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Fred Voorhees
06-04-2006, 10:36 AM
The diversion of my Jiffy Lube thread reminded me of a site that I have had bookmarked for some while now. I thought that some of you might like to read this. It does confirm, at least in theory, what some have said in the Jiffy Lube thread.

http://www.motoroilbible.com/pre-one.html

Lee DeRaud
06-04-2006, 10:52 AM
About bloody time.

Seems like for decades now, you've had engine oil manufacturers talking about how great/durable/improved/whatever their products are...and then recommending changing it at the same intervals as 30-40 years ago. Not only that, but at much shorter intervals than those recommended by the manufacturers of the engines the oil goes into.

Jim Becker
06-04-2006, 11:04 AM
The factory interval on my Tundra Limited was 7500 miles...the dealer still marked the little sticker at 3000. The interval on my current Highlander Hybid Limited is 5000 miles...the dealer still marks the little sticker at 3000. I still stick with the factory recommendation to avoid warranty hassles and oil changes are cheap, anyway...but wouldn't feel horrible if I went longer. Today's engines are made pretty well! As is the oil, especially the synthetics.

Ken Garlock
06-04-2006, 11:13 AM
You don't have to convince me. I have been a synthetic oil user for over 15 years. A friend at TI got me started on Amsoil synthetic. I just change it once a year. This spring I started using their new 5W-40 European Car Formula (https://www.amsoil.com/storefront/afl.aspx). It exceeds the most demanding requirements of the European car makers, and as I understand it, Amsoil is the only American made oil that does so.

OH yes, if you have an engine oil failure while using Amsoil, and an independent lab confirms the failure was due to Amsoil, Amsoil will pay for the complete repair of your engine. Last I heard, they hadn't payed for any repairs.

Lee DeRaud
06-04-2006, 11:14 AM
The factory interval on my Tundra Limited was 7500 miles...the dealer still marked the little sticker at 3000. The interval on my current Highlander Hybid Limited is 5000 miles...the dealer still marks the little sticker at 3000.Yup, forgot about that one. I go through this routine with the dweeb at the dealer when I go in for the 7500-mile service intervals:

"You should change the oil more often."
"Book says 7500 miles."
"3000 is much better."
"Got anything from the factory that says that?"
(silence)

It's called "revenue enhancement".

(Don't get me started on the whole concept of "service advisor": a guy in a suit and tie who's never touched a wrench in his life and whose only desire in life is to get promoted to the new-car sales department.)

Steve Clardy
06-04-2006, 11:27 AM
I run Fords, use motorcraft oil.
Ford has recommended, in the glove box book, 6000 miles, for a long time.
I change between 5000, 6000 miles.

Ken Fitzgerald
06-04-2006, 11:39 AM
I think there are a couple of things that may have a definite effect on engine life:

1. Check your oil regularly; adding oil if necessary.

2. Change oil....change the filter!

I happen to be at a friends business visiting when an owner/mechanic returned my friends Toyota pickup after servicing it. In coversation, I told him I was getting ready to replace the timing chain on my wife's 4-Runner. He asked how many miles I had on it. I told him 126,000. He asked if I'd changed the chain before. I replied "NO". His comment ...."you check your oil regularly...change it regularly and always change the filter when you change oil ....don't you?" I said "Yes". He said "With that engine.........people who don't check the oil or change it regularly will change the timing chain between 80-90,000 miles.....people who do it with some regularity will get 90-110,000 miles on a timing chain.....When you get more than a 110,000 miles on a timing chain....somebody's taking care of their oil".

Mike Cutler
06-04-2006, 12:19 PM
Uh-Oh. Ken has me worried.

1st Toyota P/U- 126,000 miles.

2nd Toyota P/U 330,00 Miles.

Current Toyota P/U 100,000 miles.

