Any oil & filter combination to STOP wear?

[FutureDoc]

Steps to avoiding engine ALL wear...

1) Purchase new vehicle
2) Acquire tow truck

3) Only transport vehicle on tow truck and get tow truck serviced regularly. I would go with Delo and a WIX.
4)Hope the seals do not dry-rot and store the whole car in a swimming pool filled with assorted Lucas products.

 

[Nate1979]

Thicker oil.

 

[SirTanon]

Originally Posted By: kohnen

That's not my point. Engines today can easily go 300,000 miles if they're well maintained, but they still seem to end up burning oil as they get older.

I'm wondering if, by keeping the oil clean enough, it is possible to effectively prevent wear between the pistons and the cylinders so that the engine won't start to consume oil.


Regular, conscientious maintenance is the answer.

The 2010 Fusion in my signature just rolled over 215,000 miles, and I just did an oil/filter change on Saturday, and replaced the plugs Sunday.

Despite the fact that the engine has 215,000 miles on it, it burns consumes no noticeable oil, either through burning or leaking.

I don't do anything magical or excessive:

- I change the oil, myself, every 7,500 miles
- I use a good, quality oil, from a trusted manufacturer, that's within spec for my car and climate
- I use a good, quality oil filter from a trusted manufacturer
- When I'm changing the oil, I inspect the engine, drivetrain, etc.. for leaks, as well as damage or signs of wear or fatigue.
- I regularly inspect the car's brakes, tires, etc.. for wear
- I 'listen' to my car. If it feels like it's running rough, I set time aside to investigate. If it starts squeaking or making odd sounds, I find out where they're coming from and fix what's causing it.

Regarding the last point, above. The reason I changed my plugs this past Sunday was because I've started noticing my fuel economy dropping, and I could feel the car idling slightly rough at times. With new plugs installed, it's running nice and smooth now.

I fully plan on keeping my car until at least 350,000 miles, and I expect that with the above steps, I can get it there.

What kills a car quickly is ignoring problems, getting lazy on maintenance, etc..

 

[fdcg27]

Originally Posted By: BobFout
Originally Posted By: fdcg27
You're making an apples and oranges comparison.
OTR diesel engines cost more than any one of your vehicles did new and a single oil change will cost more than all of the 5-10K drains combined that I'll do through the life of any of my cars.
OTR trucks as a whole are built to do a million miles.
Passenger cars and light trucks are not.
OTR trucks are also working vehicles and they make no money while sitting in a shop for any sort of maintenance, so steps that allow safely reducing maintenance downtime make sense.
To me, it makes little sense to spend a lot of money on bypass or centrifugal oil filtration for an engine with a design life of 150K, a practical life of 200K and an extreme life of maybe 250K. The vehicle it's installed in has the same constraints on its life, so even if you can greatly extend the life of the engine while also eliminating ten or twenty buck oil changes, you probably aren't doing anything economically feasible.
You give your location as Midwestern.
Rust will kill your vehicles long before their engines die.


There isn't a modern engine sold in the US with such a short design life, and there haven't been in many many years. Outside of bonafide factory defects, engines fail due to poor maintenance or human error.

Okay, so my BIL who happens to be an engineer with a major maker is wrong when he says that industry standard design life is 150K?
I've had engines pass 200K running well, sounding good and using only nugatory amounts of oil. Many of us have.
I've also seen engines noted for high metal shedding exceed 300k, like the SBC in an old Chevy truck owned by a coworker.
However, there are a number of engines any one of us could name that would be bad bets for getting much beyond or even to 150K without significant work, well beyond normal maintenance.
The average passenger vehicle in this country is scrapped at around fifteen years and 150K, so why would the makers design more durability into the engine?
Most engines have reserves well beyond 150K if decently maintained, but passenger vehicles are an assembly of components that will last only so long.
It would make little sense to design and build a 400K engine for 200K cars, so that isn't what happens, outliers who pass well beyond 200K notwitstanding.
Any current maker could make a corrosion-proof forever car with a drivetrain and electronics to match. The catch is that none of us could afford to buy it.
Design life isn't just a matter of manufacturers cheating buyers, it's also a matter of cost and what all of us can actually afford to buy and operate.

 

[BobFout]

Originally Posted By: fdcg27
Originally Posted By: BobFout
Originally Posted By: fdcg27
You're making an apples and oranges comparison.
OTR diesel engines cost more than any one of your vehicles did new and a single oil change will cost more than all of the 5-10K drains combined that I'll do through the life of any of my cars.
OTR trucks as a whole are built to do a million miles.
Passenger cars and light trucks are not.
OTR trucks are also working vehicles and they make no money while sitting in a shop for any sort of maintenance, so steps that allow safely reducing maintenance downtime make sense.
To me, it makes little sense to spend a lot of money on bypass or centrifugal oil filtration for an engine with a design life of 150K, a practical life of 200K and an extreme life of maybe 250K. The vehicle it's installed in has the same constraints on its life, so even if you can greatly extend the life of the engine while also eliminating ten or twenty buck oil changes, you probably aren't doing anything economically feasible.
You give your location as Midwestern.
Rust will kill your vehicles long before their engines die.


