Oil
Why You Should Change Your Oil
Many people ask how long they should take between oil changes. T.E. Parolin & Sons recommends at least three times per year or every 5000 to 6000 KM.
We must be careful on what we say here, oil degrades over time, and during use. Oils do absorb some atmospheric moisture and they can absorb combustion products reducing lucubration properties as well as viscosity. So we are now scheduling more and more cars on a diet of synthetic oil with changes from 12,000 to 15,000km depending on brand.
Note that 6000km should be the maximum distance travelled on standard oil when running a good brand, however we are now seeing more and more cars approaching 150,000km and above that we are switching them over to synthetic oil. Many of the older V70/XC70 Volvos are showing sludge in their oil filter caps, and after a few Synthetic oil changes we are seeing that the sludge is being reduced.
In summary, don't follow the Volvo guide book for 12,000km between oil changes if you are running regular oil. For BMW, the dealers offer "free" oil changes on their BMW diet of synthetic oil every 25,000 or 1 to 2 years between changes. We are recommending an in-between schedule; take advantage of your "free" oil changes but also change your oil at 15,000km intervals.
The following is a visual presentation to demonstrate between going with our recommendations and waiting too long to change your oil.
Oil Good
This first shot shows a factory Volvo oil filter (top) and what the inside of this filter looks like, as I have cut the bottom one in half. The lower filter is of course used and it looks like this filter has seen a long life with poor quality oil.
Open Filter
This second shot shows the used filter opened up to showcase it accordion like structure. Note the speckles on the filter, these speckles are in fact metal shavings form the internals of the engine. This is the result of poor quality oil not lubricating the engine properly. By not regularly changing your oil, you are in fact prematurely wearing your engine.
Oil Good Comparison
This next picture shows the newer (99 and up) paper element type Volvo oil filter. The one on the right is of course brand new. The one on the left is from a car that has adhered to the Volvo Canada recommendation of 12 K between changes. Note how black it is, your engine oil should not become this dark.
Oil Filler Caps
This picture depicts the sludge and gunk that accumulates inside your engine when you don’t regularly change your oil. The top oil cap is clean, because clean oil is inside the engine. I have seen engines with over 300,000 KM that have had clean caps like this. The bottom cap is of course from an engine that has been neglected. Note the scum and sludge, this oil no longer contains the properties necessary to properly lubricate the engine.
Oil Sludge
These final two pictures are of the oil pan on a Volvo S80 T6. The sheer amount of oil sludge in this engine is nearly beyond comprehension. It should be noted that the owner of this vehicle followed Volvo’s recommended service interval. The interval she was recommended was every 10K miles. That equates to every 16,000 KM! This is nearly four times longer than my own recommendation. Unfortunately this Lady may have to look into internal engine repairs ($$$). Luckily, a picture I found on the web, not one of our customers.
Oil Pump S80
This picture shows the oil pump pickup for the same S80 T6. The pump screen has been totally blocked by sludge and metal shavings. A blocked oil pump will not be able to distribute the oil properly and the resulting lack of oil pressure may cause out right engine failure. Again, this can only ever be the result from lack of oil changing.
In conclusion, the only reason car manufacturers recommend such long intervals (in lieu of obvious resulting problems) is pure marketing. In order to stay at some yearly maintenance dollar figure (usually in order to appear cheaper than a chief rival manufacturer) they simply increase the interval distance/time. This is a poor practice and is only detrimental to the customer. At T.E. Parolin & Sons it is our outright aim to have very pleased, enthusiastic customers. Informing them of measures to take to ensure the utmost reliability of their cars may result in less major engine work in our service shop, but will result in a happier customer.
Thanks for reading
Jayme Parolin