I've never changed a timing chain, or belt in any vehicle. I've never replaced anything other than oil, and filters. I'm also not real particular about intervals, 10,000 miles would be about the norm. Learned about the terms "Roll Off, and "Breakdown" a long time ago with respects to oil.
It's cheap insurance to change your oil and filters regurally though.

Ken Fitzgerald
06-04-2006, 12:28 PM
Mike..........might be pointing at a particular engine. This was the 2.2 RE engine. Keep in mind that I live in a very mountainous area. We live in Snake River Canyon in northcentral Idaho. I climb 3,000 feet in elevation anyway I leave town. To the east it's about 180 miles to climb that 3,000' most of it in the last 10 miles. South most of it's in 5 miles, North 6 miles....West, 10 miles. Point being there's a lot of steep climbing here. In town I climb a 1100 feet elevation, 11% grade to get home........Those are harder on engines....more straining. The Lewiston grade...3,000' elevation in 6 miles.....not unusual to see vehicles pulled over due to overheating. We also get summer temps in excess of 100 degrees for about 6 weeks in the summer and 3 of those weeks can have temps of over 110..........Might be due to a particular engine and the environment that we use them here!

Steve Clardy
06-04-2006, 12:38 PM
I'm stiil running my 1995 F-150, 351 V-8 4x4

241,000

No timing chain yet.
Original water pump
Everything except the radiator and alternator.
Maintance does pay off

Tom Stover
06-04-2006, 2:44 PM
I worked with a man that bought a new car, Chevy I believe, and never changed the oil, never. He had 100,000 miles on it and swears all he does is change the filter every 3000 miles and adds a quart to fill it back up. His theory is that if the filter is doing its job you should never have to change oil. It sounds logical but I will keep changing my oil.

skip coyne
06-04-2006, 3:21 PM
195,000 on my '95 toyota T100

change oil 5-7 k

getting ready for another timing belt (did the last at 140, 000 ) this engine eats valves if the timing belt goes so not worth chancing it in my opion .

John Miliunas
06-04-2006, 3:39 PM
OK, probably a dumb question but, consider the source. :o I've got just under 130K on my little Subaru w/2.2L engine. Been using decent filter and Shell "regular" oil since buying it at about 60K miles. Changes typically at @4-5K for both, oil & filter. So, any of you motorheads see any reason I couldn't or, worse yet, shouldn't switch to synthetic at this point? :confused: The car runs well and (knock on wood) I haven't had any real issues with it whatsoever, outside of very squeaky brakes. One friend did recommend I go ahead and have the timing belt replaced before it decides to go belly-up at the most inopportune time. Recommendations??? :) :cool:

Jim O'Dell
06-04-2006, 3:43 PM
Yup, forgot about that one. I go through this routine with the dweeb at the dealer when I go in for the 7500-mile service intervals:

"You should change the oil more often."
"Book says 7500 miles."
"3000 is much better."
"Got anything from the factory that says that?"
(silence)

It's called "revenue enhancement".

(Don't get me started on the whole concept of "service advisor": a guy in a suit and tie who's never touched a wrench in his life and whose only desire in life is to get promoted to the new-car sales department.)

Hey, Lee, don't get me started. :D I'm a service advisor. Believe me, we have no aspirations of being demoted to the sales department. We have to fight our customers to go the 5,000 mile route. Most want to change it at 3,000 miles because they always have. Most of my customers don't understand why the change from 3k to 5k or higher intervals. If you were still using straight petroleum based oil, then yes, 3k would still be recommended. All of the newer vehicles recommend a 5W-20 oil, sometimes 5W-30. To get the 5 component, it's going to be at least a synthtic blend, if not pure synthetic. If you're running pure synthetic, 7,500 is the normal recommended service interval.
We always point to the service manual that came with the car. Unless you are doing some heavy duty towing, 5,000 +/- 1,000 on a Ford product is perfectly fine. We do recommend not going over 6 months. For our customers (Lincoln/Mercury owners tend to average in the older group of car owners) if they aren't driving enough to hit 5k in 6 months, they are taking short 5 mile trips. That's hard on oil. As Jim Becker said, oil changes are pretty cheap. So that makes for pretty cheap insurance to change oil every 6 months.
But please, don't slip me into a car salesman's group. I have to fight for the integrity I have because of the bad apples that are out there, both at dealerships and at independants. I don't need to have to fight to separate myself from salespeople that are here today and gone tomorrow, so they can make whater ever promises they want since they won't be there to fade the heat. That's what the service advisor is there to do anyway, right??
But it's that way in most every business, not just car repair. How many question the prices on repairing appliances? One could just as easily put those repair people in a bad light. I know several people who I believe got ripped off on appliance repairs. Knowing a little about what needs to be done is your best defense.
And a little about revenue enhancement. Would you like a fried pie with your hamburger, sir? :p Jim.

