Maintenance Items....Oil dino vs synth, changes, filters, cold starts and Coolant
This may seem like a moot point to some of you
but after after speaking with some friends one an engineer for GM, the other a master mechanic about maintance issues. I thought some of the informed bable should be passed on.
this may, at least, be helpful to some and possibly interesting/educational to many
Oil why change it?
Oil has to be changed because the antiwear additives become depleted. The oil becomes full of impurities such as gasoline, ZDP concentration, water and other byproducts of combustion as well as some insoluble contaminates such as soot also high temperatures oxidize oil.
Oil life deterioration caused by a variety of operating conditions i.e. engine revolutions, time, operating temperatures of the oil, time of soaks & time of run intervals ect.
No simple oil change recommendation can be tailored to an individuals driving schedule and habits only a computer algorithm or oil monitor in the engine controller found in many new cars can do this.
With that in mind 3 months or 3000 miles may not be all that necessary at least the oil co's want you to follow this. So if your car driven only few miles and its oil is clean after 3000 miles hold off a few more miles keep in mind to check it at fill ups and monitor level & condition. Regardless of how few miles driven in a year (some car are used for flossing it seems) change oil at least annually...more often if you start the car often as heating up and cooling will cause condinsation in the crankcase and contaminants metioned above.
So you may ask, just what is the 3 month 3000mile mileage period based on anyway? Professionals base it on a car thats used 12,000 miles a year. With this in mind an oil change four times yearly is reasonable
Synth or Dino Oil?
if you have a new engine want to try it go for the syth. But an engine that leaks it will leak more profusely with synth. If you haven't used syth in your motor it will most likely leek as... Sythetic motor oil has a smaller/compact molecular structure so it will find a way out of an old engine more easyly. there is little real world gains to justify spend'n $6 plus a quart for syth motor oil on a street motor marketing has made many think its worth the $! ...but if it makes you feel beter, walk taller, whatever, its your money it certainly cant do harm
Regular petro oil from the Jurastic age Dino's is just fine...some posts I've seen state that brand x is made with parafin oil or other nonsense I haven't seen any proof in Society of Automotive Engineer archives to validate thier claims so this is just silly. Oil is refined by only a few companies and their are standards that have to be met so it is basically the same but "higher milage" blends have more anti-wear additives that are advantageous for obvious reasons I use on all my cars regardless of milage
Oil...What about cold starts?
As far as cold starting is concerned…if the oil gets to minus 20 overnight and sits for 12 hours it will be thick. But if it sits as minus 20 for 48 hours it will get a lot thicker and cause problems with cold starting. Since most people in cold areas are starting their engines every 8-10 hours the viscosity increase of the oil due to time is negligible. An oil heater isn’t required a block heater helps more as it cuts the friction on the cylinder walls by keeping the warm and aids in fuel atomization by keeping the combustion chambers warm which is more important anyway.
What About Coolant Changes
Radiator service does not require a flush or cleaners. Just drain the radiator at the petcock at the bottom of the radiator tank, refill with fresh 50/50 coolant and distilled water. You are just trying to get a fresh charge of coolant in the system to replenish the corrosion inhibitors in the coolant. No need to introduce tap water for flushing as coolinf system should be filled with mineral free water and dont use any sort of caustic cleaners that cannot be thoroughly removed. Just drain and refill with 50/50 (premixed or mix youself with mineral free DI water) least every 2-3years or 30K miles. The coolants corrosion inhibitors deplete around this time frequency and need replacement so do it, only takes a few minutes. If not replaced frequently internal engine corrosion can/will result...including head gasket (and intake gasket) failure. The steel core of the gaskets can and will rot out from the inside out
Spark Plugs
Not that spark plugs add any realworld performance gains in a street engine
An informed suggestion is to use dual platinum spark plugs as
these have a pad of platium on the tip of center electrode and the ground electrode the platinum will never wear so the growth of spark gap will not vary over time.
so they should/will last as long as your car. perhaps 30K removal for cleaning if needed
Hope this is/was interesting…and helpful.
Modified by A1 Cabriolet at 8:45 PM 8-2-2004
Modified by A1 Cabriolet at 7:45 PM 11-8-2004