Take A Nice Late Model BMW & DO NOT Change the Oil for 40,000miles..Outcome? Pics

[mikedc528]

HA!! If only BMW oil changes were $30....that would be wonderful. I do my own oil changes and they still come out to around $65-$70.

[LowCarbZ]

I didn't see an answer as to why the owner ran it so long without changing the oil. Only I did read that he was concerned with running "conventional oil" during the cleaning period versus the usual synthetic. I'll assume he thought the synthetic was so advanced he could just skip multiple oil changes?

[Tony D]

Let's do the math:

 

60,000 miles / 3,000 = 20 oil changes.

20 oil changes * $30 each = $600.00

 

Rebuilt engine = $$2,500.00

 

$2,500.00 - $600.00 = $1,900.00 this genius lost.

 

I use that same logic for noobs who are intent on 'rebuilding' a junkyard motor that uses a qt per 1000 or even 500 miles. You can buy a LOT of oil in 100,000 miles and still be ahead on a proper overhaul. Best just run it as it is and save your money for the performance overhaul you are going to do anyway in about 40K miles! LOL

 

 

MY OIL CHANGE STORY (and likely similar to Big Phil's buddy with the truck!):

 

Family went to mass Saturday so we didn't have to worry about the mess on Sunday getting out of town to Saginaw. Got up early on a cool Sunday morning to make the drive to Saginaw, and the 1977 Impala started, but the 'oil' light was flickering. Dad revved it, but it wouldn't go out. So pop the hood, check the oil. Nothing on the stick... Hmmmm...

Put in a quart.... nothing on the stick. But starting and the oil light is now out. Adds another quart: Nothing. Hmmmmmm...

 

"We want to go to Saginaw Dad!"

 

Dad sees the open pan of lawnmower oil I had drained earlier in the week, we pour that into the car 'for insurance'.

 

Drive to Saginaw, and Back. Quickie Lube Places had not really taken off as Manguson-Moss only passed three - five years before. And it was Sunday, most were closed anyway. 150 mile round trip+

 

Dad concedes 'all right, you can take it to the Auto Shop at school and do an oil change' (he was not a big fan of my taking Auto 1 and 2...)

 

I get it up on the rack, with the shop teacher standing there as I drop the plug and glorp, glorp, glorp, dripdripdripdripdrip... that was it.

 

Shocked, Mr. McArley looks wide-eyed into the drainpan. "Stick a coarhangar up in there, it must be sludged up."

 

Do so, nothing. We drop the filter, and it's full of oil. He says "Please tell me you drained some before I got here." I tell him the story, he's like: !!!

 

Now the car makes the 1.5 mile drive back from school to home. Dad drives it maybe 2.5 miles or so to work the rest of the week. Start-stop short drives in cold weather.

 

Next weekend we repeat the Saturday night ritual, and this time head to West Branch (at the time the VD Capital of Michigan, FYI) about 30 miles distant along M55. We go to the mall there, and spend the day shopping. We start back, and not a mile down the road, the ole Impala starts Mosquito Abatement fogging out the tailpipe. I mean WOAH!

 

Dad is NOT happy. Very accusatory tones about 'what did you do goddamnit!' I'm lost. Can't figure it out. We stop halfway home to check the oil, and add three quarts to get it on the stick again. More accusations about my competence in counting to five, etc...I mean I FILLED IT! Honest! I don't know WHERE it could have gone! (At least not THREE QUARTS in 15 Miles!!!)

 

Dad cussing and grumbling under his breath about his mistake letting me work on the family car. He takes the LUV and has me drive it over to the local independent place "Herb's Garage" (I wonder if he knows Joe?)

 

Monday afternoon comes around, and Herb says 'got it fixed Al, have you and your son come over I have to show you what he did wrong...'

 

I'm dreading Herb's excoriation, he's like a million years old, and regularly made us young pups look like fools by simply connecting distributor wires to coils to produce spark, wiggling battery posts to fix broken starters and solenoids. You know, all the black magic old white guys seem to do to infuriate teenagers by making them 'look like idiots' in front of all their friends. (That we actually were idiots does not occur to some for the rest of their liftime!)

 

I get there, and Herb brings us over to the Impala. "This was the problem Al" and points to the left bank of the engine which has caked parrifinand black sludge over the rockers almost in the shape of the Chevy Valve Cover on the car. Right side is clean, they had scooped it out, and put a wire down the drainback holes.

 

"Al, you say your son was all over you to do an oil change... Well, my suggestion is you take your son's advice about your cars more often because you sure as hell don't know f-all about maintaining them! You got this sludged up engine because you aren't chaning your oil often enough and taking all these cold weather short trips. The drive out to West Branch with a FULL oil pan let this stuff melt down and plug the drinaback holes when the engine cooled. When ALL the oil came up to the top end of the engine once you got up to highway speed on M55, it just pumped down past the valve seals. It didn't do it in town because you were just idling, anything that pumped up there had time to drain back again. (looks at me) You didn't do anything wrong, you just didn't know this was common with people who don't maintain their cars like they should. (back to dad) I'll have Jeff scoop this side out and write up the bill. By the time we're done in the office, he should be finished. (looks at me again) You can stay out here and watch, so you know what to do when your dad doesn't listen to you again!:mrgreen:"

 

They go in the office, and I see Herb pointing out to me, and the bill, and shaking his finger at my dad. I drove the LUV home, dad drove the Impala. Nothing was said to Mother, save a somewhat guilty 'Herb Fixed it" from my dad.

 

At 46,000 miles, while starting the engine at school #6 exhaust valve dropped right off, and wrecked the engine. That one was 'my fault' too, at least this time there was no hesitation "Push it around to the Auto Shop and get it fixed." We ended up swapping it for a 79 Impala with 76K miles on it from Florida. So much for the Corvette Heads, Distributor, and Intake I had planned for the old Impala...

[Tony D]

You don't HAVE to change the oil. You don't HAVE to change your underpants either.

 

Underpants? People wear underpants?

 

I guess some are just beind the times. There have been 'oil free compressors' for some time. No need to change oil, if you don't have oil!

 

By the same token, likely there have been 'underpants free humans' for some time as well. Probably the same logic applies.

 

That's as far as I'm going with this other than to say 'check out the celeb photos in The Star'...