Engine oil and service intervals.

[Nidge]

Supposedly the service intervals on my Speed Twin are 10,000 miles or 12 months. Which in practice, for the vast majority, means annually- in my case this was about 3,000 miles. I’m not sure I’d want to wait until 10,000 miles before changing the oil on a bike to be honest

[Supermofo]

The Condition Based Servicing on my Mini said I had 17,000 miles before the next change was due when I picked it up.

It was a 1.6 turbo that made 211 bhp. They are renowned for having cam chain issues due to low/poor quality oil.

It got to 10,000 miles and I had to change it, there was no way that thing was going to last a full 17,000 miles.

Mrs C4 has 20k miles oil changes. When she bought it I said oil change every 10k which she did until money was a bit tighter when the kids were little and it was left till 20k, oil usage went up and shortly after the cam chain jumped 2 teeth. Could be coincidence but speaking to the garage when they repaired it they said although Citroen say 20k they'd never leave it that long themselves. The C4's 1.6 burns a fair amount of oil and I think unless you really keep on top of it the oil runs low and degrades quicker, and as the cam chain uses oil pressure for the tensioner it's all a bit of a disaster waiting to happen.

Having said that since lock down it's not been serviced in a long time, she had an MOT yesterday and it's done <2k miles this last year. I should really change the oil though.

[mikeycee]

I work for one of the UK's Largest independent oil distributors and we work directly with all of the Majors (Shell, Mobil, Motul, Fuchs/Silkolene Et All) and to be honest, any premium brand will give you what you need. The base oil manufacturers are limited in number and all of the majors buy from the same circle of suppliers, and its the same story with the additive packages that provide the specific characteristics and performance levels of each finished oil type to satisfy the OEM Requirements.

As long as its a premium brand and not some unknown crap - Its all good

As for change intervals, no issues changing early but don't exceed the OEM or Oil Manufacturers recommendations on drain intervals ever.... There will be a small buffer factored in for late changes but if you leave it too late the Shear stability of the oil will drop out (The oils ability to 'cushion' the mating surfaces of the internal components of the engine) and it will be the same as not running any oil in there at all.

So.... Any known brand, Don't Exceed the drain interval

[JackyJoll]

I work for one of the UK's Largest independent UK oil distributors

Are you the guy who goes round the building with a bag of light bulbs, replacing the blown ones?

[mikeycee]

I work for one of the UK's Largest independent UK oil distributors

Are you the guy who goes round the building with a bag of light bulbs, replacing the blown ones?

Yes.... Yes I am.

[mikeycee]

Sorry one other thing to add on this relating to the first oil changes/running in oils etc. The cycle is significantly shorter on the first change due to the amount of sheared metal/swarf generated on the newly machined internals. These loose metal parts need removing from the system quickly or they will accelerate wear on the engine internals if left for the standard drain hence the shorter drain interval.

We have some ZF Differentials that generally run 150,000km Drain cycles, but the first change on them are due at 800km just to clear all the crap out of them caused by the newly machined parts

[JackyJoll]

I work for one of the UK's Largest independent UK oil distributors

Are you the guy who goes round the building with a bag of light bulbs, replacing the blown ones?

Yes.... Yes I am.

It’s an honourable trade.

[JackyJoll]

We have some ZF Differentials that generally run 150,000km Drain cycles, but the first change on them are due at 800km just to clear all the crap out of them caused by the newly machined parts

Pieces of metal sink in oil.

[mikeycee]

Pieces of metal sink in oil.

Depends how big the pieces are, the viscosity and if they are being constantly agitated by circulating oil.