Less than 200 miles a year

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AArdvark
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Less than 200 miles a year

Post by AArdvark »

It means that I don't ride enough. I also don't have to change my oil this year. WTF.


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Flack
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Post by Flack »

My dad is a firm believer that oil should be changed at least once a year regardless of mileage. I feel like that is a waste and simply giving money to the man. My father improves the value of vehicles when he owns them while I rapidly do the opposite.
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Post by Casual Observer »

Flack wrote:My dad is a firm believer that oil should be changed at least once a year regardless of mileage. I feel like that is a waste and simply giving money to the man. My father improves the value of vehicles when he owns them while I rapidly do the opposite.
The guys from Car Talk agree with you, they did a test with one of their cars by never changing the oil and apparently it was just fine.

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Post by Tdarcos »

Flack wrote:My dad is a firm believer that oil should be changed at least once a year regardless of mileage. I feel like that is a waste and simply giving money to the man. My father improves the value of vehicles when he owns them while I rapidly do the opposite.
I did not see this before or I would have said something. When I was first driving back in the '70s and '80s I changed my oil myself, crawling under the car every three months and when funds were tight I might stretch it a little to six. This was when oil was like 60c a can, not $6 a bottle now, and you couldn't get oil changes done for less than the oil and the filter at retail. I got over 120,000 miles on a cheap car simply by changing the oil before it caused too much engine damage.

If you're only driving 200 miles a year then probably once a year or so is fine but it should be changed once it is ineffective. When you're putting fresh motor oil in the color of honey and it's become the color of asphalt something is going on. You're basically reducing the potential lifespan of the vehicle for a "savings" of a few pennies a month.

Motor oil is a lubricant that allows metal parts to move against each other with less friction and less likelihood of seizing. Used motor oil has water, microscopic to small pieces of metal, burned motor oil, and carbon. The motor oil gets contaminated and damaged so the engine doesn't have to. And the oil filter helps to catch some of this but it wears out or fills up eventually.

What is reasonable is to check it by drawing some off when checking oil levels and when it gets really dirty, then spend the twenty bucks, ya cheapskate!
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Post by AArdvark »

Motor oil is a lubricant that allows metal parts to move against each other with less friction and less likelihood of seizing.
Huh, I did not know that.

It's not the money, it's the pain in the ass of getting under the bike to do the work. Plus, 200 miles a summer is nothing to modern oil. The car goes 5000 miles on a change, easy.
Don't you worry, the bike will get fresh oil and tires this summer. Maybe I'll even ride it more.


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Post by pinback »

Tdarcos wrote:Motor oil is a lubricant that allows metal parts to move against each other with less friction and less likelihood of seizing.
No disrespect, but I'm not sure that's true. Can you cite a source for this information?

Again, I mean no disrespect, please do not take it this way.
I don't have to say anything. I'm a doctor, too.

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Post by Tdarcos »

pinback wrote:
Tdarcos wrote:Motor oil is a lubricant that allows metal parts to move against each other with less friction and less likelihood of seizing.
No disrespect, but I'm not sure that's true. Can you cite a source for this information?

Again, I mean no disrespect, please do not take it this way.
I should probably include the quote from Goodfellas every time you make a response of a pedantic nature. But you want pedantry, you got it.

"The main function of motor oil is to reduce wear on moving parts; it also cleans moving parts from the sludge, inhibits corrosion, improves sealing, and cools the engine by carrying heat away from moving parts.[1]
[1] Klamman, Dieter, Lubricants and Related Products, Verlag Chemie, 1984"
- Wikipedia, Motor Oil
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Post by AArdvark »

So you're telling me motor oil reduces friction AND removes sludge particles AND carries heat away. Wow, that stuff is like magic or something.




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Post by Ice Cream Jonsey »

PAUL.

Giving us the definition of OIL is not helping the thread. Come on, man. You've been doing great lately. You don't have to post every thought that comes into your head.
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Post by Tdarcos »

Ice Cream Jonsey wrote:PAUL.

Giving us the definition of OIL is not helping the thread. Come on, man. You've been doing great lately. You don't have to post every thought that comes into your head.
Jonsey, if Pinback is going to act in a ridiculous fashion and say something I'm pretty much aware he does not mean while at the same time he claims he does mean it, well, I'm going to take him at his word regardless of what I think he means.

Wikipedia calls this "assuming good faith." Either I presume if Pinback says he means something when he says he does, or I should just presume he's lying.

Which do you want, Jonsey? For me to take Pinback at his word (whether or not I believe him) and act as if he is acting in good faith, or presume he is lying?

It's your call. Jonsey, I can take Pinback at his word or presume he's lying. If you want me to do the latter and always assume he's a lying sack of shit, say so. I would prefer not to do that.

