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Elcam84 · 08-06-16, 03:37 PM

I used to be an ASE master tech and saw many cars that never had oil changes... The crankcase was full of carbon crud etc. My dad was the plant manager for AGAP engine re builders which at the time was bigger than jasper. Many of the cores were run without oil changes. Everything gets packed with crud that is as hard as a rock. They were so bad that they had to run them through the oven before disassembly then again afterwards after mechanical cleaning.

The issue is not just additive breakdown. It's build up of moisture, acids, carbon etc. This is why short trips to the store down the street are harder on engines as it doesn't have a chance to warm up and those first two build up and the engine doesn't run enough to remove most of them so they accumulate.

You still need to drain the oil to remove the sediment buildup and the stuff that doesn't get burned off. Remember the Toyota engine sludge.. Caused by engines that had too hot of surfaces inside the engine. Their fix on some like the 4 runner was to put 7 quart oil pans on them and then recommend synthetic oil in all of their engines. Still an issue today as they haven't fixed the core problem.

Mowers do tend to burn more oil than other engines and when I was in high school I worked at a friends mower shop which had the Kmart and walmart repair accounts among others. We would see returns of no oil change mowers and deny the repair. He typically had 100 or more at a time that the owners just left because they didn't want to pay for the repair.
We had one come in totally sized brand new. Removed the fill plug and saw green. They put antifreeze in....

Newer cars and mowers do stay cleaner internally due to a number of factors but the only reason they will say you don't need to change the oil in a mower is because they have it set to burn more oil than normal and just have the customer add oil. It's all marketing because people are too lazy to change oil along with many other things like mowing the lawn is too much for most these days.

Many including gm have touted long oil change intervals and it's all driven by the marketing department as well as the bean counters. Don't change the oil and we can sell you another unit sooner. Remember they are in the market to sell you another unit. They don't want yours to last and they don't want you to fix it either.

Also look at many of the German manufacturers that have very high oil consumption. Their oil consumption amounts when new often exceed the allowable for American made engines. The Mercedes designed engines that Chrysler used in their cars were massive oil burners. The 4cyl used in the pt cruiser( horrible standard trans as well) and their engines in other cars used lots of oil. Lots of extra pollution from that and premature failure of cat converters was common because of it.

Basically don't believe what marketing from any company tells you. There will always be those that get away with the exception but just cause it works in a few cases doesn't mean it will work in yours. Driving style types of roads and the biggie is heat. It sits at 103* air temp for at least hrs a day here and consider the heat from the road as well. Then stop and go traffic with the ac on max now do you think you are burning off enough oil to be able to put in fresh to replace the additives?
This goes on for 3 months here and it's still in the 90s when the sun goes down.

It's a bad idea on many levels. Oil is cheap your car isnt. Don't risk it. If you want to do that with your mower just buy the $99 walmart special and throw it away at the end of the year or when it doesn't start next spring. Many do that now as they abuse them so badly.

08-06-16, 03:37 PM	#24
Elcam84 Apprentice EcoRenovator Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: TX Posts: 275 Thanks: 2 Thanked 31 Times in 24 Posts	I used to be an ASE master tech and saw many cars that never had oil changes... The crankcase was full of carbon crud etc. My dad was the plant manager for AGAP engine re builders which at the time was bigger than jasper. Many of the cores were run without oil changes. Everything gets packed with crud that is as hard as a rock. They were so bad that they had to run them through the oven before disassembly then again afterwards after mechanical cleaning. The issue is not just additive breakdown. It's build up of moisture, acids, carbon etc. This is why short trips to the store down the street are harder on engines as it doesn't have a chance to warm up and those first two build up and the engine doesn't run enough to remove most of them so they accumulate. You still need to drain the oil to remove the sediment buildup and the stuff that doesn't get burned off. Remember the Toyota engine sludge.. Caused by engines that had too hot of surfaces inside the engine. Their fix on some like the 4 runner was to put 7 quart oil pans on them and then recommend synthetic oil in all of their engines. Still an issue today as they haven't fixed the core problem. Mowers do tend to burn more oil than other engines and when I was in high school I worked at a friends mower shop which had the Kmart and walmart repair accounts among others. We would see returns of no oil change mowers and deny the repair. He typically had 100 or more at a time that the owners just left because they didn't want to pay for the repair. We had one come in totally sized brand new. Removed the fill plug and saw green. They put antifreeze in.... Newer cars and mowers do stay cleaner internally due to a number of factors but the only reason they will say you don't need to change the oil in a mower is because they have it set to burn more oil than normal and just have the customer add oil. It's all marketing because people are too lazy to change oil along with many other things like mowing the lawn is too much for most these days. Many including gm have touted long oil change intervals and it's all driven by the marketing department as well as the bean counters. Don't change the oil and we can sell you another unit sooner. Remember they are in the market to sell you another unit. They don't want yours to last and they don't want you to fix it either. Also look at many of the German manufacturers that have very high oil consumption. Their oil consumption amounts when new often exceed the allowable for American made engines. The Mercedes designed engines that Chrysler used in their cars were massive oil burners. The 4cyl used in the pt cruiser( horrible standard trans as well) and their engines in other cars used lots of oil. Lots of extra pollution from that and premature failure of cat converters was common because of it. Basically don't believe what marketing from any company tells you. There will always be those that get away with the exception but just cause it works in a few cases doesn't mean it will work in yours. Driving style types of roads and the biggie is heat. It sits at 103* air temp for at least hrs a day here and consider the heat from the road as well. Then stop and go traffic with the ac on max now do you think you are burning off enough oil to be able to put in fresh to replace the additives? This goes on for 3 months here and it's still in the 90s when the sun goes down. It's a bad idea on many levels. Oil is cheap your car isnt. Don't risk it. If you want to do that with your mower just buy the $99 walmart special and throw it away at the end of the year or when it doesn't start next spring. Many do that now as they abuse them so badly.