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Engine's burning oil - how much longer will it last?
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but i think it will be easy for me to learn it
because i really know nothing about this, any word from you will make me progress
thank you very much
Kinda. They are two separate measurements. The "W" may as well stand for winter as it is valid only in comparison to other "W" or cold measurements. Yes, of course the oil thins when it warms up, though.
Sorry, the "W" never has and never will stand for "Winter".
As for your assertion that the "W" number is only good for comparison to other "W" numbers, not true either. It is as I stated before. A 10W-60 will flow like a 10W straight weight oil when cold and like a 60W straight weight oil when up to operating temperatures.
Best Regards,
Shipo
As for your assertion that the "W" number is only good for comparison to other "W" numbers, not true either. It is as I stated before. A 10W-60 will flow like a 10W straight weight oil when cold and like a 60W straight weight oil when up to operating temperatures.
Incorrect. You are insinuating that the oil thickens as it heats up. That is simply not the case. By your logic, a cold bottle of 20W50 should flow the same as 0W20 right out of a hot oil pan. Care to try that experiment?
Sorry, you actually have it backwards, and the original poster was correct. 90 is thicker oil than 10. Oil thickens when it is gets cold below it's normal operating temperature. SAE 30 is standard 30 weight oil, that would thicken to become something higher at freezing temperatures. 10W30 is a 30 weight oil (at normal operating temperatures), and is formulated so that at lower temperatures it acts like an 10 weight oil (thickening up to a 30 weight oil). I've always known the "W" to stand for "Winter", which seems to match how Valvoline defines it as well.
Oil Viscosity reference 1
Oil Viscosity reference 2
Here's Noria's definition of SAE viscosity:
" The viscosity classification of a motor oil according to the system developed by the Society of Automotive Engineers and now in general use. “Winter” grades are defined by viscosity measurements at low temperatures and have “W” as a suffix, while “Summer” grades are defined by viscosity at 100ํํํํํํํ°ํ C and have no suffix. Multigrade oils meet both a winter and a summer definition and have designations such as SAE 10W-30, etc. "
kiawah,
The two articles you referenced are so full of half truths, contradictions and errors that I don't know where to begin, so I won't. Instead, please refer to a far more credible source, namely the API.
http://www.api.org/certifications/engineoil/pubs/upload/AppF-REV-03-15-07.pdf
Also, if you are a member of the SAE International (Society of Automotive Engineers), there are literally thousands of technical publications on multigrade oil that you could view and learn from.
Best Regards,
Shipo
...engine mount canada..
The bilge water that article is championing is made with the exact same primary ingredients as the world renowned Slick 50 product, namely Teflon. Like it or not, Teflon is a solid and is removed from the engine oil by the oil filter (at least until it clogs the filter) before it gets to the cylinder walls.
Said another way, Alemite CD-2 is just another bottle of "me-too" snake oil, produced and sold by folks more interested in separating you from your hard earned money than helping you with a problematic engine. :P
Best Regards,
Shipo
There MIGHT be situations where oil-burning is correctable, but actually engine wear is not one of those situations.
Also, using engine sealer is a bad idea. This swells the seals temporarily but they become flabby and rubbery and will leak worse shortly.
Now the car has oil leaks from the engine block and oil pan, and a transmission leak from the front end. The estimates for repair are a few thousand dollars, which I have trouble justifying on a car this old. I am trying to decide whether or not to keep driving it and feeding it oil until it dies, or replace it.
I have been monitoring the levels of both the engine oil and the transmission gear oil. Both leaks appear to be slow leaks. I have seen very little fluid in the driveway, and no tailpipe smoke. I see some smoke from the engine compartment when I sit at stoplights for long periods, presumably from engine or transmission oil dripping onto the exhaust pipe. There is some odor.
The car runs well, and I don't mind feeding it oil for a while. However, I do not want to get stuck somewhere. I often carry canoes/kayaks on the roof rack, and having a breakdown with boats on the car could be a bit complicated.
