AFM, DOD problem question
11-30-2023, 12:03 PM
#1
AFM, DOD problem question
On the GM AFM and DOD, does anybody think most of the problems are oil related, as in using the wrong brand, type, or not changing the oil at the proper interval?
I ask because I own a 2016 Serria with a 5.3 with 77,000 miles on it and have watched a lot of you tube videos on collapsed lifter problem. In most of the videos, the lifters, heads, rocker arms, valve springs and other related parts look like they had black gunk on them. I do not think that is normal for an engine using a good full synthetic oil and changing the oil at good interval.
I base that statement on the fact that I worked in my father’* Texaco station from 1966 to 1975. I changed a lot of oil and did other automotive work. On our regular customer’* cars, all cars my family and I owned until 2007 had a very light/translucent brown varnish on the head, valve springs and other related parts.
In 2007 I bought a 2002 Focus with 19,000 miles on it for a family member. The head, camshaft, valve springs other related parts had a very light/translucent brown varnish on them which is normal.
The tires had good tread but were 5 years old. I went to a chain tire store and got new tires, with lifetime balance, rotation and lifetime alignment. Since I bought all that they gave me a coupon for an oil and filter change using semi-synthetic oil for $5 more than I could do a conventional oil change myself. 6 months and about 1,200 later I took the car in for the tire rotation and alignment. They also changed the oil and filter using a semi-synthetic oil.
About a month and 200 miles later I was checking the oil and just took off the oil fill cap to look. I could not believe what I saw, the head, cam, valve springs and retainers could not have been any cleaner if they were brand new. Since that month I started using Mobil 1 oil in all of my family’* vehicles. ExxonMobil is the licensed manufacturer for GM oil, which is what GM recommends.
So, I am wondering what type of oil and how often do the people having lifter problems change their oil?
Thank you for your time.
I ask because I own a 2016 Serria with a 5.3 with 77,000 miles on it and have watched a lot of you tube videos on collapsed lifter problem. In most of the videos, the lifters, heads, rocker arms, valve springs and other related parts look like they had black gunk on them. I do not think that is normal for an engine using a good full synthetic oil and changing the oil at good interval.
I base that statement on the fact that I worked in my father’* Texaco station from 1966 to 1975. I changed a lot of oil and did other automotive work. On our regular customer’* cars, all cars my family and I owned until 2007 had a very light/translucent brown varnish on the head, valve springs and other related parts.
In 2007 I bought a 2002 Focus with 19,000 miles on it for a family member. The head, camshaft, valve springs other related parts had a very light/translucent brown varnish on them which is normal.
The tires had good tread but were 5 years old. I went to a chain tire store and got new tires, with lifetime balance, rotation and lifetime alignment. Since I bought all that they gave me a coupon for an oil and filter change using semi-synthetic oil for $5 more than I could do a conventional oil change myself. 6 months and about 1,200 later I took the car in for the tire rotation and alignment. They also changed the oil and filter using a semi-synthetic oil.
About a month and 200 miles later I was checking the oil and just took off the oil fill cap to look. I could not believe what I saw, the head, cam, valve springs and retainers could not have been any cleaner if they were brand new. Since that month I started using Mobil 1 oil in all of my family’* vehicles. ExxonMobil is the licensed manufacturer for GM oil, which is what GM recommends.
So, I am wondering what type of oil and how often do the people having lifter problems change their oil?
Thank you for your time.
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CathedralCub (11-30-2023)
11-30-2023, 11:59 PM
#2
Senior Member
True Car Nut
I think changing oil and filter often and with quality oil and filter is something that is often overlooked . . . both as a useful practice, and as something that wasn't done on many cars that have [inexplicable] and/or [unreasonable] internal issues young in life.
The Gen5 LS engines (like yours) seemed to do better with AFM than the Gen4 engines. AFM/DoD LS engines get a bad rap, and rightfully so much of the time. The amount of failures that we all hear about on these is remarkable. At the same time, a bazillion were built, and we don't hear about this problem on all 1-bazillion of them, or even a half-bazillion. The actual number is a small fraction, but yes still a surprisingly large fraction. This shows that it can work somewhat reliably. So, is it that the bad ones were built poorly? . . . or beaten all their lives? . . . or poorly maintained? . . . or maybe always driven very conservatively thereby often having AF/DoD turned on?
We, being the holders of no reliable statistics, can only speculate on the answer.
