Jay Mitchell wrote:
> Interesting. I've seen the insides of two VW engines that had been
> operated for more than 130k (one was at 163k). In both cases, I had
> changed the oil and filter every 7500 miles as specified by VW (Mobil
> 1), and in both cases I was only incidentally inside the engines (oil
> pan gasket in one, head gasket in the other). In neither case was there
> any visible wear. In the head gasket case, I could still see the factory
> hone marks on the cylinder walls, and there was no ridge at the top of
> the cylinders, even though the engine had 163k miles at the time. The
> same engine now has 192k, runs and sounds great, uses less oil than it
> did when new, and I continue to drive the car every day.
I would imagine that the results would be similar if 7500 mile Mobil 1
oil changes were maintained on a Saturn (or virtually any other car for
that matter). Not many car makers specify the use of synthetic oil. As
was noted earlier today, most American car makers recommend against it.
To clarify. In the case I mentioned before, the owner CLAIMED to have
performed 6k oil changes. From the way that engine looked, I'd say he
far exceeded that interval at least once, probably several times. I
don't believe it would be possible to get an engine that gunked up with
normal driving if the oil had been changed even at 6k. My point was
that Saturn engines are not tolerant of poor maintenance. IMO, good
maintenance would consist of synthetic oil changes every 6-8k or dino
oil changes every 3-4k.
> My experiences
> with other cars, including a Ford Aerostar I currently own (150k on the
> original engine), Volvos, and BMWs has been the same. I've never changed
> oil at 3k intervals in any car, and I've never had an oil-related
> wearout or failures of any engine component.
My Saturn is my first synthetic oil experiment. It's had synthetics in
it for about 20k now. Based on stories such as yours that I have heard
from many people, I am very comfortable with extended oil change
intervals with synthetics. Given my driving habits and frequent
autocrossing, my plan is to change the filter at 3k and the oil at 6k.
(until just recently, I'd been changing the oil every 3k or so
regardless)
> > (I just happened
> > to be there when they were tearing it down) The inside of the engine
> > looked hideous and required a complete rebuild.
>
> Not because 6k oil drain intervals are in any way unreasonable for
> normal passenger car use on paved roads.
Probably not. As I said above, I don't really believe that the oil was
changed at 6k in that car. However, paved roads or not, Kansas is VERY
dusty. I haven't seen a clean black car since I left Florida.
--
Loren Williams | Homepage - http://www2.southwind.net/~lsw
'94 Saturn SC2 | Wichita Region SCCA - http://www2.southwind.net/~scca
|