Wall, it's your car.......I know what has worked for me! Oil changes is a lot cheaper than engine swaps.....should have kept my Blazer...put it on a pedestal..one in a million.
Dan

Dan,

I was debating this tonight on the way home from my parents' place. I think I am going to stick with the 5,000 mile oil changes. I would hate to go to 10,000 mile oil changes and then find out that I made a mistake. Usually, by the time I get to 5,000 the oil is black, and if the oil is black it has to be black for a reason. Granted, the oil still flows rather smoothly when it pours out of the oil pan at 5,000 miles.

Ya, like Dan, I'll stick to what has worked for me too, because I've never ever had to have an engine tore down for nothing or replaced. Now if that is due to regular oil changes or not one can't be sure, but I figure dropping oil & a filter in regularly is easier than coughing up for a new engine. I guess the answer is do what works for you, even if it is changing the oil only every 10 or 20,000, but not for me.

I don't know about that magnet Fabs, never tried one. I know that my Blazer had a magnetized oil plug, which did have a few small shavings the first time I changed oil in it, bought new, but from then on there was never anything on it. So I'd say after the first few thousand miles, it wouldn't have anything to pick up. It won't hurt anything though.

I always utilize them along with my tin foil hat. If I'm not mistaken cars used to come equiped with a magnetic drain plug. I used to work in a service station when I was in high school and one of the guys I worked with got a swift kick in the arse cause he didn't clean a drain plug and the boss caught him in his admission. The boss/owner of the station, a Sohio, thats Standard oil of Ohio for the uninformed, station in Dayton was a stickler for doing things correctly. He was an x Marine from WW2. Not to be messed with.

Bill

Fabs, sorry to be late in reply, been hell week at work.

scalds are burns caused by water/liquids and include all burn levels.

it _can_ cause a third degree burns, but all third degree burns are not the same.

under normal conditions a third egree burn means that there is charred flesh on the surface and very deep thermal burns to the epidermal and subdermal layers.

Now a scald with a water based liquid, can _never_ cause a third degree burn with charring of the flesh, and yes the woman was scalded, but if it was hot enough, and applied long enough, a scald can cause the deep thermal burns that are the true meaning of third degree burns.

believe it or not, there are 4 degrees of thermal burns, fourth degrees burns actually go into the bones and literially cook the flesh, destroy muscles, ligament, tendonds.

http://www.ehow.com/how_13188_know-d...t-degrees.html

This is just soemthign we will have to agree to disagree on.
I won't change your mind, and you will never change mine.

other than that, i found you a two new vehicles, one carries the other for your traveling :)
http://email-junk.com/pictures/luxurious-bus.php

When I win the lottery (e.g., have a McDonald's coffee case come through the door), I'll get the bus and a Ferrari to go with it. Then again, 1/3 of 2.7 million probably wouldn't be enough to buy both of them. Might just have to start playing the lottery to afford them.

I'll agree to disagree, and thanks for the info on the burns.

Oil Change
 

Howdy All
Haven't been on the site for awhile been working in Marietta Georgia off and on the last few months.
My thoughts on the synthetic oil is your wasteing your money unless you are operating your car/truck in extreem temperatures of hot or cold on a regular bases . If your living in the lower 48 states regular oil that your car manufacture recomends will do just fine. MC

I think JC Whitney ued to have a drain plug that actually had a magnet on the end of it. As for oil anything but Quaker State and if you are using it dont change. bought a car of a lady that used it and it was a mess gunk and crud everywhere. used to make me laugh when they ran the commercial that showed an engine all gunked up because that was exactly how one looked that ran quaker state.

207,543 miles
 

1998 Chevy astro 4.3 vortec oil changed every 5000 miles except the first oil change at 3000.

I drove every one of those ( except the first 15) Work truck. I used to check the oil every fillup but it never gets lower than 1/3 quart down in 5000 miles. So i don't really check it anymore than every 4 or 5 refils now. Now it I could figure out how to keep tires on it for over 30,000. I drove it with the company i worked for then bought it myself with 187,000 for 1000 dollars with the rear racks and roof rack included.

thinking of selling it to a co-worker for around 2000 and getting a bit more gas mileage but enjoy no having a payment quite a bit also.

5000 mile oil changes with regular oils are fine.

jm,

Your tire wear problem might be an issue of worn bushings/connectors, worn shocks, and/or worn springs. Those suspension components/steering components do need to be changed every once in a while. I changed the shocks on my Taurus at 100,000 miles after replacing two tires at 75,000 and the other two tires at 80,000, and I am now at 168,000 with a decent amount of tread left on those tires.

Of course, I left off the obvious. The van might need a wheel alignment. I get one done every 3 or 4 years, or whenever I think the tires are wearing incorrectly.