Running East Coast to West Coast?
- Thread starter smokie409
- Start date
nightcreacher
Veteran Expediter
dont know about vans,but the average expedite load is just 450 miles.A tem can take a load 800 miles and beat the airplanes but coast to coast happens but not enough to brag about it
i wont do it,,,it cost to much, i would be way out of the frt lanes, and by the the time i got here,,,i would be to tired, so stay within 600 mile radius of tennesse as a rule of thumb and u will be busy.imho
Tennesseahawk
Veteran Expediter
i wont do it,,,it cost to much, i would be way out of the frt lanes, and by the the time i got here,,,i would be to tired, so stay within 600 mile radius of tennesse as a rule of thumb and u will be busy.imho
Good... that saves another one for me. I'll take those all day long and twice on Sunday. If you're grasping onto those old things called freight lanes, you obviously have a dinosaur as a carrier.
If u say so,,u can hve them, now buy me a suds and we will call it even...................
I would think that expedite and freight lanes aren't that synonymous but what do I know.
moose
Veteran Expediter
Smart Expediter here.
get paid the FSC by the national average ,
run in states where fuel is cheap .
be happy.
just incase you wondered why large truckloads carriers went to the state by state FSC thing .
zero3nine
Veteran Expediter
I just completed a run from Kennesaw GA to Wausau WI, delivered yesterday morning and got a pickup in Chicago going to Nashville which I delivered at 3am this morning. I've been home since 2pm in northern Georgia, washed the van and changed the oil, rotated my tires and ready to roll.
It's been my experience that the busiest freight lanes can generally deliver most things by the next morning. I try to stay out of them. I do distance work for several courier companies and brokers so I keep pretty busy. I'm changing my oil 4 or 5 times a month right now and I still manage to sleep in my bed about half the time.
fired at you from my Droideka
It's been my experience that the busiest freight lanes can generally deliver most things by the next morning. I try to stay out of them. I do distance work for several courier companies and brokers so I keep pretty busy. I'm changing my oil 4 or 5 times a month right now and I still manage to sleep in my bed about half the time.
fired at you from my Droideka
Use a good synthetic oil and reduce oil changes to once a month or once every 6 weeks. Weekly oil changes is nuts for several reasons. Whoever told you to change your oil every 3000 miles, slap 'em. The only people who recommend 3000 mile oil changes are the people who make a living changing oil.
Use a good synthetic oil and reduce oil changes to once a month or once every 6 weeks. Weekly oil changes is nuts for several reasons. Whoever told you to change your oil every 3000 miles, slap 'em. The only people who recommend 3000 mile oil changes are the people who make a living changing oil.
I agree. That whole "it's cheap insurance" argument is ridiculous.
Depends on how the vehicle is used. My wife drives 7 miles to work and usually comes home for lunch. That's 28 miles a day. A 7 mile trip barely gets the engine up to operating temperature in the winter. The oil in that car gets changed every 3000 miles or less. My van I average about 6000 miles per oil change.The only people who recommend 3000 mile oil changes are the people who make a living changing oil.
nightcreacher
Veteran Expediter
Just had oil sample done on my Detroit engine,980000 miles,and it passed with flying colors.I change the oil when it goes down a gallon,usually around 20000 miles.I also use Rotella oil.
In both of my cars,one doesn't hardly get driven,the other all short miles,I use GTX full synthetic.The 2000 Trans Am WS6 just has 13000 miles,and the Chevy HHR has 11000 miles,the HHR is a 2008.
In both of my cars,one doesn't hardly get driven,the other all short miles,I use GTX full synthetic.The 2000 Trans Am WS6 just has 13000 miles,and the Chevy HHR has 11000 miles,the HHR is a 2008.
zero3nine
Veteran Expediter
I change the oil myself from a 55 gal drum in the garage. Buying in bulk, it works out to $3.07 per quart for Mobil 1 synthetic 5/20. I get K&N filters wholesale for $7.25. I recycle the old stuff.
