13,000 miles on cheap dino !!!

[panthermike]

My brother has a similar mentality when it comes to car maintenance. He bought a very nice 94 Accord with 127K on it. Sold it with 167K, with only two oil changes-one after 13K and one 19K later.

Even worse, my dad gave one of my other bro's a 92' F150. It had about 199K when he got it. When he sold it at 252K, it had ZERO oil or filter changes

In fact, he just added a quart of oil when it started knocking. What really is amazing is that when he sold the truck, it actually ran pretty good, had the 302.
That was probably the toughest truck I have seen, he used to "jump" the truck on one of the roads in town with like 4 feet of air, at least a hundred times. That thing never broke down though.

 

[ajchien]

The brother of an ex girlfriend of mine was an affluent ER doc. What he did was buy new cars, drive them, only putting in gas ... until they died - usually around 35-40k miles when the engine went out. Then he'd buy another new car. Truly using the car as an appliance.

 

[vxcalais]

Originally Posted By: ajchien
The brother of an ex girlfriend of mine was an affluent ER doc. What he did was buy new cars, drive them, only putting in gas ... until they died - usually around 35-40k miles when the engine went out. Then he'd buy another new car. Truly using the car as an appliance.


Its amazing what you can do it you have money !

 

[kingrob]

I remember this thread!

When I first moved to Texas my friend down there said his truck wouldn't turn over, a Suzuki Sidekick. I went over thinking that it was a dead battery or something...

Turns out he hadn't changed, checked, added or even monitored the oil in about five years. Yep, completely ignored the engine for five years. On a daily driver. No coolant, no oil, nothing. I'm not exaggerating one bit- he literally had never opened the hood on it since his parents gave it to him.

He said it had been overheating for a few months, which I don't doubt being that there was a crack in the radiator a foot long. Not a drop on the dipstick, the engine was bone dry. It was seized and junked.

Now he's got a Chevy Aveo that he bought new, you guessed it- never changed the oil in the last two years on the factory fill.

 

[chet2]

classic story aj...i loved panther mikes story too about his ford truck..my old man did same thing to 1980 f-100 haha...my best friend mustve listened to my dad cuz he did same thing to his 98 danger ranger...just add cheap oil when it starts knocking...both trucks went over 180k last i knew w/ engine still running...my bro in law ran his camry for 28k on same oil till i checked dipstick one day...no oil on it so he takes out some trusty coastal 10-30 and dumps in almost 3 quarts...he is better now but that car had yearlt oil changes for a long time...every 25 k..car still runs

 

[Buick92]

A new guy I work with had the exact same car as mine (1998 Prizm), same color, everything. Anyways I was curious about what oil/filter he uses since we have the same car. He told me he didn't know, he got the car for free from his dad 3 years prior and had never "thought" about changing the oil since it was a "free" car. I guess some people have busy lives. I can almost bet that car had at least 30,000 miles on the same oil, I don't know if the oil pressure light had come on or not.

 

[webfors]

This thread is going to give me nightmares... black goo chasing me down a dark street...

 

[StevieC]

Webfors... I can invision it too... Like that creep Freddie's coming for you music...

1,2 Black goo is coming for you, 3,4 I can hear the engine knocking at the door. 5,6 you better pick-up some new filers. 7,8 you might too late. 9,10. In 5,000KM you're gonna do it again!

 

[Jaymus]

I can only imagine dino with 13k on it. Last year, I changed oil for my friend in their 2000 Cavalier. It had around 8000+ miles on Pennzoil YB. Don't know the weight. It was so thick and sticky. I mean, I literally couldn't wipe it off my arms or where I spilled some on the garage floor. It was like snotty glue.

 

[springs]

I have a 1999 F150 V6 with 180,000 miles and change the oil once a year. I drive about 8-9,000 miles a year and use Motorcraft 5W-20 synthetic blend. The truck uses about one quart every 2,000 miles. Before changing the oil, I run the engine enough to warm everything up and the oil drains fine. It's dark brown, not black on the dipstick. I'm convinced that today's conventional oils are good for many thousands of miles without damaging the engine.

