OnTheReel

Historically I’ve run about 2 to 1. So two oil changes in the time it takes the OLM to tick over once. I only reset them when the truck starts reminding me to get an oil change and have no use for them. In no cases has the oil I’ve sampled been fit to run twice as long so the OLM is bunk across GM and other makes/models. My experience is that there’s ALWAYS something. Either the TBN is ready to fall off the cliff, fuel dilution too high, viscosity down (shear or dilution). But I suppose if you never actually test, you wouldn’t know.

I get why they do this…but man…not ideal. I only extract on inboard boat engines because the drains are buried and even then I hate it because it’s easy to leave a quart behind with that method. They should market it as an “oil refresh” not oil change!

Paid $1.999 today for E85 up here. Premium still wild at $5.699. They can keep it for that price.

Certainly no shortage of “not good” ones, younger age notwithstanding. But in my view there’s no need to wait 13 more years to see the writing on the wall anyway. Weaker ring package, weaker cam and lifter design, lower viscosity oil, and DI which even in the best state of tune dumps more fuel into oil. All of this saying nothing of the embarrassing manufacturing defects and just general poor quality of the last 5 years which works against everyone too. What everyone got away with “in the old days” for maintenance is not likely to lead to the same results it did in the Gen 3s and earlier. I like em just the same but these newer engines just aren’t going to be cockroaches like the old ones.

212k miles on shelf oils. 2003 LM7 5.3 I bought a couple weeks ago. I would consider this a clean, well maintained engine and do have the records. Still some room for improvement. No “sludge” per se but a little dirty for sure. To keep clean just takes better products than they used. Either way, bores look great, nice cross hatching. Cam shows almost no wear. These pre-DI and pre-AFM engines are treats. But as Grumpy says, we are past this point. To keep a newer DI, low tension ring engine even just in this “average” state at 200k takes some care. It’s not 2003 anymore.

2 for 1 weekend. 2018 Jeep 3.6: 2979 miles on interval, 107,952 total Red Line Euro 5w30 & Fram XG filter out, sample sent to OAI. Valvoline R&P + 1 qt. HPL EC SAE40 installed. Purolator PL36296 filter. Not really looking to “fix” anything with this witches brew, just figured I’d do a short little clean up run as we pushed over 100k. 2021 Ram TRX: 793 miles on interval, 30,600 total Drained M1 FS 0w40, sample sent to OAI. I don’t think I even posted when I installed this oil in January but it was just a short winter / flush run. HPL Super Car 5w50 & PPE filter installed. Curious to see what copper winds up looking like between the flush oil and the switch from RL to HPL.

Got the resident dust collector out of my shop. Yanked it with my 4 wheeler and slid it into its new home on Go-Jacks pretty much by myself this morning. Wife helped a little once she figured out how to open the door and what pedal is the brake lol. Gave it a wash but that’s about it for the day. Just easier to work on outside too. More room!

87 holding strong at $4.50 here too. E85 at $3.90 is a ripoff of epic proportions. $5.70 for premium.

Grumps driving style, if anything, implies that there are even greater margins to gain by most more “typical” drivers who race from light to light. When time and again @Grumpy Bear sees improvements from something like upping viscosity, it stands to reason someone who runs the 0w20 on the ragged edge pulling trailer uphill will see much much more. If they cared to actually try/ test like I have.

Another whacky weather week up here. Tornado warnings in 4 of the last 5 days. Phone alert at 1:38 AM for the first one took a few years off my life. The others have been in the late evenings. Thankfully no damage. Just lots of rain. We had already exceeded the monthly average in the first 7 days. Not sure where we stand now but has to be a record. I’m sure @Grumpy Bear has been seeing similar crap down by him. Tonight’s band was 1000 miles wide…

E85 - $3.19 87 - $3.89 93 - $5.29

Mental bandwidth to optimize and protect the second largest purchase most people will ever make in their life is bandwidth well spent in my book. Plus, it’s called a hobby…sheesh. PS: it being 2026 means it’s more important than ever. Vehicles have never cost more, engines have never been more complex, loans terms have never been longer, and vehicles have never been worse quality (JMO on the last part but there’s evidence to prove it)…

https://www.amazon.com/prime/offer/earnify/prime-deal Nice little discount, going to load the boat tomorrow!

