Motor oil

To me, it does look like Naturopath was trying to be sincere in his reply.

Unfortunately, the way it was written, it’s difficult for anyone to get the point(s) he was trying to make.

It was so poorly written the I have a hard time believing he has enough education to actually carry on a conversation with a petroleum chemist.

My wife is a health care specialst and distrusts any product with the word “nature”, “natural”, “organic”, “rain forest” or “green”, in it.

I distrust any strong claims by non-mainline oil marketers, and I am a qualified “tribologist”, that is a person who has made detailed studies of friction, wear, and lubrication. When advising industrial clients we are very rigorous as to what we prescribe.

Trucking companies usually run heavy duty 15W40 non-synthetic in their trucks and get 1 million miles out of an engine before overhauls.

Consumer Reports routinely tests engine oils and recently found little difference technically compared to specs. In 1984 many oils did not meet viscosity requirements (staying “in-grade”) and the worst was Texaco at that time.

Regular care and using the right spec oil as listed in the owner’s manual will easily get you to 250,000 miles without an engine overhaul.

Back in 1955, my dad bought the newest used car he had ever owned since WW II. He purchased a 1954 Buick from a friend. His mechanic recommended using MacMillan motor oil. He used that oil in the Buick until that mechanic closed his doors. Since MacMillan oil was hard to find, he settled on a different shop that put in Quaker State. It made no difference. The Buick still used no oil between changes. I bought the car from him and when I sold the car, it had traveled 160,000 miles and the head and pan were never off the engine. That was amazing service life at that time. Two years later, the car was still on the street. I had a 1978 Oldsmobile that I purchased new and drove 240,000 miles until I sold the car. I used whatever brand of 10W-30 oil that was on sale. That Oldsmobile had Shell, Valvoline, Havoline, Citgo, Wolf’s Head, etc. in its crankcase. It made no difference. The car used no oil between changes. One time, the Citgo was on sale and with the mail-in rebate, it was zero cents per quart–free oil. Another time, with the mail-in rebate, I purchased Valvoline for 25 cents a quart. I wish I could get deals like this on 0W-20 synthetic that is required in my 2011 Sienna.

@Triedaq

Haven’t seen Wolf’s Head in awhile . . .

I found Wolf’s Head on sale at Menard’s about 4 years ago. When I looked carefully on the bottle, it was bottled by Quaker State. I assume the company was bought by Quaker State and Quaker State uses the Wolf’s Head name once in a while. However, while the Wolf’s Head was in the crankcase, I could “Run with the wolf”.

Now you guys know what it’s like to teach highschool English.

As a matter of fact, my late dad used to teach 9th grade English

His motto was “Simplify”

I agree. When Chrysler launched one of its tanks complete with detailed instructions on care and maintenance, the US army hired several English specialists to simplify those instructions; the average G.I. could not comprehend them.

I worked a number of years editing manuals for a farm equipment company as part of my responsibilities. We kept the instructions short and punchy!

After studying French, Spanish and German I still find situations where I’m stumped because the local dialects often don’t use words that are in the dictionary. Try using Castilian Spanish (even without lisping) in Peru or Chili!

I’m actually a pretty decent reader. In fact, I actually like reading. I read the local newspaper, and I read several books each year, not to mention the various automotive technical articles online (motor, autoinc, techshop, etc.)

Anyways, I’ve often found that technical service bulletins and/or service manuals are apparently only meaningful to the engineers who wrote them

If someone that’s a good reader, and actually knows the subject matter, slowly reads a bulletin 5 times, and they’re still not sure what they’re supposed to do, it probably wasn’t written very well

My wife spent over 30 years in 8th and 9th grade English. If you can get past the constant jumping up and down, I guess its not so bad. My freshman comp professor would have beat the OP bloody though (edit, sorry I meant naturopath not the OP). A woman but a strong one.

First line or two the main point and purpose. Then main point 1 and supporting info. Next paragraph main point 2 and supporting info, etc. Then to conclude main point. Can’t help myself. More than once I had to turn back papers to college educated staff to rewrite to get rid of the jumble and clutter. Now every once in a while I just have to send a note to the local newspaper editor for glaring errors by their junior staff.

@db4690 Yes, my niece writes promotional literature for a software company specializing in hi-tech applications. Her biggest problem, she says, is to comprehend the guys who write it and then reduce that to readable, concise English that sells. Prior to that job she wrote promotions and flyers for a frozen food company that marketing ready to eat meals. She called that job dead easy. From time to time she also writes in the Reader’s Digest.

She says most of those software guys sound like the ones on the Big Bang program!

“Try using Castilian Spanish (even without lisping) in Peru or Chili!”

…or even in CHILE!

(one of my pet peeves is people who pronounce the name of the nation of Chile (Chee-lay) as “Chili”.

;-))

Has anyone here had a motor actually WEAR OUT while on a manufacturer’s oil change regemin? I know engines will occasionally fail catastrophically, or will turn into oil-burners if the oil’s neglected…but I’ve never personally seen an engine just too worn to continue.

So, just change the oil on sched with oil of appropriate rating and grade…and expect to send the car to the crusher with a running engine: something else will fail first! (Or even if the engine does fail, it’ll be due to random component failure mostly unrelated to oil change regimen.)

@meanjoe75fan, you are very right. As long as you do a regular oil service with whatever you choose to use, engine will be ok. Most engine failures are due to cooling system problems.

My wife is the English teacher…I like pictures…

You guys are reviving a discussion that died back in July… and probably should be left to rest.

https://www.google.com/search?q=rest+in+peace+headstone+picture&tbm=isch&source=iu&imgil=WkRnjFGyTCEhWM%3A%3Bhttps%3A%2F%2Fencrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com%2Fimages%3Fq%3Dtbn%3AANd9GcTgcshXoDxUbJY0x-IBhDgZuC1MdzWE0aXoEIQ-dqimdLw7u6Toqw%3B300%3B300%3BlrIbhYNrOyY0eM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.errantparent.com%252Ffake-news%252Fobituary.html&sa=X&ei=MC7KUtP_M8nxoATbwoGIBQ&ved=0CC8Q9QEwAg&biw=1241&bih=583#facrc=&imgdii=&imgrc=QhlJAPyld-WBWM%3A%3BRxgcHD2Qbz4IqM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252F0.tqn.com%252Fd%252Flandscaping%252F1%252F0%252FF%252FE%252Fskull_tombstone.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Flandscaping.about.com%252Fod%252Flandscapecolor%252Fig%252FScary-Halloween-Pictures%252FTombstone-Halloween-Decoration.htm%3B300%3B500

“You guys are reviving a discussion that died back in July… and probably should be left to rest.”

True, but its 15 below here (Minnesota) and heading to 25 below and not much else going on.

Yeah, this topic comes up every few months…and probably will indefinitely.

Does it really matter if it’s one huge thread, or a lot of smaller ones?