Oil change intervals in SA

[SauRoNZA]

Do you really think workshops have multiple 5l oils on shelf that they use in their service centre?
What goes into a D4D will go into the GR Corolla from a 210lt drum.

I mean actually they do, because not all vehicles are equal.

Besides the point was that it should be fully synthetic even if it was the same barrel and not mineral oil which is why service intervals shouldn't be a problem.

Maybe this particular Toyota dealership is just a bit **** and cost cutting, but I haven't seen anything but fully synthetic from dealership in probably two decades.

 

[SauRoNZA]

10 000km, full synthetic oil and filter
Change CV fluid every 30 000km
Brake fluid every 30 000km

2018 Honda CRV and 2013 Honda Civic

What is this CV fluid you speak of? Did you mean CVT?

 

[SauRoNZA]

Top tip : Buy a turbo VW or Audi, they use so much oil it automatically gets replaced every few thousand kilometres.

Put 200,000km on my GTI with no issues whatsoever sticking to 15,000km intervals and topping up with good old Castol/Shell fully synthetic from Makro as necessary.

No different for the Opel Corsa and Kia Picanto outside of that with similar mileage, except they never needed topups.

 

[Jet-Fighter7700]

Dealerships will rob you blind with cheap parts and replacements.

Seen them use parts that are the exact same as the ones from Midas and autozone, but in a fancy box,
yet cost 3 times more as genuine,
sure it applies to oil and sure it applies to everything those dudes do under warranty.

I guess you have no choice if the car is new.

 

[SauRoNZA]

Seen them use parts that are the exact same as the ones from Midas and autozone, but in a fancy box,
yet cost 3 times more as genuine,
sure it applies to oil and sure it applies to everything those dudes do under warranty.

I guess you have no choice if the car is new.

It really all depends.

Sometimes it's the other way around as well and the original genuine part is cheaper than the the third party clone.

I've learnt over the years not to assume the genuine parts will automatically be more expensive from the dealer.

 

[Jet-Fighter7700]

It really all depends.

Sometimes it's the other way around as well and the original genuine part is cheaper than the the third party clone.

I've learnt over the years not to assume the genuine parts will automatically be more expensive from the dealer.

a lot of this is as clear as mud sometimes, as for instance I brought GUD oil filter for the Getz,
that I always assumed was the best, but turned out to leak oil constantly, until I got my Mechanic to get me a Hyundai original one,

still not sure what it is, all I know is its blue, and that seems to work well enough without leaking,

 

[SauRoNZA]

a lot of this is as clear as mud sometimes, as for instance I brought GUD oil filter for the Getz,
that I always assumed was the best, but turned out to leak oil constantly, until I got my Mechanic to get me a Hyundai original one,

still not sure what it is, all I know is its blue, and that seems to work well enough without leaking,

Yup, and a good mechanic will usually tell you when to buy the genuine and when to buy the third party items because they know all these things on various manufacturers and models and when to pay more because it will last longer etc.

Which is really the problem with going to the dealerships is that they just fit the thing they are told to fit and their experience is limited to those vehicles only and the parts available to them.

 

[Jet-Fighter7700]

Yup, and a good mechanic will usually tell you when to buy the genuine and when to buy the third party items because they know all these things on various manufacturers and models and when to pay more because it will last longer etc.

Which is really the problem with going to the dealerships is that they just fit the thing they are told to fit and their experience is limited to those vehicles only and the parts available to them.

so for oil change and brands the same, as again for the Getz, it has a sticker to use Shell, but some say you can use castrol or WOLFF,
or whatever have you and it will be fine, except for the ticking noise Hyundai's make if you dont use Shell Helix.

so again, this is as clear as mud sometimes, use this, not that and hope for the best.

 

[SauRoNZA]

so for oil change and brands the same, as again for the Getz, it has a sticker to use Shell, but some say you can use castrol or WOLFF,
or whatever have you and it will be fine, except for the ticking noise Hyundai's make if you dont use Shell Helix.

so again, this is as clear as mud sometimes, use this, not that and hope for the best.

I mean all grades of oil being the same the brand really shouldn't matter, but then we know from experience this isn't always true.

My Buell for instance would not on any level operate properly with fully synthetic oil in the gearbox...that old tractor gearbox insisted on running semi-synth or full blown mineral otherwise it was clunky as hell even with all the same viscosity etc.

Took a mechanic who really knew his stuff to come to that simple conclusion and I was like there is no way...20 minutes later problems gone with nothing but an oil change. Meanwhile the other dealer was like "we treat them all equally and just put the best stuff in there" where best=most expensive not what actually works.

 

[Jet-Fighter7700]

I mean all grades of oil being the same the brand really shouldn't matter, but then we know from experience this isn't always true.

My Buell for instance would not on any level operate properly with fully synthetic oil in the gearbox...that old tractor gearbox insisted on running semi-synth or full blown mineral otherwise it was clunky as hell even with all the same viscosity etc.

Took a mechanic who really knew his stuff to come to that simple conclusion and I was like there is no way...20 minutes later problems gone with nothing but an oil change.

weird so essentially were back to experience and guesswork and personal observations, what is written in the book,

and what works is 2 different things, and that makes me question if when EV's become more mainstream different chargers from different companies will produce different results.

 

[SauRoNZA]

weird so essentially were back to experience and guesswork and personal observations, what is written in the book,

and what works is 2 different things, and that makes me question if when EV's become more mainstream different chargers from different companies will produce different results.

I think that's actually a big reason why EV's will do much better as there is much more control over that from the vehicle side and electricity is just electricity.

Variables are far far less with things not being mechanical in nature.

In my case the book was actually quite clear...the original mechanic just knew better. More than likely probably the case with most things going off book because they think they can do it better/cheaper/faster than what is recommended.

 

[airborne]

I mean all grades of oil being the same the brand really shouldn't matter, but then we know from experience this isn't always true.

My Buell for instance would not on any level operate properly with fully synthetic oil in the gearbox...that old tractor gearbox insisted on running semi-synth or full blown mineral otherwise it was clunky as hell even with all the same viscosity etc.

Took a mechanic who really knew his stuff to come to that simple conclusion and I was like there is no way...20 minutes later problems gone with nothing but an oil change. Meanwhile the other dealer was like "we treat them all equally and just put the best stuff in there" where best=most expensive not what actually works.

I've also heard that, some gearboxes work better with mineral or ATF or whatever the case may be, gearboxes can be very finicky that way. It’s more than just the viscosity but also how "sticky" the oil is which affects things like synchromesh or some other part that relies on a more arcane property of the oil to function optimally, especially if a bit worn but still perfectly serviceable.

That's why most agents typically suck, they only go by the book even if it’s not helping or working out or they'll want to replace the entire thing at some enormous cost, problem solved - no you twat you just replaced everything, even a blind monkey could fix things by doing that.

 

[SauRoNZA]

I've also heard that, some gearboxes work better with mineral or ATF or whatever the case may be, gearboxes can be very finicky that way. It’s more than just the viscosity but also how "sticky" the oil is which affects things like synchromesh or some other part that relies on a more arcane property of the oil to function optimally, especially if a bit worn but still perfectly serviceable.

That's why most agents typically suck, they only go by the book even if it’s not helping or working out or they'll want to replace the entire thing at some enormous cost, problem solved - no you twat you just replaced everything, even a blind monkey could fix things by doing that.

You see I lean more the other way in that they don't go by the book enough and then treat all models equally which then runs them into problems down the line.

My case specifically with this issue was that Buell is a highly customised bike running a Harley-Davidson engine but this really only extends to the block itself and everything auxiliary to it was unique. When I first brought it down to Cape Town there was no official Buell support and it was just annexed to the existing Harley Davidson dealership who then serviced it as a "V-Rod" being their top tier model but never bothered to actually get the workshop manual or anything of the sort "because they are all the same". So when the first real service came along they just filled it up with fully synthetic oil in both engine and gearbox and and then I had "muddy" shifts and also false neutrals in between or it simply popping out of gear under load. They also failed miserably at doing the throttle reset which I fortunately figured out myself from forums at the time since only like 134,000 bikes existed so it was a tight nit click.

By the next service there was a proper Buell-supported dealership in Tygervalley and so I took it there instead and it was then the mechanic picked up that it was completely the wrong oil in there after I explained my issue and just like that problem was gone because this guy actually did it by the book according to the model spec.

It's why I've grown to love BMW Motorrad because they have a full digital manual they load up for your specific bike down to the exact MY and they follow it to the letter every step of the way, because they are also only allowed to bill you for as long as a given operation is meant to take which bizarrely makes it the cheapest motorcycle to maintain that I've ever owned.

I will say one place where the dealerships generally fail is higher mileage maintenance as they simply don't have any real guidance on how to treat a vehicle differently as it gets significantly older. Again something BMW Motorrad excels at as they schedules into the hundreds of thousands of kilometres with different instructions and checks in place.

