On Thu, 18 Jan 2007 16:02:27 +1100, "Rod Speed"
wrote:
clare at snyder.on.ca wrote
SMS wrote
Alan wrote
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.
You have no way of quantifying what would have happened
if they hadnt got 'severe service' oil change rates.
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.
Bull****.
Actually, I do. I serviced over 600 vehicles anually on a regular
basis. ONLY the ones that did not follow the recommended "severe"
schedule had any problems - period. There were NO other common
conditions that were not met. A large enough sample, over 10 years, to
be significant and more or less reliable.
I also serviced hundreds more per year on a not so regular basis.
In TEN years I NEVER had a vehicle maintained to my recommendations
suffer a lubrication related engine failure.Not even a camshaft or a
timing chain, and some of these vehicles went over 300,000km.
--
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