 

[John_K]

That's my experience--I try to maintain mine and have trouble, others I know abuse theirs and have no problems. Makes you wonder.....

John

 

[nickaluch]

My girlfriend at the time had a 1990 geo prism with a little over 50,000 miles that was real clean and looked real good.One day I pulled the dipstick to check the oil and it showed no oil,I opened my trunk and put in a quart, still no read on the dipstick added another quart and it was still shy a half a quart.Now this motor only holds 3.5 quarts of oil so I was shocked.I looked thru her recpts from the dealer,the last oil change was at 35000 miles,she had the car checked before it went out warranty.I dropped the car off at my friends to have the car checked out, he told me the motor ran well, but loaded with gunk,I told him to change the oil and we will drive it till it dies,well it died 3 weeks later.Left it under the bridge in brooklyn and collected the insurance.

 

[Mystic]

I can't imagine anybody who had any knowledge of how to maintain a car trying to go 13,000 miles on any conventional oil. The engine is a lot more expensive than a few quarts of oil. If you don't know how to change the oil go to somebody who does know or to a quick lube place.

There are plenty of guys (and gals for that matter) who can drop $50.00 or more a night in a bar or night club. If they stayed home a few nights a year they could afford the oil changes.

I remember seeing in a car maintainence magazine photos of the inside of an engine where the oil had been changed only every 10,000 or 15,000 miles. There had been only a few oil changes. The engine was destoyed. It was an ugly picture.

 

[addyguy]

Originally Posted By: Jaymus
I can only imagine dino with 13k on it. Last year, I changed oil for my friend in their 2000 Cavalier. It had around 8000+ miles on Pennzoil YB. Don't know the weight. It was so thick and sticky. I mean, I literally couldn't wipe it off my arms or where I spilled some on the garage floor. It was like snotty glue.


I probably shouldn't admit this, but the last 3 oil changes on my 2002 Cavalier have been over 8k miles on conventional oil. I even posted the UOA for one 9k run on YB 5W-30.

I drain the oil luke warm, and yeah, it comes out really nasty and thick. Engine still runs well, though. After the 9k mile run, car turned in some of the best emission numbers I have EVER seen on a car, so, so far, it hasn't seemed to have done any harm.

 

[Samilcar]

Originally Posted By: nickaluch
Left it under the bridge in brooklyn and collected the insurance.


What?

 

[steve20]

Uhhh-that's what they do in Brooklyn.
Steve

 

[Barkleymut]

thats how we roll on the east coast.....

OK my story, my wife was a well to do babysitter back in the day and took care of a family with 5 kids. Well they had to have a Suburban and after 28000 miles the motor just died. They blamed it all on Chevy because a toyo or [censored] motor would never die. Well the dealer started hitting them with when they changed the oil/air filter last....hmmmmm never. Wish I had that kind of money.

 

[Sink]

Originally Posted By: wileyE
Many (most) of the used crate motors you get from Japan have NEVER had an oil change, maybe 1 ? Other than being gunked they are suprisingly in pretty good condition considering. We always put new pan and valve cover gaskets on them so had a chance to "scoop" most the crud out of them.
Why is this?

 

[PandaBear]

Originally Posted By: Sink
Originally Posted By: wileyE
Many (most) of the used crate motors you get from Japan have NEVER had an oil change, maybe 1 ? Other than being gunked they are suprisingly in pretty good condition considering. We always put new pan and valve cover gaskets on them so had a chance to "scoop" most the crud out of them.
Why is this?


Japan's vehicle inspection policy is very corrupted, and biased toward the benefit of auto makers. So most vehicles despite being in very good condition the 10th year inspection would either be too expensive or founds minor issues that fails (oil leaks, worn bushing, worn struts, squeaky brakes, etc.

With 10 years of service life in mind, and the high labor cost in Japan (more than US), why would people change their oil often? Just sell the used car to export as parts or as whole (to Thailand mostly as they are RHD) and buy another one.

 

[ToyotaNSaturn]

UOA from about 5 years ago, 2001 Lincoln LS 3.0 V6, 26,000 Miles

TBN = 0.0