 

[Sworaxe]

Most of these interval recommendations are made with ideal conditions.
Minimal idling and no aggressive accelerations and use manufacturer recommended oils, with the correct grade and correct amount oil (No under or over filling).

13000-16000 is only ok if you mostly drive open highways.
9000-10000 or annually whichever is 1st, for most people who have to do some form of stop-go traffic to and from work.
5000-7000 if you use your car all day, like uber. Sooner if you have heavy stop go traffic all day.

Not shown in video below, but part of why your oil degrades and gets contamination is because of the combustion process.
Crankshaft kicks up oil when at full speed and splashes it on the cylinder walls, coating the piston and in the process.
Helping the piston / piston rings move in the cylinder.
But contaminates (Burnt carbon) leak past the rings into oil sump.
Contributing to the oil turning black over time.
The contaminates cause friction, which causes wear on all moving parts. not just piston but also CAM shaft and rockers because the oil is pumped from bottom of sump up to the engine head.

When a car has loads of Kms but still is running smooth and quiet, it's because it had frequent oil changes.
Running the car as few Kms as possible with the contamination present is the goal.

You can sort of eyeball it if you are not sure about interval, rubbing the oil from dipstick onto a white cloth or between your fingers.
If it is black or brown but rubbing it in fingers or on the paper, you get the original color. Time to change.
If it is mostly original color or only slightly black or brown color. Soon but if it is a year-old change it.
If all black and no matter how you spread, it out on cloth you only see black. Too late, need to increase intervals.

If you take your car in, would recommend using a permanent marker of some type to mark your oil filter if you can access it.
Just to be sure they are actually replacing it. Get some lazy oil technicians.

Oil changes are much cheaper than any repair.

But that's just my opinion.

 

[SauRoNZA]

You can sort of eyeball it if you are not sure about interval, rubbing the oil from dipstick onto a white cloth or between your fingers.
If it is black or brown but rubbing it in fingers or on the paper, you get the original color. Time to change.
If it is mostly original color or only slightly black or brown color. Soon but if it is a year-old change it.
If all black and no matter how you spread, it out on cloth you only see black. Too late, need to increase intervals.

This is a very good point, ultimately the engine will tell you what it needs.

I've always made the habit of taking a look at the current state of oil before it goes to the dealership and taking pictures of the oil filter to make sure it actually gets done, but since the age of fully synthetic oil it's always looked almost just as good before as after.

Also check the brakes so they don't come with that age old scam of "you won't make it to the next service" bullshit.

 

[qscwbt]

the long and the short is we should be able to go much longer on oil. I know of stationary engines that has never seen a oil change.

Link below but the short story a courier company with big trucks wanted to see if the oil services could be extended. ( less down time on vehicles) they worked with caltex and had tests done on the fleet of trucks etc and had oil tested , Ended up they could drive the vehicles 35000km between oil changes.

Achieve an oil drain interval of 35,000 KM using the Delo 400 MGX.

A recent case study has highlighted the exceptional performance of Delo® 400 MGX in a real-world application.

me.caltexlubricants.com

The stakes were high, but Delo 400 MGX delivered remarkable results. Supported by the Caltex LubeWatch Oil Analysis Program, which resulted in benefiting the company by reducing downtime and cost. The initial goal was to raise the oil drain interval from 20,000 km to 30,000 km while running on ULSD with a maximum of 10 ppm sulfur content. However, after six months of testing, they exceeded the initial aim and raised the oil drain interval to 35,000 km, which met and exceeded the project oil drain extension target.

 

[SauRoNZA]

The stakes were high, but Delo 400 MGX delivered remarkable results. Supported by the Caltex LubeWatch Oil Analysis Program, which resulted in benefiting the company by reducing downtime and cost.

Too funny.

 

[rh1]

What is this CV fluid you speak of? Did you mean CVT?

I wondered about that, thought he meant regreasing the cv joints.

 

[SauRoNZA]

I wondered about that, thought he meant regreasing the cv joints.

Hence why I asked because that's a grease and not a fluid.

 

[qscwbt]

10 000km, full synthetic oil and filter
Change CV fluid every 30 000km
Brake fluid every 30 000km

2018 Honda CRV and 2013 Honda Civic

If you meant CVT gearbox oil , think Honda says 70 000 km. And at honda's price of over 1400 bucks for 1 liter and they use about 3.5 liter of oil it is about R5600 for gearbox oil, I aint changing every 30 k at that price.

I have to sort my mom's cvt Honda gearbox oil and will see what midas has that's not as expensive as Honda oil but a similar rating.