On other fronts, I've seen many engines, that had some DNA shared with engines known for oiling issues, far outlast the stereotypical failure rate of that engine'* peers with no issue. Mine and some of my friends' are good examples. Again, being a holder of no reliable statistics, I can't say this is because I change oil "too often" and with "too expensive oil" (because they all meet the standard required by the manufacturers so why by "good" oil?), nor that my friends, encouraged by my input, have the same luck from increased maintenance. At the same time, I've never in my life had an engine fail for oiling issues, even with 250,000+ miles on them. I keep cars a long time. They are treated well and not babied, but also get good oil at between 3,000 and 4,000 miles. Same goes for friends' cars. The ones that change oil often haven't had issues. The ones that can't seem to make it a priority sometimes do.
Maybe it'* just luck of the draw, and I and everyone around me just happen to be lucky in this regard, and only a coincidence that this is with engines that get good oil often. Maybe there'* something to my theory. I can't say for sure.
Back to your car: I would personally suggest oil changes with a quality full synthetic oil of the proper grade every 3,000-4,000 miles. If something in the AFM/DoD does finally give out, at least you'll know it wasn't because you saved a few bucks on oil changes. For about a penny per mile my way versus, say, a half-penny for going 6,000 miles between changes, you'd have to go 200,000 miles for every $1,000.00 in internal oil-related engine repairs for extended oil change intervals to make financial sense. $1,000.00 is an unreasonably small amount of money to spend on internal engine repairs these days. If you're going to keep the car for a while. If you're just going to drive it the typical 12,000 miles per year for two years then trade it in, then you'd likely only be doing the next owner(*) a favor.
Disclaimer: I do my own oil changes, so my cost is oil and filter. I know oil change places cost more. I typically use Quaker State full synthetic of the viscosity recommended by the manufacturer. I've also used Mobil1 and Valvoline for extended periods and have no problems with those brands.
The Gen5 LS engines (like yours) seemed to do better with AFM than the Gen4 engines. AFM/DoD LS engines get a bad rap, and rightfully so much of the time. The amount of failures that we all hear about on these is remarkable. At the same time, a bazillion were built, and we don't hear about this problem on all 1-bazillion of them, or even a half-bazillion. The actual number is a small fraction, but yes still a surprisingly large fraction. This shows that it can work somewhat reliably. So, is it that the bad ones were built poorly? . . . or beaten all their lives? . . . or poorly maintained? . . . or maybe always driven very conservatively thereby often having AF/DoD turned on?
We, being the holders of no reliable statistics, can only speculate on the answer.
On other fronts, I've seen many engines, that had some DNA shared with engines known for oiling issues, far outlast the stereotypical failure rate of that engine'* peers with no issue. Mine and some of my friends' are good examples. Again, being a holder of no reliable statistics, I can't say this is because I change oil "too often" and with "too expensive oil" (because they all meet the standard required by the manufacturers so why by "good" oil?), nor that my friends, encouraged by my input, have the same luck from increased maintenance. At the same time, I've never in my life had an engine fail for oiling issues, even with 250,000+ miles on them. I keep cars a long time. They are treated well and not babied, but also get good oil at between 3,000 and 4,000 miles. Same goes for friends' cars. The ones that change oil often haven't had issues. The ones that can't seem to make it a priority sometimes do.
Maybe it'* just luck of the draw, and I and everyone around me just happen to be lucky in this regard, and only a coincidence that this is with engines that get good oil often. Maybe there'* something to my theory. I can't say for sure.
Back to your car: I would personally suggest oil changes with a quality full synthetic oil of the proper grade every 3,000-4,000 miles. If something in the AFM/DoD does finally give out, at least you'll know it wasn't because you saved a few bucks on oil changes. For about a penny per mile my way versus, say, a half-penny for going 6,000 miles between changes, you'd have to go 200,000 miles for every $1,000.00 in internal oil-related engine repairs for extended oil change intervals to make financial sense. $1,000.00 is an unreasonably small amount of money to spend on internal engine repairs these days. If you're going to keep the car for a while. If you're just going to drive it the typical 12,000 miles per year for two years then trade it in, then you'd likely only be doing the next owner(*) a favor.
Disclaimer: I do my own oil changes, so my cost is oil and filter. I know oil change places cost more. I typically use Quaker State full synthetic of the viscosity recommended by the manufacturer. I've also used Mobil1 and Valvoline for extended periods and have no problems with those brands.
