Apparently they are not from your neck of the woods (or mine either). In both our areas, I believe that, while the styles are a bit different, ball bustin' humor is considered a high art form among the locals.Oh God man, can't you take a little ball bustin humor.
I apologize if you were hurt.
I was doing a wheelie (that's what the spell check said) coming up my driveway (when I was 14, with my first bike, a Honda CL 175 & chain maintenance had not occurred to me).
So would you say if running synthetic oil, it might be okay to change the filter at 10,000 miles and oil and filter at 20,000 miles? With modern cars having the filter up top, and most in a way that contains any spillage changing filters is a snap.
I cut open oil filters and inspect the media. Always with the airplane engine (Lycoming O-360), and with car engines back many years ago when I was into SCCA racing. The filter media always has some amount of metal in it. The difference between a healthy engine and one that is not, is how much metal, how big the pieces are, and what kind of metal (iron, chrome, aluminum, etc. - what part of the engine they're from). A healthy engine will have just a handful of tiny dust-sized pieces throughout the entire filter.
Good Gosh man! That describes me perfectly. I think I'm what is called a "Hot Mess". At least I admit it.
Decades ago I bought a 1978 Honda CB-550-K with about 30k on it and rode it another 60k before it died. I was going down the freeway around 70 mph when the bike suddenly jolted like I hit a bump and the engine suddenly revved up to redline even though I wasn't touching the clutch. The bike had no power like it was in neutral so I coasted to the emergency lane and stopped. The drive chain was missing and I saw it a few hundred yards up the road.
I had 2 550 K 's & a 750. I guess I didn't drive them far enough (even though for 3 years a 550 was my only transportation) for that to happen. Interesting drive train disconnect.
Whew! You are lucky. 70mph and a locked rear wheel would have been horrible. I once had a dog run into the front spokes when I was travelling about 20mph. The dog died and I went over the handlebars. I had little sympathy for the dog at the time.
I agree. I've done UOA (used oil analysis) on cars I was racing, and expensive synthetic oil was indistinguishable from cheap mineral oil, when both were of the required viscosity and API rating. Synthetic oil has 2 potential advantages:
I think you missed one advantage. If you have a cooling issue and overheat the engine, synthetic oil will hold up better and your engine may not be ruined while dino oil will let it be ruined more easily. I'm not saying synthetic can run with no cooling, but in some edge cases it can make a difference.
That's true in two ways: synthetic has a flatter viscosity vs. temp curve, so it retains more of its viscosity when hot. And it can handle higher temperatures before breaking down.
A better way to state #1 is that synthetics allow you to formulate oils with a very wide viscosity range, like 0W40. Engines get better wear protection at start-up and in cold weather, yet retain high speed/high temp protection capabilities too. I've never seen a conventional oil with a rating of 0W40, which I've used in every car I've owned for many years now. Overall, however, I'll stick with my first post in this thread, which is that IMO, based on my oil testing data over the years, people worry way too much about engine oil. If you want something to worry about (don't laugh, lots of people like to fixate on things and worry), worry about your planetary gear automatic transmissions. I think the damned things are built to wear out.
Yep. That's what API standards are for (SP, SN, etc.). And ILSAC standards. And ACEA standards. And GL standards. etc. As engines become more demanding on oil, with cam chains, variable valve timing, extreme pressure lifters, or whatever, "there's a standard for that". Your engine manual will tell you what it is.
I mentioned this earlier in the thread, and VVT will likely cause an expensive repair due to iffy oil maintenance long before anything bad happens to the engine. Maybe even more so due to iffy filter maintenance. And yes those systems are picky about viscocity. I think some better engineering of those systems to lessen that aspect of them is something easily done, and I hope car makers do it. For one a few well placed, easily accesible screens or small filters you can change periodically makes lots of sense. Instead screens are left to run the life of the engine, and aren't something you can even check without considerable effort. Cam phasers could also be made so you don't have to tear so deeply into an engine to change them if they go bad. For older vehicles the cost of such repairs leaves you deciding whether to repair it or junk it.
I'm finding that double-clutch manual transmissions are like this. I was talking to the dealer about changing the oil in the transmission, and they quote me a price of $1100. For a fluid change. So I start looking into it, and it is a pain in the neck, and just ordering a parts kit for the fluid change is about $180 from one of the internet companies who specialize in German cars, so perhaps my incredulity is slightly misplaced. Nonetheless, for $1100 I doubt very many non-technical people I know will spend that on a fluid & filter change for a transmission, and they'll just cross their fingers that nothing will break before they trade it in.
Don't forget that oil viscosity changes with temperature. A typical 0w20 oil has a viscosity around 35-50 cST at 40* C, and 8-9 cST at 100*C. That's a big range! Even bigger when you first start the engine, it's more like 10* C or less! Given how wide that range is, it's hard to imagine how the engine could be picky about viscosity.
