Black gold, Texas Tea

[Gino]

So met this guy at a car show, claims to own two A'a, no reason to doubt. Also claims he met a mechanic some twenty years ago and this mechanic has convinced him it is not necessary to change your oil.......ever. Says he hasn't changed the oil in any of his vehicles in the past twenty years. Should I have thrown a net over him?

[bhiland]

Oh my. That sounds bad

[christian]

oil not only lubricates, but it also carries away combustion by products. Assuming the lubrication aspect lasted forever, you still have to contend with the combustion by products.

[Kurt in NJ]

For many years I did work for a guy that didn't believe in changing his oil any more than every 100,000 miles ---when he was done with a car at 500,000 --to 800,000 miles it was pretty worn out ---even when I showed him the crumbled oil filter he still didn't change more often ---none of his cars died from worn out engines, always something else beyond his control

[Brother Hesekiel]

This guy is correct.
It's also not necessary to drive a car . . . ever.
Oil changes have only invented by big oil, to make money. You can drive your car 'til it dies even if you never change the oil. It will just die a lot earlier this way.

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Did my first oil change this week on a fresh rebuilt engine with steel insert bearings. The magnet in my oil drain plug was filled with fine metal particles and saw some in the container that caught the old drained oil as well. I could not imagine what would happen eventually to this engine if I didn't change it as I don't like stray metal stuff running loose all over the insides of my engine.

I believe in regular oil changes and have driven most of my vehicles trouble free for over 200,000 miles. My daughter drove my hand me down 89 Nissan to 300,000.

[tbirdtbird]

OK, here comes the next war, I can feel it! Right up there with the detergent/non war, and the drain-your-antifreeze when not using the car 'cause it will harm the engine war. I am staying out of this one !!!!

[BILL WILLIAMSON]

Originally Posted by tbirdtbird

OK, here comes the next war, I can feel it! Right up there with the detergent/non war, and the drain-your-antifreeze when not using the car 'cause it will harm the engine war. I am staying out of this one !!!!

NAW! this will die quickly, there's such a thing as COMMON SENSE! Even a teen age girl knows you gotta' change OIL!! (as seen on T.V, OFTEN!) Bill W.

[ctlikon0712]

You don't have to change your oil. If it leaks out fast enough, all you have to do is continually top it off. Good oil.... all the time!

[BILL WILLIAMSON]

Originally Posted by ctlikon0712

You don't have to change your oil. If it leaks out fast enough, all you have to do is continually top it off. Good oil.... all the time!

Ct, After 8 1/2 months, my OWIL is crystal clear & clean & hasn't leaked, not even 1 droplet!!! I may get it fired up tomorrow Bill W.

[eagle]

I also knew a guy who always ran his car a qt low on oil. Said "if it doesn't hurt to run an engine down to the Add mark, why fill it past the Add mark?" He saved a qt of oil on every oil change... sounded to me like penny-wise pound-foolish but I guess it worked for him, he's dead now. Just think, he maybe passed an extra couple hundred bucks on to his kids... if he traded cars often enough.

[Mitch//pa]

so tbirdtbird whats your opinion???

cmon you can take 2 beatings in one week

[Ice man]

Yea I met a fellow who said he never added oil to his A in over 20 Yrs. He was right. Some one added a zerk fitting to the block where we would add a fitting to check for oil pressure. So every time he went for a ride he gave the old engine a shot of grease and away he would go. True Story. Iceman

[H. L. Chauvin]

FWIW:

When to change oil can be determined in testing labs.

For example, during the past 40 plus years, the military has followed an Oil Analysis Program especially for all vehicles issued to National Guard & Reserve Units where vehicles are used very sparingly & have very low mileage over a long period of time.

Military vehicle drivers start the vehicle & allow it to reach operating temperature, remove the dip stick, allow a little oil to drip in a test tube, whereby the oil samples are identified to match the vehicle & tubes are mailed off to a testing laboratory for results & instructions on whether or not to change oil in a particular vehicle.

Forgot the longest time some vehicles went without oil changes, but no limited use vehicle had oil changed every (6) months as recommended by oil companies & vehicle manufacturers.

One soldier/driver asked a fellow reservist Petroleum Engineer, "Won't the oil go bad after sitting in this deuce-and-a half (2-1/2 ton) truck for over (6) months?

Petroleum engineer replied, "The oil sat in the ground for several million years, why would it go bad when brought up above ground & placed in a crankcase."

My Dentist has a sign in his office which could pertain to recommendations on when to change oil:

"You don't have to floss all your teeth -- just the ones you want to keep!"

It would be interesting & most educational to be able to review oil analysis reports & test results for Model A's with limited use vs. Model A's with daily use whereby results would also include whether or not Model A's had oil filters.

Humble opinion, in Summary:

We would still have exciting Model A Oil War Discussions to contend with because some would never want to change their Religion & believe in the more modern scientific oil analysis results.

[tbirdtbird]

Ha ! the purists in the group will research the interval recommended by Henry hisself (I know what that is but I ain't sayin'), and follow that. Of course, they will have to obtain authentic oil from 1930, and prolly authentic gas from 1930, and authentic antifreeze, and then everyone will be happy and the Barn will be humming again. In this locality, we are petitioning the state to remove the Interstate hiways since they were not here in 1930, either. No smart phones in those cars, now, y'all hear !!!???

[H. L. Chauvin]

Hi tbird,

Appears reverting to all of the above may be quite possible to re-create.

However, as previously mentioned by someone, in order to obtain "authentic" 1930 Model A results, one difficult Model A ingredient is to obtain 1930's air to run through the carburetor & place in the tires.

Appears that even in a monastery, where monks are not allowed to talk & discuss issues in a friendly manner like we do on this Forum, they probably sit across from one another & produce strange facial expressions objecting maybe to the way the monk sitting across the table holds his fork -- powerful silent mental telepathy among them must be an everyday frail human occurrence.

We are so blessed to have free friendly Model A discussions here & even perform hi-tech embryonic test on our Model A's if we so desire. LOL

[Ron Lachniet]

I imagine you could use the same bath water for six months too.

[Tiny]

Did he have a tinfoil hat on?

[gweilbaker]

Originally Posted by Gino

So met this guy at a car show, claims to own two A'a, no reason to doubt. Also claims he met a mechanic some twenty years ago and this mechanic has convinced him it is not necessary to change your oil.......ever. Says he hasn't changed the oil in any of his vehicles in the past twenty years. Should I have thrown a net over him?

He didn't, his mechanic did it for him

[larrys40]

Gino,
Not trying to be down on your thread here, or negative..as that is not my nature... .but I'm not sure what the point of this discussion is.... as common sense and general knowledge says, that is just plain stupid. If you value your engine at all, then just change the oil. If not, don't. But it's not necessary for the world to know that someone doesn't change their oil.. no matter who it is. As some have said... it eventually does get changed.. just a quart at a time.... I wish we could keep the topics to relevant factual helpful topics related to the Model A specifically.
Larry S.