To drain or not to drain

Sir,

The Group Public Relations Officer of Castrol, Mr. Laurence Sultan, would have carried more conviction, had he chosen to answer my question, rather than somewhat arrogantly dismiss it as being-absurd. Mr. Sultan states that it is the car manufacturer who fixes the interval of oil changes, but surely the car manufacturer must base his recommendations on technical data, supplied to, him by the oil company’s chemists. But that was not my question. For years, the oil companies, NOT the car manufacturers, have been telling the motoring public that the additives which are incorporated in extreme pressure rear axle oils, have a strictly limited life, say 6,000 miles and that oil must be discarded and renewed at approximately this period, as these additives are by this time expended.

Now, two of our largest car manufacturers have, by the omission of oil drain plugs in the rear axles, categorically contradicted this, and by the clearest implication, inferred that rear axle oil is quite capable of lasting for the life of the car. That was my question, Mr. Sultan.

Mr. Sultan infers that the cost of motoring is high; I entirely agree with him. But surely, if it be possible to reduce the annual cost of motoring by up to two pounds (your own figures, Mr. Sultan) by the abolition of rear axle oil changes, this can hardly be dismissed as being absurd. It is certainly not absurd to those of us who have to pay for our oil out of our own pockets, and not out of an expense account.

Fivehead.

J. M. SHIELDS.