A milestone

Well, had a milestone yesterday. Have a customer bring in a Hemi Durango with a complaint of the red oil light coming on and occasional rattling/clicking noises. Has a Mopar oil filter on it and one of our oil change reminders on it.

Current mileage is 75,761.

Last oil change was done... wait for it... April 10, 2007 at 31,182 miles. Here, I'll do the math for you: that's 6 years and 8 days, 44,579 miles since the last oil change.

The oil pan comes off this afternoon, can't wait to see what horrors unfold. The worst one before this was 31,500 miles on the original oil in an Isuzu Rodeo. We changed the oil in that one and it lived, tells you how tough they are.

Wow, my inlaws haven't been able to get any of their VW's to go that far between check engine lights

Please have a pocket recorder when you ask them about changing the oil.

Not bad for a crappy Mopar product. LOL

We had a guy in a first year Tiburon come in for an oil change, somewhere near 60k miles on the clock. Got to talking, and he says that its the first change the car ever had.

We give him the face.

he gives us the face

Stuff came out like cold syrup with sparkles on top.

He was under the impression that Hyundais new (at the time) 100k mile warranty covered him against damage to the engine. So he thought he was off scott free, no maintenance required. He was fairly upset when we told him that the warranty was void if he skipped routine maintenance intervals listed in the owners manual, and that there were bits of his engine in the oil.

Oh and it probably wiped out the rear two rod bearings. For some reason, I read Chrysler "misdrilled/cast/forged" the oiling in the crank and above 6500rpm kills them, plus even at low rpm, the oil has to fight to oil the rods, especially the rear two rods.

Had one in here the other day with one of those awesome 30,000 oil changes. Said they gave the truck to their son, who beat the crap out of it, and then they brought it to us to fix. Had 30k on the first oil change too. It's at 75,000 miles and has had 3 oil changes it's whole life.

Left out this part: the guy called about an hour before he showed up, when he said red oil light I advised him to have it towed. Nope, didn't want to tow it because he didn't want to spend $100 and besides 'I'm only about thirty minutes from you'.

No oil showing on the dipstick, got maybe 2 1/2 quarts of what was once oil out of the drain hole. Put some in a Mason jar, when it coats the sides you can't see through the glass.

Why do people do that?

Hmmm...interesting thread. I'm learning something new today. I always thought oil, and coolant for that matter, were like gas. You drive until you run out.

Don't forget to ask the guy if he's ever changed the air in his tires or his blinker fluid...

You should post this on BITOG. Those guys would have one large collective aneurysm!

Couldn't find a pic depicting an aneurysm so here's Red Fox:

In all fairness that sort of thing drives me right up the damn wall!

Curmudgeon wrote: Left out this part: the guy called about an hour before he showed up, when he said red oil light I advised him to have it towed. Nope, didn't want to tow it because he didn't want to spend $100 and besides 'I'm only about thirty minutes from you'. No oil showing on the dipstick, got maybe 2 1/2 quarts of what was once oil out of the drain hole. Put some in a Mason jar, when it coats the sides you can't see through the glass.

Not bad for a vehicle that needs 7qts for an oil change.....

In reply to Curmudgeon:

"What? I need a new engine??? POS Dodge..."

I think i changed my oil.... a week or two before The Challenge?

Hmmm... I should probably change my oil this weekend.

Heh, BITOG reactions would be funny. I bet one of them might even pay to have the oil analyzed if you ask!

I really want to see some pics of what came out! I wonder if not doing oil changes saved enough money to pay for a new engine?

My wife's comment about oil changes (after seizing the engine of her first car):

"Change oil? Is that something the nice man does when he puts the gas in?"

Ranger50 wrote: Not bad for a crappy Mopar product. LOL

A 2.7 can't go that long without an engine change...

Gearheadotaku wrote:

Ranger50 wrote: Not bad for a crappy Mopar product. LOL

A 2.7 can't go that long without an engine change...

No disagreement from me there....

BITOG is being stupid, won't let me create an account. The pan is off, and it's not that bad, maybe 1/4" of crumbly crap in the pan. No smoky rod or main journals, everything's red inside instead of that nice gold color or the horrifying LaBrea tar pit appearance.

There are three possibilities:

1) The oil was changed somewhere else, they used a Mopar filter and left our oil change sticker in the windshield (not bloody likely)

ii) He's just been adding oil as he goes. This is the kind of guy who thinks there is a snake on the back of the hood latch so again not bloody likely.

tres) He's the luckiest sonofabitch on the planet. I am taking him with me so I can rub his head as I buy some lottery tickets.

I always hear stories about people who have changed the oil after 5 yrs or 20k miles or whatever, but i need to see some actual pics!

Brokeback wrote: I wonder if not doing oil changes saved enough money to pay for a new engine?

76,000 miles / 3,000 miles = 25 Oil Changes at a Quick $30 Lube?

$750.00.

In reply to Datsun310Guy:

I suppose that would get you a junk yard engine, but you'd have to do the install yourself to be under your $$ limit.

New plan - no oil changes, just add oil as it burns it in my ranger. Maximizes engine longevity and money saved for the new motor!

As those of you who check out the CMS forums know, I recently purchased a 1982 Ford F-150 with the 300 cid inline six. The bastard PO obviously took it on "one last" joyride before I took delivery......clearly in a sand dune or pit. The entire underside of the car (including engine bay) was full of sand.

There was sand in the dipstick tube! But no oil!

When I got it home and dug into it I found about a quart of nasty, sludge that was probably 5 years old. The plugs were rusted on so badly I needed a breaker bar to remove. (gladly none broke off) The lack of maintenance was stunning.......and I thought I was somewhat of an expert on neglect! (yes, yes I was a moron for not checking these things before I bought it......but hey.....I was excited, and it was $1,200!)

After a little mechanical love, the truck is running sweetly now. I am very impressed with the durability of the Ford 4.9 liter I-6. I can't believe it was still running!

Brokeback wrote: In reply to Datsun310Guy: I suppose that would get you a junk yard engine, but you'd have to do the install yourself to be under your $$ limit. New plan - no oil changes, just add oil as it burns it in my ranger. Maximizes engine longevity and money saved for the new motor!

In that case a steady oil leak would be a good thing!