Your gonna love this one!!!

[tsmay51]

So, my father in law of about 76 years old has his oil changed on his cars but has pondered returning to changing his own oil. Last week he seen a PYB used jug in my garage and asked if that is what I used in our vehicles. It was an old jug I just saved for disposal of oil but I told him at some point yes the oil in that container went in the wife's Mazda. Well, that lead to the infamous sludge myth. It's my father in law of 76 years old. Any answer has to be thoughtfully worded. I just told him that even if that was true of many years ago that oil has come a long way in the last 30 years. I told him of BITOG and the reading and research of other peoples' experiences and data and that is how I tried to come up with an educated idea of what to do or use in my vehicles. I told him how I just switched the Mazda to synthetic and ultra filter and going to 8k to 10k intervals. Then I got the you are an IDIOT look. He did say he was thinking of switching to synthetic and stretching out to 5k intervals on a couple of his cars. He is presently doing 3k intervals on dino. I told him dino can do that interval all day every day. This was actually mentioned before I dropped the hammer on my 8 to 10k interval. He is pretty thrifty like many of us on this site and I told him today at a family cookout that AAP had Quaker State synthetic and a filter for $19.99. I'm thinking if he is going to do 5k intervals then who cares if it Microguard filter. Here is where it really gets good. He has small independent service shop that he uses. He proceeds to tell me how his mechanic told him he used some oil and filter from AAP in a GM car with an OLM. The car went half as far on that change than the previous oil/filter. So we have a mechanic and my father in law believing that the OLM is actually reading the condition of the oil and additives within it. Also, they must believe that another formulated oil is put in QS,PYB, Mobil jugs at AAP. I am bowing out of this debate with him. He can do whatever he likes and think I am an idiot as well.

You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink.

 

[53' Stude]

Yeah, some myths never die ;(

 

[Leo99]

God bless him. I hope I'm changing my own oil at 76. And I'll be scoffing at younger folk's claims of 20k OCI and give them the idiot look while I stick to my 10k OCI.

 

[KGMtech]

As you already know, his mind is made up. You could take comfort in knowing he's only wasting natural resources, not harming the car or the income of his chosen mechanic )

 

[tsmay51]

I must say reading my post it sounds a little hateful toward him at the end. This was not my intentions. I think the world of this man but I did get a little frustrated with him for not opening up to reasoning through some of his old school thought.

 

[expat]

Motor oil (to some people) is like religion, they have faith in what they belive, and no 'so called' facts are going to shake that faith.

At a certain age many people seem to have made up their minds about many things. To change, it seems, means to them they have to admit to being wrong, and possibly look a fool.
So they just ridgedly stick to their beliefs.

It's called having a closed mind. Ignorance is bliss.

 

[gathermewool]

I hope that I never close my mind to change and the wisdom of others, even if it doesn't jive with I thought to be true.

 

[dlundblad]

If he has to use ramps or stands, it might not be a bad idea to help him or at least be there to "help" if the need arises.

 

[Lolvoguy]

Originally Posted By: gathermewool
I hope that I never close my mind to change and the wisdom of others, even if it doesn't jive with I thought to be true.


that's pretty hard to do honestly. Since everyone out there has a different point of view. You'll run youself crazy trying to keep up with what others beliefs are based on their logic.

The human brain needs to develop a simplified method of operating, even if that means disregarding true statements

I honestly despised dino oil thinking it was garbage. Now I reap the benefits of 10kms oci's and added $ in my pocket

 

[camrydriver111]

Great story!

 

[tsmay51]

Heck, I would change the oil for him if he would let me. I will say this man is in amazing shape for 76. He gets around much better than some 55-60 year old people I know. He walks 5 miles every other night while listening to books on cassette! Lord help us when he runs out of cassettes or the player breaks. If I can't get him to change his theory on oil I will never get him to switch over to cds let alone mp3s.

 

[ryanschillinger]

Well sometimes a 3k oci makes sense. Like my truck probably sees a max of that annually. And I change oil annually. I use hdeo 15w40 Dino. No point using synthetic in a 49 year old carbureted truck that doesn't see much time on the road. In most cases, the 3k rule of thumb is very obsolete.

 

[tsmay51]

I would agree. I maintain my mother's car and she only drives 2000 to 2500 miles per year. I just change it every year. This is certainly not the case on my in laws cars. They are both retired but burn the road up chasing grand kids in select softball, select baseball and any other function they are involved in.

 

[Lightninrod]

Wellll, I'm 76 too. I started using Mobil One not long after it was introduced many years ago. All my vehicles got it including my lawn mowers/tractors. I too did my oil changes but not since I had two operations recently.

Now my wife's 2007 Murano and my 2013 Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland V8 get PUP at a trusted local shop.

Dan

 

[Yah-Tah-Hey]

The thing about change is it is the one constant in our world and is the only thing that doesn't change. It's written in the second law of thermodynamics.

 

[KrisZ]

Good story but lets look at this from another angle.
We have:
A person sticking to the tried and true 3k dino OCI solely based on their experience and not knowing any of the technical reasons for or against the practice?
Or
Plenty of BITOG members using synthetic for 5k OCI, they know that it can go much longer and have seen the evidence to back it up, but just "feel" 5k is the maximum.

To me it seems that OP's FIL is following a more logical thought process than a lot of BITOGers.

 

[ryanschillinger]

3k isn't really tried and true. That's just what shops put in your window to get you back faster to spend more money haha! If you read your owner's manual you'll probably be surprised to see the factory calls for longer oci than you might expect.

 

[aquariuscsm]

The 3/3k isn't an urban legend invented by jiffy lubes. I've seen owner's manuals from the 1960s that spec 3/3k as well as my current Nissan's manual and fsm.

 

[Jetronic]

Originally Posted By: tsmay51
I must say reading my post it sounds a little hateful toward him at the end. This was not my intentions. I think the world of this man but I did get a little frustrated with him for not opening up to reasoning through some of his old school thought.


Think of it this way...

All of his life he had a LOT of people telling him things that turned out to be [censored]. So why accept what you are claiming (it was afterall only a claim, no proof) if he has a solution that works? If you are telling him [censored], it'll be more expensive for him.

The older I get, the more I think people are so full of [censored] it comes out of their mouth as soon as they open it...

 

[Snoman002]

Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
The 3/3k isn't an urban legend invented by jiffy lubes. I've seen owner's manuals from the 1960s that spec 3/3k as well as my current Nissan's manual and fsm.


Not just older vehicles, I was shocked to see my mother's owners manual recommended 3/3k on her 2009 300c