Plan on driving a new car on a 3000mile highway trip. Bad idea?

On Wed, 14 May 2008 19:06:08 -0700, jim beam wrote:

> hachiroku ��ロク wrote:
>> On Tue, 13 May 2008 20:23:49 -0700, jim beam wrote:
>>
>>
>>>> Thinner walls means replacing the block rather than boring and honing.
>>> dude, you're clueless. you can re-bore a standard honda block twice -
>>> +0.25mm & +0.50mm.
>>
>> I haven't re-bored anything on 4 cars >240,000 miles. No need to.
>>
>> They were broken in properly...
>>
>>
> that's as logical as saying that because you've never found an elephant in
> your fridge, that elephants don't like butter.
>
> high mileage survival is not a function of your, er, "departure" from the
> service schedule - hondas and toyotas ROUTINELY get 300k+ miles on a
> motor, no re-bores. all that 240k proves is that [because of good
> production and engineering] it has survived in spite of your behavior, not
> because of it.

<YAWN> Admit it, I'm right. Period.

On Wed, 14 May 2008 20:57:15 -0700, SMS wrote:

> Hachiroku ��ロク wrote:
>
>> I'm old-school. I drive a car 1500 miles and then do the first oil
>> change. Then I do the next one at 3000 miles, and every 3-3500 after
>> that.
>
> Bad idea to do the first oil change at 1500 miles, and totally
> unnecessary, with absolutely no benefit, of doing 3000 mile oil changes
> after that.

Been doing it for a long time. Seems to work. I have a couple of 20 year
old cars here.


>
>> I also had 3 cars go over 250,000 miles without burning oil.
>
> LOL. with 3000 mile oil changes you never knew whether they burned oil or
> not.

4 quarts going in, 4 quarts coming out, no smoke from the tailpipe. Sounds
good to me.

>
>> Of course, with newer cars and a V6, things are different now, but I
>> would still take it pretty easy for the first 1500 miles, and stop and
>> have the oil changed.
>
> Never change the oil at 1500 miles on a new car.

Why? I do it all the time and get rewarded with cars that go >200,000
miles with no oil related problems. Matter of fact, no problems at all,
hardly.

Maintenance is a wonderful thing.

Phew...

SMS wrote:
> Hachiroku ��ロク wrote:
>> On Wed, 14 May 2008 20:57:15 -0700, SMS wrote:
>>
>>> Hachiroku ��ロク wrote:
>>>
>>>> I'm old-school. I drive a car 1500 miles and then do the first oil
>>>> change. Then I do the next one at 3000 miles, and every 3-3500 after
>>>> that.
>>> Bad idea to do the first oil change at 1500 miles, and totally
>>> unnecessary, with absolutely no benefit, of doing 3000 mile oil changes
>>> after that.
>>
>> Been doing it for a long time. Seems to work. I have a couple of 20 year
>> old cars here.
>
> So why didn't you change the oil every 1000 miles or every 500 miles? It
> would have had the same effect on longevity as 3000 mile oil changes or
> 5000 mile oil changes. Don't you want to buy all the cheap insurance you
> can buy?
>
>>> Never change the oil at 1500 miles on a new car.
>>
>>
>> Why? I do it all the time and get rewarded with cars that go >200,000
>> miles with no oil related problems. Matter of fact, no problems at all,
>> hardly.
>
> You seem to think that getting 200,000 miles out of a car is some
> spectacular achievement that requires doing far more maintenance than
> necessary.
>
>> Maintenance is a wonderful thing.
>>
>> Phew...
>
> Recreational oil changing is pretty wasteful. All the experts agree that
> there is no additional benefit to the engine from changing the oil that
> often.

whatever do you mean??? there's /huge/ benefit for the oilcos in
separating fools from their money!

On Thu, 15 May 2008 05:46:39 -0700, jim beam wrote:

>> Recreational oil changing is pretty wasteful. All the experts agree that
>> there is no additional benefit to the engine from changing the oil that
>> often.
>
>
> whatever do you mean??? there's /huge/ benefit for the oilcos in
> separating fools from their money!

Hey, look! It's the meeting of the local Mensa chapter!

How long have you two managed to keep a car running, and looking like
brand new?

On Thu, 15 May 2008 05:48:00 -0700, jim beam wrote:

>> Oh, hey, did I ever mention, one of the cars that went over 225,000
>> miles was an auto. The rest were 5 speeds, and ya know what? They did it
>> on the original clutches. Never replaced a U-Joint, either, and I
>> certainly don't drive them like Grandpa. I own fast cars cause I like to
>> drive FAST.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
> no elephants in your refrigerator, so elephants don't like butter...

It's logic like that that made this country what it is today...

On Wed, 14 May 2008 23:54:26 -0700, SMS wrote:

>> Maintenance is a wonderful thing.
>>
>> Phew...
>
> Recreational oil changing is pretty wasteful. All the experts agree that
> there is no additional benefit to the engine from changing the oil that
> often.

On my Corolla, I have 260,000 miles. That's 81 oil changes at about 3,200
miles between changes. At an average of $2/qt, that's $650. I buy filters
in bulk, since I usually have two cars that use the same filter. I get
genuine Toyota filters, by the case, for about $3.50 each.

