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clare at snyder.on.ca

On Wed, 17 Jan 2007 16:07:05 -0800, SMS
wrote:

Alan wrote:
On Wed, 17 Jan 2007 14:58:15 -0800, SMS
wrote:

Mark Jerde wrote:
Your thoughts?
I recall the 1960's:
- TVs going out until a repairman with a bunch of tubes showed up.
Nah, the drugstores all had self-service tube testers and sold tubes.
You opened your TV, put a little numbered sticker on each tube and on
each socket, and took the tubes down and tested them. They had a little
pamphlet that let you match up the symptom to the proper tube if you
didn't want to take out all the tubes.

- Automobiles needing constant maintenance. (Why was there a "Service
Station" on every corner? Hint: Cars needed *constant* service.)
- 20,000 miles on bias-ply tires was more than you could expect.
This is true. Amusingly, you still have some car owners that believe
that they need to change their oil every 3000 miles, just like back in
the days of non-detergent motor oils.

Especially since normal city driving is, according to your
owner's manual "extreme service" and they recommend you
change your oil every 3,000 miles. . . .

First of all, many car makers are using 5000 miles for extreme service,
and 7500 for normal service. Some have service indicators that take into
account actual driving and environmental factors in determining the
proper oil change interval. Often the shorter intervals are to
compensate for poorly designed engines that burn a lot of oil, so the
manufacturer can claim that the vehicle burns no oil between changes.

Second, normal city driving is rarely considered "extreme" service.
Extreme service is more than just stop and go driving, it's all stop and
go driving and short trips, it's driving in extreme heat, or in very
dusty areas. There's a big effort by the oil change industry to convince
owners that almost everyone falls into severe or extreme service. It's
resulted in a lot of "recreational oil changes" that do nothing to
lengthen the service life of the engine.

For Toyota:

* Driving on rough, muddy or snow-melted roads.
* Driving on dusty roads.
* Towing trailers, caravans or boats.
* Repeated short trips (less than 8 km) in freezing conditions.
* Extensive idling and or low speed driving for long distance such as
taxis, couriers, etc.
* Continuous high speed driving (80% or more at maximum vehicle speed)
for over 2 hours.

For Ford
* Towing a trailer or using a camper or car-top carrier
* Extensive idling and/or low-speed driving for long distances as in
heavy commercial use such as delivery, taxi, patrol car or livery
* Operating in dusty conditions such as unpaved or dusty roads
* Off-road operation
* Use of E85 50% of the time or greater (flex fuel vehicles only)

I consider about 75-80% of in-town driving (and in-region in our area)
to be "severe service".. For my vehicles, and the vast majority of my
customers' vehicles while I was service manager, this was the case.
Trated as such, virtually non of my customers' cars had any problems
that could remotely be attributed to poor lubrication.

Can't say that for all those who argued the point and stuck to the
"normal conditions" schedule. Some got lucky, but certainly not the
majority.

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