Say what you need to say, Jonsey. Say what you need to say.
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Post by pinback »

You defined "oil" before I ever posted in this thread. That's what he's referring to. Jizaboz made fun of it, then I made fun of it, then Robb put an end to it.

Here's you, ruining this thread, before I ever showed up:
The Thread Ruiner wrote: Motor oil is a lubricant that allows metal parts to move against each other with less friction and less likelihood of seizing. Used motor oil has water, microscopic to small pieces of metal, burned motor oil, and carbon. The motor oil gets contaminated and damaged so the engine doesn't have to. And the oil filter helps to catch some of this but it wears out or fills up eventually.
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Post by Ice Cream Jonsey »

You defined oil before pinback posted. I don't know what's going on with you two. You guys are on your own caper. And that's fine! You two have the freedom to run your own caper.

Look, you ask all the time for feedback, so I am just giving some. At no point has anyone wandered into a thread on this BBS and said, "Thank God that was defined for me!"

You're doing great otherwise.
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Post by FlyingCarp »

Just in case anyone was interested: a "caper" is not only a ridiculous or illicit escapade, "to caper" is a verb to describe "a playful skipping movement". There's a connection between those two uses etymologically, but where this really gets fascinating is when we consider the Dutch word "kaper". Our wooden-shoed friends likely capered quite remarkably, but they use their variation of the term to mark a privateer, pirate or hijacker. That sure makes my toes tap as we circle back to capers and their relationship to crime.

In a tastier direction, I'm sure we're all familiar with the delectable culinary caper from Capparis spinosa. Did you know that pickled treat is actually a flower bud? And speaking of things that can bud, bloom and blossom, would you believe that caper berries were considered aphrodisiacs in Biblical times? The Hebrew word for the caper is close kin to their word for "desire". Turns out your lox fetish might be misguided.

If that isn't enough to make you windbags crack the seal on a jar of capers, perhaps you will once you learn that capers are a known antidote to flatulence.

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Post by Tdarcos »

Ice Cream Jonsey wrote:PAUL.

Giving us the definition of OIL is not helping the thread.

But you did not read it. I was using contrast, a literary device, in which I said "this is what oil is" then "this is what happens when it gets used," which is what the point was, oil that sits in the engine goes from the pristine, to the contaminated.

Look, I'm trying to argue that not changing oil is bad, so I describe how it becomes that way. Part of it can be to push the point more strongly, so someone thinks, "did he have to point out what new oil is, and we all know how oil gets contaminated" and while you criticize me, I made you realize the point, didn't I?
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Post by Flack »

Tdarcos wrote:But you did not read it.
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Post by AArdvark »

Can you tell us a funny anecdote involving motor oil? That would have been better then defining what motor oil does.

I used to change my own oil in the cars. I would pour the new oil from the bottles into the car and replace the caps on them. Then I'd stick the plastic bottles upside down around the motor in order to drain every last ounce of oil into the caps. Then I'd pour those last five or six capfuls into the engine. Pointless, really,but it's what I'd do. Then one time I forgot an empty bottle by the radiator fan. When I started the car to move it off the ramps it made such a sound! Freaked me out. Thought the cat got in there or something.
It's all better now though.


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Post by Tdarcos »

AArdvark wrote:Can you tell us a funny anecdote involving motor oil? That would have been better then defining what motor oil does.
Not necessarily funny but an anecdote.

I found out what happens when you don't check, and you put 5W30 motor oil into an engine that expects 10W40.

You slag the engine, which to repair or replace would - at that time - cost more than I paid for the car. (I'd bought it from my girlfriend's mother for $1,000 and discovered the cheapest fix to the car I had at that time owned for one month was at least that much.)
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Post by Ice Cream Jonsey »

Just in case there are any kids that are about to drive and read this forum, no, you do not ruin the engine putting oil in of a slightly different weight.
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Post by Flack »

I propose Tdarcos drink 5w30 for all of April and 10w40 during May and then we can compare the results.
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Post by Tdarcos »

Ice Cream Jonsey wrote:Just in case there are any kids that are about to drive and read this forum, no, you do not ruin the engine putting oil in of a slightly different weight.
Well, I suggest you check again because the Ford Taurus I had bought from my girlfriend's mother was in perfect condition, had passed Virginia annual inspection and the only mistake I made was run it with 5w30 oil because I didn't read the manual and mistakenly used the wrong oil instead of the 10w40 I should have.

Either that or the mechanic who did the inspection who noticed nothing that would cause engine failure and the different mechanic at the Ford dealer who agreed that using the wrong viscosity of oil could damage the engine in the manner it was are both incompetent in noticing the real cause the engine seized up.

Otherwise, you tell me. What, other than improper motor oil could cause a car's engine to seize up so badly it would have to have expensive repairs? PS: it was not a manual transmission and even if it was at that time I did know how to drive a stick.
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