mileage or hours?

[rscupper]

Other than for the sake of tradition, why isn't the use of our cars measured in hours instead of miles? Wouldn't it be great to know HOW the car was operated?

- It sure makes maintenance intervals easier to track on aircraft.

- High mileage wouldn't matter if the hours were low in comparison.

I've heard this subject knocked around before, but I don't recall ever hearing a good reason for maintaining the status quo. Is there something I'm missing?

[Planter91C2]

hours of what? engine operation or the vehicle moving?

within a standard deviation, mileage should measure both.

you need to know both answers, length of engine operation and wear on other components.

[rscupper]

Engine hours

[88911coupe]

I seem to recall recently on Speedvision that some mftr is actually adding this to their cars...can't remember the details but it was somewhat surprising.
Buck
88 Coupe

[RarlyL8]

Never happen.
Cops and other government workers don't want you to know how mutch of your tax money they waste on gas vs actual miles driven.

[wckrause]

Counting revolutions might be a better measure of engine wear than either miles or hours.

The Hobbs meter on an airplane is great when you're actually in the air, but it sucks when you're sitting on the runway waiting for clearence and you're getting billed $50/hour, while the engine is idling.

[911pcars]

I believe MB has a system on their vehicles that computes the oil change intervals based on input data such as number of cold/hot starts, oil/coolant temperature, average/maximum engine rpm, etc. Based on this information, the computer program suggests the service schedule; severe duty = more frequent change intervals. Optimum duty = extended oil change intervals. Pretty trick I would say.

Sherwood Lee
http://members.rennlist.org/911pcars

[Milu]

I think there is a similar system on BMWs.

I've worked with industrial vehicles such as FLTs that measured usage in clock hours and some tractors that measured usage in hours with the hours adjusted according to how hard the tractor was used.

[SRT356/911]

Factor in your own depending on the type of driving that you do.
If you divide what you consider to be your average MPH into the # of miles driven you will get the hours.
If you do a balanced combination of freeway and around town your average is probably in the range of 37-42.
S

[Doug Zielke]

It'd be easy to connect-up a 12v Hobbs hour meter. You could punch a big ugly hole in the dashboard, and stick it in there. The ticking would drive you crazy.

[mwbaum]

My new GMC Yukon XL (Suburban) with the 8.1 engine registers the engine hours.....nice feature.