The following users liked this post:
CorvairGeek (12-01-2023)
12-04-2023, 02:35 PM
#3
[QUOTE=CathedralCub;1648138]I think changing oil and filter often and with quality oil and filter is something that is often overlooked . . . both as a useful practice, and as something that wasn't done on many cars that have [inexplicable] and/or [unreasonable] internal issues young in life.
The Gen5 LS engines (like yours) seemed to do better with AFM than the Gen4 engines. AFM/DoD LS engines get a bad rap, and rightfully so much of the time. The amount of failures that we all hear about on these is remarkable. At the same time, a bazillion were built, and we don't hear about this problem on all 1-bazillion of them, or even a half-bazillion. The actual number is a small fraction, but yes still a surprisingly large fraction. This shows that it can work somewhat reliably. So, is it that the bad ones were built poorly? . . . or beaten all their lives? . . . or poorly maintained? . . . or maybe always driven very conservatively thereby often having AF/DoD turned on?
We, being the holders of no reliable statistics, can only speculate on the answer.
On other fronts, I've seen many engines, that had some DNA shared with engines known for oiling issues, far outlast the stereotypical failure rate of that engine'* peers with no issue. Mine and some of my friends' are good examples. Again, being a holder of no reliable statistics, I can't say this is because I change oil "too often" and with "too expensive oil" (because they all meet the standard required by the manufacturers so why by "good" oil?), nor that my friends, encouraged by my input, have the same luck from increased maintenance. At the same time, I've never in my life had an engine fail for oiling issues, even with 250,000+ miles on them. I keep cars a long time. They are treated well and not babied, but also get good oil at between 3,000 and 4,000 miles. Same goes for friends' cars. The ones that change oil often haven't had issues. The ones that can't seem to make it a priority sometimes do.
Maybe it'* just luck of the draw, and I and everyone around me just happen to be lucky in this regard, and only a coincidence that this is with engines that get good oil often. Maybe there'* something to my theory. I can't say for sure.
Back to your car: I would personally suggest oil changes with a quality full synthetic oil of the proper grade every 3,000-4,000 miles. If something in the AFM/DoD does finally give out, at least you'll know it wasn't because you saved a few bucks on oil changes. For about a penny per mile my way versus, say, a half-penny for going 6,000 miles between changes, you'd have to go 200,000 miles for every $1,000.00 in internal oil-related engine repairs for extended oil change intervals to make financial sense. $1,000.00 is an unreasonably small amount of money to spend on internal engine repairs these days. If you're going to keep the car for a while. If you're just going to drive it the typical 12,000 miles per year for two years then trade it in, then you'd likely only be doing the next owner(*) a favor.
Disclaimer: I do my own oil changes, so my cost is oil and filter. I know oil change places cost more. I typically use Quaker State full synthetic of the viscosity recommended by the manufacturer. I've also used Mobil1 and Valvoline for extended periods and have no problems with those brands.[/QUOThank you for your response. Sorry to take so long to answer. I thought lack of proper maintenance might be the biggest cause.
I have always maintained all my vehicles. My previous truck was a 2002 GMC that got totaled out in 2017. It had 270,000 miles on it and idled smother than my 2016 I bought with less than 18,000miles on it.
On my 2002 I had the 4.8. At 190,000 miles I had to replace the intake manifold gaskets. When I removed the intake manifold, the valves and intake runners in the head did NOT have one speck of carbon. I used a top tier gas and Marvel Mystery Oil at each fill-up, with the good Berryman b-12 chemtool fuel injector cleaner at each oil change.
The Gen5 LS engines (like yours) seemed to do better with AFM than the Gen4 engines. AFM/DoD LS engines get a bad rap, and rightfully so much of the time. The amount of failures that we all hear about on these is remarkable. At the same time, a bazillion were built, and we don't hear about this problem on all 1-bazillion of them, or even a half-bazillion. The actual number is a small fraction, but yes still a surprisingly large fraction. This shows that it can work somewhat reliably. So, is it that the bad ones were built poorly? . . . or beaten all their lives? . . . or poorly maintained? . . . or maybe always driven very conservatively thereby often having AF/DoD turned on?
We, being the holders of no reliable statistics, can only speculate on the answer.