Bill Turpin
06-04-2006, 3:51 PM
Bought a 1980 F-100 w/351 V-8 in 1999. Oil was changed fifty miles before purchase. Ten miles per gallon with no AC. Waited for the 3000 miles for oil change. Put in full synthrtic Syntec...12.2 mpg with the first tank after oil change. 1995 Subaru developed oil leak at 60K that they wanted $800 to fix. It would loose one quart in first fifteen miles after oil change and then only another half pint in next 2985 miles until next change. Ran that car(with only three quarts of Syntec left in pan) for another 140K with original timing belt. Never fixed the leak.

My 2004 F-150 came with 5W-20 synthetic blend with 5000 change schedule. With gas at $3/gallon the extra ten to 12 dollars per oil change pays for itself VERY quickly. :)

Bill in WNC mountains

skip coyne
06-04-2006, 3:55 PM
John
depends on the engine , some the timing belt breaks and it a trip in for a new belt some its new engine time .

http://www.gates.com/brochure.cfm?brochure=2256&location_id=3487&go=SearchGatesPopular

heres a guide gates puts out , lets you see how critical it is for your particular engine

Jim O'Dell
06-04-2006, 3:58 PM
OK, probably a dumb question but, consider the source. :o I've got just under 130K on my little Subaru w/2.2L engine. Been using decent filter and Shell "regular" oil since buying it at about 60K miles. Changes typically at @4-5K for both, oil & filter. So, any of you motorheads see any reason I couldn't or, worse yet, shouldn't switch to synthetic at this point? :confused: The car runs well and (knock on wood) I haven't had any real issues with it whatsoever, outside of very squeaky brakes. One friend did recommend I go ahead and have the timing belt replaced before it decides to go belly-up at the most inopportune time. Recommendations??? :) :cool:

John, changing to synthetic should be no problem. Staying with the factory recommended oil weight is the key. And again, look in your mainetenance guide if you got it with the car (never know on a used car). It will give the interval for timing belt changes. If you didn't get one, try online at Subaru to see if they have them on line. They may have the service intervals on their web site...Ford does. You might be able to find out also if the Subaru engine is an "interference" engine or a "non-interference" engine. the difference being that if the belt breaks on a non-interference engine, the valves will not strike the pistons. It is sometimes called a free wheeling engine. Either way, if it breaks, you're stranded where you are. I had a chain break on my '74 Toyota Celica back in the 80's. It was an interference engine and was not a pretty site. Jim

Lee DeRaud
06-04-2006, 4:22 PM
Hey, Lee, don't get me started. :D I'm a service advisor. Believe me, we have no aspirations of being demoted to the sales department.Sounds like you actually go out to the work bays and talk to the technicians on a regular basis and have a serious clue what's going on. That's certainly not how it works at my dealership: if it wasn't within walking distance and my car wasn't still under warranty, I'd certainly find somebody better. As it is, I make sure I talk to the guy that actually does the work...can you guess I'm not their favorite customer?:p

