Motor Hours

[dcrbtt]

My Gas Ford V-10 has a readout of motor hours I do everything on mileage It has 850 hours is there something i should be doing?

 

[Adventurous Traveler]

Doesn't seem like a lot to me. Just normal maintenance like oil and filters should be all that needs to be done. I'm sure some more mechanic types will chime in.

 

[Kirk]

Ford says that one hour of idle time = approximately 25 miles of driving. One hour of engine time = 33 miles of driving.

 

[Isaac-1]

Motor time makes a lot more sense than miles do for maintenance intervals on urban delivery trucks, etc. that may have their engine running 8-12 hours per day in stop and go traffic traveling perhaps less than 100 miles in a day, ie averaging under 10 mph. Think a UPS delivery truck going down a residential street stopping for 45 seconds at every 3rd house.

 

[Tulecreeper]

It would depend on how long it took to put those 850 hours on the engine. If it was spread over 20 years of driving, you're fine. If it all went onto the engine in a 4 month period, you have a problem brewing.

My owners manual for my RAM says change the oil every 12 months, or 8000 miles, or 350 hours, whichever comes first. I've had the truck for 7+ months and have 2700 miles on it. I'm going to hit 12 months at about 5000 miles, and I don't care about hours, so it looks like on average in the future I will be changing my oil once a year.

 

[Adventurous Traveler]

The OPs truck is a 2019. 850 hours on the engine is only 212.5 hours per year, or less than an hour per day, or about 4.1 hours per week. That does not sound like a lot of use to me.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Hours is simply an alternative to mileage or calendar time as a way to estimate engine wear & tear and thus maintenance needs. It's probably a better measure for work & delivery vehicles that often have hours far out of proportion to miles or years, but for casual use calendar time is often the safest maintenance scheduler. Mileage is somewhere in-between.

 

[Ray-IN]

Are you asking how to switch from the hour-meter to mileage reading? My Chevy Silverado has the hour meter reading, I consider it much better for scheduling maintenance. I suspect that is how the oil life percent reading is mainly obtained, but it also considers engine load.

 

[Tulecreeper]

Are you asking how to switch from the hour-meter to mileage reading? My Chevy Silverado has the hour meter reading, I consider it much better for scheduling maintenance. I suspect that is how the oil life percent reading is mainly obtained, but it also considers engine load.

My 2000 Silverado also had an hour meter. You had to push the odometer button to get to the "total miles" readout, then hold the button down for 3 seconds and it would show engine hours. When you let go of the button it went back to total miles. For the first few oil changes I was comparing mileage to hours between changes and it was always right around 125 hours and 4500 miles in between, so I just started going by mileage every time.

 

[Ray-IN]

My 2000 Silverado also had an hour meter. You had to push the odometer button to get to the "total miles" readout, then hold the button down for 3 seconds and it would show engine hours. When you let go of the button it went back to total miles. For the first few oil changes I was comparing mileage to hours between changes and it was always right around 125 hours and 4500 miles in between, so I just started going by mileage every time.

Just for grins, next time you have access to a retired police cruiser look at the hour meter compared to mileage.

 

[Laura & Charles]

Are you sure it’s hours on the chassis engine and not the generator? Our current coach’s generator has the hour meter right on the generator, but our last coach had the generator’s hour meter on the dash.

 

[DonTom]

The way I change oil is the simple way. Change it once per year in all ICE engines in everything and anything and ignore everything else.

With EVs, we can even forget about that once per year.

-Don- 79765

 

[TheBar]

I continue to change oil in my 78 Firebird yearly even though it is often driven less than 300 miles a year. I question whether there is a good reason to change it yearly with such low mileage. It is a fair weather vehicle not driven during extreme hot or cold conditions so condensation is minimal.

 

[DonTom]

I continue to change oil in my 78 Firebird yearly even though it is often driven less than 300 miles a year. I question whether there is a good reason to change it yearly with such low mileage. It is a fair weather vehicle not driven during extreme hot or cold conditions so condensation is minimal.

With only 300 miles, I would skip a year and change every two years.

-Don- 79765

 

[Skookum]

My 2000 Silverado also had an hour meter. You had to push the odometer button to get to the "total miles" readout, then hold the button down for 3 seconds and it would show engine hours. When you let go of the button it went back to total miles. For the first few oil changes I was comparing mileage to hours between changes and it was always right around 125 hours and 4500 miles in between, so I just started going by mileage every time.

Same for the Kodiak chassis motorhomes and other MH's which use the millennium-era GM cluster. I discovered this just after we bought our first Super C. I was wary of the low mileage on the rig but the hour meter also checked out.

 

[Skookum]

I continue to change oil in my 78 Firebird yearly even though it is often driven less than 300 miles a year. I question whether there is a good reason to change it yearly with such low mileage. It is a fair weather vehicle not driven during extreme hot or cold conditions so condensation is minimal.

I agree with your methodology and do the same for my F-bodies which mostly sit. If you're driving it in that timeframe, you're still introducing moisture and altering the pH of the oil. The oil filter media also weakens over time. I think you're doing more good than harm.

 

[Tulecreeper]

Just for grins, next time you have access to a retired police cruiser look at the hour meter compared to mileage.

I'm a retired cop, I've seen it. Much idling time.

 

[Adventurous Traveler]

Yeah, my rig has an hour meter on the dash for the generator too.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Yeah, my rig has an hour meter on the dash for the generator too.

Yeah. Mileage isn't very helpful on a generator.

 

[Western Slope]

Our 1978 Mercruiser boat's V8 engine has an hour meter. Approximately 600 hours on it. For a 45 year old marine engine that's really not a lot. Straight 30W high ZDDP motor oil all it's life. Running out of my stock pile of Pennzoil SJ rated 30W marine oil. Got some Valvoline 30W racing oil for the next oil change.