Is This Guy Crazy?!?!
 

We bought a snowplowing business from a guy last year. Part of the deal was we got a 1979 Bronco. This truck is ONLY used for plowing. Now, this guy said that after every single plow run he changed his oil and filter. An average run is between 15-25+ hours. This vehicle is running the whole time with maybe a half hour break here and there. Is this excessive oil changing or what? I know the correct thing would be to get the oil analyzed but what do you think just from this info. Thanks!

-Matt :-tap

Guess if he's got the money... :rolleyes:

BTW, I dig your sig! ;)

The guy liked to waste money.

That's what I was thinking. I am probably just going to change the oil once a month. That way I don't run into any problems. 4L of oil is like $6 CANADIAN. Cheaper than an engine.

-Matt :-tap

Monsta: I updated my sig more.......

Not necessarily crazy...especially if its dino oil. Heck, what is $1.90 or so a quart these days??

After one day of plowing even the worst oil would still be good. Not only is it a waste of money but a waste of time.

Well, i guess your right about one thing. I forgot to even look how old the thing was. Still if it runs good, i would still take care of it. Not like i do with my cars though, like mobil 1 etc.

Let's step back and think about this. If his average run is 25 hors, lets assume you drove 60mph for 25 hours...
That's about 1,500 miles.

Snow plowing while it isn't done at 60mph(I hope) is a much more strenuous activity for an engine and at high RPMs usually. So I would guestimate that he is putting an equivalent of at least 1500 hard miles on the oil.

So changing every run may be a bit excessive, but then it doesn't hurt to change a little too often. And besides you are the lucky recipient of his overly cautious maintenance.

If it was me and if I was using dino, I might go 2 or 3 runs.

It isn't the miles on the clock, it's the total engine revolutions and load. Many industrial engines have a hobbs clock. That type clock is not a time clock, it is more of an engine elapesed RPMs clock.

Just my in experienced guess work.

Jim Henderson

Those were his thoughts. I live in Canada so we go with KILOMETRES and oil change intervals are 5000 KMs. So he said if you go 100 KM/H (60 MPH) how many hours until you reach 5000 KM? The answer is 50 hours. So he said every 1 maybe 2 runs. I think that is a bit excessive.

I changed the oil in my plow truck (a 87 F250) at the very end of December. I changed it again today. I put maybe 800 KMs on the truck since last oil change. Now you have to remember that these are older trucks so when you drive backwards the odometer goes backwards too! :-X04 And when plowing you do a lot of backing up. So let's say I drove 1500 kms just to make numbers high. I did maybe 8 full plow runs and a total truck running time of let's say 12 hours per run. So that would be 96 hours.

When I drained the oil out today it was just starting to get dirty. So, I think that this whole changing oil all the time was kind of a waste for him. I think when plowing once a month is good.

He also had a heated shop....I DON'T! :'(

-Matt :-tap

this guy must have alot of time and a decent amount of dough:confused:

Hmm, i saw that bypass thingy advertised somewhere but i dont think i really want to pay $150 for it right now. I had just enough cash to pay off my credit card. Does anybody have this bypass system?

Also..i think you forgot one thing. The oil may still be clean, but what about the additives?? if none are left, you might as well run black oil

I subscribe to Jim Henderson's theory above...for whatever my opinion is worth.

Well i use mobil 1 and it costs me about $40 per oil change (do it myself) including the $10 mobil 1 filter. I still like the K&N more so i might go back to that as it is higher flowing and better effeciency.

I think i take good enough care of my car compared to most car owners in this world...being 50% of them leasers.

This is nuts. We are talking about a 25 year old plow truck. I think we all can agree that the oil change after every run was overkill but not nearly as foolish as installing a $150 oil bypass system like a Motor Guard or Amsoil on an old work truck.

Wisest thing that's been said in this thread IMO!