Someone has got me wondering is 80k between service’s too long for a truck,even thou that’s the reccomended interval. The other oil’s and maintainance get done as needed but im asking about engine service’s really.
my mp2 was 100k or 1 year for an oil change and engine service, was like that from the day i bought it new to the day i sold it at 5 years old, i never had any problems at all with the engine
these long service interval engines use special hi spec oil and filters and are designed to go that long between services.
Still,every time i mention this a mechanic reckon’s it’s a bad idea.Hard to know what to think.
ellies dad:
Still,every time i mention this a mechanic reckon’s it’s a bad idea.Hard to know what to think.
Go with the manufacturer and oil companies recommendations, get it in writing / print if you can.
Make sure you clean out centrifugal filters on a regular basis. It’s up to yourself if you replace cartridge filters earlier.
ellies dad:
Still,every time i mention this a mechanic reckon’s it’s a bad idea.Hard to know what to think.
But on what does he base his opinion?
On what he’s always done or seeing engines damaged from long service intervals.
People get stuck in thier ways, but technology moves on.
look at cars engines when I was a kid a car with 100,000 miles was more than likely at the end of it’s working life and my Dad’s company cars were replaced at 60,000 as that was generally thought the maximum mileage it would be reliable at.
But I’ve had plenty of newer cars who’s engines are still good at well over 100,000. The problem with this technology is that when an old cars engine used to go you could rebuild it in your drive way, I don’t think many but a really compentant mechanic would try that now.
I dont know if this is rhight but I heard of a company that used millers oil and never changed it only top up and filters,
Last truck I had was a MAN TG, It had 6 oil changes in 3 yrs for 750,000kms and it ran better than new , it was sent back under lease. Never broke down once in that time 
muckles:
ellies dad:
Still,every time i mention this a mechanic reckon’s it’s a bad idea.Hard to know what to think.But on what does he base his opinion?
On what he’s always done or seeing engines damaged from long service intervals.People get stuck in thier ways, but technology moves on.
look at cars engines when I was a kid a car with 100,000 miles was more than likely at the end of it’s working life and my Dad’s company cars were replaced at 60,000 as that was generally thought the maximum mileage it would be reliable at.
But I’ve had plenty of newer cars who’s engines are still good at well over 100,000. The problem with this technology is that when an old cars engine used to go you could rebuild it in your drive way, I don’t think many but a really compentant mechanic would try that now.
Oil changes have nothing to do with the mechanics of an engine & whether they now last longer, the reason we change oil is because it gets contaminated with wear metals & the additives gradually deplete, even a high grade synthetic oil will pick up the same contaminants as a cheap mineral oil so your oil change intervals remain the same whichever oil you use. The only way to protect your engine & extend your drain intervals is by filtering it better, a standard full flow oil filter will filter down to 20 microns, this will protect your engine for around 20000miles, if you add an oil bypass system which filters down to 1 or 2 microns you can in theory run the same oil forever, you still need to change the bypass filter every 20000miles or so & this has to be used in conjunction with a good oil analysis lab to make sure the contaminants are being caught by the finer filtration & that the additives haven’t been depleted, the analysis also gives you the benefit of being able to catch things before they break e.g. if your oil sample shows high levels of copper, it means your oil cooler is on the way out, increased lead means your main bearings are going etc etc etc
Oils ability to lubricate breaks down over time.
Synthetic oils are capable of much higher mileages between changes than mineral oil.
Agreed improved filtering is better.
Commercial vehicle service intervals normally greater than cars because trucks tend to run for many hours each day keeping the oil warm therefore efficient distribution, whereas cars, on the whole, often do many cold starts and shorter journeys.
Driveroneuk:
Oils ability to lubricate breaks down over time.
Synthetic oils are capable of much higher mileages between changes than mineral oil.
Agreed improved filtering is better.
Commercial vehicle service intervals normally greater than cars because trucks tend to run for many hours each day keeping the oil warm therefore efficient distribution, whereas cars, on the whole, often do many cold starts and shorter journeys.
Sort of true, oil doesn’t lose it’s lubrication properties, but over time the contaminants in the oil become excessive & once the ratio exceeds a certain level they will stop the oil doing it’s job, this ratio is higher in a synthetic oil because of its thinner initial consistency, therefore it takes longer for it to thicken up 
I spoke to a bloke from Chevron Oil, he told me that if you keep oil clean it will last forever, as long as you don’t take it above the temperature that it starts to break down, but an engine could never do this, not without a lot of knocking noises anyway 
I also found out that synthetic is a misnomer, it’s still a mineral oil that is refined from crude oil, it’s just refined a lot more & has different additives.
fuse:
I dont know if this is rhight but I heard of a company that used millers oil and never changed it only top up and filters,
I worked for a haulier that used Millers oils, they also used their oil analysis service supplied by Millers oils.
