27,824 miles on oil change

[NW-ZJ-SCOTT]

Took my wifes car to the local lube shop today.

realized that it had been almost 10k since the last one after reading this story. and it happened to hit my mind while i was sitting in Jiffy lubes parking lot eatin taco bell.

 

[logdog]

I'm pushing 25k on my powerstroke since the last oil change....Amsoil rocks!!!

 

[beakie]

my '07 VW Golf is supposed to go 16k between changes (keep in mind thats kilometers up here)
I normally change the Jeep every 5k, and the wifes Sentra about the same... 16k just seems crazy, but thats what the manual and dealer said, so I go with it.

I know the old man used to run Chevettes all the time and I never remember him getting oil changes done. We had 3 or more of those little tanks, hated them as kids, looking back tho they never left us stranded.

 

[buzzbombxj]

One time a cousin of mine drove up to the bay from LA in his early 90s vw golf. After driving around here and sf for a few days he asked me why it didn’t run too well, so I said, "let’s check the oil", I pull the stick out and it is dry. So we went and got oil, and I put two quarts in. dipstick is still dry. I put in one more, finally the bottom of the stick is wet, and it takes one more quart to get it to "full". Turns out it was 4 quarts low...... on a car that only took 4 quarts. That car didnt last much longer. :doh:

 

[NW-ZJ-SCOTT]

vw golf. . That car didnt last much longer.

duh.

 

[5-90]

my '07 VW Golf is supposed to go 16k between changes (keep in mind thats kilometers up here)
I normally change the Jeep every 5k, and the wifes Sentra about the same... 16k just seems crazy, but thats what the manual and dealer said, so I go with it.

I know the old man used to run Chevettes all the time and I never remember him getting oil changes done. We had 3 or more of those little tanks, hated them as kids, looking back tho they never left us stranded.

Ran my wife's Verona on dino oil for the first 30Kmiles, 3Kmile change interval.

Switched to synthetic at 30K, running 20K change intervals. Yeah, the oil costs more - but the longer change intervals make up for it handily!

 

[Vince]

The disadvantage with longer oil change intervals is that other stuff gets neglected. Grease points go dry and brakes wear out. Regular short interval servicing catches this stuff on a preventative basis, with long service intervals breakdown maintenance is often required between oil changes.

 

[Coastie]

On the other end of the spectrum before I got to my front main, rear main, and oil filter adapter o-rings my Jeep was getting an oil change every month simply because it was leaking it all out:rof:

 

[tbburg]

...,my Jeep was getting an oil change every month simply because it was leaking it all out:rof:

Had that same feature in my CJ-5.

 

[ktm racer 419]

a few months ago this guy had an oldsmobile minivan towed into the shop. owner is an older fellow, he said it died on the highway. Wouldn't turn over, we manage to get it running with the jump pack and the thing is knocking like a bastard pissin out oil. obviously the motor is garbage, but we stick it on the lift because we wanted to take a look at the carnage. There was a hole the size of my fist in the side of the block. We pull it out, call the guy, tell him he needs a motor, but the van isn't worth putting that kinda money into. We leave it outside, the next morning its gone. Apparently he picked it up overnight and drove it away.

Flash forward a week later, this guy pulls in with his van, still knocking like a bastard. He asks me "could ya check the oil? sounds noisy." I tell him "its noisy because you threw a rod." he tells me "well could ya check the oil anyway?" I tell him in the simplest form possible without insulting the guy "YOUR MOTOR IS BLOWN" he says "well just check it anyway. So i throw a quart of oil in it, charge the guy and he is on his way. I have to clean up the trail of oil he left as well as the puddle in the lot.

A couple weeks later, he pulls up AGAIN.

Same thing, "could ya check the oil, it's makin a lot of noise" I go through the same thing as last time. tell him the motor is junk and any oil i put in there will just pour out of the hole in the side of the block anyway. He is persistent and i end up putting a quart in there and I tell him the oil level is good.

Then he comes in a couple weeks later same story, he asks me "Could ya check the oil? it's makin some noise" This time i just pop the hood throw a quart in, charge him and he leaves happy.

This has been going on every couple weeks since may. The motor has been running on 3 cylinders with no oil since may. I assume he doesn't take it out often though.

 

[MahnkenVille]

Previous owner of my XJ said he did a tune-up a week before he took it off the road, and then I bought it 2 weeks later. The Valvoline sticker said it hadn't gotten the oil changed for roughly 10k...i'm really hoping he did his own oil change. Got it changed the other day out of fear that the sticker was right...oil was pretty black but not horrible.

Don't you hate when you go somewhere for an oil change and they print you out a detailed list of every problem with your car? Especially when you know whats wrong with it..but you have to listen to them explain how they found this-that-and the other thing.

 

[tbburg]

Don't you hate when you go somewhere for an oil change and they print you out a detailed list of every problem with your car? Especially when you know whats wrong with it..but you have to listen to them explain how they found this-that-and the other thing.

That doesn't bother me too much. It bothers me when they make stuff up, tell me it's dangerous to drive, and offer to "fix" the "problem" for 10 times what the parts would cost me to buy retail.

 

[wolfpackjeeper]

That doesn't bother me too much. It bothers me when they make stuff up, tell me it's dangerous to drive, and offer to "fix" the "problem" for 10 times what the parts would cost me to buy retail.

I took my stroker cherokee in for a free diagnostic once just for the fun of it. The list of necessary parts that were missing was hilarious.

 

[xjclassic2000]

I took my stroker cherokee in for a free diagnostic once just for the fun of it. The list of necessary parts that were missing was hilarious.