Wes Bischel
06-04-2006, 4:38 PM
Jim O.,
Maybe you know my Uncle - or at least people like him.:D
Years ago, he bought a new Bronco - kept taking back to the dealer because it was loosing oil at an alarming rate - about a quart every 100 miles! The dealer was all over the thing - couldn't find a thing wrong. By the seventh visit, my Uncle was really steamed. One of the mechanics asked him when he had last read the dipstick - "Just before I came in and it's down a quart!" was my Uncles curt reply. As my Uncle tells it, the mechanic was very kind when he explained the proper way to read a dipstick! All along my Uncle had been overfilling the engine by a quart!:eek: :eek: :D :D

Back to the topic, these days if we drive 15,000 miles a year between all three cars we are lucky, mostly short hops. So each car gets the oil changed about twice a year. Which is kind of what we used to do when I was a kid - when you took the snows off, oil/lube/tune-up and when you put the snows on, oil/lube/tune-up, and in between, you just drove the wheels off the thing.:D

Wes

Allan Johanson
06-04-2006, 4:40 PM
I had a chain break on my '74 Toyota Celica back in the 80's. It was an interference engine and was not a pretty site. Jim
My old boss had a timing belt go on his Lotus Turbo Esprit. The valves had an argument with the pistons.... A couple months later when the parts arrived from England and it was all back together, it was running again. The bill? 10-15K as I recall. Ouch!

How are new/rebuilt engines today for being clean? By this I mean there are a group of people out there who insist on changing the oil in a new car at 1000-2000 miles to remove any small bits of metal or other contaminants from the engine. Sounds like cheap insurance to me.

Allan

Jim O'Dell
06-04-2006, 5:57 PM
Sounds like you actually go out to the work bays and talk to the technicians on a regular basis and have a serious clue what's going on. That's certainly not how it works at my dealership: if it wasn't within walking distance and my car wasn't still under warranty, I'd certainly find somebody better. As it is, I make sure I talk to the guy that actually does the work...can you guess I'm not their favorite customer?:p

Yeah, I actually spend more time in the shop than I should! :eek: Though I haven't mechanic-ed for a living, I have 28 college hours in auto repair for a good background. I installed stereos and alarms in cars for a few years. I'm lucky in that we have a pretty good crew. Most everyone wants to make an honest living. There is one guy that I have to temper what he recommends from time to time. It's sad that there are obviously so many places out there that think they have to lie about things. My philosophy is that I want a customer for life. Not get what I can now and hope someone new comes along to replace them.

Wes, something similar happens quite often. The oil we use per Ford is a 5W20 synthetic blend. That is really pretty thin, and there's not a lot of color to it. Makes it hard to read on the dipstick if nothing else. Tell you Uncle to clean the dipstick, put it back in for a few seconds then pull out to read with the tip facing down on a piece of paper towel. A blue paper shop towel works best.then holding the tip in place, bend the dipstick on to the towel. The oil will leave a wet spot on the towel showing where the level is. Then you can tell if it is full or not.

Allan, that hurts. I did have a customer that had a 2002 Lincoln LS for a company car. These vehicles came with 36 month, 36,000 mile free maintenance, based on 5000 mile intervals, so the first 7 visits would be free. (He didn't buy the car at our dealership) He came in at about 33,000 miles with a ticking noise in the front of the car that increased in frequency as the engine speed increased. I ended up haveing to explain to him that free maintenance was NOT the same thing as maintenance free. :eek: He had never changed the oil at all! Sludged the engine to the point that the lifters were not getting oil. Long block cost him about 6,500.00 installed. We see stickers all the time from the Jiffy Lube type places where 10W30 or straight 30 weight oil is being used. Again, this can, and will in time, cause sludging and engine failure. We also suspect the wrong trans fluid being used. In fact, the used mini van I just purchased to replace my wife's old Caravan had nice looking trans fluid in it, but it foamed when hot. Got it changed to the proper fluid and no more problems. It's amazing the people I talk to that have 20W40 oil in their new cars. It's racing oil, it must be better!!! :confused: Unfortunately, they will learn a ard lesson if they keep the car long enough.
Oh, and Tom. That guy's name wouldn't be Walter Oiler, would it!?! One of my auto teacher's name, in Jr. College, was Walter Edsel Oiler. (With a name like that, he was destined to be a mechanic!) He did the same thing. He actually developed an additive that one of the oil companies bought the rights to. And in the deal, he got all of his oil free. Still changed the filter and added a quart, but did it about every 500 to 1000 miles, IIRC. He couldn't tell us what brand oil it was because of his contract with the college, but we all betted it was Penzoil with the PZ-7 additive they advertised so hard. ( I think that's what they called it) Man I've been talkative today! Jim