Over the life of the car I have had no oil related failures, it doesn't
burn oil no blow-by, nothing. The engine responds like it did the day I
bought the car.

And if you average the life of the car, that works out to an oil change
every 3 months.

$650 sounds like cheap insurance to me.

On Thu, 15 May 2008 08:30:26 -0700, SMS wrote:

> Hachiroku ��ロク wrote:
>> On Wed, 14 May 2008 23:54:26 -0700, SMS wrote:
>>
>>>> Maintenance is a wonderful thing.
>>>>
>>>> Phew...
>>> Recreational oil changing is pretty wasteful. All the experts agree
>>> that there is no additional benefit to the engine from changing the oil
>>> that often.
>>
>> On my Corolla, I have 260,000 miles. That's 81 oil changes at about
>> 3,200 miles between changes. At an average of $2/qt, that's $650. I buy
>> filters in bulk, since I usually have two cars that use the same filter.
>> I get genuine Toyota filters, by the case, for about $3.50 each.
>>
>> Over the life of the car I have had no oil related failures, it doesn't
>> burn oil no blow-by, nothing. The engine responds like it did the day I
>> bought the car.
>>
>> And if you average the life of the car, that works out to an oil change
>> every 3 months.
>>
>> $650 sounds like cheap insurance to me.
>
> Again, if you believe that 3000 mile oil changes are what is preserving
> your Corolla, then why don't you do even more and do oil changes every
> 1000 miles. There's just as much evidence that 1000 mile oil changes are
> more beneficial than 5000 mile oil changes than 3000 mule oil changes
> being more beneficial than 5000 mile oil changes (in both cases there is
> no evidence at all).
>
> You're throwing money away in an illogical and misguided belief that
> you're doing your engine a favor by changing the oil far more often than
> necessary. You'd have gotten the same service out of the Corolla doing the
> 5000 mile oil changes.
>
> You're talking about a Corolla here. They could mount guns on them and
> send them into battle as a tank. I know someone who routinely ran their
> Corolla 10,000 miles between oil changes and they still had over 200K
> miles on it whent they sold it 15 years later.
>
> You've somehow reached the erroneous conclusion that having no oil-related
> failures is due to changing the oil far more often than necessary. Yet if
> you ask any Toyota mechanic (or any independent mechanic for that matter)
> about the longevity of a Corolla maintained according the factory
> recommended schedule you'd also find no oil related failures.
>
> You need to learn to look at the big picture, and think logically. Don't
> draw baseless conclusions.
>
> In fact, you probably lost some of the engine life from you cars by
> changing the intitial oil too early, but again that's not something that
> you'll ever know for sure.

Wow! Thanks for an intelligent response rather than coming back with the
guns blaring.

OK, maybe I'm wrong with the 1,500 mile oil change. I dunno. I will stick
to the 3,000 miles, however, esp on the older cars. On my Scion I set the
'reminder' to 4,500 miles since that car is running synthetic.

However, I also take into account other factors. If the oil looks dirty,
out it goes, but not before 3,000 miles. There have been times I didn't
change the oil right at 3,000, but usually before 5,000. If at 3,000 it
looks dirty, it goes.

Toyota engines run hot, and heat doesn't help motor oil at all.

I also occasionally treat it to some Slick 50, too...

Hachiroku ��ロク wrote:
> On Thu, 15 May 2008 05:46:39 -0700, jim beam wrote:
>
>>> Recreational oil changing is pretty wasteful. All the experts agree that
>>> there is no additional benefit to the engine from changing the oil that
>>> often.
>>
>> whatever do you mean??? there's /huge/ benefit for the oilcos in
>> separating fools from their money!
>
>
> Hey, look! It's the meeting of the local Mensa chapter!
>
> How long have you two managed to keep a car running, and looking like
> brand new?

how many elephants are there in your refrigerator? did you hide the butter?

Hachiroku ��ロク wrote:
> On Thu, 15 May 2008 05:48:00 -0700, jim beam wrote:
>
>>> Oh, hey, did I ever mention, one of the cars that went over 225,000
>>> miles was an auto. The rest were 5 speeds, and ya know what? They did it
>>> on the original clutches. Never replaced a U-Joint, either, and I
>>> certainly don't drive them like Grandpa. I own fast cars cause I like to
>>> drive FAST.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>> no elephants in your refrigerator, so elephants don't like butter...
>
>
> It's logic like that that made this country what it is today...

you mean the world's #1 superpower? the global leader in technology?
the wealthiest nation on earth?

you made a correct statement, but only in the way that a broken clock is
right twice a day.

On Fri, 16 May 2008 00:12:47 +0000, Jeff wrote:

>> They told my friend that when he bought his new Camaro. He bought it
>> three days after I bought my new Corolla. He traded the car after 3.5
>> years with all kinds of trouble. I kept my Corolla for 6 years and got a
>> new Corolla. That was 22 years ago, and I still have the replacement,
>> and it still runs, and it still doesn't burn any oil.
>>
>> What does it take to convince you Three Stooges?
>
> Real evidence, not anecdotes.

Come on over! We'll start up the 23 year old Corolla, and you can see for
yourself.