"The Car Doctor" says OCI >7K will ruin motor

[Ed_Flecko]

I can see the pimple-faced, car part store employee telling someone this to pimp more oil and filters, but I find it interesting some of the things that even professional mechanics tell people. Ron Ananian - "The Car Doctor" (appx. 4:00-11:45 into podcast - http://www.tomrayconsulting.com/car_doc_audio/car_doctor_2pm_12032016.m4a ) suggests that pushing your oil change interval to 7k-10k (or beyond) will ruin your motor.

He first says that he has yet to see any hard data that any oil filter line is usable beyond 6-7k miles. I'm not sure what hard data he's looking for, but I think it's safe to say that many of us have found through UOA from Blackstone that many filters and modern oils are good way beyond 7k miles. Maybe I should e-mail Jay from Fram (BITOG member "Motorking") and have him chat with Ron.

You can tell that he also thinks that even trying to run your oil beyond 7k-10k miles will result in ruining the motor and he tells people to just plan on buying a (new) car if you want to push your oil that far! I think that's pretty disingenuous since he surely knows that many cars these days say right in your owners manual to change your oil at 10k. I'm sure he's just trying to promote business for himself but I doubt that many of the new car manufacturers would be telling people to change your oil at 10k intervals if they thought it's bad for the motor. Or hey, maybe that's true and they just want to sell more vehicles, but I doubt it.

Ed

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: Ed_Flecko
Ron Ananian - "The Car Doctor" (appx. 4:00-11:45 into podcast - http://www.tomrayconsulting.com/car_doc_audio/car_doctor_2pm_12032016.m4a ) suggests that pushing your oil change interval to 7k-10k (or beyond) will ruin your motor.

Sure. Tell that to all car owners in Europe who have been running such longer intervals for decades. All their motors are ruined. Not.

 

[Ed_Flecko]

I wonder what Ron charges for an oil/filter change?

Ed

 

[AirgunSavant]

You said "he thinks"- enough said.......
Next

 

[Donald]

I don't think a normal UOA would provide conclusive info that a filter had been exhausted or no.

Polaris I believe has a filter analysis service but not sure I have seen any results posted.

 

[HerrStig]

The genius on "Motorweek" said recently that 5K is the number. of course he doesn't understand that timing belt Toyota engines
are "non-interference" and thinks all engines have an oil pressure driven tension system.

 

[OneEyeJack]

My 10K UOA for my 4Runner includes 20K for the Mobil 1 filter. The recent Blackstone UOA shows that everything is doing fine at 160K and 14 years of hard use with comments that I could have gone longer. I think if this was going to trash my engine I would have some kind of indication by now. Look at the UOA and tell me if you think the lab work indicates that all is about to fail and I would get ready to buy a new vehicle?

UOA

I think that many could change a good quality oil filter every other oil change but not many do that. My filter is doing well at 20K intervals. Who knows, it might go to 30K but I'm standing pat.

 

[tig1]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: Ed_Flecko
Ron Ananian - "The Car Doctor" (appx. 4:00-11:45 into podcast - http://www.tomrayconsulting.com/car_doc_audio/car_doctor_2pm_12032016.m4a ) suggests that pushing your oil change interval to 7k-10k (or beyond) will ruin your motor.

Sure. Tell that to all car owners in Europe who have been running such longer intervals for decades. All their motors are ruined. Not.



Also try telling that to me since I've been doing 10K OCIs for 39 years.

 

[Whimsey]

I've listened to him over the years and he's always been this way with oil changes, 3,000 mi with conventional or a blend and 5,000 mi with a synthetic. I hope my wife's 2005 Explorer with the 4.6 doesn't hear about this, it's lived the majority of it's 193,000+ mile life with 7,500 to 12,000 mile OCI's on mostly synthetics. It runs great and uses no oil between OCI's. The same with my 1996 Zetec Ford Contour with 113,000 miles. And some of the OCI's were 18-24 months apart. I had the valve cover off last year and it was spotless inside. And it doesn't use any oil between OCI's either.

Whimsey

 

[Rat407]

I don't understand his logic. Plenty of vehicles out there with 100k and up that have done nothing but 10k oil changes.

 

[Trav]

10K OCI might well be an engine killer for many engines and just right for others. There are so many variables to list.
On point about the Europeans is invalid though, the oils used to go the long distances is generally not available for $20 a gallon in Walmart, in the US it would be a special order or dealer only oil.
Take into account there is a time limit not just kilometers so that addresses the around town drivers who don't put that many Km on the car. Also AFAIK none of these vehicle that spec long drain intervals spec dino or even synthetic blends.

Take the average non Bitog person who buys dino at Walmart with a filter, and puts it in their car, chances are the engine is going to show some excess wear, varnish, or deposits if they go 10K on it, I see it all the time. Fact is most people are totally clueless about what the spec for their vehicle is.
As far as oil filters go, it might go 10, 20, 25K under ideal conditions but what about on an engine with a lot of deposits that is now using a synthetic with good cleaning effects? 10K? I don't think so.

His mistake IMHO is making a blanket statement like that, he should have elaborated a bit.

