I just did an oil change on a 2009 V-Strom 650. It has about 115,000 KM on it. I’m leaving for Alaska Yukon tomorrow and was shocked to see this in the oil pan after I drained the oil. Im incredibly careful with all of my oil changes and this bike has been perfectly maintained. I just did the gas filter and all wheel bearings/seals. Only did an oil change as a last thing before I leave. I’m assuming this is horrible but do I have any option with this? It runs great, starts with no problems, shifts really smoothly and burns no oil.

Found this and can be used in oil and gas. The effects are a little to "miracle"

Update: Y’all are amazing! I’m gonna go the go kart engine route. I’m gonna pick up a Predator from Harbor Freight today, then we’re gonna tear it apart and put it back together with the promise that once he finishes that, we’re gonna put it on a kart and have some fun! Once we have a running kart, maybe we’ll get into suspension, steering, aero, then get into power upgrades. So I have then next 3 years planned out now.

My 8 y/o son is very interested in engineering, specifically cars, as in wants to be an F1 engineer. So I got this crazy idea to give him a way to learn a little bit about car engines.

Buy a cheap engine that doesn't run and see if we can get it running.

Now the caveats...

1. I'm simply a DIYer who has done my own oil changes, brakes, suspension, and changed an alternator once. But that's it. No real engine experience.

2. I won't have a car to put this engine in. So is it possible to get an engine running with it removed from the engine bay? A very brief google search brought up a video of a guy doing it, but didn't go into how he did it.

3. I don't have space to store a car, so my brain went to just buying an engine.

My only experience with getting a vehicle running was working with my dad on a '47 pickup truck project, but the issue with that one was the carburetor, not the actual engine. So tell me, is this possible? Is this a dumb idea? Is there a better way.

Engineer here for a major automotive company. An older colleague passed along this oil life rule of thumb before he retired. It's too good not to share. He had reviewed over his career probably thousands of sets of oil analysis data, and this RoT is based on that.

Oil life in distance= engine oil capacity x 200 x fuel economy.

The idea is to calculate the volume of fuel you can consume in the oil service, then convert that to distance using your fuel efficiency. So if your oil capacity is 5L, you'd calculate 1000L of fuel burn between changes. And applying an average 8L/100km, you'd change every 12,500 km.

Or if your capacity is 5 quarts of oil, you'd calculate 1000qts of fuel consumption (250 gallons) and at 20mpg this would be 5000 miles of oil service. At 30mpg, it would be 7500 miles of oil service.

This rule gets away from unsophisticated and obsolete blanket statements like "every 3000 miles" or "every 5000 miles" and focuses on the primary cause oil degrades-- fuel combustion byproducts. Yet it's simple enough to use across vehicles and applications. It accounts of cold starts and short trips vs warm engine and hwy miles. It accounts for engine wear and power loss to some degree.

If it helps you feel better, you can collect oil samples and have the lab analysis done. Or you can get good-enough-for-most-of-us optimization with some very simple math. And if your vehicle has an oil life monitor, it's doing nearly the same thing but with electronic logging of throttle position and engine temperature and such. This rule of thumb will get you about the same place as an oil life monitor and can be used to sanity check it.

Finally, the 200 scaling factor (oil capacity volume to fuel burn volume) can be fudged up or down if you think it is warranted. A Factor of 180 would be 10% more conservative, for example.

Caveat: this is not for race cars or other vehicles that sustain very high oil temperatures and have abnormal oxidation rates.

ETA: Thank you for the awards and positive feedback. I've added an alternative formulation for those on Metric and further examples of calculation.

Only sprays when the car is on.

I work on call 24/7 as service technician in the oilfield. When I get called out to a job site the locations are remote and the only housing on location is for the rig crew, company men etc. I’m only on location 20-30 hours for the duration of a single job then I’m out.

I have a printer, my computer, food and pretty often- my dog in my truck, so the truck pretty much stays running until pull back in my driveway. (It’s pretty standard to see trucks idling while they are on job sites, whether they are casing crews, welders, cement crew, tool hands etc)

I have a company truck. 2022 Chevy 2500 (Diesel) 4x4. It’s a nice truck. I go on 4-6 service jobs per month. So probably over 100 hours of just idling, probably another combined 30 hours of drive time, every month.

