Fuel dilution of oil is a major concern on some new engines until the rings and bores have mutually honed each other to shape - hence the short first oil change interval.

My current vehicle displays a message "service xxx", where xxx is the number of days to next service, based on your average daily mileage - this can get very confused if, like me, I either do 4 miles a day, 40 miles or 400 miles. Currently says "service due 100" - which is more or less what I guessed, and will mean about 21,000 miles since last service!

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

The higher the temperature the oil will degrade faster.
Synthetic oil last about 3 times longer than mineral oil.
Since cars are not used 24 hours per day it's difficult to base oil changes per mileage and time between them.

Modern synthetic oils are designed to cope with higher operating temperatures than mineral oils. 3 times life is debatable. It is not difficult to calculate service intervals.
My BMW Z3 has an electronic computer controlled service regime which computes 3 factors. Firstly the time since the last service. Secondly, the type of driving that the car has been subjected to. Thirdly the mileage driven. The first warning light is an "Oil service", the second is an "Inspection 1, the third is an "Inspection 2". Given the age of my car (1998) and minimal mileage, my man gives it a "fluids" service every two years. OIl, filter, brakes, radiator, etc.

Computers are always helpful:)
Looks like the BMW Z3 monitor the engine temperature over time and number of engine starts and then recalculate the next needed oil service.

http://www.pelicanparts.com/BMW/techarticles/BMW-Z3/106-BASICS-Service_1_and_2_Explained/106-BASICS-Service_1_and_2_Explained.htm

Service intervals and maintenance items are based on mileage driven, elapsed time since the last service, fuel usage, engine temperature and number of engine starts.

I grew up with the old mantra of 3 months or 3000 miles, whichever comes first.

Ye gods man, that was with vegetable based oils in the 1960's!!

I learned it in the '80s.

Pretty much every place you go for an oil change still puts a sticker on the inside of the windshield telling you your next change should be at 3 or 3000. I start thinking seriously about it when I get to double that. I don't use synthetic.

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David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

Vegetable based oil - ahh, that brings back memories of one of my Cooper S. The smell of burning Castrol R in the morning brings tears to my eyes (as it did then...).

(The rate that one burnt oil it was more a case of filter change every few weeks, just keep it topped up every day)

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

On some cars bulbs can be a right royal pain to do - one of the VWs with a V6 in the front end requires a lot of dismantling to change a side/headlamp bulb - front bumper, grill, bonnet rail, battery & battery box all have to come off as we discovered one day when we attempted to do one in a lunch break - Local VW specialist said "£150 mate, its a four hour job", local VW dealer said "£600 mate, its a four hour job" - and it really did take four hours (excluding resetting the alarm, radio, immobiliser and ECU as they were very unhappy at having had the battery removed).

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

Yikes.........great engineering at work, eh?

The headlamp bulbs in my '90 Cutlass Ciera can be a pain to change. But I figured out that if you jack the front up and go at it from underneath it is just a tad easier.
No engine removal required.......LOL.

Meow.

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"Time is simply the mechanism that keeps everything from happening all at once."

On some cars bulbs can be a right royal pain to do - one of the VWs with a V6 in the front end requires a lot of dismantling to change a side/headlamp bulb - front bumper, grill, bonnet rail, battery & battery box all have to come off as we discovered one day when we attempted to do one in a lunch break - Local VW specialist said "£150 mate, its a four hour job", local VW dealer said "£600 mate, its a four hour job" - and it really did take four hours (excluding resetting the alarm, radio, immobiliser and ECU as they were very unhappy at having had the battery removed).

Same with the Audi A3. It did take 4 hours.

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We had a slipping clutch in a Landrover I once owned, and we'd inherited a spare brand-new clutch plate in the boxes full of cast-offs that came with it.

So, having successfully changed all four road springs ourselves, we thought we'd give it a try, and looked in the manual.

First, take off the roof...

(so you can hoist the gearboxes vertically out of the way)

We let the garage change it...

I used to have a Bonneville SSEI. I had to replace the water pump once. It would have been easy, except for one metal tab that was covering one bolt. It was engineered that way on purpose, as the tab served no function except to prevent the easy replacement of the water pump. To remove that tab, required me to remover the alternator, the alternator bracket, and jack the engine up a few inches. It took two of us two full days to change a water pump. I haven't tried to repair a car since then. That was about 15 years ago.

Steve

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Warning, addicted to SETI crunching!
Crunching as a member of GPU Users Group.
GPUUG Website

We had a slipping clutch in a Landrover I once owned, and we'd inherited a spare brand-new clutch plate in the boxes full of cast-offs that came with it.

So, having successfully changed all four road springs ourselves, we thought we'd give it a try, and looked in the manual.

