She's out!

prof pat pending said:
And that is the very reason you should change it regularly.
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Yes heard all that, condensation, acids, all will rot the the engine out, bores scored under light load etc..... If you can show me a bit of hard engineering evidence to back it up I will believe it. Nobody rebuilds engines anymore, modern alloys and bearing surface treatments combined with modern synthetic oils mean all that 40 year thinking just doesn't really apply anymore. I'm sure in your line of business you know better than to believe what you are told and to question stuff:D The world moves on.
 
IMHO, having spent my entire 35 year working life in the Motor trade....

These big Diesels used in trucks, buses and boats, will do 500,000 miles with ease, a lucky one possibly 1,000,000 miles.

My boat use tends to involve chunks of 4-6 hour running at a fairly constant temperature at low revs. The oil isn't being degraded because of high temperatures, nor stop-start use, bearing in mind the engines are shut off while in locks, but don't have the chance to cool down. They are run on a minimal load, unlike a Truck or bus.

Now, typical road vehicles average 30mph, so 100 hours equates to 3000 miles in 'truck terms' and oil change intervals are around 30,000 miles on medium commercials (7.5 tonne) of that era, which is 1000 hours in boat terms.

Therefore, my 100 hour oil change is being kind to the engine by a factor of ten!

As concerns leaving the boat out of the water for 5 months with fresh oil in it...wheres the issue?!

As I said: Volvo reccs.

Not about saving money, I only buy genuine Volvo, it's about not WASTING it!! ;)
 
Chris_d said:
Yes heard all that, condensation, acids, all will rot the the engine out, bores scored under light load etc..... If you can show me a bit of hard engineering evidence to back it up I will believe it. Nobody rebuilds engines anymore, modern alloys and bearing surface treatments combined with modern synthetic oils mean all that 40 year thinking just doesn't really apply anymore. I'm sure in your line of business you know better than to believe what you are told and to question stuff:D The world moves on.
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Yep, I do question stuff all the time, and I certainly know that things move on, you don't get far in my line of business if you stay static too long.

As for hard engineering evidence, there's plenty available, but as its all supplied by oil or engine manufacturers who want to sell you either oil or a service I guess you'll consider it biased and void
 
No Regrets said:
IMHO, having spent my entire 35 year working life in the Motor trade....

These big Diesels used in trucks, buses and boats, will do 500,000 miles with ease, a lucky one possibly 1,000,000 miles.

My boat use tends to involve chunks of 4-6 hour running at a fairly constant temperature at low revs. The oil isn't being degraded because of high temperatures, nor stop-start use, bearing in mind the engines are shut off while in locks, but don't have the chance to cool down. They are run on a minimal load, unlike a Truck or bus.

Now, typical road vehicles average 30mph, so 100 hours equates to 3000 miles in 'truck terms' and oil change intervals are around 30,000 miles on medium commercials (7.5 tonne) of that era, which is 1000 hours in boat terms.

Therefore, my 100 hour oil change is being kind to the engine by a factor of ten!

As concerns leaving the boat out of the water for 5 months with fresh oil in it...wheres the issue?!

As I said: Volvo reccs.

Not about saving money, I only buy genuine Volvo, it's about not WASTING it!! ;)
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Q: Does my 25 years building F1 cars out do your 35 in the motor trade?
A: Nope, neither of us are really qualified to answer.

Going back to your time in the motor trade, which car is it most important to service on time, the car that does 1000 miles a year around town, or the car that does 30,000 a year banging up and down the mororway?
 
Both, but in different ways!

I have had friends who do a very low mileage, and the car gets a good checkover. The high mileage car certainly needs a good service with replacement fluids which are worn out.

Many of the low mileage cars have had bi-annual oil changes with no issues. Bear in mind lots of cars enjoy a two year service interval nowadays!!
 
prof pat pending said:
Q: Does my 25 years building F1 cars out do your 35 in the motor trade?
A: Nope, neither of us are really qualified to answer.

Going back to your time in the motor trade, which car is it most important to service on time, the car that does 1000 miles a year around town, or the car that does 30,000 a year banging up and down the mororway?
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So which one year old unserviced car would you buy, the one with 1000 miles or 30000?

That's two of us with 25years in F1 then:)
 
I don't think thats a huge issue nowadays, bearing in mind modern lubricants and materials!

Cars run so much cleaner don't they!?
 
I remember when i was a kid and the company i worked for had some little volvo FL4 trucks and one of the older fitters telling me that they were the worst truck engine volvo had ever made!
For the record i always change my oil to often and the filters every second change, cars and the boat.


Lynall
 
The engine dates back to the late 1970's, known as the TD40 unit, in various guises, and had a good reputation. Salt spray would corrode the injector housings on the trucks (The engines were totally out in the open!) which usually killed the cylinder heads, as the injectors would never come out after that!

The FL4's tended to have the lower powered 110hp unit.
 
