Re: [all] synthetic oil

[Iain Mannix <mannix@secretignition.com>]

At 1:49 PM -0700 08/01/1998, Kevin Collins wrote:
>Ryan Schuermann wrote:
>
>> Case in point o nthe 1200 miles trip from Miami to Houston, about
>> 600 miles into the trip I got some gas and decided to check the oil,
>> there was no oil on the dipstick, the car was running fine so I
>> assumed it to be a bad dipstick ... <snip>
>
>Bad dipstick?  Umm..... <????!!!>     :0


I agree - not directed at you, Ryan, but for the benefit of those on the
list, too much oil is better than no oil:).  Neither is good, but I'd
probably have added oil until it at least read on the dipstick.  A quick
way to see if there is _any_ oil in the engine is to take the oil fill cap
off while the car is running and rev the engine - even with a splashguard,
it'll spray around a bit.  I've never seen a "bad" dipstick - I've seen the
tube break off, seen d/s which go in too far(reading overfull), never seen
one not show any oil when the car has enough oil.  If I were on the
highway, found there was no oil on the stick, I'd either add oil until
there was enough, or worst case, drain the engine and add 3 quarts.  I find
it hard to believe the engine ran 600 miles with _no_ oil - it'd make a lot
of noise, not sure what the oil temp would do, even with synthetic(which is
still oil, just more refined - it is _oil_, just better oil), eh, who
knows.  It is an expensive mistake - if the engine(Ryan) did run 600m with
no oil, its service life has shortened.  YMMV, etc, but if anyone else is
faced with this, add oil, pay the $20 for an oil change at a truck stop, do
something to ensure there is enough oil in the engine.

Interesting tidbit - last year, at the Denver Tour practice day, a guy spun
a bearing in his MR2.  I listened to it, sounded bad, but not terrible.
Did not know what was wrong, really.  A MR2 guy came over, listened for 10
seconds, "your #2 bearing spun.  The engine is 1/2 quart low on oil."
Walked away.  Uhh, ok.  We checked the oil, yup, about 3/4 quart low.  Guy
returns, has a cell phone, gets put on hold.  Asks the car owner "When did
you last check it?"  "Oklahoma," says the now disheartened owner.  MR2 guy
rolls his eyes.  MR2 guy talked to someone on the phone, hung up, turns to
MR2 owner, says "you can use my trailer to take it to(some Toyota place)."
MR2 owner asks if it'll get to Texas.  MR2 guy says "we should'nt drive it
on the trailer."  Oh.

Moral?  Check thy oil!!!  This MR2 was driven 500ish miles 1/2 quart low,
then autocrossed 10 runs or so.  It spun a bearing.  Toyota motors, like
them or not, are pretty bombproof.  I check the oil before each set of runs
at an autocross, and again after.  It often loses 1/2 quart in a day of
autocross(pukes it into the breather bottle).  This guy's problems were a
result of sideloading/starvation - my Audi actually buzzed at me yesterday
sliding around the airport, lots of rain, I was drifting it around in the
puddles, got onto some concrete & starved for a second(1/2 second, maybe).
Bzzt.  Eek!  Put a half quart in.  BMW autocrossers(E36 M3) run a bit
overfull(1/2-1 quart) for this reason.  Keeps the lifters quiter, too.
Motors like oil.  Engines are either expensive or a pain in the butt, or
both.  We're lucky - we can buy an engine for $500 at most.  A belt broke
recently on a friend's MR2 Turbo, its going to be $3000 to get it fixed.
Yuk.


I.Mannix(my Jeep had no dipstick, it leaked oil.  I added oil every now and
then, for safety.  Changed the oil one day, 10q pan, it flooded the pan.  I
put a dipstick in;)


PS - before the naysayers start with "Toyotas suck, you said you've seen 2
engines blow!" stuff, let me remind you that one was operator error, the
other poor maintenance.  Had the belt been replaced sooner, #2 would not
have happened.  Had the first guy checked the oil, he'd still be driving
it, I am sure.  Also, in the 4 years I've been autocrossing, I have seen 2
Toyota motors pop(those two), several Corrado VR6s blow headgaskets, 2
Rabbit motors die(one bearing, one rings, not including Eric's), ummm, a
944 Turbo blew up recently at an event(left two trails of oil on the
concrete), eh, think that's it.  Everything breaks eventually, most things
seem to break because the owners do something wrong, it seems.  Oh yeah, a
Supra spun a bearing last year, but _that_ owner is _REALLY_ suspect;).
FWIW, figured I'd have to type this sooner or later;).


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