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Originally Posted by hothatchaway ...in terms of the end result to the state of the engine. If you say that an incorrect grade oil reduces the lifespan of the engine by a percentage which is in single digit (most modern engines can comfortably run north of 2 lakh kilometres with nothing more than regular service), then is it that serious an issue, when the kind of driving conditions that obtains in most of our cities, can reduce the lifespan of the overall vehicle even further? |
As a rule of thumb, always use oil as specified by the manufacturer. If not available, try to get the one nearest to it. Personally I don’t believe there is a whole lot of difference between the various oils manufacturers. Or to be more precise, I think it would be extremely difficult to measure real differences in wear and tear in a meaningful way.
If you are concerned about wear and tear of your engine, lets look at what causes the most wear and tear in the first place. Obviously, lubracting oil has a huge role to play. But given that one has the correct, or as near as possible, oil in one’s engine, there are a few other factors that have much more effect on wear and tear.
- Temperature of the engine
- Air filter
- Oil filter
Remarkably, whereas tonnes of information is spewed out on the internet by oil guru’s about oil specification, very little is written about these three element. That’s rather odd, because even with the best oil (whatever that might be) these three have a huge influence on wear and tear..
Engine temperature is critical for longevity of you engine. Most engine wear takes place during start up and the minutes following start up where the engine parts, notably the cilinders are still not up to normal operating temperature. That also means the oil won’t adhere and spread across the cilinder surface, causing wear and tear.
That’s the reason why cars that are used for short runs tend to have more wear and tear on the engine than ones that do mostly long drives.
Especially in dusty environments such as often found in many places in India, checking and replacing your air filter often, is a good idea. Not only will a clogged air filter reduce fuel economy, engine power, but inevitable it also affects engine wear and tear. Even more importantly, there are a lot of pretty pathetic air filters on the market. The effect of a poorly fitting or poorly designed air filter are much more pronounced than getting an oil that is one step up or below the manufacturer recommend one.
Living in Delhi I had to replace my air filter on my Royal Enfield Bullet at least every 1000km!
Same is true with oil filters. Typically car manufacturer recommend and oil change and filter change at the same time. Truth is that typically the oil is still fine, but the filter really needs replacing. When it comes to filter quality, the same is true as for the air filter. Lots of filters around with dubious qualities.
There are dozens of youtube films about oil filters, have a look at this one:
So maybe we should have a dedicated thread on oil filters?
Coming back to your original question. Wear and tear on an engine is a cumulative affect based on all of the above and some more. I don’t think you can capture it in any mathematical function as such. Experience shows that most cars run happily well over 200.000 kilometers when sticking to normal maintenance routine. That means oil/oil filter changes as per the manufacturer frequency and using oil and parts as per the manufacturer specification.
So unless you plan to keep your car way over 200K engine wear and tear is simply not an issue. So spending money on all these so called “better oils” is unlikely to give you a benefit, other than a warm feeling of comfort for oneself.
However, it is very beneficial for guys like me, as I rarely buy a car with less than 200K on the clock. So I like to see all those invoices for fancy oils and as many miles in as short as possible time possible, (which means no short drives!)
But seriously, use the correct oil, check your air filter regularly and think about what oil filter is being used. You’ll be fine.
Jeroen