Have you ever met someone that believed you didn’t have to change your motor oil? I have. Talk about crazy. This guy was using the cheapest oil he could find in his car and swore up and down that “motor oil is motor oil”. He thinks it is all the same stuff and that you can not wear out oil. Well he is in for a nasty surprise because bad things happen when you don’t change your motor oil.
Your engine uses air to burn gasoline in the combustion chamber. The results of these small explosive infernos is exhaust gas. Exhaust gas is corrosive and without something to counteract the effects it will make the oil in your engine turn acidic. Acid causes corrosion! Corrosion eats away your engine over time. You are basically ruining your engine if you don’t prevent acid formation. It does take time though so you aren’t going to see the problem at 5,000 miles… it is more like a 50,000 mile problem.
The detergents in the motor oil keep the engine clean from sludge and varnish. Since this guy is never changing his oil he will be forming lots of sludge and varnish while his oil continues to breakdown. Using cheap motor oil he didn’t have much detergent to start with but over a short period he will have used all the detergents up and his engine will start to become filthy inside. This will result in hot spots, likely poor circulation as areas get blocked up, and will cause localized mechanical failures from lack of lubricant while the engine is running.
Can you imagine how dirty it will become inside your engine?
If he is lucky his oil pressure sensor will detect a lack of oil pressure when the filter gets completely plugged. There is a spring loaded bypass valve in oil filters that should open when the engine is first started and the oil is thick from being cold. It should also open if the oil filter media is completely plugged.
A cheap filter has a cheap composite bypass valve that could stick. Running a filter over time with plugged media is putting a lot of faith in a cheap little valve that if it fails will create an oil starved engine situation. This engine disaster could happen a lot faster.
Bottom line is you have to control the acid level in your engine and you have to keep the oil filtered. If you believe oil is oil and you can change it whenever you want then make sure you have a line of suckers to sell your car to when the engine starts giving you problems.
I suggest you use the best motor oil and oil filter you can find and change it on a regular basis.
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