My question is this: Do these kinds of leaks typically lead to a sudden catastrophic failure that would leave me stranded someplace? Or, will the car just gradually burn more and more oil and lose more gear oil?
Also, do the engine oil stop leak products that are widely available on the market actually work, without harming the engine? Is this a viable strategy for engine oil leaks?
Thanks in advance for your help.
Since you already have a reliable daily driver company car, I think the decision on this is partially dependent on how much the value will reduce if you keep it a year, and the oil leaks get progressively worse. Just keep the thing alive to haul your sport gear, and don't spend a ton of money on it.
If this were mine, I'd probably look to replace the top valve cover gasket, it that is where it is leaking and dripping down on the exhaust pipes. That should be much easier and cheaper to repair. I'd then degrease and clean off the engine and transmission, which would give you the ability to monitor closer where and how much it's leaking.
Second, for the cost of the gasket replacement service you can buy lots and lots of oil and still never justify the cost of the service, even if you drive the car a half of a million miles or more.
Third, as a general rule, engine stop leak products do not work well.
Finally, long ago when I was quite poor and needed a car desperately, I bought a car that was leaking a fair amount of oil, burning a fair amount more (to the tune of 100 miles per quart), and the previous owner's mechanic told him that the engine wouldn't go more than a few hundred miles more before suffering a catastrophic failure. I was pretty handy with engines and figured I'd take a chance on it; I paid $250 for the car which had 105,000 miles on it at the time. At the 220,000 mile mark the oil consumption hadn't gotten any worse (better actually as I'd replaced a number of leaky gaskets), and the engine still ran well. By then I was making a little more money so I yanked the motor and rebuilt it. My bet is that that darn thing would have gone easily twice that mileage without being rebuilt, but I finally just got tired of putting oil in all of the time.
Long story short, I say keep your car, feed it oil, and save your money.
Best regards,
Shipo
If you're lucky, maybe the oil leaks are not so hard to fix...if it's just valve gaskets, the only real risks are a) running out of oil and b) excessive oil catching fire at some point--if it started leaking A LOT.
A good Subaru specialist should be able to diagnose for head gasket failure pretty easily and cheaply.
If you need head gaskets, that's also a good time to fix the transmission leak. If it's a very clean car, otherwise functioning well with good AC, upholstery, tires, brakes, etc., I'd say go for it. These cars can run a long time. But if the leaks are only one of a number of other issues, and if the car is kinda beat, I'd let it go.
The Slant 6 was simpler of course. That thing has about 4 moving parts. I've seen wood stoves more complicated than a Slant 6 engine.
I've seen Slant 6s wheeze and cough and throw out a smoke screen and wobble and sputter and refuse to start, but I never actually saw one that had thrown a rod.
Benz diesels liked to crack cylinder heads. You'll often find that the claim of "this engine has XXXXXXXXX miles on it" doesn't include the cylinder head.
You got it right the second time.
Typically a "thrown rod" implies that a rod has broken somewhere between the crank throw and the wrist pin. In many cases, given that the rest of the engine still has a few revolutions left in it, the remainder of the rod still attached to the crank manages to punch a hole in the side of the block.
In the case of your 1974, the usual term is "spun a bearing".
Can't imagine the noise it must have made!
Accelerate on some empty road, maybe say in a lower gear so that the engine revs up pretty high---then let your foot OFF the gas until the car slows way down, and then PUNCH it.
Then ask your friend if he saw a momentary puff of blue smoke as you punched it.
If he did, this would verify worn valve guides or valve stem seals.
By driving the way you did, you created high engine vacuum when you let off the gas, and then LOW vacuum when you punched it---this would suck any oil from the upper cylinder head past the worn guides or seals and into the combustion chamber.
If you are just idling, or revving the engine while standing still, you don't create the conditions necessary to suck oil past the worn guides and seals. So you won't see smoke. And seeing it as you drive is difficult, as the smoke would be temporary.
If you want a definitive answer, get a Cylinder Leakdown Test performed and post the results here.