Time based maintenance: basis?

To add insight to the original question posed. Those traveling short distances all the time do less Kilometers but damage the oil more. With the added use of plastics, age becomes a bigger issue then kilometres. Plus items like brake fluid, hoses, globes etc should be checked annually. If you were doing only big drives then servicing on kilometres only would probably be ok.

i 've no idea why but when I worked at Cummins Newcastle, mostly on the 855 , 555, 504 cu inch engines, all of the aforementioned never turned the oil black on changing, never see that anywhere else, yes, it when black gradually but not straight off as you'd expect
using full synthetic on the D4, i was pleased to see how liquid it was when i drained it, maybe thats a characteristic of the oil, but usually oil runs slow bordering on sludgy, so my motor is in good health, ie, no need top up , filter opened up and no sign of metal,
lastly, the 2.7 is a very quiet diesel engine Arggggggggggggg!!
yes i know oils are done on hours on marine, agriculture,road machines, gensets
anyway my project today, sling the spare wheels to the chassis rails, two spares, one for van one for disco, back near the axle, convinced this will stop vans pitching which will take strains off of the car air suspension, the wheels where on the chassis apex close to the hitch
have a noice Sunday people

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Originally Posted by josh.huber

To add insight to the original question posed. Those traveling short distances all the time do less Kilometers but damage the oil more. With the added use of plastics, age becomes a bigger issue then kilometres. Plus items like brake fluid, hoses, globes etc should be checked annually. If you were doing only big drives then servicing on kilometres only would probably be ok.

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yes true, I've only driven 17000 km in 2 years
i thought of cutting an oval slot in the belly guard, then having a plate over that slot fastened by 2 hexheads tapped into the guard, the aim, less work to drain oil, for me it is not easy to drop the guard and refit, as i only have partial use of one arm/hand

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Originally Posted by josh.huber

The acid comes from the soot the most. Pre combustion diesels were really bad for it. Like Shane said, engine design along with oil quality has helped..

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And EGR systems have re-introduced the problem of soot. [emoji6]

Short trips not evaporating condensation (as mentioned a number of times above) is the other contributer to depleting the reserve alkalinity of the oil.

Like Shane, I'll adhere to the change at 12 months regardless regime.

Another approach might be to think about changing filters more regularly, rather than the oil itself.
The fully synthetic oils seem able to retain their qualities longer than in the past.
Changing filters regularly can only help to maintain the quality of the oil.
Mind you, I'm still doing 10,000 km services, rather than the 20,000 LR recommends for our Puma Defender.
Its interesting that Mazda still requires 10,000 km services for our 2, even though it uses fully synthetic oils.
I figure oils and filters are cheap insurance for the vehicle to last longer.

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Originally Posted by stuarth44

bonkers, 20 000 is probs too soon too, you can see the big name diesel makers of engines in road transport stretching out lube oil swaps, is a road train changed every 10000 that be less than 2 weeks, my advice, examine your oil, when you swap the eng lube filter, cut the old one and spread out the filtrate, read what it says, bright silver is piston material, gold is bearing material
in the 70,s before i started my own bizz building steel and alu yachts, i was a diesel fitter at Cummins Newcastle, NSW, these were our methods to read oil
now light duty change on line haul is every 64000km
heavy duty. like road train stuff 32000km, normal duty 48000km
from now on it is 30000 for me d4, i just changed today at 215000km, no oil usage since last change 200000km
https://static1.squarespace.com/stat...e+Interval.pdf

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Very interesting evidence-based perspective, Stuart. Road trains seldom just go down to the shops, so there's that.
Short of deconstructing the used filter, I did read in an American publication that it's not too expensive to have your oil tested.

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Originally Posted by DiscoMick

Another approach might be to think about changing filters more regularly, rather than the oil itself.
The fully synthetic oils seem able to retain their qualities longer than in the past.
Changing filters regularly can only help to maintain the quality of the oil.
Mind you, I'm still doing 10,000 km services, rather than the 20,000 LR recommends for our Puma Defender.
Its interesting that Mazda still requires 10,000 km services for our 2, even though it uses fully synthetic oils.
I figure oils and filters are cheap insurance for the vehicle to last longer.

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Full flow filters do bugger all in the scheme of things and changing one certainly doesn't prolong oil life.
Real oil filtration only occurs with bypass filters.

The TD5 had the brilliant bypass centrifugal filter which does pull out sub micron particles and does prolong oil life.
Few engines have factory fitted bypass filters, and mostly they aren't needed.

The most important filter for prolonging oil life is the air filter and a fully sealed inlet tract. OEM or equivalent quality, no oiled foam or cotton filters if you care about engine life

We've done this to death multiple times over the years on here.

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Originally Posted by rick130

We've done this to death multiple times over the years on here.

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maybe its time we discuss the benefits of installing a hi-clone

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Originally Posted by Eevo

maybe its time we discuss the benefits of installing a hi-clone

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And Brockie’s energy polariser.

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Originally Posted by rick130

Full flow filters do bugger all in the scheme of things and changing one certainly doesn't prolong oil life.
Real oil filtration only occurs with bypass filters.

The TD5 had the brilliant bypass centrifugal filter which does pull out sub micron particles and does prolong oil life.
Few engines have factory fitted bypass filters, and mostly they aren't needed.

The most important filter for prolonging oil life is the air filter and a fully sealed inlet tract. OEM or equivalent quality, no oiled foam or cotton filters if you care about engine life

We've done this to death multiple times over the years on here.

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all large engines have by pass and the filters are very large, as for changing, the v6 holdens had tiny filters, which caused a lot of eng failures
ok so i've not been here for years
promise to drop the topic