Oil Changes

A llot of you here argued with me in the past when I said I let low milage oil sit for several years in a cars sump .... So long as its not full of moisture, my assumption would be its fine. You can probably find the thread, but it was pointed out to me engine oil even has a use by stamped on it ... :) I'm thinking modern oil, the additives may separate out if left sitting for extended periods of time.

I don't know why anyone would find the findings of these testers strange. Its exactly what I would have expected. Motor oil, after all does not break down with age.
 
Get some sump oil from your next change. Palace in a clear bottle.
After about 2-3 years all the black carbon will sink to bottom.
Clear oil at top, great experiment for enthusiasts
 
driven said:
Get some sump oil from your next change. Palace in a clear bottle.
After about 2-3 years all the black carbon will sink to bottom.
Clear oil at top, great experiment for enthusiasts
Click to expand...
Its interesting isn't. The shitboxs oil always looks clean and fresh .... as it mostly runs on LPG. So mustn't have the bi-products of combustion.
 
DoubleChevron said:
Its interesting isn't. The shitboxs oil always looks clean and fresh .... as it mostly runs on LPG. So mustn't have the bi-products of combustion.
Click to expand...
I have been driving for 46 years and grew up with standard and super petrol. We got unleaded fuel in 1986 if I remember correctly. For awhile there was lead replacement fuel. Leaded fuels were phased out completely in January 2002.

Since I have been using unleaded fuel I have noticed that the oil stays cleaner longer, and also that spark plugs need a lot less maintenance. I use to have to clean and gap my plugs with just about every oil change, when I had my first R12 that was every 5000 Km. Now with cars like the Laguna the plugs are in there for 120,000 Km without even being removed. Even in my R12 wagon oil stays cleaner longer and the plugs seem to last longer so the Tetra Ethyl Lead in fuel must of been the cause of the fouling of plugs.

These are just my observations.
 
Last edited:
COL said:
I have been driving for 46 years and grew up with standard and super petrol. We got unleaded fuel in 1986 if I remember correctly. For awhile there was lead replacement fuel. Leaded fuels were phased out completely in January 2002.

Since I have been using unleaded fuel I have noticed that the oil stays cleaner longer, and also that spark plugs need a lot less maintenance. I use to have to clean and gap my plugs with just about every oil change, when I had my first R12 that was every 5000 Km. Now with cars like the Laguna the plugs are in there for 120,000 Km without even being removed. Even in my R12 wagon oil stays cleaner longer and the plugs seem to last longer so the Tetra Ethyl Lead in fuel must of been the cause of the fouling of plugs.

These are just my observations.
Click to expand...
Lead was absolutely a problem on the NSU Ro80 spark plugs! Lead used to build up and short them... The wankel engine plugs had pretty fine tips and it was almost like a racing discharge plug.

Only two plugs and easy access, so a cleaned set lived in the glovebox and even Mum knew how to swap them out!

Dad was an enthusiastic and early adopter of unleaded in 1986, no more fouled plugs!
 
driven said:
Get some sump oil from your next change. Palace in a clear bottle.
After about 2-3 years all the black carbon will sink to bottom.
Clear oil at top, great experiment for enthusiasts
Click to expand...
Those who know, know that oil doesn't wear out, it simply becomes contaminated. By simply removing the liquid and solid contaminants, oil remains fit for re-use, providing the filtration system hasn't completely removed the additive package, otherwise replacing the lost filter and/or burnt volume with fresh oil containing the necessary additives will bring it up to standard.
 
Haakon said:
Lead was absolutely a problem on the NSU Ro80 spark plugs! Lead used to build up and short them... The wankel engine plugs had pretty fine tips and it was almost like a racing discharge plug.

Only two plugs and easy access, so a cleaned set lived in the glovebox and even Mum knew how to swap them out!

Dad was an enthusiastic and early adopter of unleaded in 1986, no more fouled plugs!
Click to expand...
The lead wasn't the problem for almost everyone then. it was the quality of the ULP fuel was terrible. Every europen car pinged like crazy and would run on as the octane rating was so incredibly low.

it is interesting though, I'd never realised rotories don't really care about the octane rating of the fuel. I can't even imagine what pre-ignition is for a rotary.
 
Last edited:
Haakon said:
Lead was absolutely a problem on the NSU Ro80 spark plugs! Lead used to build up and short them... The wankel engine plugs had pretty fine tips and it was almost like a racing discharge plug.

Only two plugs and easy access, so a cleaned set lived in the glovebox and even Mum knew how to swap them out!

Dad was an enthusiastic and early adopter of unleaded in 1986, no more fouled plugs!
Click to expand...
That must have been a later RO80. NSU's own testing showed a dual plug arrangement per rotor gave better power and economy, and was able to run cooler heat range spark plugs than running just one. They had twin plugs per rotor until late '69, then the beancounters got involved and changed the ignition system and cut the back to a single (hotter) plug per rotor.
 
