Ongoing General Automotive Thread 2.0

[TorqueDog]

Some manufacturers are now stating 20,000 - 26,000 KM oil change intervals (*cough* JLR), which is f-cking insanity.

I do them every 7,000 - 10,000 KM, with a heavier 5W30 than JLR now prescribe for my 5.0L S/C V8, mainly because 1. 5W20 was the original oil spec when the engine was first built and I’m running an extra 150 horsepower in this thing, and 2. the current 0W20 spec they recommend is to squeeze a few extra MPGs for Corporate Average Fuel Economy reasons and not reliability / longevity.

[Fuzz]

What about oil age? We don't put on many miles, so I just try to do it every 8 months or so. Not sure if that is overkill with synthetic these days.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

What about oil age? We don't put on many miles, so I just try to do it every 8 months or so. Not sure if that is overkill with synthetic these days.

The oil monitoring system on most modern vehicles also takes into consideration time for vehicles not being driven much. Most of them will all indicate oil change required after a year if the mileage has not been met.

[WideReceiver]

What’s the expected lifespan of hybrid e-batteries, specifically Toyota.

[moncton golden flames]

I have a 2016 Honda Fit LX with 130k on it.

We have hail damage (not severe) from the July 13th hail storm that came thru the NW. Insurance says the car is unrepairable due to value vs cost of repair. They are offering me 2 options. They buy the car from me or I keep the car and they pay me a reduced amount. I am looking for comparable vehicles to maximize the dollar amount, no matter which option I choose.

If I let them buy it, I would need to find a lateral move into something similar, but without the hail damage. Having to look for a used vehicle feels like a pain in the arse.

Just curious if anybody had opinions and/or other options I haven't explored or how to deal with the insurance company to maximize value.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

What about oil age? We don't put on many miles, so I just try to do it every 8 months or so. Not sure if that is overkill with synthetic these days.

I used to look around on bobistheoilguy and read people's Blackstone oil analysis results. It seems 1 year for synthetic is no problem in most cases, and milage is much more important.

It also seems like for a lot of cars 10,000km isn't an issue.

I change mine once a year. For one car that's 9-11k km, for the other that's about 4k km.

[Fuzz]

Awesome, good to know.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by moncton golden flames

I have a 2016 Honda Fit LX with 130k on it.

We have hail damage (not severe) from the July 13th hail storm that came thru the NW. Insurance says the car is unrepairable due to value vs cost of repair. They are offering me 2 options. They buy the car from me or I keep the car and they pay me a reduced amount. I am looking for comparable vehicles to maximize the dollar amount, no matter which option I choose.

If I let them buy it, I would need to find a lateral move into something similar, but without the hail damage. Having to look for a used vehicle feels like a pain in the arse.

Just curious if anybody had opinions and/or other options I haven't explored or how to deal with the insurance company to maximize value.

Do you care about the aesthetics? If no, take the payout, keep the car and keep driving it. If yes, still do the same and then private sale the vehicle as a winter beater/more conveniently look for a replacement vehicle when the hail rush dies down.

I did this with my last vehicle. Sold it to someone who wanted reliable first vehicle (was borrowing) and didn't care as much about how it looked. they received the vehicle several weeks after I got into my new (to me) vehicle so I didn't have to insure two at the same time, be without/had extra time to search for the best vehicle for me etc.

[curves2000]

Originally Posted by dubc80

My wife got oil changes on it regularly. Everyone seems perplexed at why this happened. Looks like an engine swap is around $8-10K for this van based on other estimates Ive been getting.

This van has been pretty good to us but this catastrophic failure has not been ideal. I guess $10K is better than a new van at $65K?

Capital cost on something that large could be both a great investment but also a downside risk as long as you look at it with open eyes.

$8k engine swap and you get the #1 component done and it could last a very long time. The deprecation on a new or newer fan could very well exceed that capital cost. A newer/used van may also have engine concerns.

That being said, an $8k engine won't increase the value of the van really much. It doesn't make it more valuable and something major could occur in the near future where you lose that investment. Theft, hail, accident etc and the insurance company will just pay you market value.

If you do decide to go down another car route, make sure you buy one where the maintenance history is known and verifiable, specifically engine/transmission services. A lot of used cars like lease backs are just randomly checked for basic things when they have been neglected on oil change/transmission service wise. Just because a dealer says a car passed some inspection, doesn't mean they opened up the engine head and had a look inside for oil sludge which leads to damage. An insane amount of people treat their leased cars like rental cars with little to no give a crap factor.

Either way, best of luck! I know it sucks but hopefully you make the best decision for your family.

[curves2000]

Originally Posted by Flacker

10-15K oil changes have been the norm in Europe for decades (some now as long as 30K). The 5-7K North American maintenance window is the "made up maintenance garbage".

I spend a far amount of time in Europe yearly and I have never really looked into maintenance schedule for oil changes but you may be right. I do believe some of the additives in EU diesel are much stronger than USA standards so that may also be a factor in oil viscosity breakdown.

I know the trend for oil change intervals are long and getting longer now. I have always had time wrapping my head around how an engine from a manufacturer 20-25 years ago recommended 5000 km oil change. A similar, more modern engine but a modest evolution of the one from 20 years earlier, using effectively similar oil now says 20k change and there isn't going to be an issue long term? Technology and standards have changed for sure but that much?

It's cheap insurance for me and at the end of the day, if a car has an engine issue within the warranty period, the manufacturer will pay. If your car has a engine issue at 150k it's not like the manufacturer or oil company is paying. The client pays.

The newer standards of really thin oil like 0W-20 + really long oil change intervals seem more like a corporate CEO/environmental strategy as opposed to an engineering one for longevity.

[Fuzz]

I'm going to assume it's because synthetic oils have actually come a long way in the past 30 years, and don't break down as easily. Electronic fuel systems with more sensors and smarter management reduce soot buildup and all the nasty crap incomplete combustion leads to, meaning there are far fewer contaminants getting into the oil.


I don't think this is any sort of conspiracy for the environment. That makes no sense.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Bill Bumface

I used to look around on bobistheoilguy and read people's Blackstone oil analysis results. It seems 1 year for synthetic is no problem in most cases, and milage is much more important.

It also seems like for a lot of cars 10,000km isn't an issue.

I change mine once a year. For one car that's 9-11k km, for the other that's about 4k km.

I used to be one of those "I always change my oil at 6k km's regardless of MFG intervals" but once I got into new BMW ownership and free maintenance I just went with their 10k intervals and since then just kind of stick with the vehicle oil life monitors all my vehicles as synthetics are so good these days and all new engine designs and manufacturing tolerances. I've not had a vehicle that consumed any amount of oil since my old STI as the days of requiring a liter of oil in the garage to top up are long gone.

[Ironhorse]

But how long are you keeping those BMWs?