Yep, exactly, the car will happily run on 20,000 miles intervals, but all other things remaining equal a car that has its oil changed at 10,000 mile intervals will last longer.

 

It has to be a balance, Skoda are no different to other organisations with both engineering and marketing teams.

 

The engineers would have you change the oil every 5,000 miles, the marketing department want no oil changes at all.

 

The 20,000 mile or long life servicing is geared towards fleet managers, all they care about is the lowest possible total cost over the 3 year period. If in that time the car only needs servicing once or twice then Skoda is likely to work out a better company car choice than one that needs fresh oil more often.

 

Us private buyers make up such a small part of Skoda UK's total sales, the fleet orders are the ones you want and to get these you need to milk that engine oil for as long as you can.

 

The car will last for the duration of the manufacturers warranty (which is all that really matters to the bean counters), and in a lot of cases well beyond.

 

For private owners who like to sweat their assets and run their cars for as long as viably possible then more regular oil changes are beneficial.

Nope - don't buy it.

If an engine oil is designed to last "up to 20,000 miles" and in reality we all know ages such as that are always understated (to avoid possible legal issues in the future) then how is replacing said item 10,000 miles earlier going to suddenly make things better?

If I have a lightbulb in my house it will run the same as it did on day one until it blows. The expected lifetime for the bulb will be a certain number of hours. If I replace that bulb before those hours are up I'm not getting "better light".

The synthetic oil will have been researched by teams, will have cost hundreds of thousands to research and produce and that will ensure the product is as good on day one as it is on it's final day.

As I said before, we aren't living in the 60s & 70s any more. We don't use mineral oil that needed replacing as often as it was. We don't use plugs that need replacing as often as they used to be - plugs are designed for tens of thousands of miles these days. You can replace those, but it won't help - the old plug will continue to produce a clean spark for its designed life.

 

I put forward the notion of it being psychosomatic. I bet I could tell someone I've replaced plugs after a 20,000 mile service (and not actually do it) and I'll be told that they made a difference. I'm sure in the same way someone who replaces oil designed to run for 20k+ miles at 10k there will be this "feeling" that its doing good, that it's made a difference, that the engine will last longer, etc.

Ahh but the typical life expectancy of a car these days is 100k miles, if after this the engine or turbo is excessively worn who cares? Well me actually as I run my cars longer than that

So you are totally convinced that replacing a fluid in the car that is designed to run for 20k+ miles at 10k your turbo and engine will be less worn?

I'm on about something that will have cost the oil manufacturers hundreds of thousands of pounds and many thousands of man hours to develop and produce.

Whether you change your oil more frequently or at the maximum mileage Skoda recommend, at least the oil is getting changed. The more concerning issue is the people who don't check or change their oil at all.

So you are totally convinced that replacing a fluid in the car that is designed to run for 20k+ miles

My Octy Scout was set to Long Life Servicing from the factory. My commute to work was 50 miles each way via M74 and M8, which was over 90%of all my journeys. The remainder was a mixture of motorway/A roads/short journeys. It came up on the display that I required a Service at just 12k, at least 6k and 8 months earlier than I was expecting. When I queried this at the Service Desk, they stated the Long Life intervals are just a guide. I then got them to change it over to annual servicing, that way I could roughly predict when I required a Service.

So you are totally convinced that replacing a fluid in the car that is designed to run for 20k+ miles at 10k your turbo and engine will be less worn?

I'm on about something that will have cost the oil manufacturers hundreds of thousands of pounds and many thousands of man hours to develop and produce.

 

Regardless of the life expectancy of the oil, at 20k miles it will contain more contaminents than at 10k, therefore replacing the oil at 10k means there is less contaminents in the oil to cause wear to my engine. The oil will probably keep lubricating if left in for 40k miles but the other contaminents (Carbon deposita for example) will be causing the wear.

In my job I train some of the personnel at the BP fuel and oil development centre at Pangbourne. I use Castrol Edge oil myself, but as some of the guys there state, they would not leave an oil change for as long as 20k either. 

Regardless of the life expectancy of the oil, at 20k miles it will contain more contaminents than at 10k, therefore replacing the oil at 10k means there is less contaminents in the oil to cause wear to my engine. The oil will probably keep lubricating if left in for 40k miles but the other contaminents (Carbon deposita for example) will be causing the wear.

I'll add that not only is the contaminent build up going to be greater in oil that is used for a longer period but also that the oil itself degrades over time through use. I recall reading an article a long time ago relating to this subject and the viscosity modifiers within the oil. Basically these are long polymer chains that allow for the oil to operate at different temperatures, that can be sheared within the engine environment. Obviously the longer the oil is in use, the higher the chance/number of sheared VM polymers, and hence the less capable the oil is of lubricating the engine at different temperatures to the same level.

 

This article touches on the subject:

http://www.hddeo.com/ViscosityModifierPart2.html

Edited 26 February, 201610 yr by nickgpfc

What contaminants are you guys expecting to find in your oil? If you're thinking about pieces of metal flying around then really you should be worried.

What are you expecting to find in this oil? Contaminants would be an indication something a lot more serious was going on.

What contaminants are you guys expecting to find in your oil? If you're thinking about pieces of metal flying around then really you should be worried.

What are you expecting to find in this oil? Contaminants would be an indication something a lot more serious was going on.

Like I said above, contaminants such as carbon particles. These are particularly prevalent in diesels. If the oil did not get contaminated then it would stay a lovely light golden colour in the engine and not go black. How else do you think engine oil goes black in the engine?

Also petrol can get in their and dilute the oil and exhaust gasses can also come into contact with the oil. You'd be surprised how many contaminants are found in engine oil after a fairly short period of use.

So this has grown arms and legs since my original question

 

If I may interrupt this discussion briefly, how does one change the servicing reminder back from longlife to fixed? I can't find this in my manual.

 

Thanks