This is what I learned from a master mechanic.
One day me and a buddy of mine dropped of his wife's car at this master mechanic.
He told the master mechanic the car had a rear engine oil leak.
The master mechanic told us to come back in about 4 hours.
We went to a nearby saloon, shot some pool, played some tunes, drank a couple of beers and then went back.
My buddy asked the master mechanic what did you find, He said' the engine is shot, there is no compression in the cylinders.
My buddy said' How can that be it only has 38,000 miles on it.
The master mechanic asked' How did your wife drive the car,
He said' Short drives to school then maybe the grocery store then back home.
The master mechanic asked' How often did you change the oil.
He said' Every 3,000 miles.
The master mechanic said" That is what killed your wife's engine.
He went on to say that in a colder climate (like Wisconsin) if do short drives, you should change the oil every 1.500 to 2,000 miles.
He said" When it is cold outside, look at a engine after you start it up, it will start to sweat, condensation (water) will build up on the outside of the engine.The same thing is happening on the inside of the engine. Short drives don't let the engine warm up enough to evaporate (Burn off) the condensation (water) on the inside of the engine. After a couple of months of short drives you end up with a lot of water in the oil.
A recipe for premature engine wear.
The rear engine oil leak, was from the intake manifold gasket blowing out.
The compression rings and cylinder wear were letting combustion gases pass the pistons
and into the crank case (Blow By), that creates high crank case pressure, which blows out gaskets.
Then I asked" If the cylinders have no compression why isn't the engine burning oil out the tail pipe.
The master mechanic said" The oil rings today are lot better than they were 50 years ago.
That is why you don't see many cars burning oil nowadays.
With all the sensors on modern engines, one would think, why don't they have a sensor that senses water in the oil?
Before we left the master mechanic said"
You are better off buying a used car, from a traveling salesman with highway miles,
than from a little old lady who drove her car to church and back home everyday.
Oh by the way this master mechanic kept his shop so clean you could eat a egg off the floor.