First, take off the roof...

(so you can hoist the gearboxes vertically out of the way)

We let the garage change it...

Thank God for manuals. I have bought the factory manual for every car I have owned. Saves a world of grief.
Meow!

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"Time is simply the mechanism that keeps everything from happening all at once."

Well my car is 14 years old and i never had to change a bulb :)
Not on all 4 cars i`ve driven in 37 years.
I had 2 oil changes and no other damages so far on my actual car.

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With each crime and every kindness we birth our future.

Always be heads-up when you're behind home plate..................
INCOMING!!!!!!
Red Sox Ceremonial First Pitch Nails Photographer Right in the Groin................

Meeeeeeeeeeeeeouch!

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"Time is simply the mechanism that keeps everything from happening all at once."

Land Rover I am surprised about. Then again it is owned by Tata motors. Ta ta guys :-))

Well, that story dates from about 45 years ago, and it relates to a Series 1 Landrover built in the mid 1950s. I don't think Tata had much influence over the design in those days...

My new YG17 car has mostly LED lights, so if any of those blow it's going back under warranty...

When I came to visit you last Spring you had a 2 litre 6 cylinder Mondeo, a proper British designed car, albeit a LHD model. It drove very well at the speeds that you had it up to :-))

Its a 2.5 litre V6.
And to be honest its the best car i ever had.

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With each crime and every kindness we birth our future.

I have OA, 3 dislocated joints, bad knees, and I weigh about 410 lbs, I also have problems seeing under some lighting conditions.

Then as before I question whether you should be driving in the first place. And I ask again whether your car insurance company are fully aware of your current disabilities.

All they should care about is whether he can control the car safely.

Accessing that light appears to require quite a bit of disassembly of the car's interior. Even if I weren't nearly in as poor condition as Vic, I wouldn't have enough confidence in my ability to take it all apart and put it together again correctly with breaking something. And no, before you suggest it, I am not totally mechanically inept. I once replaced the timing belt in a 77 Chevy Vega 4-banger. I just like to know how things are attached and how to reattach them before I detach them, and that is usually not the case with interior parts.

(My insurance company should be aware that I paid off my car. I must remember to tell them.)

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David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

On some cars bulbs can be a right royal pain to do - one of the VWs with a V6 in the front end requires a lot of dismantling to change a side/headlamp bulb - front bumper, grill, bonnet rail, battery & battery box all have to come off as we discovered one day when we attempted to do one in a lunch break - Local VW specialist said "£150 mate, its a four hour job", local VW dealer said "£600 mate, its a four hour job" - and it really did take four hours (excluding resetting the alarm, radio, immobiliser and ECU as they were very unhappy at having had the battery removed).

The other classic is the Toyota V8 (IUZ-FE) that has the starter motor hidden in the engine- apparently around 6 hours work for those doing it for the first time, if you've got every tool you'll need on hand ready to go.

Engine before going after starter motor.


Engine once starter motor accessible.

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Grant
Darwin NT

My favorite was the Ferrari 308. You had to drop the engine and lift the body off to change the spark plugs. That is why the 30,000 mile service cost $8,000.

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My favorite was the Ferrari 308. You had to drop the engine and lift the body off to change the spark plugs. That is why the 30,000 mile service cost $8,000.

That's right up there with removing the front end to replace a headlight bulb.

Used to be about 3 screws and the whole assembly would drop out, change headlight, put it back in. Then it was 3 screws, headlight assembly drops out, change bulb, refit. Then it became a case of removing the electrical connector from the back of the light assembly, then remove the bulb. Fit new bulb, re-fit connector and done.
Been having a look around and it appears it's pretty common these days on many makes & models to have to at least remove the front bumper & grille to get access to the headlight assembly to replace the bulb, or remove the front wheel and then pull out the wheel arch sections to get to the light assembly.

I thought it was bad enough when the drive shaft bearings on my 1989 Suzuki Swift GTi needed replacing- used to be a case of pull the drive shaft out of the gear box, pull the bearings out, re-assemble. However on this car the bearings were mounted from the inside of the gear box- so the whole engine had to be detached from the body, so you could drop the gearbox off and then pull it apart to replace the bearings.

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Grant
Darwin NT

Reading about the problems fixing your cars. Makes mine seem easy. I had a 2003 Chevy Cavalier and a headlight dead. First indication of the problem was a immediate get it done now service light on the dash board. I didn't know what service it wanted until I parked the car in front of a plate glass window at a 7-11 and saw a headlight wasn't shining. Then replacing it was a small bugger. I had to dismount the headlight assembly then dismount the side blinker assembly from that to just change the bulb.

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