On other fronts, I've seen many engines, that had some DNA shared with engines known for oiling issues, far outlast the stereotypical failure rate of that engine'* peers with no issue. Mine and some of my friends' are good examples. Again, being a holder of no reliable statistics, I can't say this is because I change oil "too often" and with "too expensive oil" (because they all meet the standard required by the manufacturers so why by "good" oil?), nor that my friends, encouraged by my input, have the same luck from increased maintenance. At the same time, I've never in my life had an engine fail for oiling issues, even with 250,000+ miles on them. I keep cars a long time. They are treated well and not babied, but also get good oil at between 3,000 and 4,000 miles. Same goes for friends' cars. The ones that change oil often haven't had issues. The ones that can't seem to make it a priority sometimes do.
Maybe it'* just luck of the draw, and I and everyone around me just happen to be lucky in this regard, and only a coincidence that this is with engines that get good oil often. Maybe there'* something to my theory. I can't say for sure.
Back to your car: I would personally suggest oil changes with a quality full synthetic oil of the proper grade every 3,000-4,000 miles. If something in the AFM/DoD does finally give out, at least you'll know it wasn't because you saved a few bucks on oil changes. For about a penny per mile my way versus, say, a half-penny for going 6,000 miles between changes, you'd have to go 200,000 miles for every $1,000.00 in internal oil-related engine repairs for extended oil change intervals to make financial sense. $1,000.00 is an unreasonably small amount of money to spend on internal engine repairs these days. If you're going to keep the car for a while. If you're just going to drive it the typical 12,000 miles per year for two years then trade it in, then you'd likely only be doing the next owner(*) a favor.
Disclaimer: I do my own oil changes, so my cost is oil and filter. I know oil change places cost more. I typically use Quaker State full synthetic of the viscosity recommended by the manufacturer. I've also used Mobil1 and Valvoline for extended periods and have no problems with those brands.[/QUOThank you for your response. Sorry to take so long to answer. I thought lack of proper maintenance might be the biggest cause.
I have always maintained all my vehicles. My previous truck was a 2002 GMC that got totaled out in 2017. It had 270,000 miles on it and idled smother than my 2016 I bought with less than 18,000miles on it.
On my 2002 I had the 4.8. At 190,000 miles I had to replace the intake manifold gaskets. When I removed the intake manifold, the valves and intake runners in the head did NOT have one speck of carbon. I used a top tier gas and Marvel Mystery Oil at each fill-up, with the good Berryman b-12 chemtool fuel injector cleaner at each oil change.
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CathedralCub (12-04-2023)
12-04-2023, 02:35 PM
#4
Thank you for your response. Sorry to take so long to answer. I thought lack of proper maintenance might be the biggest cause.
I have always maintained all my vehicles. My previous truck was a 2002 GMC that got totaled out in 2017. It had 270,000 miles on it and idled smother than my 2016 I bought with less than 18,000miles on it.
On my 2002 I had the 4.8. At 190,000 miles I had to replace the intake manifold gaskets. When I removed the intake manifold, the valves and intake runners in the head did NOT have one speck of carbon. I used a top tier gas and Marvel Mystery Oil at each fill-up, with the good Berryman b-12 chemtool fuel injector cleaner at each oil change.
I have always maintained all my vehicles. My previous truck was a 2002 GMC that got totaled out in 2017. It had 270,000 miles on it and idled smother than my 2016 I bought with less than 18,000miles on it.
On my 2002 I had the 4.8. At 190,000 miles I had to replace the intake manifold gaskets. When I removed the intake manifold, the valves and intake runners in the head did NOT have one speck of carbon. I used a top tier gas and Marvel Mystery Oil at each fill-up, with the good Berryman b-12 chemtool fuel injector cleaner at each oil change.
The following users liked this post:
CathedralCub (12-04-2023)
12-04-2023, 11:14 PM
#5
Senior Member
True Car Nut
[QUOTE=zsnowman;1648162]
The 4.8 is a great little engine! Highly underappreciated.
I think changing oil and filter often and with quality oil and filter is something that is often overlooked . . . both as a useful practice, and as something that wasn't done on many cars that have [inexplicable] and/or [unreasonable] internal issues young in life.
The Gen5 LS engines (like yours) seemed to do better with AFM than the Gen4 engines. AFM/DoD LS engines get a bad rap, and rightfully so much of the time. The amount of failures that we all hear about on these is remarkable. At the same time, a bazillion were built, and we don't hear about this problem on all 1-bazillion of them, or even a half-bazillion. The actual number is a small fraction, but yes still a surprisingly large fraction. This shows that it can work somewhat reliably. So, is it that the bad ones were built poorly? . . . or beaten all their lives? . . . or poorly maintained? . . . or maybe always driven very conservatively thereby often having AF/DoD turned on?
We, being the holders of no reliable statistics, can only speculate on the answer.
On other fronts, I've seen many engines, that had some DNA shared with engines known for oiling issues, far outlast the stereotypical failure rate of that engine'* peers with no issue. Mine and some of my friends' are good examples. Again, being a holder of no reliable statistics, I can't say this is because I change oil "too often" and with "too expensive oil" (because they all meet the standard required by the manufacturers so why by "good" oil?), nor that my friends, encouraged by my input, have the same luck from increased maintenance. At the same time, I've never in my life had an engine fail for oiling issues, even with 250,000+ miles on them. I keep cars a long time. They are treated well and not babied, but also get good oil at between 3,000 and 4,000 miles. Same goes for friends' cars. The ones that change oil often haven't had issues. The ones that can't seem to make it a priority sometimes do.
Maybe it'* just luck of the draw, and I and everyone around me just happen to be lucky in this regard, and only a coincidence that this is with engines that get good oil often. Maybe there'* something to my theory. I can't say for sure.
Back to your car: I would personally suggest oil changes with a quality full synthetic oil of the proper grade every 3,000-4,000 miles. If something in the AFM/DoD does finally give out, at least you'll know it wasn't because you saved a few bucks on oil changes. For about a penny per mile my way versus, say, a half-penny for going 6,000 miles between changes, you'd have to go 200,000 miles for every $1,000.00 in internal oil-related engine repairs for extended oil change intervals to make financial sense. $1,000.00 is an unreasonably small amount of money to spend on internal engine repairs these days. If you're going to keep the car for a while. If you're just going to drive it the typical 12,000 miles per year for two years then trade it in, then you'd likely only be doing the next owner(*) a favor.
Disclaimer: I do my own oil changes, so my cost is oil and filter. I know oil change places cost more. I typically use Quaker State full synthetic of the viscosity recommended by the manufacturer. I've also used Mobil1 and Valvoline for extended periods and have no problems with those brands.[/QUOThank you for your response. Sorry to take so long to answer. I thought lack of proper maintenance might be the biggest cause.
I have always maintained all my vehicles. My previous truck was a 2002 GMC that got totaled out in 2017. It had 270,000 miles on it and idled smother than my 2016 I bought with less than 18,000miles on it.
On my 2002 I had the 4.8. At 190,000 miles I had to replace the intake manifold gaskets. When I removed the intake manifold, the valves and intake runners in the head did NOT have one speck of carbon. I used a top tier gas and Marvel Mystery Oil at each fill-up, with the good Berryman b-12 chemtool fuel injector cleaner at each oil change.
The Gen5 LS engines (like yours) seemed to do better with AFM than the Gen4 engines. AFM/DoD LS engines get a bad rap, and rightfully so much of the time. The amount of failures that we all hear about on these is remarkable. At the same time, a bazillion were built, and we don't hear about this problem on all 1-bazillion of them, or even a half-bazillion. The actual number is a small fraction, but yes still a surprisingly large fraction. This shows that it can work somewhat reliably. So, is it that the bad ones were built poorly? . . . or beaten all their lives? . . . or poorly maintained? . . . or maybe always driven very conservatively thereby often having AF/DoD turned on?
We, being the holders of no reliable statistics, can only speculate on the answer.
On other fronts, I've seen many engines, that had some DNA shared with engines known for oiling issues, far outlast the stereotypical failure rate of that engine'* peers with no issue. Mine and some of my friends' are good examples. Again, being a holder of no reliable statistics, I can't say this is because I change oil "too often" and with "too expensive oil" (because they all meet the standard required by the manufacturers so why by "good" oil?), nor that my friends, encouraged by my input, have the same luck from increased maintenance. At the same time, I've never in my life had an engine fail for oiling issues, even with 250,000+ miles on them. I keep cars a long time. They are treated well and not babied, but also get good oil at between 3,000 and 4,000 miles. Same goes for friends' cars. The ones that change oil often haven't had issues. The ones that can't seem to make it a priority sometimes do.
Maybe it'* just luck of the draw, and I and everyone around me just happen to be lucky in this regard, and only a coincidence that this is with engines that get good oil often. Maybe there'* something to my theory. I can't say for sure.
Back to your car: I would personally suggest oil changes with a quality full synthetic oil of the proper grade every 3,000-4,000 miles. If something in the AFM/DoD does finally give out, at least you'll know it wasn't because you saved a few bucks on oil changes. For about a penny per mile my way versus, say, a half-penny for going 6,000 miles between changes, you'd have to go 200,000 miles for every $1,000.00 in internal oil-related engine repairs for extended oil change intervals to make financial sense. $1,000.00 is an unreasonably small amount of money to spend on internal engine repairs these days. If you're going to keep the car for a while. If you're just going to drive it the typical 12,000 miles per year for two years then trade it in, then you'd likely only be doing the next owner(*) a favor.
Disclaimer: I do my own oil changes, so my cost is oil and filter. I know oil change places cost more. I typically use Quaker State full synthetic of the viscosity recommended by the manufacturer. I've also used Mobil1 and Valvoline for extended periods and have no problems with those brands.[/QUOThank you for your response. Sorry to take so long to answer. I thought lack of proper maintenance might be the biggest cause.
I have always maintained all my vehicles. My previous truck was a 2002 GMC that got totaled out in 2017. It had 270,000 miles on it and idled smother than my 2016 I bought with less than 18,000miles on it.
On my 2002 I had the 4.8. At 190,000 miles I had to replace the intake manifold gaskets. When I removed the intake manifold, the valves and intake runners in the head did NOT have one speck of carbon. I used a top tier gas and Marvel Mystery Oil at each fill-up, with the good Berryman b-12 chemtool fuel injector cleaner at each oil change.
Thank you for your response. Sorry to take so long to answer. I thought lack of proper maintenance might be the biggest cause.
I have always maintained all my vehicles. My previous truck was a 2002 GMC that got totaled out in 2017. It had 270,000 miles on it and idled smother than my 2016 I bought with less than 18,000miles on it.
On my 2002 I had the 4.8. At 190,000 miles I had to replace the intake manifold gaskets. When I removed the intake manifold, the valves and intake runners in the head did NOT have one speck of carbon. I used a top tier gas and Marvel Mystery Oil at each fill-up, with the good Berryman b-12 chemtool fuel injector cleaner at each oil change.
I have always maintained all my vehicles. My previous truck was a 2002 GMC that got totaled out in 2017. It had 270,000 miles on it and idled smother than my 2016 I bought with less than 18,000miles on it.
On my 2002 I had the 4.8. At 190,000 miles I had to replace the intake manifold gaskets. When I removed the intake manifold, the valves and intake runners in the head did NOT have one speck of carbon. I used a top tier gas and Marvel Mystery Oil at each fill-up, with the good Berryman b-12 chemtool fuel injector cleaner at each oil change.
Last edited by CathedralCub; 12-04-2023 at 11:15 PM.
12-05-2023, 05:31 PM
#6
Senior Member
Posts like a Turbo
I used to change my oil every 4000 miles, but I heard people say you can go longer, say 6000 miles with full synthetic. So about 2 or 3 years ago I've let it go until 6000 miles between changes. In your opinion should I change it sooner?
91 Olds Toronado 3800 V6 247,000 miles on it.
2002 Chevy Trailblazer 4.2L 180,000 on it.
I only put a total of 10,000 miles on my cars each year. I plan on selling the Olds in the spring. Right now the Chevy is my daily driver.
91 Olds Toronado 3800 V6 247,000 miles on it.
2002 Chevy Trailblazer 4.2L 180,000 on it.
I only put a total of 10,000 miles on my cars each year. I plan on selling the Olds in the spring. Right now the Chevy is my daily driver.
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CathedralCub (12-05-2023)
12-05-2023, 09:58 PM
#7
Senior Member
True Car Nut
I used to change my oil every 4000 miles, but I heard people say you can go longer, say 6000 miles with full synthetic. So about 2 or 3 years ago I've let it go until 6000 miles between changes. In your opinion should I change it sooner?
91 Olds Toronado 3800 V6 247,000 miles on it.
2002 Chevy Trailblazer 4.2L 180,000 on it.
I only put a total of 10,000 miles on my cars each year. I plan on selling the Olds in the spring. Right now the Chevy is my daily driver.
91 Olds Toronado 3800 V6 247,000 miles on it.
2002 Chevy Trailblazer 4.2L 180,000 on it.
I only put a total of 10,000 miles on my cars each year. I plan on selling the Olds in the spring. Right now the Chevy is my daily driver.
247000/10000=247 years
180000/10000=180 years
Based on this math, I suspect these cars accumulated most of their mileage before you bought them. Unless you know that it had great maintenance all its life, you can assume it was marginal maintenance like most cars.
Whatever maintenance it got is part of its history, and it will add up to something eventually. My goal would be to push that threshold off as much as reasonably possible. An example: I bought a GMT800 SUV at over 180,000 miles quite a while ago. How was it maintained before me? I don't know. It had some lifter noise when I bought it. It had punched out door locks, wannabe Denali chrome grille insert, stupid taillights, limo-tint front windows, and a K&N reusable air filter that was clogged full, so my guess is it didn't get much maintenance and probably got beaten. Since then, 3,000 mile oil changes and it is still happy 130,000 miles later. The lifter noise got a little quieter over the first few thousand miles, and is still there now, but never got worse. What else have I done related to this besides oil changes? Nothing. Since I've had it, it has:
- carried my family around a lot
- worked hard many many times
- survived a million commutes that include speed and stop as well as go traffic
- done some towing
- taken us (and often a bunch of cargo) to 13 Western states
- seen over 11,000 feet above sea level many times
- seen sea level a few times
- rescued a few people in blizzards
- kept us safe and cool at 110+ degrees
- kept us warm and safe at 20 below zero (Fahrenheit)
- started cold many times with no extra noises at 20 below zero come to think of it
- etc. etc.
Many folks don't do all of this with a brand new car, let alone for 130,000 miles.
Could I have gotten away with extending my oil changes? Maybe. Would I want to find out the hard way that I extended too far? No. What'* the threshold between too often, just right, and not enough? No way to know without millions of dollars, a fleet of these, a team of meticulous and dedicated drivers, and a lot of test and recording equipment.
It helps that I do my own oil changes. Less than a penny a mile for me to do them at 3,000 miles with good filters, full synthetic oil, and no stripped-out drain plugs.
My $0.02
Last edited by CathedralCub; 12-05-2023 at 10:07 PM. Reason: Changed "thought of" to "worried about" and a few other things
12-07-2023, 12:51 AM
#8
Senior Member
Posts like a Turbo
Thanks CathedralCub, I'll be changing my oil more frequently from now on.
You made some good points.
The Trailblazer I just bought 1 1/2 years ago from original owner and she swore she changed oil and had maintenance done on a regular basis. It seems in good condition, and when I bought it, it had fresh oil in it, but when I put a new valve cover gasket on it the rocker arms and everything else in the top of the head had quite a bit of varnish on them. So I've changed the oil twice already in 6,000 miles or so and put an additive in with it.
The Olds Toronado I've owned for almost 17 years, it had 125,000 miles on it when I bought it and about 245,000 now. until recently I changed the oil every 4,000 miles and here'* something interesting. All the years I had it and changed the oil every 4,000 miles, it always looked really clean even with 4,000 miles on it, but since I started waiting every 6,000 between changes I notice it was much darker at 6,000 miles than at 4,000. So that kinda shows something right there.
I will definitely be changing my oil sooner.
You made some good points.
The Trailblazer I just bought 1 1/2 years ago from original owner and she swore she changed oil and had maintenance done on a regular basis. It seems in good condition, and when I bought it, it had fresh oil in it, but when I put a new valve cover gasket on it the rocker arms and everything else in the top of the head had quite a bit of varnish on them. So I've changed the oil twice already in 6,000 miles or so and put an additive in with it.
The Olds Toronado I've owned for almost 17 years, it had 125,000 miles on it when I bought it and about 245,000 now. until recently I changed the oil every 4,000 miles and here'* something interesting. All the years I had it and changed the oil every 4,000 miles, it always looked really clean even with 4,000 miles on it, but since I started waiting every 6,000 between changes I notice it was much darker at 6,000 miles than at 4,000. So that kinda shows something right there.
I will definitely be changing my oil sooner.
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CathedralCub (12-07-2023)
12-07-2023, 11:50 PM
#9
Senior Member
True Car Nut
The Olds Toronado I've owned for almost 17 years, it had 125,000 miles on it when I bought it and about 245,000 now. until recently I changed the oil every 4,000 miles and here'* something interesting. All the years I had it and changed the oil every 4,000 miles, it always looked really clean even with 4,000 miles on it, but since I started waiting every 6,000 between changes I notice it was much darker at 6,000 miles than at 4,000. So that kinda shows something right there.
The following users liked this post:
TommyB (12-08-2023)
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