Steve Gray
06-04-2006, 11:42 PM
My personal experience with better gas mileage and oil is using the correct
weight oil in the engine. I messed up once while buying oil at Walmart and got 15-50w mobil 1 instead of the normal 10w30 mobil 1. The wifes lincoln has a computer screen that gives mileage and other info. Her mileage immediantly dropped from 26.3 to 25.0 and stayed that way the whole time the 15/50 was in the engine. Pulled it out 2 weeks ago and put 10w30 back in and went back to 26.3 immediantly. I didn't keep track of mileage when I ran a standard oil. The recomended weight is actually 5/30 but most of the time its really hot out here and I have trouble getting over my own old habits.:)
We usually spend a little over $500 per month on fuel,:eek: and man, I am almost willing to try anything to lower that! The car is paid for and still seems to have plenty of life left, so I am going to run it till she is almost ready to drop.

Roy Wall
06-05-2006, 12:05 AM
OK, probably a dumb question but, consider the source. :o I've got just under 130K on my little Subaru w/2.2L engine. Been using decent filter and Shell "regular" oil since buying it at about 60K miles. Changes typically at @4-5K for both, oil & filter. So, any of you motorheads see any reason I couldn't or, worse yet, shouldn't switch to synthetic at this point? :confused: The car runs well and (knock on wood) I haven't had any real issues with it whatsoever, outside of very squeaky brakes. One friend did recommend I go ahead and have the timing belt replaced before it decides to go belly-up at the most inopportune time. Recommendations??? :) :cool:

John,

I would not at this point. Keep the same "dino oil" schedule going .....you should easily get 200K miles on the little Subaru.......hopefully 250K!!!

Tom Stover
06-05-2006, 7:30 AM
Last night I went out and checked the owners manual of my wifes Saturn Vue just to make sure what it said about oil changes. I thought it said every 5000 miles but what it said was to change oil when the "change oil soon" light came on. Driving conditions could change the frequency of changes. Oh, this Vue has the Honda 3.5 engine.

Ian Barley
06-05-2006, 8:52 AM
I find this fascinating. My wifes new(ish) Volkswagen has no set service interval (computer monitors and advises when due) but is rated for approx 20,000 miles between oil changes, with suitable synthetic oils. My van is rated at 15,000 miles or 12 months for oils changes. I cannot imagine running a vehicle that requires ol change about every 8 weeks which is what 3,000 miles of motoring is for me.

Stan Mijal
06-05-2006, 9:43 AM
This discussion reminds me of one we have in boating and outboard maintenance. Outboard water pump impellers have factory suggested replacement intervals of anywhere from 1-3 years. Some of thise arguing against replacement at reccomended intervals will state that they have gone "x" years without replacement and everything is OK. the same goes for the oil change intervals. Some have had experiences where very long extended intervals have been ok. Manufacturers have to recommend reasonable intervals that will promote almost incident-free results. This includes vehicles placed in highly stressed situations (or outboards run in silty water) as well as those run under ideal conditions with little or no stress. Oil quality can vary significantly(especially dino vs synthetics comes into play. I dont know of any manufaturer who has different intervals for synthetics although we all know synthitics provide more protection) , but a single interval change must be writtten to cover all oils.
Needless to sy, follow the manufaturers recommended intervals while under warrranty to avoid coverage problems. After that? Go with your gut (and brain), after all , its on your dime at that point.
As to timing belt changes. Belts are manufatured with a rubber based compound that will suffer the effects of deterioration by heat, drying out, and ozone over long periods of time. If your engine is an engine that will suffer valve/piston interference (read costly mess) definitely change the belts regularly. (penny saved-pound foolish comes to mind here) . If your engine is a non-interference engine, you theoretically could wait until the belt snaps, and then tow the vehicle in and get it changed, but who has time for that?
Anyway, <soapbox rant off> best of luck with those decisions.....