After 216000 miles on this van the oil is still transparent when I drain it. Runs like brand new. So, you can all use your own method and I shall use mine.
fired at you from my Droideka
After 216000 miles on this van the oil is still transparent when I drain it. Runs like brand new. So, you can all use your own method and I shall use mine.
fired at you from my Droideka
Your wife's car falls into the classic "severe" driving conditions. Most manufacturers recommend 5000 miles for severe driving conditions. I'd dig out the owner's manual and see what it says. Even in summer, short trips won't allow the engine and the oil to be completely warmed up. If the oil is still cool, it cannot absorb the contaminants that come from internal combustion as efficiently. Changing it every 3000 miles may seem like cheap insurance, but it's very likely just wasting oil, almost all of it imported. Oil is meant to get dirty, and with good air and oil filters, it’s highly unlikely that there will ever be so much dirt in oil that it’ll lose its lubricative properties. The bad thing that happens to oil is when it gets saturated with corrosive (and not lubricative) organic acids (RCOOH) that are byproducts of combustion (like with short-trip severe driving conditions). Generally if the engine is run hot enough for a long enough time these organic acids don’t build up and all is well. But when the motor doesn’t get hot enough or spend enough time at high temperature the acids will build up and the oil will lose its electroconductivity properties. Or more accurately, the oil will be more electroconductive, allowing the corrosives to react electronically with the metals in the engine, causing excessive wear (the same thing that happens when you use the wrong engine coolant or fail to change it often enough).
Even Jiffy Lube is now feeling the pressure to recommend oil change intervals based on manufacturer recommendations for "normal" and "severe" driving. They no longer blanketly recommend 3000 miles between changes. They go the 5000-7500 mile route for severe drivers, but based on manufacturer recommendations, and for 10,000-plus for normal drivers, again depending on oil type and manufacturer recommendations.
If it were me, I'd pull a 6000 mile sample next time you change the oil and send it to Blackstone for $25 and see what they say about it.
The problem stems not only from what dad did with the '57 Chevy, back when 3000 mile oil changes were actually necessary, but from the fact that for many people it feels good to get an oil change. If you fill up the car with gas, wash it and change the oil, it runs better. Right? Of course it doesn’t. But that’s the perception.
Contrary to the "conventional wisdom", the most engine wear between oil changes occurs within the first 3000 miles after an oil change. It sounds like a load of crap, I know, but it's true. And if you change your oil every 3000 miles as cheap insurance, you're increasing engine wear rather than decreasing it.
At one time there was an mind-numbingly long PDF file on the net somewhere that detailed exhaustive cooperative studies by several car makers and oil manufacturers, where they were doing things like completely dismantling engines from several different vehicles at various oil change intervals and examining the engine wear under controlled testing conditions. In another study performed by Ford and ConocoPhillips, outlined in SAE Technical Paper 2003-01-3119 ("Antiwear Performance of Low Phosphorus Engine Oils on Tappet Inserts in Motored Sliding Valvetrain Test"), the results showed unambiguously that engine wear decreased with miles on the oil.
There have been many tests performed using real-world oil analysis to either refute or confirm these studies. All of them that I know of have confirmed the conclusions that too frequent oil changes causes additional engine wear. Here Mobil 1 Test Results is one such study. It also confirms the larger study that showed the importance of adding "top off" oil as needed between changes. Don't wait until you're a quart low to add oil, do it at 1/2 a quart or even 1/4 of a quart. Topping off has a dramatic effect of lengthening the time between oil changes.
When I first got my Sprinter I started a program of engine oil analysis on an almost anal level mainly for the purposes of confirming the Oil Quality Sensor of the Sprinter and in trusting the ASSYST computer in telling me when I needed to change the oil. The oil analysis confirmed precisely what the ASSYST computer was telling me, even though it was contrary to the established beliefs that frequent oil changes was better.
I use Mobile 1 synthetic oil, change the oil filter-only every 5000-7000 miles, and top off the oil level as needed. I get between 15,000 and 17,500 miles between oil changes, as per the ASSYST, sometimes up to 20,000.
My recommendation would be not to change the oil based on conventional wisdom and common convention, but rather based on the manufacturer's recommendations and/or by what an oil analysis tells you the interval needs to be. You can guess all day long, but all you're doing is guessing. And of you guess wrong, you could actually be doing more damage by changing the oil too soon. But more to the point, with every oil change you increase the chances of some of it ending up in a landfill, and you increase oil imports of foreign oil, not to mention wasting money.
If all else fails and you're just not sure, go by taste. When the oil has lost its sweet nutty flavor and bold mouth-feel, it’s time for a change.
so when your buddy Guido says you can never do too many oil changes...he is wrong?
zero3nine
Veteran Expediter
Best and fastest way to send any message thread spiraling off course: mention the word "oil".
That being said, I've seen the Mobil 1 study brought up in every oil argument I've ever read in the last couple of years. The tests are conducted on a new or relatively new engine. I'd love to see the same tests performed on an engine with 200,000 or more miles on it, where the tolerances between moving parts are completely different than when it first emerged from the factory.
I used to see visible metal particles on my magnetic drain plug after I first bought the van. It's a distant memory at this point since the engine is long past its break in period.
I've got zero problems with my van. I attribute this largely to my regimen of regular maintenance.
In fact I have never had a critical failure in any vehicle I have ever owned.
Back on topic, I've sent a lot of drivers on coast to coast runs in a straight truck and quite a few Mexico to Canada runs as well. Only cargo van run I ever got from west to east was San francisco to Boston... I've connected the dots on several runs to get from one end to the other, but as we all know that usually means you get to visit some obscure towns for days on end in between.
fired at you from my Droideka
That being said, I've seen the Mobil 1 study brought up in every oil argument I've ever read in the last couple of years. The tests are conducted on a new or relatively new engine. I'd love to see the same tests performed on an engine with 200,000 or more miles on it, where the tolerances between moving parts are completely different than when it first emerged from the factory.
I used to see visible metal particles on my magnetic drain plug after I first bought the van. It's a distant memory at this point since the engine is long past its break in period.
I've got zero problems with my van. I attribute this largely to my regimen of regular maintenance.
In fact I have never had a critical failure in any vehicle I have ever owned.
Back on topic, I've sent a lot of drivers on coast to coast runs in a straight truck and quite a few Mexico to Canada runs as well. Only cargo van run I ever got from west to east was San francisco to Boston... I've connected the dots on several runs to get from one end to the other, but as we all know that usually means you get to visit some obscure towns for days on end in between.
fired at you from my Droideka
That's why I change oil every 3,000 miles with the recommended 10w-30. For the past year I have been using Valvoline Max Life, a synthetic blend. The car is a 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee, 4.0 V-6 with 175,000 miles. Chrysler has a long list of severe driving conditions that warrant a 3,000 mile oil change. Most pertain to off-road driving, but the short start and stop trips and cold climate operation apply to her use of this vehicle. The only time it was ever off-road was when she parked it in the front yard while I sealed the concrete driveway.
As for my van, with 500,000 miles on it I think I will forgo the oil analysis. I'll just keep doing what I'm doing and use the dead dinosaur stuff. My next van will have synthetic oil in the crankcase and rear end from the get-go.
At 3000 miles the Jeep's oil pours to a very dark color that took me a little by surprise. It’s almost black, but if you hold it up to the light it appears a little more reddish-brown. The tan head is nothing too impressive, and did not last long.
The nose is not particularly strong, but does reveal signs of gasoline as well as a sweet, waxy toasted aroma. The oil reminded me of a British stout but lacking the chocolate taste and carbonation. The flavor is predominantly petroleum with hints of detergents at first. It does wash over the palate a little quickly, which makes you realize that this is actually a synthetic blend and not a conventional motor oil. There’s also a nice thickness to go with the deep flavors. The antioxidants and corrosion inhibitors come into play more around the finish, and the oil rounds out a little coffee-like.
nightcreacher
Veteran Expediter
The actual by many tests best synthetic oil is Amsoil.THey do require there own filter system to go with it.I used it in a 1993 CAt engine,change filters once a month and did oil samples at that time,Oil change was done at 100000 miles,even though the samples were great,I had the oil changed.Cat did the samples,and couldn't get over every month the samples were better than the previous month.I was an Amsoil sales agent,and got a great discount on my oil.I don't use synthetic in this truck,I should have but kept putting it off,now I feel it's got too many miles,and to change to a synthetic might cause the seals to leak.
I do samples on my trans and rear end oils,they are synthetic and also pass with flying colors,980000 miles on original oil
I do samples on my trans and rear end oils,they are synthetic and also pass with flying colors,980000 miles on original oil