My heart sank seeing my cars service history

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Well my Falcon came recommending 10w30 every 15,000kms which I think is way too long for dino. I thought sirely no one would actually let it go that far, and then I found and read my service history today... At one point it went 20,100 km on whatever cheap dino the garage it was taken to put in it. Not only this but for the first 100,000km or so it was a rental car so I think I have an idea on how it was driven during that 20k OCI! All the other services were between 10,000 and 16,000 km which I still think is a bit long. There aren't any ill effects in the engine apart from a few clattery lifters which I can live with. On the bright side everything else seems perfect, internals are very clean besides slight varnish and it uses no oil at all in between changes.
It's also quite comforting that someone told me they had the same car and drove it 150,000km without a single oil change up until when they sent it to the wreckers...
Manual also recommends 10w30 for best fuel economy and if it isn't available then a Xw40 or Xw50 can be used. I've only ever used 10w30 or 40 so I'm interested how a 50 would go and how much economy I'd lose
 
Fuel quality plays a significant role when it comes to oil changes. People go 15,000 km on regular dino oil in Europe with no ill effects, although 20,000 km is quite the interval, I do agree.

Given 10W-30 is "available", I would stick with it. If you would like to upgrade, switch to a European spec 0W/5W-30 or 0W/5W-40 oil instead.
 
Originally Posted By: Falcon_LS
Fuel quality plays a significant role when it comes to oil changes. People go 15,000 km on regular dino oil in Europe with no ill effects, although 20,000 km is quite the interval, I do agree.

Given 10W-30 is "available", I would stick with it. If you would like to upgrade, switch to a European spec 0W/5W-30 or 0W/5W-40 oil instead.

Fuel is on par with Europe here, 91 octane being the [censored] regular stuff, 95 being average and 98-100 being premium as opposed to the US where 87 is regular and 91 is premium! But yeah 20k on a fully synthetic I'd have no problem but I know it's obviously on cheap bulk dino possibly 15w40, and it would have been a hard driven 20k too.
I have a few bottles of 10w30 left and then I'm going to try a 10w40 to see if I notice anything different.
 
Originally Posted By: Doog
Don't worry...just repair the lifters and keep going

I was thinking about just leaving them and see how I go, I would guess the lifters are full of crud and since switching to 10w30 they have improved a lot. I'm guessing the thinner oil is able to work its way past any blockages or build up and help clean put the lifters.
I have some Liqui Moly tappet noise stuff to go in the next change soon so I'll see if that helps.
Replacing the lifters is a relatively easy job on these engines (OHC I6) but I use and need my car that much I don't have the time
 
Originally Posted By: Kamele0N
Fuel...

Usa has MON method...Eu RON method...thats why u have 91 as premium...


We have 98 or 100 as premium. But yeah I'm not sure on the differences between RON and MON really

Edit: Just done some research, due to slightly different measurement methods MON figues are 8 marks below RON so premium MON 91 is the same as premium RON 98.
Shouldn't have any problems with fuel cause we don't have winter fuel and only separate E10 fuels contain 10% ethanol and everything else is ethanol free
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: 19jacobob93
Fuel is on par with Europe here, 91 octane being the [censored] regular stuff, 95 being average and 98-100 being premium as opposed to the US where 87 is regular and 91 is premium! But yeah 20k on a fully synthetic I'd have no problem but I know it's obviously on cheap bulk dino possibly 15w40, and it would have been a hard driven 20k too.
I have a few bottles of 10w30 left and then I'm going to try a 10w40 to see if I notice anything different.

Europe, New Zealand and Australia use RON rating, Canada, United States and Brazil use AKI which is (RON + MON) / 2. AKI is 4-6 octane lower than RON.

You may have better fuel quality in term of lower sulfur, but the same Octane. California allows only 91 octane for premium, other states can have 93 octane which is the same as your 99 octane.
 
Originally Posted By: 19jacobob93
Fuel is on par with Europe here, 91 octane being the [censored] regular stuff, 95 being average and 98-100 being premium as opposed to the US where 87 is regular and 91 is premium! But yeah 20k on a fully synthetic I'd have no problem but I know it's obviously on cheap bulk dino possibly 15w40, and it would have been a hard driven 20k too.
I have a few bottles of 10w30 left and then I'm going to try a 10w40 to see if I notice anything different.


Aside from the RON/AKI differences, sulfur content is a major concern. According to this article, sulfur content varies in Austrlia between 50-150 ppm in gasoline. I would assume this is roughly equalivant to Euro III emissions standards at 150 ppm. Euro IV has a maximum sulfur content of 25 ppm and Euro V at 10 ppm.
 
Originally Posted By: Kamele0N
And probably EU fuel has more (cleaning) additives....because here we dont have concerns with GDI engines...


I run Euro V gasoline imported from the UK - whilst I can't confirm exactly how much more cleaning additivies is has, at 168,000 km, my injectors were like new. They didn't even have any varnish on them.
 
Just as a side note, I pulled the injectors on my son's 94 Dodge GC 3.3, (necessary to replace the VC gaskets), they were clean and shiny. No deposits of any kind. The van has 240,000+ miles using the cheapest 87 rated fuel, whatever was available including E-10. I have not seen any reason to use any gas additive.

BTW: US gas is RON+MON/2
 
My Dad had a 62 Ford Falcon, the engine was bullet proof, simple, 6cyld. Ancient oil back then, mostly straight 30 wgt...nothing new under the sun.
 
100,000 km as a rental and it wasn't obviously trashed? That is impressive, must be a well made car.
My parents rented a car for a month in the south west US. In the first week the dash called for an oil change, so they called the rental place, but they said just check the dipstick and don't worry about it. They probably went 5k km over the recommended OCI too, but the car was just doing 300km highway trips so its pretty easy on the oil.
 
Originally Posted By: IndyIan
100,000 km as a rental and it wasn't obviously trashed? That is impressive, must be a well made car.
My parents rented a car for a month in the south west US. In the first week the dash called for an oil change, so they called the rental place, but they said just check the dipstick and don't worry about it. They probably went 5k km over the recommended OCI too, but the car was just doing 300km highway trips so its pretty easy on the oil.

The engines in these are insanely tough and that's an understatement. It's the reason I got one and sometimes I think I worry too much since it will probably take me to 1 million KM anyway! I just like to look after my stuff so I can relax!
 
Originally Posted By: 19jacobob93
Originally Posted By: Doog
Don't worry...just repair the lifters and keep going

I was thinking about just leaving them and see how I go, I would guess the lifters are full of crud and since switching to 10w30 they have improved a lot. I'm guessing the thinner oil is able to work its way past any blockages or build up and help clean put the lifters.
I have some Liqui Moly tappet noise stuff to go in the next change soon so I'll see if that helps.
Replacing the lifters is a relatively easy job on these engines (OHC I6) but I use and need my car that much I don't have the time


Try running some synthetic oil in for a few changes or a cleaning additive like Rislone. See if you can clean them a bit.
 
Originally Posted By: 19jacobob93
Originally Posted By: IndyIan
100,000 km as a rental and it wasn't obviously trashed? That is impressive, must be a well made car.
My parents rented a car for a month in the south west US. In the first week the dash called for an oil change, so they called the rental place, but they said just check the dipstick and don't worry about it. They probably went 5k km over the recommended OCI too, but the car was just doing 300km highway trips so its pretty easy on the oil.

The engines in these are insanely tough and that's an understatement. It's the reason I got one and sometimes I think I worry too much since it will probably take me to 1 million KM anyway! I just like to look after my stuff so I can relax!


Obviously you got a good one.
 
Originally Posted By: 19jacobob93
Originally Posted By: Kamele0N
Fuel...

Usa has MON method...Eu RON method...thats why u have 91 as premium...


We have 98 or 100 as premium. But yeah I'm not sure on the differences between RON and MON really

Edit: Just done some research, due to slightly different measurement methods MON figues are 8 marks below RON so premium MON 91 is the same as premium RON 98.
Shouldn't have any problems with fuel cause we don't have winter fuel and only separate E10 fuels contain 10% ethanol and everything else is ethanol free


The others are not Ethanol free necessarily as they only need to report it when using more than 5%.

It is interesting your and my car were built the same time and both specced thin oils to pass the emission controls at that time. With the Ecotec on 10w30 the oil wasn't reaching the 10,000km interval as it was burning the oil with the pcv system not helping. Holden put out service update to use 10w40 as the minimum with 20w50 and higher quite common. Yours being overhead cam the lifters should be easy to get to ?

Are you getting the 15,000km on 10w30 without top ups ? If you are then to me that means he engine is in good nick still. Newer cars are getting the 15,000km with larger sump capacity, what is yours ?
 
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Originally Posted By: vxcalais
Originally Posted By: 19jacobob93
Originally Posted By: Kamele0N
Fuel...

Usa has MON method...Eu RON method...thats why u have 91 as premium...


We have 98 or 100 as premium. But yeah I'm not sure on the differences between RON and MON really

Edit: Just done some research, due to slightly different measurement methods MON figues are 8 marks below RON so premium MON 91 is the same as premium RON 98.
Shouldn't have any problems with fuel cause we don't have winter fuel and only separate E10 fuels contain 10% ethanol and everything else is ethanol free


The others are not Ethanol free necessarily as they only need to report it when using more than 5%.

It is interesting your and my car were built the same time and both specced thin oils to pass the emission controls at that time. With the Ecotec on 10w30 the oil wasn't reaching the 10,000km interval as it was burning the oil with the pcv system not helping. Holden put out service update to use 10w40 as the minimum with 20w50 and higher quite common. Yours being overhead cam the lifters should be easy to get to ?

Are you getting the 15,000km on 10w30 without top ups ? If you are then to me that means he engine is in good nick still. Newer cars are getting the 15,000km with larger sump capacity, what is yours ?

I would never go 15,000! The longest I would go is about 9,000 but it never uses a single drop in that time. I am going to get a UOA on this 10w30 after 7,000 to see how it holds up. The capacity is 5.5L so it's fairly big plus these SOHCs are very easy on oil hence why it isn't dead after such oil abuse!
 
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