There isn't a modern engine sold in the US with such a short design life, and there haven't been in many many years. Outside of bonafide factory defects, engines fail due to poor maintenance or human error.

Okay, so my BIL who happens to be an engineer with a major maker is wrong when he says that industry standard design life is 150K?
I've had engines pass 200K running well, sounding good and using only nugatory amounts of oil. Many of us have.
I've also seen engines noted for high metal shedding exceed 300k, like the SBC in an old Chevy truck owned by a coworker.
However, there are a number of engines any one of us could name that would be bad bets for getting much beyond or even to 150K without significant work, well beyond normal maintenance.
The average passenger vehicle in this country is scrapped at around fifteen years and 150K, so why would the makers design more durability into the engine?
Most engines have reserves well beyond 150K if decently maintained, but passenger vehicles are an assembly of components that will last only so long.
It would make little sense to design and build a 400K engine for 200K cars, so that isn't what happens, outliers who pass well beyond 200K notwitstanding.
Any current maker could make a corrosion-proof forever car with a drivetrain and electronics to match. The catch is that none of us could afford to buy it.
Design life isn't just a matter of manufacturers cheating buyers, it's also a matter of cost and what all of us can actually afford to buy and operate.


The whole car may be designed for 150K miles (people typically sell/trade at or before then) but if an engine is worn out at 150K miles, someone didn't maintain it. That is a RIDICULOUSLY low number of miles. It might need some unscheduled maintenance by then, it might not. There was a time when at 100K miles most US made engines did need an overhaul but engine durability and reliability are very high now.

Ask a sample of mechanics how often cars come in for service that are 1, 2 or 3 quarts low on oil. Joe and Jane Public can't be bothered to check their oil level. Or even open the hood...

 

[virginoil]

OEM oil + OEM filter in OEM grade.

Do not drive the vehicle for no wear.

 

[Piston_slap]

Originally Posted By: old1
short answer---NO

Is that a "technical term" ? I'll have to add it to my professional vocabulary. ;-)

 

[fdcg27]

Which begs the question:
If the whole car is designed for 150K, why would the engine be designed for significantly longer life?

 

[Triton_330]

Originally Posted By: fdcg27
Which begs the question:
If the whole car is designed for 150K, why would the engine be designed for significantly longer life?

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say:

With today's technology in engine design, it isn't that most modern engines are designed to outlive the bodies, but rather, it's that the bodies aren't designed to be capable of living as long as the engines.

In other words, for most cases, it's just not possible (and illogical) to try to design an engine to live a shorter life.

I mean it'd be like...

Engine Engineers: "Okay, we've designed this new engine, and are proud to say we believe it should last 250k with proper maintenance."
Body Engineers: "Nahhh, can you tweak it to last only like 150k, cuz I mean, the bodies we've designed just ain't gonna make it that long."

Does that seem realistic? NO.

Duhhh.

Engines these days are just built better. To build them so that they wouldn't last as long [with proper maintenance] isn't feasible. We shouldn't be complaining that engines last too long. We should be complaining that the bodies don't last long enough.

~ Triton

 

[fdcg27]

It may also be that I've misinterpreted the term "design life" and that what it really means is that vehicles are designed with the intent that in 150K, they'll need little more than fluid changes, tires, a set of plugs and brakes. That has been my personal experience with cars of the last thirty years that we've owned.
If that's the case, then the designed-in margins would have to be substantial.
I need to ask my BIL what the industry means by the phrase "design life".
Incidentally, I don't think that engines today are necessarily better built. I think that engine life has been greatly extended due largely to the use of FI coupled with sophisticated engine management software as well as better oils.

 

[BrocLuno]

OK, to the OP's question. You have not said what teh car/engine is? Some are easy on oil, some are not... You have not said how the kid drives. If he's living with numbers bigger then 3 on the tach, you got other issues...

In SoCal you do not have any cold start issues. So I would go SAE 30 HD. More shear stable and it will maintain a strong film on the cylinder walls for start-up wear related issues.

Since I don't know what car it is, I don't know what by-pass filter arrangement will fit... Instead I'd go to Napa Auto and have them look up the biggest full flow filter that will physically fit. It will add some capacity and if a Napa Gold filter, it will do as well as any full flow can.

You can buy an external oil tank, install a level sensor in the side of the pan and have the system transfer oil to the motor if it gets low. Any oil is better than no oil. In SoCal with high summer temps (does he drive out to the desert, Burning Man, etc?), I'd be running either 30 HD or 15-40 HDEO. Either will have all the detergents you can ask for. Change them every 6,000 when you can get the kid to ride with his friends for a day...

You have other issues. If he won't check oil, he won't check brakes, tire pressures, look for wet spots on the ground and search out a leak, clean a battery terminal, or any of that stuff. So how long do you supose this thing will run. I'll bet less than 25K before you have to tow it home

 

[MrAnderson]

Even if you could make a vehicle's powertrain never wear out, the vehicle's body will eventually rot away around it. That is, if you're lucky enough to never get in an accident.