All I know is aeronautical engines and the killer there is low use. Same on a boat. Corrosion is caused by water and the less use the boat gets the more humidity gets into the oil. If you change the oil, you change the filter. The earlier advice re older filters work better is for ponds not engines. Change the filter you cheap chap!! :)
 
No Regrets said:
IMHO, having spent my entire 35 year working life in the Motor trade....

These big Diesels used in trucks, buses and boats, will do 500,000 miles with ease, a lucky one possibly 1,000,000 miles.

My boat use tends to involve chunks of 4-6 hour running at a fairly constant temperature at low revs. The oil isn't being degraded because of high temperatures, nor stop-start use, bearing in mind the engines are shut off while in locks, but don't have the chance to cool down. They are run on a minimal load, unlike a Truck or bus.

Now, typical road vehicles average 30mph, so 100 hours equates to 3000 miles in 'truck terms' and oil change intervals are around 30,000 miles on medium commercials (7.5 tonne) of that era, which is 1000 hours in boat terms.

Therefore, my 100 hour oil change is being kind to the engine by a factor of ten!

As concerns leaving the boat out of the water for 5 months with fresh oil in it...wheres the issue?!

As I said: Volvo reccs.

Not about saving money, I only buy genuine Volvo, it's about not WASTING it!! ;)
Click to expand...

There is much merit in the Profs comments as you have chosen the wrong duty cycle, anyway as mentioned elsewhere FL4 was one of worst trucks ever built and certainly was not on extended lube drains, 12,000 kms springs to mind, however I can look it up.

Biggest issue is that you are applying automotive thinking to what is not a typically automotive duty cycle, another wild card is the the fact that your engine is IDI and you are applying DI technology, combustion temperature and pressure gradients FAR different in old IDI engines which is part of the reason why FL4's cracked cylinder heads for a pastime.

#1 Forget automotive mind set.

I write service schedules for contract maintenance gen sets, mainly on super critical stand-by operation, hospitals, communication centers etc etc. Power units are generally Cat, Cummins, Perkins and Volvo. Stand by sets are load tested for one hour every month. Many installations are heated with engines having block heaters for instant power take up in emergency, however many are unheated, which is similar environment to a boat ashore.

In stand by operation lube and filters changed every 6 months period which meets among others Volvo service schedule for G drive engines.

Marine engines ashore sweat internally and bearings become marked due to acid attack if lube not changed at regular intervals.

Volvo have issue with consumable costs so they skew their service schedules to bring their costs in line with other manufacturers and squeeze the the filter life slightly. However if you use premium brand from say Baldwin, Donaldson, Fleetguard or Mann you reduce filter costs significantly, Volvo source their branded filters from Mann & Hummel and Fleetguard anyway.

Do not mess with synthetic lubes unless manufacturer actually specifies it, total waste of money, and as to poster saying used filter more efficient than new complete nonsense.
 
No Regrets said:
The engine dates back to the late 1970's, known as the TD40 unit, in various guises, and had a good reputation. Salt spray would corrode the injector housings on the trucks (The engines were totally out in the open!) which usually killed the cylinder heads, as the injectors would never come out after that!

The FL4's tended to have the lower powered 110hp unit.
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It was most unusual in that an engine designed and primarily marketed as marine was used in trucks AFAIK
It was not one of Volvo big engines by any means
 
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True, but it was fitted into loads of boats, in various guises over many years.

Like all boat engines, you hear of issues, most appear to be cooling problems related to the usual inlet/impeller/blockage stuff common to all boats, but also the use of O rings everywhere!

Seems the engine will die from water leaks!

Just to clarify: Volvo quote 100 hours oil change and 200 hours filter change in the manual for this engine. I am sticking to it...oh, and I use Volvo oil and filters. It's not penny pinching!! :rolleyes:
 
I guess if you had an early Renault 1.9 diesel you'd still change the oil at 18,000 because that’s what it said in the handbook

(Renault realised that they screwed up and halved it (eventually) after numerous catastrophic engine failures)
 
No Regrets said:
True, but it was fitted into loads of boats, in various guises over many years.

Like all boat engines, you hear of issues, most appear to be cooling problems related to the usual inlet/impeller/blockage stuff common to all boats, but also the use of O rings everywhere!

Seems the engine will die from water leaks!

Just to clarify: Volvo quote 100 hours oil change and 200 hours filter change in the manual for this engine. I am sticking to it...oh, and I use Volvo oil and filters. It's not penny pinching!! :rolleyes:
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Not sure why anybody in motor trade would willingly pay £6.30 liter for 15W40 to ACEA E5.7 VDS3 for VP branded lube yet premium lube to exactly the same spec is typically £3.30/liter, the Volvo branded lube filter is made by Fleetguard or Mann however not much price difference, Volvo about £17.50, Fleetguard LF3464 is typically £11.50.

Ho hum
 
Change my oil every season and it is still relatively clear. Filter every other oil change. Engines still running cleanly without smoke and they are 1980 vintage.
Lubrication has never been an issue. As I have said in other postings the only issues I have had have all been cooling related.
 
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