Greenpeace said:
That must have been a later RO80. NSU's own testing showed a dual plug arrangement per rotor gave better power and economy, and was able to run cooler heat range spark plugs than running just one. They had twin plugs per rotor until late '69, then the beancounters got involved and changed the ignition system and cut the back to a single (hotter) plug per rotor.
Click to expand...
Yes indeed, it’s a late 69 model. The twin plug engines are very rare!! I have a couple of them in the collection…

My understanding is that there was not really any performance hit with a single plug design, I’ll have to check the book again next time I’m home :)

This is the Wankel bible

IMG_5062.jpeg
 
Haakon said:
Yes indeed, it’s a late 69 model. The twin plug engines are very rare!! I have a couple of them in the collection…

My understanding is that there was not really any performance hit with a single plug design, I’ll have to check the book again next time I’m home :)

This is the Wankel bible

View attachment 237759
Click to expand...


This is the excerpt referring to going to single plugs as being a cost cutting measure.
It also mentions they went back to dual plugs on their later engines.
I believe virtually all the automotive Mazda rotaries had 2 or even 3 spark plugs per rotor.

20240303_180252.jpg
 
Greenpeace said:
This is the excerpt referring to going to single plugs as being a cost cutting measure.
It also mentions they went back to dual plugs on their later engines.
I believe virtually all the automotive Mazda rotaries had 2 or even 3 spark plugs per rotor.

View attachment 237760
Click to expand...
They retained the single plug on the triple rotor kkm619 though. All Mazda engines have been twin plugs.

But yes, all things being equal the long flame front does like a bit of a second nibble at the combustion propagation process :) But the Ro80 was a supremely reliable engine once the shitty leaded fuel was dispensed with, ours did mega miles as the family daily for decades.
 
Haakon said:
They retained the single plug on the triple rotor kkm619 though. All Mazda engines have been twin plugs.

But yes, all things being equal the long flame front does like a bit of a second nibble at the combustion propagation process :)
Click to expand...
Some of the 20B and 26B engines ran 3 plugs per rotor. According to Mazda, the extra "far trailing plug" was worth 2% more torque from 4500 to 8000 rpm over the conventional dual plug arrangement.

images (23).jpeg
 
pale said:
Saw this yesterday. Thought it may be of some interest.
www.thedrive.com

Motor Oil Age Doesn’t Matter as Much as Mileage: Study

An oil testing laboratory has found that the conventional wisdom of six-month oil changes might be a waste of your money.
www.thedrive.com www.thedrive.com
Click to expand...
Hmm ship engines never change the oil. They clean it continuously by using a centrifuge to remove the impurities and then test it and top up the required additives and top up as needed. They also settle and clean the fuel by the same process before putting it in the daily use tanks.
https://brightmariner.com/marine-fuel-oil-centrifugal-purifier-on-ship-centrifuge/
https://dieselcraft.com/marine/
The ship I was on had 5 ton of oil in the sump ! Who knows how much in big ships ! We had 3 centrifuges to use. One set up for oil, one for fuel, one for backup or multi use.
But it is big business selling oil these days. Just look at the range and cost of the oils at Repco and Supercheaps etc these days. :rolleyes:

Jaahn
 
jaahn said:
But it is big business selling oil these days. Just look at the range and cost of the oils at Repco and Supercheaps etc these days. :rolleyes:

Jaahn
Click to expand...
The guy I was talking to that told me Castrol no longer made Type F ATF, also mentioned they made something like eight different 0 weight engine oils; with 0W8 being the lightest.
He also mentioned the Castrol rep told him they were also developing a 0W5 oil as well for some of the newer engines.
What happened to the good old days when you just topped your engine up with whatever was in the glass bottles in the service station forecourt?
 
Greenpeace said:
The guy I was talking to that told me Castrol no longer made Type F ATF, also mentioned they made something like eight different 0 weight engine oils; with 0W8 being the lightest.
He also mentioned the Castrol rep told him they were also developing a 0W5 oil as well for some of the newer engines.
What happened to the good old days when you just topped your engine up with whatever was in the glass bottles in the service station forecourt?
Click to expand...

If they stop making proper oils ... we are going to struggle. Imagine putting a zero grade oil into the shitbox .... Or any car here. What didn't immedialy leak out wouldn't cushion any of the bearings and zoom straight past the oil scraper rings like they aren't there :unsure:

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I'm not even the tiniest bit concerned about fresh, clean low milage oil that has sat in a cars sump for a few years... Not even the tiniest bit. :)
 
Greenpeace said:
The guy I was talking to that told me Castrol no longer made Type F ATF, also mentioned they made something like eight different 0 weight engine oils; with 0W8 being the lightest.
He also mentioned the Castrol rep told him they were also developing a 0W5 oil as well for some of the newer engines.
What happened to the good old days when you just topped your engine up with whatever was in the glass bottles in the service station forecourt?
Click to expand...
Top up bottles at the servo seemed to have been phased out when cashless payment was introduced mid 80s from memory. Dad used these topups on every long drive in the EH, by the time I was driving there was a stand at the servo where you paid for 500ml oil of who knows what, and they still used to was your windows. But as soon as EFTPOS was introduced there was no service staff and as soon as their open oil containers ran out they were never refilled and the stand was removed.
Pretty sure flying electric cars were the way of the future we were told so maybe started a bit too early downsizing the servo's 🙈
 
dimistyle said:
Pretty sure flying electric cars were the way of the future we were told so maybe started a bit too early downsizing the servo's 🙈
Click to expand...

Don't see this ... I only see a panic in 10years time while they try to figure out what to do with 26million degrading ... fire prone, toxic batteries ... suddenly ICE will look amazing and simple :clown:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top