Heres a new debate, should Engine Hour gauges be installed in cars along with odometers?
With some questioning the value of 3,000 mile oil changes, would engine hours be a better way of scheduling maintenance?
Just because the car/truck only went 3,000 miles, it doesn't mean the engine did.

 

That is a very good point!!! An hour meter would be good in city
type of driving. I believe that some of the new "oil change" algorithms use engine run time as a variable.

 

have been using a hour meter for changing oil for years. Years ago I had read a article on how 'Detroit' uses a 4000hour test for simulating 100,000miles in a engine durability test. 4000 div by 100,000=25mph. They said this is equal to the average driver in normal everyday use. 3000miles div by 25mph=120hours. Well after using a hour meter I found I average 42mph which equals over 5000miles for 120hours. Read another article that states FORD recommends a 200hour oil change for vehicles that are idled for long periods of time(said to be harder on motor oil than freeway driving) 200hours by 42mph=8400mile change which is what I have used for years.(96GEO Metro over 240,000 miles and still not using oil today-dino) The great thing is that the hour meter counts time no matter what, sitting idling at a stoplite(McDonalds), stop and go, motoring down the freeway, any time the engine is running. It has always been said that freeway driving is much easier on a vehicle than stop&go, well with the hour meter it counts every mile in relation to the time it took to travel it. Kind of a 'poor' man's GM oil life monitor. I would think that syn oil could be used even more hours and have been going appox. 250hours/10000miles using mobil 1 on the 98 Swift I am driving today changing the filter every 5000miles(MOTORCRAFT FL-400S/ which is twice the size fo the stock filter-ph3614fram size-have to give a little Ford support here considering the neighberhood)

 

Back in my flying days, we used a Hobbs meter to determine the cost of our rental. But I think it also determines when a plane is due for an engine tear down.

"Hourly time is measured either by a Hobbs meter (a timer which starts when the engine does, runs at a steady rate, and stops when the engine shuts down). "

I think there are also more sophisticated devices that take into account the rpms and such.

Also boaters use an hourly meter to determine when it is time for maintenance.

Sooo, I agree, it would be nice to know the hours on your engine as well as the miles on your engine.

Chip

 

So do Fire apparatus, thats why I thought of it.

 

My '94 Ford owners manual specifies 200 hour oil changes for trucks used in certain types of service, but Ford did not supply our trucks with Hobbs meters. The Silverado/Sierra trucks do have an hour meter that can be read from the odometer display. Small aircraft typically have a 25 to 50 hour oil change interval.

Jim

 

Wow,

Never realized the oil change interval was so low. But the engines in small aircraft are air cooled and if they stop running you can't exactly just pull over to the side of the road. LOL

I was always concerned when I heard that some fix was applied to the aircraft right before I rented it. I wonder how many times I was a test pilot.

Chip

 

Aircraft oils like Aeroshell 100 (SAE 50) are almost straight Group I with hardly any additives. It is like old-time racing oil. Training aircraft are typically run with full-rich mixtures of leaded gasoline all the time so the oil gets contaminated in a hurry. The 25 hour figure is for engines without oil filters.

Jim

 

I would like a hour meter on my truck. I had one installed on my new boat. 4cycle o/b oil change interval based on hours. At the FD we do oil changes on hours or milage. However the Army now uses hours to do UOA and all changes are based on the UOA. I may try to install a hour meter on my truck. The one for the boat was $19.95 so it is not going to break the bank anyway.

 

Generally the slower you are running the harder you are working the engine. E.g., City traffic is harder than freeway (provided you don't drive 90 mph) and idling is the worst of all. The idea then is to use an hour meter to count the slower, harder operation more heavily against the oil change interval (OCI). And an hour meter is cheap--about $25.

But, perhaps there is another way just about as easy and that gives similar (or perhaps better) results. This one I understand is used for small diesels in South Africa. Change your oil based on fuel used. Idling uses a lot of fuel. So does city traffic. Your lowest fuel use and eaisest engine operation is on the freeway. However, the fuel use OCI would also account for pulling a heavy trailer on the freeway or going 90 on the freeway where weight and/or wind resistance would severely curtail fuel economy. If you like to floor it all the time, you get a shorter OCI too.

I think the hour meter is more for a stationary engine that runs at a constant speed. I understand much of an airplane's operation is constant engine speed, and so too is suitable to an hour meter.

 

amount of fuel used? guess my hour meter way of changing oil that I am using and explained above - every 200 hours - is the way to keep doing it for I average 42mpg along with 42mph overall speed which still figures out to 8400miles on either 200hours of driving or 200 gallons of gas. Got it covered either way you figure it.

 

Interesting! I suppose the hour meter would prove better for someone who does a lot of idling though.

What are you driving, a motorcycle?

 

Found this on the IDI website for the VT365 diesel (ie detuned brother of 6.0PSd). Thought it might be of interest.

Here is a link to the page if you want to read the complete specifications. http://www.internationaldelivers.com...t365detail.asp

 

What am I driving? am on #5 and #7 GeoMetro/Suzuki Swift now. 98 and 01 Swifts, the rest were metro's with 3 and 4cyl's. The Swifts are both 4valve per cyl 4cyl's(79HP/79CI) and am averaging 41 to 44mpg with both. This has been my standard of life since 1987 and just accept it being I am 52 miles from work one way and I LOVE where I live with a water view and beach rights, got my retirement home just waiting to retire in less than 10years-I HOPE. The 88 3cyl went 254000 miles, 92 3cyl 108000 when the tree fell in front of me at 50+mph-walked away, 95 cyl 31000 miles/10months couldn't stand color any longer-purple, 96 4cyl 240,000+ and still not today using oil. Had a 98 3cyl after the 96 and sold it after a year-had forgotten what it was to be without some power + the mileage on the 3cyl isn't much better than the 4cyl's anymore(they used to get 50+ today no better than 44). The plan today is to make these two last the next 10 years so as not to have any car payments(as long as no more trees fall in front of me) or high cost full coverage insurance ("full coverage" today is 2 Swifts-wreck one, still have a second waiting as long as it doesn't kill me). GREAT CARS/CHEAP!!!!!!!

 

Whats wrong with high speed interstate driving?? i frequently drive 100mph for sustained periods of time (20 min).