 

[demarpaint]

All he has to do is say "might ruin" your motor, instead of "will ruin" your motor, and his statement would be accurate. There are a lot of factors that play in.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: Trav
On point about the Europeans is invalid though, the oils used to go the long distances is generally not available for $20 a gallon in Walmart, in the US it would be a special order or dealer only oil.

M1 0w-40
Edge 0w-40
Pennzoil 0w-40
M1 EP
Edge Gold

All capable of 10K OCI and available at Walmart for around $20/gal ($25/5qt jug). No need to special order.

I agree with you that time is a factor though. It's one thing to put on 10K miles in 6 months or a year. It's another to put on the same number of miles in 3 years. That's why we are seeing all these recent new oil claims guaranteeing high OCI up to 15-20K miles, but still restricting it to 1 year max. So yeah, 10K OCI is not for everyone. But it is for some.

 

[FCD]

"The Car Doctor" should get on BITOG and learn a bit.

 

[Trav]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: Trav
On point about the Europeans is invalid though, the oils used to go the long distances is generally not available for $20 a gallon in Walmart, in the US it would be a special order or dealer only oil.

M1 0w-40
Edge 0w-40
Pennzoil 0w-40
M1 EP
Edge Gold

All capable of 10K OCI and available at Walmart for around $20/gal ($25/5qt jug). No need to special order.

I agree with you that time is a factor though. It's one thing to put on 10K miles in 6 months or a year. It's another to put on the same number of miles in 3 years. That's why we are seeing all these recent new oil claims guaranteeing high OCI up to 15-20K miles, but still restricting it to 1 year max. So yeah, 10K OCI is not for everyone. But it is for some.

Sure 10K is doable with those but not 30K kilometer (18K). I don't really consider 10K very long drain in some cases but 18K is and I don't believe any of those oils are capable of it without possibly UOA monitoring.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: Trav
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: Trav
On point about the Europeans is invalid though, the oils used to go the long distances is generally not available for $20 a gallon in Walmart, in the US it would be a special order or dealer only oil.

M1 0w-40
Edge 0w-40
Pennzoil 0w-40
M1 EP
Edge Gold

All capable of 10K OCI and available at Walmart for around $20/gal ($25/5qt jug). No need to special order.

I agree with you that time is a factor though. It's one thing to put on 10K miles in 6 months or a year. It's another to put on the same number of miles in 3 years. That's why we are seeing all these recent new oil claims guaranteeing high OCI up to 15-20K miles, but still restricting it to 1 year max. So yeah, 10K OCI is not for everyone. But it is for some.

Sure 10K is doable with those but not 30K kilometer (18K). I don't really consider 10K very long drain in some cases but 18K is and I don't believe any of those oils are capable of it without possibly UOA monitoring.

The first three on the list carry long life specs from MB and VW/Audi so they should be capable of such intervals.

 

[Trav]

Originally Posted By: FordCapriDriver
"The Car Doctor" should get on BITOG and learn a bit.


He just stated it wrong, he knows the deal. Open some of these engines up and you get the idea real fast that the vast majority of people generally don't take good care of their vehicle. I did the top end on one car and it was like new clean, the owner swore he changed the oil regularly and used good oil at a quick lube.
Under the cover was a thick layer of varnish and deposits had started to form in less than 15K, the sticker from the quick lube was almost 2 years old and dino 12K ago. He want lying he just forgot how long a time had gone by. Believe me he is the norm not the exception, most people are Bitog people interested in engine oils.

 

[Trav]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: Trav
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: Trav
On point about the Europeans is invalid though, the oils used to go the long distances is generally not available for $20 a gallon in Walmart, in the US it would be a special order or dealer only oil.

M1 0w-40
Edge 0w-40
Pennzoil 0w-40
M1 EP
Edge Gold

All capable of 10K OCI and available at Walmart for around $20/gal ($25/5qt jug). No need to special order.

I agree with you that time is a factor though. It's one thing to put on 10K miles in 6 months or a year. It's another to put on the same number of miles in 3 years. That's why we are seeing all these recent new oil claims guaranteeing high OCI up to 15-20K miles, but still restricting it to 1 year max. So yeah, 10K OCI is not for everyone. But it is for some.

Sure 10K is doable with those but not 30K kilometer (18K). I don't really consider 10K very long drain in some cases but 18K is and I don't believe any of those oils are capable of it without possibly UOA monitoring.

The first three on the list carry long life specs from MB, VW/Audi, and BMW, so they should be capable of such intervals.


That may be true but I wouldn't want to try it especially the new Mobil 1 0w40 FS.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: Trav
That may be true but I wouldn't want to try it especially the new Mobil 1 0w40 FS.

So which long life oils would you be comfortable with? Just curious...

 

[Dan55]

Ron has been saying 3k oil changes for a long time and was making commercials for Castrol. He makes blanket statements for those people that know little or nothing about cars. If you do a lot of short trips or have a sludge prone car he would be giving good advice. Some of the newer cars out there lose too much oil between changes, again a shorter oci might save you. He promotes the auto maintenance and repair industry and firmly believes in people taking better care of their cars.