Routine Oil Changes

[Rickb]

Like most of you I have seen the arguments over the proper oil to use, the best filter, and oil change intervals. Internet "experts" are all over the map on this subject. I recommend that you not worry about it and use the oil and change intervals recommended by Elio, when they are published.

If you don't like old Volvos you may never have heard of Irv Gordon. I like old Volvos (I have three of them.) I got to meet Irv in 2010 at a Volvo meet in Kansas. His car has a CB radio, driving lights and a row of mileage badges from Volvo. Other than that it is just as it was the day he bought it. Except it has A LOT of miles on it.

At around 600,000 miles he let his mechanic take the head off to inspect the engine. This was more to appease the mechanic's curiosity than anything else; he had never seen an engine with over 600,000 miles on it. He could not find even a ridge in the top of the cylinders!

There have been repairs, of course. Some body work. Some interior work. Normal wear items have been replaced on schedule. But the car has the original engine, transmission, and rear end.

Irv is now well past 3 million miles on his 1966 Volvo P1800. Every mile he puts on the car is a new record for a privately owned, non-commercial vehicle. He has been asked time and again, "What is the secret to making a car last for three million miles?" Irv's response:

"Just follow the owner's manual. It's a piece of machinery and can't take care of itself. Have its scheduled maintenance completed. … Do what the manual calls for, not what the dealer calls for. People who built the car wrote the manual.

"Use gasoline from a high-volume station to keep crud out of your engine. It's also good to wash your car regularly and wax at least twice a year.

"When your car makes a funny noise, listen to it. Use only genuine Volvo parts for repairs."

Irv is 75 now. He was asked, after the 3 million mile day, if he thought 4 million miles is possible. "There is no doubt the car can do it. I don't know about me though."

I agree with Irv......a wise man........except that Irv let his mechanic open up the engine for no reason other than curiosity it will probably go the heck. Why would we do anything other than IAV maintenance recommendation.....it's the guide and is tested......well being tested. I like the idea of Genuine Elio Parts too.

 

[zelio]

An Internet search could be helpful.

I think we will know more once the engine is built and installed. Then we will be able to see how it is done. I believe it was discussed on the video taken in Detroit when an engineer from IAV was discussing the engine with Elioites but of course the engine was not in the vehicle, it was on a stand. :-) Z

 

[wheaters]

With most vehicles you gain access to the underside of the engine, put an oil proof container underneath the sump and undo the drain plug. After all the old oil has come out, you undo the spin on filter, and replace it with a new one. The drain plug is put back in and torqued up. Then the correct quantity of new oil is poured in.

As long as you get the last two items in the correct order, nothing much can go wrong. Can it?

 

[Hotscoots]

Any oil will last the life of the engine if you don't change it.

I used to work with a guy who said the same thing . "No need for oil changes because the system is closed. " I'm not sure if he ever saw oil that has been in service for 10,000 miles . It comes out of the "closed" system BLACK and THICK . How could that possibly be lubricating properly ?
Whether you prefer 3000 or 7000 miles, regular oil changes will extend the life of your engine .

 

[wheaters]

This morning's job was to change the oil and filters in my wife's 1.6 petrol engined Renault Kangoo MPV because the service light had been on for a few of days, at 18,000 miles from new.

The last oil change was done by a main agent dealer just before she bought the car a year ago with 6,500 miles on the clock. This means the oil I drained today has done just about 12,000 miles from that point. It came out chestnut brown, rather than black, which means the engine runs quite cleanly. I made a mental note at the time that it was quite clean and could have done a fair bit more mileage without detriment.

Having tidied up, the last part of the job was to reset the service indicator, which I just did. The on-board computer tells me the next oil service is due in 18,000 miles from now. This is confirmed by the service schedule in the maintenance record book. This is on mineral oil, there is no requirement for expensive synthetic oil in this engine. It's also obvious that the dealer knew about the advice given by Renault not to reset the service indicator if an intermediate oil change is done, the 18,000 miles stands.

I might do an intermediate oil change, after 9,000 miles, but there's probably no need.

 

[archer5013]

Jambe wrote: "Any oil will last the life of the engine if you don't change it"

Ha Ha Ha Ha HA.

What Jambe said is quite accurate ... meaning ... if the oil is not changed and the engine gets blown (unless a broken connecting rod {or something else} tears a hole in the oil pan, or other leakage occurs), the oil will indeed BE in there for "the life of the engine".

Great joke, Jambe!

 

[BilgeRat]

I used to work with a guy who said the same thing . "No need for oil changes because the system is closed. ".

It baffles me as to why he would think an engine is a closed system. A gearbox is a closed system, but an engine is not. How did he factor blowby into his equation? o_O

 

[skygazer6033]

Years ago Cadillac tried to design an engine with a closed oil system. Oil change was supposed to be 100,000 miles along with spark plugs and you'd be good to go for another 100,000. Obviously not a Northstar based design. My old Northstar Deville needs a quart about every 7 or 800 miles. Doesn't smoke but leaks a little from everywhere.