE..!
The "old school" mentality is one of ignorance and lack of keeping ones self educated regarding the things that evolve all around us. We should evolve as well but we don;t because of our arogance. Its more comforting to say to ourselves that "we've mastered automotive technology" of the past, and say it with confidence, than it is to say or admit that we're completely in the dark regarding the new products out there...So we'll try to apply yesterdays skills to todays situation and try to keep that warm fuzzy feeling about our abilities and knowledge,. after all, who wants to admit that they are lost, or simply don't know? I sure don't. Thats human nature.
What we can easily do to help cope with this is to look around and remember that
NOBODY was born knowing all this stuff. Every single person out there that does know whats going on today, was trained and had someone else present that info to them. They did'nt just wake up knowing how to maintain a new 2011 vehicle...or understand how oil works and how we work with oil.
As mean as it sounds, old schoolers need to sit down and loose the attitude.
Once a better understanding of a subject comes your way, then you can begin to feel confident about what you know of todays products. Oil changes for example...oil does not wear out, it gets contaminated and dirty. The additives (polymers) in motor might break down after so many cycles and so much contamination, but the base oil is still oil. Its collected, filtered and reused in other applications. The way this works is a matter of molecules...all the things that we want to filter out of dirty oil happen to be as small as the things that make the oil lubricate, so we can only filter out so much until we start to filter away the oil itself, so once its contaminated it can not really be cleaned to be as effective again, at least with the existing technology. Reclaiming oil is expensive and there is not that much savings over new oil, so old oil just is'nt worth pursuing that far. That may change at some point if the price of new crude keeps rising with the sun everyday...
Oil changes are less frequent in new car maint schedules because the oil in a 2011 engine gets less contamination due to better and better engine mngt. In 1965 a car that got 12 mpg was an economy model. It also had a life expectancy of way less than 100,000 miles because the excess (wasted) fuel washed away all the oil and all that fuel and dirt/carbon went to the pan where moisture helped form acids that destroyed the ability to lubricate. It wore itself out prematurely due to excess fuel. Now with precision fuel injection, that does not happen. Its well documented that the majority of engine wear takes place at start up. Once running, engines stay cleaner, longer and so does the lubricating oil.
If the oil is ok...why throw it away? The conspiracy theorist of the world say that the factory maint schedule says to change oil at 6000 miles so they can sell more parts when the engine wears out. Thats what "they" want. Thats hooey. Why would a company want to market a product that wears out? There are plenty of sales out there for new cars, and parts sales will slowly take a backseat to car replacement as laws change and move toward stricter enforcement like Japan and some other countries.
The evolution of things in our lives is like an ongoing education...People did'nt understand the microwave when that came out...drying the dog by nuking it happened a couple times...
Or fuel injection.,..that was going to make tow drivers rich. gas was going to have t o be so clean that it would'nt burn...constant filter problems etc..Then the unleaded issues...wow
...lets keep on filling the atmosphere with lead so our grandchildren can be born stupid too....We only acceptted that particular change because we did'nt get a choice. But we tried...I personally punched out the small gas filler tube (my new '77 Ranchero) so I could use leaded fuel...for as long as I could and I'll admit it now, I had NO friggin clue as to why..all I knew was that unleaded fuel was evil. They said so on the news. The guy at the Gulf station said so. They know..right?
Disc brakes...I recall that one well. Won;t stop in the rain, won;t be able to stop a car evenly...all stories originating from fear, ignorance.
Radials...yep. I remember people replacing radials with bias ply for as long as they could and then when they finally started to accept radials and understand that radials were not the devil as the 6:00 news reporter has told them, there was no apology to Goodyear or Firestone...we just went along and used arogance as our shield in our battle with evolution. Jet engines, FM radio, color TV...all suffered the same as they came to market and slowly had to prove themself to the world.
Its like anything else, educate yourself continously or be trapped forever in the time that you choose to end your personal education and evolution, Being unable to relate to today and tomorrows products.
I'll confess. I still have VHS tapes....I've got all form of disc for video and music, I just won't toss a perfectly good system and all that money spent on magnetic tape...what else is it good for? I keep an old 8mm film projector sitting on a shelf for decor, now guest think the VCR is the same thing..:L
With the price of gas as it is and we all know its not going to go down much.:ugh
I'd sure like to see a few more barrels of crude go toward fuel instead of lubricants.
