Oil change interval vs. Oil costs savings
 

A simple calculation:

Recommended oil change is usually every 5000 miles

Average fuel consumption is between 15 and 20mpg.
Lets calculate with the high side: 20mpg

That means we burn 250gal's of Diesel during one oil change interval.

Oil capacity is around 2gal.
That means total fluid consumption is 252gal.

Now lets extend the oil drain twice.
Fuel consumption is 500 gal and two gal of oil.
TotaL: 502gal.

So you burn 500gal of fuel to save 2 gal oil???

Thats a huge saving...:lol88:

Comments welcome

Thank you for moving it into the right thread!:tu:

:humm: Interesting.

Capacity is 3 gal. Fuel consumption is irrelevant WRT OCI. I look at it as 3 gal. of engine oil I did not have to buy.

Running the M1 5w/40 in the '07 sump now to 12k miles after a stellar oil analysis at 10k. Will probably be doing 15k OCI's after this year. Looks like I'll save AT LEAST $66. No subtract the oil analysis, so let's say $46. But I should only need one more analysis next year to determine my max OCI with this vehicle in this environment with this particular oil. :humm:

Well $88 ( --no $68?-- at $22/gal. I think it went up again), because my sump is 4gal., but that's another story. :w2:

Oh. almost forgot: Saved a filter, add another ~$10 to the total savings over time.

:pca1: wait your using mobil? atta kid!!

But I'm going with Rotella T6 next change. :hellox:

Who would save on an oil filter?

If the filtration capacity is depleted, it has to be changed anyway(within the recommended interval).
Otherwise the oil filter will go into bypass and what does that mean your engine?
:scare2:

Fuel consumption is not irrelevant. Good engine oil can decrease fuel consumption up to 3%, due to reduced resistance of moving engine parts - thats about 15gal in our example. It doesn't seem much. But it's enough for an extra gal of finest 1st class oil,
or
up to 300 extra miles.
:humm:

I change the filter when I change the oil. Who doesn't?
Maybe "insignificant" would be a better word? Anyway, 300 miles out of 12,000 is a small percentage and besides, this concept as you submit, is relative to the type of oil you are using, not how long you are running it.

I think you have some language barrier issues here, Stinker. :argh:

personally at that many miles i would change the filter twice, they not that much
i think with good oil you can easily run 10k or more, i took an oil sample with cheaper oil at 8000 and they said the oil was good but close to border line

It's pretty easy to tell if the filter is going in bypass, and mine never have, even running extended OCI's for over a year like I'm on with the '07 now. The longer you run them, the better they filter. I aso run big bypass filters on my rigs, so filtration is the least of my lube worries. :tu:

I think you will start to think about "savings" when you will have to pay 6,46$ per gallon as we have to do.

I always have a good smile when I hear about savings on oil, filters and fuel.
I have only 7quarts of oil in my pan- but that costs me 30$-US per quart.
Thats nothing very special over here.
And I have to change every 5000 miles.
Oil looks different after been used on the Autobahn with its high heat, high load demands.

It does not depend on language abilities.:moon:

I may at times prefer to look at it from the "wasting" perspective.

Waste not, want not, like the old saying goes.... :w2:

Change your oil when you're supposed to.

The number one cause of premature turbocharger failure is oil related; either contaminated lube oil, or oil starvation.

Unless your engine is a diesel, the turbocharger will contain the most precision machining tolerances of any engine component. The bearing surfaces on the turbine shaft are typically held to between two and three ten-thousandths of an inch;
that's the fourth decimal point!
(Typically only a diesel fuel injection pump and/or injectors will have more precise tolerances.)
There are abrasives in your oil that will pass through the filter. ( even with a bypass filtration system that only filters 10% at a time.)

There are two enemies here.

One is the very small particle that will pass through the oil filter even when it's new. Most engine oil filters will filter engine oil down to particle sizes of ab out 30 microns.
A micron is one-millionth of a meter.
As these particles build up, they begin to wear on precision surfaces and cause trouble. Changing the oil at the manufacturers recommended interval, such as every 3,000 miles, is a very good idea, but it's an even better idea if your engine is turbocharged because the turbo is more sensitive to these very small contaminants.

The other factor is build-up in the oil filter.
Many people know that, in general, a slightly dirty filter will filter better than a perfectly clean one.
This is due to the road¬block that the dirt build-up causes in the filter medium, which helps to catch more dirt.
However, the fallacy to this wisdom is that when the build-up is great enough, the oiling system goes into bypass.

Did you know that Nadir?
Could you explain how to recognize a filter going into bypass?

As a general system protection, most all engines have a bypass valve so that if the filter does plug, it doesn't cause catastrophic engine failure by restricting oil flow to all parts of the engine.

If an engine goes into bypass mode, it means you're recirculating completely unfiltered oil!
This pictures a whole new awareness upon the importance of changing your oil and filter doesn't it?

When it does come time for the oil change, there is one step that's commonly overlooked by almost everyone-priming your oil filter.
Prior to installing the engine oil filter, if possible given its position, it's wise to fill the oil filter with clean fresh oil before installation.
The filter will otherwise act like an accumulator and drink up the oil when the engine is restarted, which can cause excessive oil lag to all moving parts, such as the turbo!

However, the point is still valid for any engine, gasoline or diesel; a clean engine is a happy engine.
When running a turbo, you should stepup to the highest grade or API (American Petroleum Institute) rating available in your manufacturer's recommended oil viscosity.

It isn't worth even to think about extending the oil drain intervals with our high dollar, expensive trucks.

With that knowledge I really can't understand anyone in the US with that cheap fuel and oil prices to save and extend the oil drain intervals.:pca1:

:humm::humm::humm::humm::humm:

I have nothing more to add to this thread, unsubscribing...

And I just added the premiere member to my ignore list here. :s:

with bypass filters the truck can be ran much longer on oil and engine filter

---AutoMerged DoublePost---

and most high quality filters filter finer than 30 micron

So Jay K. Miller, national sales manager for Schwitzer and Gale Banks (BanksPower) are Idiots?
:w2:

I expected that.

The intended goal was to compare (low) fuel costs with oil costs.
Oil is part of engineering and part of important maintenance costs.

Knowing the fact that not everyone has a bypass filtration system to extend oil change intervals safely, I wanted to show up how important filtration and oilchange within the recommended intervals is.

Of course I know that not everyone has a bypass filtration system!


The point is: How can you save on oil with that low oil costs in the US?

Simply compare the price of an exchange turbocharger unit with oil costs.
Is it still worth to skimp on maintenance?

I feel sorry if someone does not get this.

haha, i think you made him mad bud:tttt: good points though and neat calulation.

PIE FIGHT!!!!!:tttt: