Truck Maintenance

[QuarterMillionMan]

You convinced me to start using the backup camera now. Hard to teach an old dog new tricks but I'll try it. Chevy dealer just text'd me a complimentary service which includes oil & filter, tire rotation, etc. It was a no brainer $150 value. Even though the Uber back and forth is $30 each way. Still a good value. It would be more convenient paying $100 at Fast Lube for a 15 minute oil change and $20 at the tire place both 1 mile from home. But free at the Chevy dealer won this time. Chevy dealer saw at my last visit that oil change is at 19% due. I was going to reset it to 100% before the visit but good thing I left it at 19%.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Text from Chevy.

[EasyMoney00]

Dude, everyone does a 1st complimentary oil/filter change. That's par for the course. It's a good thing you included the text message or no one would have believed you. Proof is in the pudding.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Lucas oil has anyone tried the gears display at your auto parts store? While at the cashier numerous times I've spun the gears in the clear plastic housing and seen how Lucas oil forms a webbing around the spinning gears vs regular oil which does have that web coating the gears.

[james.hendrickson]

I've never even heard of Lucas Oil.

[bjl584]

Lucas oil has anyone tried the gears display at your auto parts store? While at the cashier numerous times I've spun the gears in the clear plastic housing and seen how Lucas oil forms a webbing around the spinning gears vs regular oil which does have that web coating the gears.

I've seen it but never used it. Most additives are snake oil, and most motor oils are basically the same (all from the same refinery with different labels on the bottle)
About as far as I go is to use a full synthetic.
My friend is a mechanic, and he says that it does have benefits beyond conventional

[james.hendrickson]

I've seen it but never used it. Most additives are snake oil, and most motor oils are basically the same (all from the same refinery with different labels on the bottle)
About as far as I go is to use a full synthetic.
My friend is a mechanic, and he says that it does have benefits beyond conventional

What the heck is synthetic motor oil anyways? I've never understood that.

[myrdale]

What the heck is synthetic motor oil anyways? I've never understood that.

To the best of my understanding, it is motor oil that has been chemically altered to exhibit certain characteristics. It is more durable and doesn't degrade as fast as conventional motor oil. I ran Castrol 10W30 in the Frontier which had to be replaced every 3,000 miles. The Tacoma uses Mobil 0W20. It gets changed every 10,000 miles.

[myrdale]

I've never even heard of Lucas Oil.

If you walk through an AutoZone or similar parts store, you'll see their products for sale. They sell a lot of additives for transmission or motor oil.

[Fishindude77]

Lucas is the sponsor of Indianapolis Colts football stadium.
They've got quite a business of oil and lubricants in the racing industry.

[ua_guy]

A synthetic oil can be broken down into two basic components, its base, and its additive package. The base is oil-derived but is typically from a higher quality stock than conventional, and more refined, and with artificially made compounds. The additive package rounds out the oil and makes it more stable and prevents against breakdown/deterioration. The end result is an oil that more consistently protects at extreme temperatures, both in the combustion process, and exterior/ambient temperatures exerted on the engine and its oil.

If you have a 0w20 oil, a synthetic version is going to flow like 20w oil across a broader temperature spectrum, from a cold start at 0 degrees, to driving around in a desert at 110 degrees. A conventional oil may be more viscous in cold temperatures which can accelerate engine wear, and it might thin out too much at high temperatures, also accelerating wear. If you have a turbocharged engine, oil is subjected to very high temperatures in the turbo because the turbo is fed by hot engine gases, so a more robust oil which remains stable under high temperatures is preferred in these applications.

The additive package is "secret sauce". Every oil/brand is different, and the claims are absolutely wild. Protects for 10,000 miles! Reduces startup wear by 25%!. Additives contain things like detergents, and chemicals to balance pH. Oils become acidic as they wear and are exposed to moisture in the engine (combustion byproducts are hydrocarbons, CO2, and water).

As I always say, synthetic oil DOES NOT automatically extend your drain/change intervals, period. Your engine beats on the oil and feeds it garbage just the same whether it's synthetic or regular. The oil filter can only do so much to keep large particles out. And with direct injection, those systems dilute oil with trace amounts of gasoline over time. Although the oil itself may hold up better, synthetic oil cannot mitigate those other things.

I use synthetic oil in all my engines including yard equipment, generators, etc. It's just better. However, I don't get into boutique oils - Amsoil, Lucas, Redline, etc. I can't justify the added expense or claims compared to a good quality, off the shelf synthetic with a good base.

[QuarterMillionMan]

On the topic of the Transportation Freedom Act, some channels on Youtube are saying no more smog checks will be required in places such as California. That would be going backwards from all the progress that has been made at cutting down pollution. Maybe those people are misinterpreting how this Act would roll out.

[ua_guy]

Smog checks made more sense when the majority of vehicles were carbureted and in the days of primitive emissions controls like smog pumps. Washington State eliminated smog checks a few years ago as the business case for having them just wasn't there anymore. Modern emissions controls are reliable and mostly non-intrusive. Modern electronic engine management systems are very, very good. Cars and trucks are designed to burn cleaner than ever while having more power/torque and efficiency than ever. That's progress. The vast majority of people run emissions-compliant vehicles.

I'd argue that where states have smog checks, they should change to having bi-annual vehicle inspections. Cars and trucks are lasting longer than ever and people are running them longer than ever. That greatly increases risk to public safety, i.e. extremely worn components, corrosion. It would also help clean up all the illegal equipment (noncompliant lighting, "stanced" cars and trucks with stretched tires, jacked pickups without adequate fender coverage, extremely loud exhausts). Invariably you'd snag diesel tuners and other small populations intent on disobeying emissions laws.

[QuarterMillionMan]

My car has an auto shut engine off feature which is new to me where when I come to a complete stop the engine shuts off then automatically restarts when I engage the accelerator so you have a point ua_guy where smog may not be needed where emissions have gotten very good with modern day cars. Instead like you mentioned vehicle inspections should be implemented. When I lived in Hawaii they don't require smog checks and instead they implement an annual vehicle inspection which makes better sense for a public safety measure. In Los Angeles some people drive with their bumpers hanging on by a string which is so hazardous should the bumper fall off on the freeway going 85 mph.

[Fishindude77]

I'm not a fan of mandatory vehicle inspections. We had that here many years ago, was just another form of state taxation and most keep their vehicles in decent shape.
I do believe some minimum standards should be enforced and drivers with unsafe or obviously unclean automobiles should be pulled over and ticketed, or towed away if it's serious. There is a fair amount of unsafe junk on the road and some real stinker polluters like the modified diesel pickups that emit horrible black smoke because the drivers think it's cool.