Jim O'Dell
06-05-2006, 3:01 PM
Steve, if I was you , I would have pulled the 15w50 out as soon as I noticed my mistake. Is your Lincoln a pre 2000 model? If so, the maintenance guide did say 5W30. Ford came out with an update about 5 years ago that says to use 5W20 in those cars as well.

I'm surprised at the 20,000 mile service interval. :confused: Even the Hybrids say something like 15k due to reduced engine running time. (At least the Ford/Mercur hybrid is 15.) 20k seems way too long, no matter what type of oil it is. Jim

Steve Gray
06-05-2006, 4:49 PM
Jim,
I didn't realize I had bought 15w50 until I was pouring the last quart in the engine. I was not worried about running it because of the 15wgt. rating. I was surprised about the loss of fuel mileage. About running 20,000 miles between changes, I have the sample results from 7,500, 12,000 and 15,000 miles and all show more than suitable for continued use. My wife is a school teacher and the Lincoln is her ride to work and home, 65 miles each way. All interstate miles. If it were a police car with alot of idling and then sudden acceleration I don't think that the oil would last as long. BUT, I am running test on 3 different brand police cars right now. I have had a hard time letting go of my own ideas on oil change intervals, but I've seen literally hundreds of our own sample results and those results overwhelmingly came back good. If I can extend our oil change intervals by double on just our light duty equipment, my dept will save thousands of dollars a year.
I don't fault anyone for maintaining their own preference in service intervals, its just that I can really save alot of money for my company.

Cliff Rohrabacher
06-05-2006, 5:27 PM
The truth is simple:
If you don't change your oil every 3000 miles the gates of hell will open up and swallow you.

That is why in New Jersey we always change our oil at 3000 miles like clockwork and we do it in a parking lot or field or side of the road where we can simply pull the plug spilling the old oil out onto the ground as an offering to the oil gods.

Apparently it works perfectly as no one has ever been swallowed in the gates of hell.

Zahid Naqvi
06-05-2006, 5:58 PM
the owners manual of my 98 Corolla says 7500 miles under normal driving conditions. I stick to the manufacturer recommendation about the oil change frequency and the type of oil I use. The oil change places still place a 3K sticker, doesn't bother me. 118K miles and counting, no mechanical problems of any kind yet.
I think mine comes with a timing chain and not a belt. I did take it to the dealer for the 100K service, the only thing recommended was to change brake pads, which I did myself.

Jim O'Dell
06-05-2006, 6:06 PM
Steve, there may be something to that. Remember earlier in this thread I said something about short trips being harder on oil than long trips. Moisture from the atmosphere can pose problems in the oil. Short trips don't get it hot enough for long enough to dispell the moisture. We all know what larger amounts of water in the crankcase can do to an engine. But still, I feel that for the price of the oil change, it is pretty cheap insurance. And it's not just oil that breaks down over time and use. All hydraulic fluids will do the same. Most of the import cars recommend changing out brake fluid. We have it available, but have never done one. To me, if you bleed the brakes when you do brake shoes, you're changing out the fluid. Power steering fluid is one we just started changing out in the last year or so. Ran into lots of steering racks that were failing because of contaminated fluid breaking down. Most of these racks were under warranty on a Lincoln, but it's a lot more expensive to replace the rack that to change the fluid if it goes after warranty. And not all extended warrantys cover the steering rack. We did the same thing about really making customers aware of changing trans fluid and using the right fluid about 5 years ago. Up until then we were doing 1 to 2 trans overhauls a week. Now we are doing maybe 1 every 2 to 3 months! It really does work to keep maintenance up to date. Jim.

