Are oil changes necessary?

KTMLew01

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This guy is an extremely sharp dude. Not as smart as Aunty but pretty smart. Interesting subject. And I agree with him about Lucas and most of that other crap. We DID have some kind magic stuff we put in a Super Duty Pontiac one time that saved it. Dropped the water in the oil. Driver finished feature. Was his car and he was mad so wanted it to blow up bigtime. Left car set for nearly two weeks. It was at my shop and I had to know how bad the damage was. Pulled it down. Was a serious milkshake. Oil was like Elmer's Glue. Not a single mark on any of the bearings, zero damage on anything. Can't remember what it was called. Came in quart bottle. Crap...maybe it'll come to me.

 
I wouldn't test the limits, I consider the changes to be the best available insurance.

No need on a Tesla
 
I go synthetic and change about every 7,000 miles.

I ain’t testing the limits on skipping oil changes on it.
 
If you watch the video you will find he is a Cat Technician. I'd bet heavy trucks don't change oil every 3K or even 7K miles. I've run Mobil One in my 99 4.3 S10 since new. Sometimes go 10K miles. Usually around 7k but probably could go 12-15K without any issue. Modern engines run so clean the oil doesn't get contaminated like 25-30-40 years ago.
 
I’m 5,000 mi. on Mobil 1 in my Focus.
I still change every 3,000 mi. in my flat tappet rides with VR1.
 
If you watch the video you will find he is a Cat Technician. I'd bet heavy trucks don't change oil every 3K or even 7K miles. I've run Mobil One in my 99 4.3 S10 since new. Sometimes go 10K miles. Usually around 7k but probably could go 12-15K without any issue. Modern engines run so clean the oil doesn't get contaminated like 25-30-40 years ago.
I tried to change oil and filters every 15000 miles when I had my big truck. Many fleet trucks go 30,000. If you have an older car engine, one of the versions of Shell Rotella still has zink in it.
 
Here it is:

LOL on Slick 50... In the early 90's I had a '72 monte carlo that had a 327 with about 10,000 miles on it. Used no oil at all. Prior to making a 2400 mile trip, I decided to add a bottle of Slick 50. It used 13 quarts of oil on the trip. Upon returning, I had to pull the engine and rebuild it. That was my last time using an oil additive.
 
About Slick 50: In 1996 the Federal Trade Commission charged Quaker State (the manufacturer of Slick 50) with making false and unsubstantiated advertising claims. According to the FTC ads for Slick 50 touted tests that claimed improved engine performance that were false, and its claims of reduced engine wear were unsubstantiated. The result: Quaker State / Slick 50 / other Quaker State subsidiaries had to stop making claims that it did not have competent and reliable evidence to substantiate, and was fined $10 million. Since then I've noticed very little advertising for Slick 50 (I was surprised to find that it is still available).

BTW, Quaker State's Slick 50 hasn't been the only oil additive taken to court by the Federal Trade Commission. It also filed similar complaints against STP Oil Treatment, STP Engine Treatment, Motor Up Engine Treatment, DuraLube, and zMax Power System. Each also resulted in fines and diminished advertising, although Slick 50 was fined a lot more than the others.

Prolong Super Lubricants got punished by the FTC for an ad featuring Al Unser. Supposedly an engine had been treated with its product and then run hard for a long time (without problems). Prolong pulled its ads and avoided paying fines.

Back in those days I was racing karts a lot and building my own engines. Those were Briggs & Stratton 5 hp 4-cycle engines that had splash lubrication (essentially lubrication by oil cling and luck). I tried several oil additives, including Slick 50, but didn't notice any improvements. Not claiming my experiments were fully scientific - and they were definitely not the last word on the subject - but I suspect my experiments and results were similar to other low-budget racers.

caveat emptor
 
Now, what was that from?
Guess he thinks it's from not changing oil? I presented a video with MAYBE some useful info. YMMV and all that. I told a story about some magic oil additive that APPEARED, in my only use, to work. Maybe it didn't. We will never know.

Aunty is still butthurt that I know something about Ohlins racing shocks. I hope he gets over it before he goes to meet his maker. Actually, I really don't care. Just like he said nobody would care if I left. Hurt my feelings. He's a mean Aunty.
 
We used to refer to ProLong as SoLong.
If these additives were beneficial, their components would already be in quality engine oil.
 
Guess he thinks it's from not changing oil? I presented a video with MAYBE some useful info. YMMV and all that. I told a story about some magic oil additive that APPEARED, in my only use, to work. Maybe it didn't. We will never know.

Aunty is still butthurt that I know something about Ohlins racing shocks. I hope he gets over it before he goes to meet his maker. Actually, I really don't care. Just like he said nobody would care if I left. Hurt my feelings. He's a mean Aunty.
I posted it because it made me laugh.

Seek help.
 
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