Yes.

Try cookoing your chips in oil thats 10 years past its use by date.

Martin

So, what is supposed to go bad in mineral oils after such a short time?

A fiat diesel eh…

Solid, reliable engines in my experience of their 2.3 litre LCV versions – far better than the Ford equivalents.

Former work uses diesel generators to run the factory – there is a 3 phase supply into the workshop, but it is of inadequate capacity to run the workshop & the quoted cost of upgrading the supply very high – a down-side to operating in a rural location. DIY generation was a far cheaper option, though it went up a lot last year with the requirement to use white rather than red diesel.

The 6 litre 6 cylinder Iveco turbo diesel engine in the original 200 KVA Aggreko generator didn't get its oil changed – one of the employees topped it up with used diesel engine oil he saved from regular oil changes to his Mondeo, always making sure that the level was maintained.

One day it just stopped – siezed solid. When the engine was removed & stripped (conveniently there was an independant commercial vehicle workshop across the road), it was found that the front main bearing had siezed. When sent for a regrind, the crankshaft was found to be twisted such that it could not be salvaged, no replacement cranks were available at the time (supplier issue) & a s/h engine had to be sourced & fitted – a low hours unit of the same type & rating from a combine harvester of all things. When the sump was dropped it contained a largely soild lump of congealed oil that had grooves cut into it by the crank & conrods – nothing drained out when the sump plug was removed..

Following that episode, the company owner became a lot more interested in regular oil & filter changes !

Nigel B.

I have heard numerous stories about people killing engines with low mileages, usually it is people driving just a few miles to every few days and not getting the wholes system upto temperature. Cool running will create condensate build up in the oil reducing its effectiveness in quite a short time. A few years ago I was in a car dealer getting a new car for the wife and could hear a woman talking with another sales man. When the woman went off with the salesman our man explained that she had wrecked a three year old car, under five thousand miles and was trying to get a loan that they were resisting because of her age.

I did that experiment with a Mazda pickup 1600cc since new(1998….), changed oil every 2000-2500Km(Oil was cheap initially) and found that up to 50 000Km around the tappets needs adjustments, then afterwards I just checked and left it, it has now done over 300 000Km and start cold within 1st revolution if choked correctly, so I believe in regular oil change if you buy new and want to keep it. If you dont want to keep it, lease it for 3 years, I dont think it matters to you. This vehicle engine is clean inside.This vehicle does a lot of short distances. I change the filter every 2nd time. I do this with two other vehicles too, one is a 2L Diesel and hope for the best.

If the engine stays clean, I always wonders how this effects seal life and even head gasket life.

I spoke to a mine engineer once about this, and he said they did the experiments/examinations and 5 000Km max for a change.

Having had a coulple of older Fiats with the multijet engine I can tell you that they recommend 3 years as the maximum calender time between changes. As others have said low mileage due to short journeys allows contaminates to accumulate in the oil.
The DPF equipped Multijet engines don't have a mileage based oil change. The engine computer tells you when to ghange the oil based on usage. Part or this is because DPF regereration causes diesel to get into the oil reducing it's performance.

Robert.

My modern motor has done about 8000 miles and has had 3 oil changes. I did the first at 1,000 miles at which stage I was allowed to go above 4,000 rpm. The next two were annual services.

When I sold my last car to We Buy Any Car dot com, all they were interested in was the oil changes. The rest of the service history (i.e. every last nut and bolt since I owned it) was returned to me.

Be careful with high detergent oils in an old engine – you do not want to release the sludge.

New oil is always cheaper than a new engine.

The oil and filter should be changed every year, or 10000 miles whichever comes first. The engine has only one weakness, the camchain, and there is no way to tell how much travel there is left in the automatic adjuster. That engine was fitted to Vauxhalls and Suzuki cars as well as Fiat. The original 70hp engine is the easiest to work on, you can change the glow plugs without any bother, the two higher power engines needed the turbo removed first.

What a palaver when reasonably frequent oil changes could have been done!

I don't think that your method would work with e.g. a pre-war R-R with its sludge traps. In those days, an engine was stripped down from time to time – unheard of these days. When did anybody in here last do a de-coke, a.k.a. top end overhaul?