John Miliunas
06-05-2006, 10:21 PM
Well guys, I'd really, really like to thank you for all the replies and wonderful insight! You've been a great BIG help! :D To that affect, I've already contacted my mekanic on having the timing belt replaced. I thought about taking it right into Subaru but, this guy is really a decent mechanic and needs the business plus, friend of the family. I've also decided that when my oil change comes due, it's gonna' be 100% synthetic! Heck, I rack up 2K-plus miles a month and it'll pay in the end, plus I may even squeak and extra mile or two per gallon out of it and won't have to have it serviced as often! Win/win, as I see it! :D Thanks again...I just knew I could count on you guys to provide me with the direction I was looking for! :) :cool:

Steve Gray
06-05-2006, 11:36 PM
Jim,
We preventive maintenence engine oil & coolant, belts, trans, rear ends & fuel filters. We haven't started power steering yet, but we need too. There's just so much you can do at once. On my own vehicles I do the above plus power steering and bleed the brakes every couple of years. I've been down the bad ford anti-lock controller road and don't want to spend that kind of money again! About the most effective thing we do is fuel filters once a year or every 10,000 miles. We replace ALOT less fuel pumps now.:)
My maintenance budget used to be about $750,000 a year. This year it looks to be around 1.2 million. Quite a jump in four years time. I try to save every dime I can but the average age of my fleet has jumped from 9 years to 11 years, and during the sam time period I was cut 2 mechanics. So ANYTHING I can do that is preventative or predictive replacement I get really wound up about.

Dennis McDonaugh
06-06-2006, 11:21 AM
I change the oil in my Dodge PU with Cummins at the recommended 7500 mile interval except when I'm towing. I have it changed at 3000 miles when I'm on vacation because I'm normally pulling our 5th wheel.

We had a Geo (Toyota) lose its timing belt and the engine spewed parts all over the freeway at 120,000 mi. A lot of smaller engines have rubber timing belts and they are wear items. Not when when they break!

Bart Leetch
06-06-2006, 12:32 PM
"About the most effective thing we do is fuel filters once a year or every 10,000 miles. We replace ALOT less fuel pumps now."

Is that because of back pressure of having to push the fuel through a partially plugged filter?

Most of the fuel pumps are inside the tank now days with the filter outside the tank.

When the fuel pump was on the motor I used to put a filter on the incoming side of the pump & on the out going side of the pump as well as the regular filter you would be surprised what those filters picked up. It made the pump last longer.

I have always heard timing belts & serpentine belts should be changed every 60,000 miles. I also watch for the tiny cracks on the inside of the belt.

1978 Ford F250 300 6 cyl. 137000

1979 Toyota 1600 cc 131,000

1990 Chev Lumina 133,000

1994 Chevy S10 163,000

Low mileage vehicle whats that?

Of course we only take 5-6 trips a year that are around or over 500 miles round trip.

Total purchase price for all my vehicles $6150.00

We walk from door to door to go to work & drive a few miles each week in town to transact business.

We are very fortunate to not have a high gas bill. The LOML's Lumina gets filled about every 3 weeks & the S10 gets filled about every 2 weeks on the average.

The F250 gets used for heavy hauling & the Toyota will be sold in the near future.

Steve Gray
06-06-2006, 1:34 PM
Bart,
I think you hit the nail on the head when asking about the fuel filter adding restriction to the pressure side of the pump. All the FI vehicles we have run a return fuel system. Pressure regulator controls how much PSI. I figure that the pump working through a restricted filter must be doing 100% all the time. Just my opinion, but when we started replacing fuel filters on an annual bassis, our pump replacement dropped by at least 1/3.:)