[chim-chim7]

Having worked for a dealership years ago, I can say that when a car came in for a mileage based maint, a lot of the times certain items were left undone. I have seen techs check the oil, top if off and ship it, when they were supposed to change the oil. They throw the filter in their tool box. Same goes for coolant, transfluid, all fluids. Customer would pay for a flush, it never got done. Seen it done with a timing belt as well. A tech once told me "a honest mechanic will never make a living". Well I am now a CNC machinist, can't cut corners in aerospace.

The best way to fool your tech is to add paint to bolt heads that you know might get skipped. Just add a very small dot so it's not easily seen, and will come off when a tool is put on it. White out works great. You can also leave non-critical bolts loose. If they are still lose, they never got touched. I mark everything, including oil filters.

Try this experiment, next time your car is serviced for a oil change let some air out of one of the tires and record the PSI of that tire. They include a checklist with the oil change of things they are supposed to inspect or adjust. 75% of the time, that tire will still be low, but it will be checked off on the sheet. Yea, they skipped it.

 

[jlrenken]

after your 10hr service how long do you run the engine oil in-between changes.

 

[heavysledz]

The manual actually calls for every 2000 miles, 100 hours , or every year...which ever occurs first. I have about 30 hours on my oil and it looks great so i will probably go to maybe 50 hours and change it just because......

 

[Andy]

yeah, I KNOW I change my oil way more than required, but we'er only talking about a couple of quarts. Not alot of oil in the engine to start with, and I'm sure it lasts longer than the every 3 or 4 rides I change it, 4 to 5 hundred miles. It just makes me feel more gooder...lol

 

[MiMav]

The manual actually calls for every 2000 miles, 100 hours , or every year...which ever occurs first. I have about 30 hours on my oil and it looks great so i will probably go to maybe 50 hours and change it just because......

I never go by the every year recommendation. I go by the hours or miles although probably like Heavy, If after one year, I have 50+ hours or 1000+ miles than I will change it. I also use Amsoil engine oil and Mobil 1 gear oil.

 

[MiMav]

yeah, I KNOW I change my oil way more the required, but we'er only talking about a couple of quarts. Not alot of oil in the engine to start with, and I'm sure it lasts longer than the every 3 or 4 rides I change it, 4 to 5 hundred miles. It just makes me feel more gooder...lol

Now these are the guys you pay attention to when they are ready to sell their toys.

 

[07XLN]

Now these are the guys you pay attention to when they are ready to sell their toys.

Why??? Because they change their oil more frequently??? Todays synthetic oils are just as good with 4000-5000 miles of use as they are with 400-500 miles of use. If you want to change your oil that frequently because it makes you feel "gooder" then fine but your machine is not getting any benefit from that. All youre really doing is just wasting your money.

 

[Andy]

Maybe, but at the temps we run with a small amount of oil, (oil breaks down), wouldn't you rather be overly cautious than not? Like I said, it's only a couple of quarts of oil, and $20 in maintenance every 400-500 miles seems like a very minor expense to me. At least I know my oil is always fresh. So yea...It makes me feel "More Gooder".

 

[07XLN]

Maybe, but at the temps we run with a small amount of oil, (oil breaks down), wouldn't you rather be overly cautious than not? Like I said, it's only a couple of quarts of oil, and $20 in maintenance every 400-500 miles seems like a very minor expense to me. At least I know my oil is always fresh. So yea...It makes me feel "More Gooder".

The temps we run and the small amount of oil have nothing to do with anything. Do you think because of the limited amount of oil used it somehow breaks down faster? If so then your wrong. Small engines have less oil capacity plain and simple. As I said before if it makes you feel better then change it when you want to that's fine nobody is saying you cant do that. Im simply stating that your spending unnecessary money and wasting good oil changing as frequent as you do.:smile:

 

[Andy]

You don't think that heat doesn't break down engine oil? and that small quanities of oil don't heat up faster than a larger quanity? really? Ok. I did acknowledge I change oil more frequently than necassary, but to say these are not factors is incorrect.

 

[Andy]

Thermal Degradation
When motor oil is heated beyond a certain temperature, it will start to degrade, even if there is no oxygen present. This is called thermal degradation and causes the oil to change viscosity (a form of oil breakdown). The thermal stability of motor oil cannot be improved by use of additives but it can be improved by refining out the same compounds that decrease the oxidation resistance.

As temperatures increase, thermal degradation increases. In order for an oil to provide proper service and protection at high operating temperatures, highly refined oils with plenty of anti-oxidants should be used. For average service, less highly refined oils can be used. There is also a direct correlation between price of a particular oil and its performance under temperature extremes.

Less costly oils are generally refined less and have a lower capability to prevent/reduce thermal degradation. Petroleum oils have a much lower operating temperature range, while premium quality synthetic motor oils have a very high operating temperature range and are much more resistant to thermal degradation and oil breakdown.

Thermal degredation occures in ALL oils.Synthetic oils are designed in a laboratory, and have molocules that are much more consistant than petroleum oils. This is why we use them in our small high reving, high output motors.

To claim thermal degredation does not effect synthetic oil is incorrect.

 

[MiMav]

Why??? Because they change their oil more frequently??? Todays synthetic oils are just as good with 4000-5000 miles of use as they are with 400-500 miles of use. If you want to change your oil that frequently because it makes you feel "gooder" then fine but your machine is not getting any benefit from that. All youre really doing is just wasting your money.

Its usually a sign that the guy takes care of his stuff. It's not about the oil change specifically. In fact, if you read the forum enough, you probably know who you would buy stuff from and some you would probably stay away from.