Fleet Management/Observation

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In a past life I oversaw Fleet Management for a police department. We maintained 100-120 vehicles. Oil was always low bid and bulk. Most vehicles saw 5k intervals. Many of the vehicles ran 24/7 with little down time and thousands of hours of idle time. Vehicles operated in city stop and go driving. Now this is strictly an observation on my behalf and not based on science. We never had any of the used oil analyzed.

We would replace 2-3 engines a year. No engine was replaced due to oil failure. If my memory serves me right, the Ford 4.6 lt engines replaced were because of hydro lock. (Operator Error) Ford Explorer 3.7 engines replaced were due to faulty internal water pumps that contaminated the oil and thus had major failure.(engineering Issues) The Chevy Caprice 6.0 were just pure junk and had engines replaced under warranty. Chevy admitted there were cam shaft issues. (Manufacturing/engineering issues) A Chevy Tahoe 5.3 overheated and had to be replaced.

We used bulk Gulf, Wolf's Head, Shell, Oilzum and Pennwood Oils. Mileage varied from 10k-65k a year per vehicle. I have seen many of these engines with valve covers removed or in various stages of repair. I never saw engine sludge. I only saw clean internal parts with minimum discoloration and varnish.

Based on my experience, I believe any oil API certified would be sufficient for the average passenger vehicle under all conditions. I think a lot of the acrimonious banter on these forums, well is wasted time, although it is entertaining and some of the forums quite informative. As for me, I use quality filters and brand name lubricants that are on sale. I've been maintaining my own vehicles for 40 years and have never had an oil issue. Save your money!

Cheers!
 
The Caprices were junked as soon and the 100k warrant expired. Many of the Crown Vics/ Explorers are shipped off to auction in the 175k-200k range
 
The only conclusion I've been able to draw from my time on BITOG is as long as the OCI isn't excessive any synthetic oil within a required spec will do and as you hinted I don't even know if the spec really matters. This makes 98% of what is discussed on BITOG purely mental masturbation with no real world importance other than feeding the OCD needs of the group to obsess over things that do not matter.
 
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thats pretty low miles - I am sure that with extending oil change intervals and fuel economy benefits of using premium synthetic oils....the economics would have sided with premium oils, whether the vehicles lasted longer with them or not. Less downtime too...
 
The truth is those vehicle are beat like a red-headed step child. Although the engines might still run ok, the body is junk. Many of the cars are stripped of any usable parts and the rest is sent to auction. I've been in Crown Vic taxis with 500k on them.
 
Originally Posted by PWMDMD
This makes 98% of what is discussed on BITOG purely mental masturbation with no real world importance other than feeding the OCD needs of the group to obsess over things that do not matter.


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Originally Posted by Aredeeem
All those years on the job and you didn't save one lousy filter that we could cut open?

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Originally Posted by PWMDMD
The only conclusion I've been able to draw from my time on BITOG is as long as the OCI isn't excessive any synthetic oil within a required spec will do and as you hinted I don't even know if the spec really matters. This makes 98% of what is discussed on BITOG purely mental masturbation with no real world importance other than feeding the OCD needs of the group to obsess over things that do not matter.

Mostly regurgitating marketing claims.
 
Originally Posted by FRMA
Originally Posted by wdn
What brands of oil filters were used?

Motorcraft or AC


The same FL-820S filter that's been used on our 350.000 mile Crown Victoria
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People can hate all they want, post pictures of torn media but guess what folks, they work jussst fine.


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Originally Posted by tundraotto
thats pretty low miles - I am sure that with extending oil change intervals and fuel economy benefits of using premium synthetic oils....the economics would have sided with premium oils, whether the vehicles lasted longer with them or not. Less downtime too...


Mileage a lot of times isn't an accurate measure since like he said police cruisers spend much of their time idling. Unless they equip them with an hour meter, of course.
 
Originally Posted by PWMDMD
The only conclusion I've been able to draw from my time on BITOG is as long as the OCI isn't excessive any synthetic oil within a required spec will do and as you hinted I don't even know if the spec really matters. This makes 98% of what is discussed on BITOG purely mental masturbation with no real world importance other than feeding the OCD needs of the group to obsess over things that do not matter.

lol.gif
.. that👆 cracked me up. You should read the thread on VII's!
 
Originally Posted by PowerSurge
Originally Posted by tundraotto
thats pretty low miles - I am sure that with extending oil change intervals and fuel economy benefits of using premium synthetic oils....the economics would have sided with premium oils, whether the vehicles lasted longer with them or not. Less downtime too...


Mileage a lot of times isn't an accurate measure since like he said police cruisers spend much of their time idling. Unless they equip them with an hour meter, of course.


The benefits of the premium synthetic oils remain, may even be exacerbated in hours vs miles.
 
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Originally Posted by tundraotto
The benefits of the premium synthetic oils remain, may even be exacerbated in hours vs miles.
Might be economy of scale as well. Lowest bidder for bulk dino might be a lot cheaper than bulk syn just because you can put dino 5W30 in pretty much anything gasoline burning except euros until the mid-2000s and OP did not specify a time.
 
Originally Posted by maxdustington
Originally Posted by tundraotto
The benefits of the premium synthetic oils remain, may even be exacerbated in hours vs miles.
Might be economy of scale as well. Lowest bidder for bulk dino might be a lot cheaper than bulk syn just because you can put dino 5W30 in pretty much anything gasoline burning except euros until the mid-2000s and OP did not specify a time.


bulk dino vs bulk syn....vs. dino vs syn....costs due to longer OCI intervals are most likely going to be lower, which would be ideal in this application.
 
I worked in a muni fleet for a while. I asked a shop foreman how many engines they replaced, and he said two in the last decade. Both were from PCV freezing up. Almost all the fleet is ford 5.4. They used re-refined oil on 5k intervals.

I work with a different fleet now, and they swear up and down they're experiencing significant engine failures with Ford VVT in the F series. The fleet manager - and this is one of the biggest fleets in the state - says excessive idling is leading to VVT issues and valve/piston collisions. Honestly, it doesn't make much sense to me - I'd expect a code if the cams were that far off, if the engine even runs. But it's being used as a pretext to enforce anti-idling policies.
 
This is why I pick up cheap police vics when I can drive for a few month or fix and flip


My 09 SAP vic was a traffic enforce car, only one driver, 118K miles/1600 idle hours and was able to obtain service history since new !!!


OKC PD had a napa auto contract so they were using ALL Napa parts. Oil was full syn 5W30 since new and napa gold oil filters
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Best $2600 I ever spent on a car !!!


Dave
 
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