I grew up listening to the 70’s and 80’s Fram oil filter ads with varying messages around the tag line, “You can pay me now, or pay me later.” These ads started by reminding vehicle owners the importance of changing the oil filter when changing the oil in their vehicle’s engine. For diesel engines, this task should be listed in the first chapter of your maintenance manual.
Proper and timely maintenance and testing analysis is essential to understanding what shape your engine is in. When you own an aircraft, whether piston or turbine driven where proper engine functioning is critical, crankcase oil and filter testing is a routine task. My spouse averaged testing our plane’s oil and filter no later than every 25 hours. To non-pilots, that doesn’t sound like a lot of wear and tear. In our case, 25 hours was achieved in less than one month translating to approximately 6500 miles.
Don’t make the silent mistake
It’s easy to avoid that annoying oil change, trying to squeeze in more miles as it is an inconvenient task. But that’s the silent mistake many of us innocently make. According to Brian Robinson, owner of Lakeshore Custom RV in Iuka, Mississippi and active NHRA race car driver, who has been racing high performance cars since age of 13, “An engine needs sufficient, clean oil and fuel to operate at its peak performance. Low or contaminated oil negatively affects an engine’s internal moving parts which can result in costly repairs that possibly could have been avoided. Routine oil and filter changes can help prevent these problems, increase the life of your engine, improve efficiency, and add to the longevity of your powertrain. The importance of regular maintenance cannot be overstated.”
Prior to his opening of Lakeshore Custom RV with partner Nathan Davidson, former Tiffin quality manager, Brian worked in R&D in the Performance aftermarket automotive industry for Bill Taylor Enterprises. For many years Brian was sponsored by Tiffin Motorhomes with many victories at races across the U.S. In an interview on March 5, 2021 with Bob Tiffin regarding Tiffin’s referral policy for folks with older coaches needing repair, maintenance or just updating their motorhome, Bob’s first on his list of referrals is Lakeshore Custom RV. His comment to me was, “It’s the farthest from Tiffin here in Red Bay, some 30 miles, but they’re first on my list of referrals.”
A health checkup for your engine
Testing the oil and oil filter offers material evidence as to what part, if any in your engine, might be unknowingly deteriorating. This material evidence is commonly referred to as “the residual” which may present itself in the oil. Oil testing analysis indicates what type of metal, the amount of metal which might be present, and where the metal shavings/residue are derived from, (e.g., the crank shaft, cam shaft, pistons, connecting rods, etc.). All important components to a smooth-running engine.
Save a few bucks
To save a few bucks, purchase the oil filters ahead of time at places like O’Reilly Auto Parts, NAPA, online or other automotive store. That way you aren’t paying the marked-up profit cost which is added to the labor and oil cost invoice. If we had plenty of storage room, some of us would take advantage of oil sales from big box stores, but that’s not practical for us full-timers. Many diesel truck repair/maintenance facilities charge far less labor costs for a diesel engine oil change than RV repair facilities. Mitch Lamm, owner of Magnolia Diesel in Columbus, MS echoes the same sentiment, “Long haulers who regularly test their oil stay ahead of potential problems.” We had an injector replaced last year at Magnolia Diesel and were impressed with their efficiency. We were only off the road for a few hours. After inspecting the injector replacement, owner Mitch Lamm stated, “Truckers make money on the road, not in my shop.”
Brian Robinson further mentions, “The average service/maintenance cost initially may seem costly, but when you factor in potential mechanical repairs that could have been avoided, it makes sense to slow down and take time out for regular maintenance. That includes examining the oil filter.”
Avoiding future engine problems
The same type of testing analysis is available for gasoline and diesel engines which provides you, the owner, a look into the future as to what may be transpiring within. Think of it like a “blood test” for your engine.
Don’t forget, no use is abuse
In an aircraft, this sentiment is one of the first things a pilot looks for when buying or leasing a plane. Pilots don’t like hangar queens. Hangar queens simply are planes that fly low time hours, sitting idle without running the lifeblood of its engine – the oil. The same sentiment rings true for diesel engines as they like to run. Some diesels don’t really break in until well beyond what a typical RVer drives in ten years. If your coach has sat idle for several months due to travel restrictions, it might be a good idea to check the oil filter and change the oil before venturing out.
Yikes! What a mess!
One year ago, we were driving our diesel pusher north in Virginia at 60 mph on cruise control. We were about an hour out from our destination. Without warning, all six main bearings seized causing a catastrophic failure, destroying the engine block, turbo charger and compressor. Six large holes were created when the bearings and rods blew out spewing 21 quarts of oil and many chunks of the engine block and internal parts all over the highway and the front of our Jeep. Our Jeep Wrangler was less than a month old when it experienced its first oil spa bath. Oh, did I mention that we had just had the engine serviced at Freightliner in Gaffney, SC, earlier that morning? Perhaps if we had been doing the same preventative measures on our coach as we regularly did on our airplane, then this may have been avoided. A real tough lesson to learn after spending our hard-earned greenbacks to the tune of $35,000!” Ouch!
Time to become a soothsayer…
There are simple products available to help you test your oil and other fluids. O’Reilly Auto Parts has a test kit at their store or on-line for as little as $18.99. Use the kit and return the parts to the store or mail it in for a qualified lab analysis report. Amsoil also has an oil analyzing testing kit for $34.00, including freight. Both O’Reilly and Amsoil will return the test results back to you in a couple of days and offer themselves available to discuss the results with you.
How does one test the oil?
We use a JEGS oil filter cutting tool we purchased on Amazon. When the oil filter is removed, my spouse cuts the bottom off with the cutter. This cutter handles various size filters easily. Next, he collects the oil and runs a rare earth magnet through it to see what if any magnetized metals are present. Rare earth magnets are inexpensive and available on Amazon, at Home Depot or Lowe’s. He also visually inspects for metal shavings, even running some between his fingers to feel for ‘residual’. So far…none are present. If he were to visually see metal shavings in the pan oil or filter itself, we would send it out through one of the testing sites available. That way we can see all the way to the future.
Good experiences deserve repeating
Because of Brian’s automotive experience and Nathan, who had worked in every department in the making of a Tiffin motorhome, we’ve visited Lakeshore several times over the past two years for upgrades inside and outside our coach. If you’re traveling east or west and may need to change your oil, want to upgrade, customize, or repair something in your coach, 5th wheel or bumper trailer, need chassis or generator servicing, there are plenty of things to see around Iuka, Mississippi while your rig is being serviced. They work on many motorcoach brands from American Coach to Winnebago, Class A, B or C. Lakeshore has hookups for your rig while getting serviced. You can drive a few miles just over the border into Tennessee and visit the Battle of Shiloh Battlefield and Military Museum. The museum demonstrates how the soldiers dressed at the time as well as a cap and ball rifle demonstration. Fish, boat, or camp on Lake Pickwick in JP Coleman State Park just across the highway from Lakeshore.
You can visit their website for more information: Lakeshorecustomrv.com. We will be visiting them this year again for more customization.
Read the edited article published March 26, 2021 here: Is your engine in good shape? Pay attention now, or pay the price later – RV Travel
Kate Doherty has been writing for more than 30 years in technical and general media. In her previous business, she and her spouse dealt with special projects within the military/government sector. Recently she published “Masquerade: A Logan Scott Novel” under the pen name Bryan Alexander, a thriller now available in eBook and paperback on Amazon. It’s a page-turner!