Oil did get changed when recommended by Millers, it did not go on for ever.
I once drove a Scania 80, circa 1977. This had an oil centrifuge, which spun the muck out of the oil and was cleaned regularly. I drive an R420 at the moment and I’m sure I can hear a centrifuge spinning down when I turn off the motor. (I have one for cleaning veg oil so I know what they sound like, sort of a low declining rumbley noise!). If this is true then the longevity of the oil would seem to be correct.
Annual oil changes are nothing new nowadays, but the only worry I ever had was the ■■■■■■■ Fleetguard system where the oil was rarely or never changed.
After an old garage mechanic stressing the need to change the oil on a Morris Oxford or Minor 1000 at regular intervals, the ■■■■■■■ Filtration seemed simply wrong 
depablo:
fuse:
I dont know if this is rhight but I heard of a company that used millers oil and never changed it only top up and filters,I worked for a haulier that used Millers oils, they also used their oil analysis service supplied by Millers oils.
Oil did get changed when recommended by Millers, it did not go on for ever.
As I said in an earlier post, this is the way to do it, the life of the oil will depend on the strength of the filtration, over time additives will deplete, but adding a top up gallon every 15-20000 miles will restore these, eventually though the contaminants (mainly soot in a healthy diesel engine) will become too concentrated & the oil has to go. Think about about gearbox or differential oil, it’s in a closed system & lasts the lifetime of the part, it’s only the contamination that an engine suffers from the combustion & cooling process that’s the diffference between them.
It’s a very interesting subject, at some point our fossil fuels will run out, every manufacturer is trying to get as much mpg as possible out of their engines & yet the oil is discarded long before it’s nessecary because of inadequate filtration, it has an environmental impact too, with all these carbon reducing schemes a savvy haulier/manufacturer could substantially reduce their carbon footprint 
by getting up to ten times the life from their engine oil 
newmercman:
depablo:
fuse:
I dont know if this is rhight but I heard of a company that used millers oil and never changed it only top up and filters,I worked for a haulier that used Millers oils, they also used their oil analysis service supplied by Millers oils.
Oil did get changed when recommended by Millers, it did not go on for ever.
As I said in an earlier post, this is the way to do it, the life of the oil will depend on the strength of the filtration, over time additives will deplete, but adding a top up gallon every 15-20000 miles will restore these, eventually though the contaminants (mainly soot in a healthy diesel engine) will become too concentrated & the oil has to go. Think about about gearbox or differential oil, it’s in a closed system & lasts the lifetime of the part, it’s only the contamination that an engine suffers from the combustion & cooling process that’s the diffference between them.
It’s a very interesting subject, at some point our fossil fuels will run out, every manufacturer is trying to get as much mpg as possible out of their engines & yet the oil is discarded long before it’s nessecary because of inadequate filtration, it has an environmental impact too, with all these carbon reducing schemes a savvy haulier/manufacturer could substantially reduce their carbon footprint
There are a lot of benefits to long life oil and one of them is the synthetic base oils, polyols, poly alpha olefins and esters are still made from hydrocarbons so without fossil fuel, the lube oil will run out too. occasionally the cost of synthetics outweigh the benefits, but as NMM said it is the carbon from the combustion process that ruins oils lubrication properties, that and the fact that modern polyols and esters can withstand much higher temperatures.
A question was asked of the worlds specialists if synthetic oil was better than semi synthetic, the answer was “Maybe”
I am suprised that no one has found a method of cleaning old oil then add new aditives to re use again
Newmercman,you worked for Mercedes at one time,did you ever here of people changing from synthetic oil’s back to mineral and more regular servicing? I did read once on this forum of someone doin it but, anyone i know with Merc’s here stay’s synthetic.
ellies dad:
Newmercman,you worked for Mercedes at one time,did you ever here of people changing from synthetic oil’s back to mineral and more regular servicing? I did read once on this forum of someone doin it but, anyone i know with Merc’s here stay’s synthetic.
Yes, before R&M became the norm most people switched to mineral oils soon after they’d thrown a couple of sump fulls of synthetic away
I had an Actros of my own & 4 Stralis that all run on synthetic, I never bothered with it, any top ups were done using standard Rotella creating a synthetic blend or semi synthetic until the 1st oil change when I went full mineral, I used to change my oil every other 6 week safety inspection & never had any problems
Over here engines regularly get to 1.3million miles before needing a rebuild on mineral oil, they do the same on synthetic, but there’s no doubting that synthetic is a better oil, it’s thinner film strength allows a lot more suspension of soot before it becomes too thick compared to mineral oil, that’s how they achieve the longer drain intervals with synthetic.