We Did It!!  ....  OVER 1,000,000 MILES
WITH ONLY 1 UNNECESSARY OIL CHANGE!

 

Engine Disassembled  Inspected  Reassembled & Back to Work
Click for Engine Inspection  Photos

Nine years to prove the point that “Routine” oil drains can be SAFELY eliminated. Thanks to the use of a GCF By-Pass Lube Oil Filter, we’ve exceeded 1,000,000 miles on this 1990 Peterbilt with only one unnecessary oil drain. And we did it with conventional petroleum oil (Shell Rotella T 15W40); not an expensive synthetic!

On June 21st 1999, at 1,012,825 miles, the above Peterbilt rolled into Covington Detroit Diesel for the 3rd time during the past 9 years for an internal engine inspection. The past two times, at 505,000 and 761,000 miles, Shell Oil and Covington Detroit Diesel personnel inspected the engine for contamination and wear. Their findings – “Exceptionally clean engine and NO measurable wear.” Both times, the engine was inspected and reassembled with no parts replaced. At the 1,000,000 mile inspection the results were virtually the same, the only measurable wear that could be found was on the rings. 1,000,000 Miles and only rings replaced? Not bad for 9 years and 1,000,000 miles of hard work with only one oil drain! The truck is now back to work and pulling for the 1 ½ million mile mark with the original bearings, liners, cam, overhead and etc.

How did we do it? The owner simply changed the inexpensive GCF “elements” every 10,000 miles and the factory full flow filters every 50,000 miles. By following this safe and simple maintenance schedule, the oil stayed clean 100% of the time and wear was drastically reduced within the engine.

You don’t need a more expensive oil…  JUST GCF OIL FILTERS!
1,000,000 MILE INSPECTION:  Making Believers:  

Ask yourself this question – is it possible to run nine years, 1,000,000 miles and do it with just one unnecessary oil drain and still have a good engine? Chances are you would answer the question with a very unbelieving NO! For several years now there has been an industry wide push for extended oil drains on trucks. Within most any magazine to do with fleet maintenance you will find several oil advertisements boasting about their “NEW” oils. They all have claims of achieving extending oil drain intervals, some up to 40,000 miles. However, simply selecting a new type of oil and taking the “Pour In & Go” approach is not the single answer to extended oil drain intervals. This 1990 Peterbilt achieved the 1,000,000 mile mark with one oil drain, not by the use of some new high tech oil; rather it was the hard work of added filtration offered by the GCF By-Pass Filter. Added filtration is the key to extended oil drains.

At the 1,000,000 mile inspection, Howard Hill and Ricky Cook found basically the same engine that they saw at 505k and 761k. The engine was once again spotless clean and the only marginal wear that could be found was within the rings. Alongside our GCF equipped engine was another engine that Covington Diesel was overhauling for another customer. It was the same engine as ours and had 933,000 miles on it. This engine was in normal “good” condition for a Detroit with this amount of miles. When we compared this engine to ours, one could plainly see that our engine was much cleaner and had far less wear. This other engine had routine oil drains every 12,000 miles. That’s over 77 oil drains in its life and this engine was undergoing a major overhaul consisting of replacing all bearings, rings and liners. After inspecting our engine, Howard and Ricky recommended that a set of rings, not rings AND liners, just rings, be replaced. The GCF equipped engine, with only one unnecessary oil drain in 1,000,000 miles simply needed rings. After the determining the engine could be reassembled with only the rings being replaced, we asked Mr. Cook to replace any two cylinder kits, any two rod and main bearings. This would allow us to show parts that had run a million miles using GCFs simple PM program. After the work was complete, once again, the old oil was poured back in and the truck is now pulling for the 1 ½ million mile mark. Gulf Coast Filters, with the help of Shell Oil and Covington Detroit Diesel, have proven conclusively that with the use of GCF filters, greatly extended oil drains is now FACT not fiction!

UPDATE: North Carolina DOT converting their heavy equipment to GCFs

For the past three years the State of North Carolina has been converting DOT equipment to GCFs. All 26 NC ferries utilize the GCF filters. Over 300 GCF by-pass oil filters have been delivered to NAVISTAR’s factory  in Ohio for installation on new International trucks and 120 to GM's truck assembly plant in Wisconsin as ordered by NC DOT.