All this talk of oils and additives reminds me that we're dealing with rugged
V8's here. I believe that they should last at least 150,000 miles with just a
little care. For most cars I don't believe it's necessary to change the oil
every 3000 miles. If there is a lot of highway driving I believe 7000 miles
or so is often enough.
With my Volvos I have normally over the years tried for 7-8000 miles changes
(the factory recommends 10,000) and have never had any engine trouble with
150,000-200,000 miles when I get rid of them.
An older salesman that I knew for years drove full sized Fords. I'm sure that
some, over the years, must have had 289's or 302's. His driving was mostly
highway. His formula was: drain the oil at 5,000 miles, save it, change the
filter and put the same oil back in. Now this is the way he was treating
brand new cars!
When I told him he was crazy, he said not reusing the oil was just a waste of
money. He said he normally drove about 60-70,000 miles per year. He traded
the cars every 3 years. He claims that over 35 years of being on the road he
never once had internal engine problems with his cars. They were traded in
with 160-200,000 miles. His claim was, "Now if it's really necessary to
change the oil, don't you think that I would be having problems?"
It is some food for thought. Mark L.
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