What was on the list?

 

[wolfpackjeeper]

all of it,
ranging from missing support brackets, to non oem horns, to the motor being too loud despite running well which probably means it was going bad and needed to be replaced.

really?

 

[UNCC_99XJ]

When I worked for Advance Auto We saw this crap all the time.

I watched a guy fill the crank case with 85-140 because "These old ford motors love thick oil that wont leak out".

That poor van died for good about 800 yards from the parking lot.

Fortunately, I haven't had that type of person come in yet. Best one i've had in my month of working at Advance was last week this guy (who was trying way to hard to be the color that he wasn't) and his "girl" (prime example of inbreeding) brought the girls car to us to have some codes pulled. No problem I thought, it was a 97 Nissan Sentra so in the back of my mind i'm thinking there shouldn't be too much wrong with this car as it appeared to be in decent shape from just glancing at it...probably something stupid like a loose gas cap. Wrong! I pulled codes for the Oxygen Sensor, IAC Malfunction, MAF Malfunction, and Random/Multiple Cylinder Misfire. The guy tells me that sometimes once it gets warmed up it won't start back up until the motor cools back down, and asked me if I could listen to it (keep in mind already doing more than i'm technically supposed to do). So I started it...cranked right up and minus the obvious running rich and misfire, it rain relatively well. So we walked back inside and I started to ask them some questions about the car, to try and help them diagnose the problems, rather than taking it to a shop to pay just to have it looked at..

Me: How long has it been running bad?

Girl: About a year...

Me: Noticed your gas mileage decrease at all?

Girl: Oh I don't pay no attention to them things...me and momma just put gas in and drive them

Dude: That's probably bad right?

Me: Very.

I ended up sending them down the road to Goodyear since they do a lot of business with us. When they went back out to the car, the stupid thing wouldn't run. It would sit there and crank all day long. Finally after 30 minutes of her repeatedly cranking it to the point where the starter got overheated (not a nice sound if you've never heard it) they ended up having to leave it for about 2 hours to cool off. After that it was good to go.

Other than that the worst i've seen on an oil change is in my step-sister's 2004 Malibu 4 banger....went 15,000 miles on Napa house brand oil and filter. On that motor it's not a canister type filter like on our Jeeps, rather a cartridge type filter that just snaps into a plastic housing (stupid design). Her commute at this time was about a half mile each way, so the motor never really got warmed up. When I pulled the filter not only did it match the color of the tires, but there were many chunks of sludge caught inside of it. Ended up running several quarts of fresh oil through to help it.

 

[wolfpackjeeper]

Part of the reason I was so glad to graduate, commission, and PCS out of that Job was all the people who thought it was my job to walk out the their car, diagnose every problem correctly on the first try, then install whatever part they might choose to buy. Usually the cheapest thing that could possibly have anything to do with the problem. Then if the part did not work they wanted me to remove it and return it because it was not the problem.

Now, I rarely if ever installed anything for anyone much over a headlight. But people thought we were a full service shop. We stopped doing anything over a headlight install. People would come in and say "But my friends cousin said you guys change oil here".

Can I diagnose your problem, possibly, can I do it in five minutes, without your car running, and with nothing more than my 5 senses and a dummy scan tool? Probably not accurately. Thats why all those shops in the area are in business. They fix cars, I sell parts to do it yourselfers and give advice as well.

BTW, don't tell people to pull around to the back and up to the garage door when they insist that you are supposed to change oil, and that you will not do it just because you are a racist. They will sit back there for about 30min before they come back up pissed. I got called a racist 2 or 3 times every day when working there.

 

[RTicUL8]

Now you guys have me worried.
I've GOT to call my mom - TODAY!



My stepfather died last December.
Mom bought a new car in March.

He had always taken care of the cars.



I hope she's been taking it in for service...

.

So I called her...

And she hadn't thought of taking it in.
6 months & 4,500 miles. I guess that's not too bad.

I did tell her though that she needed to keep copies of all oil changes as the dealer would look for any excuse to drop her warranty.

.


Call you moms!

 

[Stroketech]

We had a lady come into the dealer where I worked with a Hybrid Escape. Engine blew up at 34,000 miles. Still had the first oil change sticker in it from the dealer she bought it from. Service Mgr asked when the last time she changed the oil was, she said batteries have oil? He said what do you think you put gasoline in it for? She said........ I never thought of that. Warrenty DENIED!

 

[88manche]

I work at a ford truck dealership, and we do mostly fleet vehicles so we done see many of these people.

However, my girlfriends cousin wanted me to do an oil change on her car. its a 2007 chrysler pacifica. Me and jen(girlfriend) got in, and turned the radio on, drove it to my house. couldnt hear the motor, so we didnt think anything was wrong. parked it in my back driveway, and i came out about a half hour llater to do the oil change. I got out my ramps, oil pan, tools, oil and filter, and started the car up to drive onto the ramps.

That thing made the most horrible sound ive ever heard. rods knocking, lifters ticking, akjdghaskjgh bad sounds. I drove it on the ramps, checked the oil - bone dry. took the plug out, about a quart, maybe a quart and a half drained out. it takes 6 quarts of oil.:twak::twak:

My old ford has gotten to the point of using about a quart a week. I use motorcraft 10/30 so it gets expensive. it doesnt smoke or burn oil, it just leaks. I need to replace the oil pan gasket. i got to the point where it ran rough, went and checked the oil. i was about 3 quarts low in a 302 (5 quarts).:helpme: