Advice on keeping my car "healthy"

neilmcl

vaio wrote: »

I disagree, the specified oil change interval is squarely aimed keeping servicing costs down to attract the fleet buyers but they don’t really care what happens after 3-4 years/50k miles.

Audi, Vauxhall and Saab to my knowledge have had significant engine problems caused by overly long oil change intervals.

That's nonsense. The whole point having a long life oil is that its specifically designed so that you don't need to change it in between variable service periods. I was an Audi driver for many years and I certainly never heard of such a thing.

cyclonebri1

Just ask yourselves this, If, in this day and age when there is naff all to due to an engine at a normal service date apart from an oil and filter change, that is not the overiding consideration in setting service intervals.

It's considered the maximum not the minimum interval, and I for one don't begrudge a few extra ltrs of oil regardless of what anyone else says. Anyone had to fork out for a new engine recently? Well if you have, you'll know it hurts.:eek:

focae

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

Just ask yourselves this, If, in this day and age when there is naff all to due to an engine at a normal service date apart from an oil and filter change, that is not the overiding consideration in setting service intervals.

It's considered the maximum not the minimum interval, and I for one don't begrudge a few extra ltrs of oil regardless of what anyone else says. Anyone had to fork out for a new engine recently? Well if you have, you'll know it hurts.:eek:

But it isn't just the few litres of oil is it. Factor in the labour charges and it becomes a little more expensive.

How many engines do you suppose fail because the owner didn't change the oil more frequently than the recommended service intervals? Most engines are changed due to catastrophic failures due to other reasons such as timing belt failure, water pump failure or complete lack of oil altogether.

Intermediate oil changes could possibly slow down wear over a couple of hundred thousand miles but I doubt you would be able to tell the difference between two engines where one had had twice as many oil changes as the other. Driving style would almost certainly have more effect on the engine.

vaio

focae wrote: »

Oh.......did you read this in the Daily Mail or is it internet folklore?

I suspect if this was really the case then we would all have heard about it by now.

neilmcl wrote: »

That's nonsense. The whole point having a long life oil is that its specifically designed so that you don't need to change it in between variable service periods. I was an Audi driver for many years and I certainly never heard of such a thing.

Well, you might not have heard about it but Audi extended the warranty on the 1.8T petrol engine to 8 years because they sludge up if you follow the originally recommended oil change interval. Because the States have proper consumer rights it was done explicitly over there and in Germany and done informally in the UK.

http://www.autosafety.org/uploads/phpYxmWv4_AudiOilSludge.pdf

Similar with the 2.2 petrol Vauxhall engine, I have personal experience of this because I got a free engine out of Vauxhall when the one in my kid sisters car failed. Her was 7 years old and 75k miles with full dealer history. They have a cam chain and due to the sludging problem the oil jet that lubricates the chain blocks up. The un-lubricated chain wears and eventually slips with predictably bad consequences for the valves etc

Vauxhall issued two service remedies for this, 1532 covers the timing chain and 1424 covers wreaked engines due to sludge blocking the oil filter which then bursts, again with predictably expensive consequences

http://www.speedsterclub.nl/bibliotheek/technische documentatie/tis/Technical Service Bulletin (Field Remedies)/Engine and Engine Aggregates/0001532-Engine - Broken Timing Chain.pdf

http://www.speedsterclub.nl/bibliotheek/technische documentatie/tis/Technical Service Bulletin (Field Remedies)/Engine and Engine Aggregates/0001424-Camshaft seizure and or engine damages - Burst oil filter cartridge.pdf

.

mikey72

vaio wrote: »

Well, you might not have heard about it but Audi extended the warranty on the 1.8T petrol engine to 8 years because they sludge up if you follow the originally recommended oil change interval. Because the States have proper consumer rights it was done explicitly over there and in Germany and done informally in the UK.

http://www.autosafety.org/uploads/phpYxmWv4_AudiOilSludge.pdf

Similar with the 2.2 petrol Vauxhall engine, I have personal experience of this because I got a free engine out of Vauxhall when the one in my kid sisters car failed. Her was 7 years old and 75k miles with full dealer history. They have a cam chain and due to the sludging problem the oil jet that lubricates the chain blocks up. The un-lubricated chain wears and eventually slips with predictably bad consequences for the valves etc

Vauxhall issued two service remedies for this, 1532 covers the timing chain and 1424 covers wreaked engines due to sludge blocking the oil filter which then bursts, again with predictably expensive consequences

http://www.speedsterclub.nl/bibliotheek/technische documentatie/tis/Technical Service Bulletin (Field Remedies)/Engine and Engine Aggregates/0001532-Engine - Broken Timing Chain.pdf

http://www.speedsterclub.nl/bibliotheek/technische documentatie/tis/Technical Service Bulletin (Field Remedies)/Engine and Engine Aggregates/0001424-Camshaft seizure and or engine damages - Burst oil filter cartridge.pdf

Must admit, everything I read pointed to a specific timing chain oiler problem, and there has been a recall to change the oiler and the chain, not an increase in oil changes to fix the problem.

neilmcl

vaio wrote: »

Well, you might not have heard about it but Audi extended the warranty on the 1.8T petrol engine to 8 years because they sludge up if you follow the originally recommended oil change interval. Because the States have proper consumer rights it was done explicitly over there and in Germany and done informally in the UK.

http://www.autosafety.org/uploads/phpYxmWv4_AudiOilSludge.pdf

Similar with the 2.2 petrol Vauxhall engine, I have personal experience of this because I got a free engine out of Vauxhall when the one in my kid sisters car failed. Her was 7 years old and 75k miles with full dealer history. They have a cam chain and due to the sludging problem the oil jet that lubricates the chain blocks up. The un-lubricated chain wears and eventually slips with predictably bad consequences for the valves etc

Vauxhall issued two service remedies for this, 1532 covers the timing chain and 1424 covers wreaked engines due to sludge blocking the oil filter which then bursts, again with predictably expensive consequences

http://www.speedsterclub.nl/bibliotheek/technische documentatie/tis/Technical Service Bulletin (Field Remedies)/Engine and Engine Aggregates/0001532-Engine - Broken Timing Chain.pdf

http://www.speedsterclub.nl/bibliotheek/technische documentatie/tis/Technical Service Bulletin (Field Remedies)/Engine and Engine Aggregates/0001424-Camshaft seizure and or engine damages - Burst oil filter cartridge.pdf

What makes you think that has anything to do with oil changing (or not as the case may be) in between the normal service periods of long life/variable service periods. In all your cases the problem would have applied when drivers have gone beyond the normal stated intervals for oil changes, this is not what we're discussing.

mikey72

vaio wrote: »

Well, you might not have heard about it but Audi extended the warranty on the 1.8T petrol engine to 8 years because they sludge up if you follow the originally recommended oil change interval. Because the States have proper consumer rights it was done explicitly over there and in Germany and done informally in the UK.

http://www.autosafety.org/uploads/phpYxmWv4_AudiOilSludge.pdf

Similar with the 2.2 petrol Vauxhall engine, I have personal experience of this because I got a free engine out of Vauxhall when the one in my kid sisters car failed. Her was 7 years old and 75k miles with full dealer history. They have a cam chain and due to the sludging problem the oil jet that lubricates the chain blocks up. The un-lubricated chain wears and eventually slips with predictably bad consequences for the valves etc

Vauxhall issued two service remedies for this, 1532 covers the timing chain and 1424 covers wreaked engines due to sludge blocking the oil filter which then bursts, again with predictably expensive consequences

http://www.speedsterclub.nl/bibliotheek/technische documentatie/tis/Technical Service Bulletin (Field Remedies)/Engine and Engine Aggregates/0001532-Engine - Broken Timing Chain.pdf

http://www.speedsterclub.nl/bibliotheek/technische documentatie/tis/Technical Service Bulletin (Field Remedies)/Engine and Engine Aggregates/0001424-Camshaft seizure and or engine damages - Burst oil filter cartridge.pdf

Same with the audi, wasn't the Audi on a 5k oil change, and had a problem if you didn't follow it, due to the overhot turbo, and small sump, resulting in oil pump failure. If you could prove you have had the oil changed, the warranty was extended?

cyclonebri1

focae wrote: »

But it isn't just the few litres of oil is it. Factor in the labour charges and it becomes a little more expensive.

How many engines do you suppose fail because the owner didn't change the oil more frequently than the recommended service intervals? Most engines are changed due to catastrophic failures due to other reasons such as timing belt failure, water pump failure or complete lack of oil altogether.

Intermediate oil changes could possibly slow down wear over a couple of hundred thousand miles but I doubt you would be able to tell the difference between two engines where one had had twice as many oil changes as the other. Driving style would almost certainly have more effect on the engine.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

And what do you think brings about "catastrophic engine failures"

I'll tell you what, failing to ensure the engine oil is clean, failing to maintain cam belt changes within, ie, less than the recomended service intervals. Servicing your car is like insurance, sure you can away with skimping once or twice, but when you get bitten, boy will you pay.

vaio

mikey72 wrote: »

Must admit, everything I read pointed to a specific timing chain oiler problem, and there has been a recall to change the oiler and the chain, not an increase in oil changes to fix the problem.

It was a couple of years ago I was dealing with Vauxhall but I think I remember the interval was reduced from 2 years/30k miles to 1 year/20k in addition to fitting the larger oil filter and changing the recommended grade of oil.

mikey72 wrote: »

Same with the audi, wasn't the Audi on a 5k oil change, and had a problem if you didn't follow it, due to the overhot turbo, and small sump, resulting in oil pump failure. If you could prove you have had the oil changed, the warranty was extended?

That's my point, the original lubrication schedule wasn’t good enough to prevent premature failures so they shortened the interval and improved the recommended oil & filter. The extended warranty was introduced because they were getting lots of failures on engines which had been serviced as recommended. Obviously if you hadn’t been following the recommendations then the warranty wouldn’t apply.

vaio

neilmcl wrote: »

What makes you think that has anything to do with oil changing (or not as the case may be) in between the normal service periods of long life/variable service periods. In all your cases the problem would have applied when drivers have gone beyond the normal stated intervals for oil changes, this is not what we're discussing.

No, in the cases I’ve mentioned the extended warranties only applied to people who had been following the recommended servicing schedule. I’m sure that any one who had gone beyond the recommended oil change interval wouldn’t have got any assistance from Audi/Vauxhall.