I’m curious what the impact on the vehicle is and what it might be on a gas engine vehicle. Surely it causes components to wear faster. But is it still harmful if maintained properly? What maintenance could be done to help prevent problems?

Thanks

Just curious what car you drive and what mileage you change the oil at. Do you follow manufacturer recommendations? I see 10k now on newer vehicles but typically do mine at 5k.

2021 Hyundai Palisade - 5k

2023 Nissan Rogue - 5k

2008 Nissan Xterra - 5k

1978 Pontiac Trans Am - 1-2x a year (drive less than 1k a year).

Let's say for a Camry or an Avalon.

Title says it all really. Warming up your car in the winter is not necessary, but are you gonna hurt it by doing so anyways?

I’m leaving highschool soon and have a huge interest in cars since I was little, but i never knew a lot about engines or how cars work. I really wanna take a class or go to school for it but there’s not much money in it. Anyway I could have a college degree and work doing something else while still learning about cars, or is there a high paying mechanical job?

Hi everyone.

No offense to anyone who loves Hyundai but are Hyundais really reliable? I currently own a 2013 Hyundai Elantra since a couple years and it's engine blew a couple months ago on 223k kms. I got the engine replaced (because my warranty was covering about 70%) but still paid about a couple grand.

I'm planning to get a new car soon in about a year or so and I really love the way Hyundais look and especially the features and interior electronics they offer. But I've heard a lot of people saying that Kia/Hyundai are not really as reliable as a Toyota/Honda. So need honest opinion. Please share your experience if you own the vehicle and also the after sale service/responsibility of the company. I'd also appreciate any suggestions on what engines within Hyundai are reliable. I heard the 2.0L engines have issues.

Thanks.

(Vauxhall zafira 2007 manual petrol) I was driving this car perfectly fine 2 days ago and noticed the engine light go on. I parked it up and since the next day was a Sunday and all mechanics were closed I waited till today. However as I got in to drive to the mechanic the car wont even start. Any thoughts on this? I brought in a mechanic to have a look and he said it's mostly likely a compression problem and would require expensive repair on the engine.

My first car is a 2001 jaguar xk8 with a 4.0 V8. my dad's car is a 2011 sonata with a 4 cylinder in it. His car is so stressful to drive. .I learned how to drive with my moms crown Victoria with a 4.6 V8 and it was so smooth and just handles so well. I passed my driving test in a dodge caravan and it was probably the worst feeling car I've ever driven. I have fallen in love with the small size of the jaguar and its nimble feeling controls, it just amazing me how good it feels to drive it. It's sorta like the opposite of the lumbering crown Victoria, I do miss the size of that car.

I am one of the current EV owners who is planning to switch back to ICE once my lease ends. I currently drive a VW ID4 Pro S RWD and quite frankly love it minus the software glitches. Charging isn't a problem and its really nice not paying for gas. My dream cars as a kid was the Mustang GT premium fastback (don't know if they're still called the "fastback") and the Golf R. I plan to switch over to the Golf R to take advantage of a loyalty credit with VW.

However, when asking other EV owners both in real life and reddit, they always give a resounding no or "what are you thinking". I can see the clear benefits of switching from ICE to EV, but I feel like apart from the quick acceleration, driving an EV lacks the character that an ICE car gives. Each engine has its own engine notes and the pure grumble that the engine gives you when you overtake someone just always makes me smile. Like I can hear a car starting from 100ft away and go “yeah that’s a Tiguan”.

So I have come to the sub most likely filled with enthusiasts! EV owners, would you switch back to ICE?

(Didn't know what flair to put)

Left is an i4 from a Miata, right is an LS3. How are the displacements different (1.8L vs 6.2L) but the physical sizes so similar?

I just did the timing belt and water pum on my girlfriends 2013 Jetta and it just feels so good to get the job done. I'm just a DIYer and this job scared the shit out of me but I did it! We saved a ton of money and I got to learn something new, all in all a great weekend