Reducing sodium carries a quality of life penalty, so the bar is high and the question of course is why would I? Increasing oil viscosity carries no such penalties. Truck runs and drives the same. Oil costs the same. Fuel economy in the real world and not an EPA test is the same. Aside from the lower wear rates happening completely in the background there’s no indication of any change at all. More of a why wouldn’t I???

78 degrees today. Brick house gets pretty hot in the sun and holds it forever so we kicked the air on. If nothing else to make sure the 1997 vintage unit still works. Unfortunately no fan but just needs a cap which I ordered on Amazon. It’ll arrive just in time for it to drop back into the 30s. Least I won’t sweat installing it!

Years ago (when gas was 99 cents or so) we had a busy intersection with stations on 3 of the 4 corners and fierce competition. A bit of a war broke out between them and before long they were all selling below cost. State put an end to it, violation of the minimum markup law. Ah, the good old days.

SE WI today: 87 $3.69 93 $4.99 E85 $3.09

Winter got its final shots in on my wallet over the last week. Last Tuesday it was kind enough to hail and punch holes in the roof panels of my gazebo. Then this Tuesday the cold snap finally did my original 2018 battery in. No warning, no fade to failing, just woke up today and she was gone. Charger wouldn't even touch it. Tested at just under 12v and all of 22 CCA, lol! Went to Wally and got an Everstart AGM for $170. Not too bad. But I am done with winter now.

We didn’t get a ton of snow, maybe 6-8”. But it’s blowing around everywhere at 35 mph++ so most surfaces either only have a dusting, OR 2 foot drifts. Not much in between. The snow we did get also happened to lay down on a nice layer of ice and freezing rain so the cleanup is taking awhile. 20 degrees and wind chills in single digits don’t help. Worst part is definitely the shock to the system since last Monday it was 72* and me and my son had a nice drive down to the creek in T shirts and shorts.

93 @ $4.59. E85 at $2.79, which is even more offensive to me. It suddenly went up 40% in price even though it’s only 25% gas currently. Meanwhile E10 only went up 15%.

Did exactly this with both my Ram and Jeep. Full telematics systems delete, zero cellular connection to the outside world anymore. I even blanked off where the SOS buttons used to be so there’s no trace of it ever being there lol. Unfortunately the newer the vehicle, the harder it is to do but also the more necessary it will be. Because even having a clear title doesn’t really mean you own it anymore. Not if the mothership can still ping your vehicle to either spy on you or delete features you already paid for with the vehicle.

Maybe so but at least they would fake it before. Think covid wound up being the final nail in my new car buying coffin. All the local dealers exposed themselves as degenerates and all the carmakers started building complete shite, if they were able to build anything at all. Things haven’t really been the same since and I wish them all the worst.

I think the 2.7 is probably the best motor GM has in the trucks right now. Mainly because they forgot how to build the V8s correctly. Funny, my 2019 Silverado was a not a great vehicle and totally broke my loyalty to GM, but the 6.2 always ran perfectly and made it to 112k and presumably still counting. Now GM apparently can’t build that motor to last 10% as long. But nevermind fixing that because they are already looking ahead to the next platform which will probably be even worse. That’s my issue with everything. No quality anymore. Everything is designed to 1) be as cheap as possible to build, and 2) extract the most money possible out of you. Both at time of sale and in the future with repairs, replacements and subscriptions. It’s a game I don’t care to play anymore. Most modern engines can be made reliable but it takes an owner who cares and sometimes even sacrificing the warranty to do what’s right. Things were not like this in the 80s and 90s.

All of this modern automotive “longevity” goes along especially well with the current state of finance. 8 year car loans on an engine that won’t last 4. Let the negative equity games begin!

Think I sent it to ya before, but for anyone else curious it’s attached. 2018-JEEP-E-I-222990-Sev3.pdf