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Post by sd51555 on Aug 21, 2018 7:37:32 GMT -6
I've had this car since high school. It's an ugly old rusty girl, but she's been damn good to me. I've hit about everything you can think of with this car, live deer, dead deer, coons, pheasants, skunks, etc. She's getting up there in years, and I wanted to start checking for signs of the end before the end happens. We've got our own oil lab at work, so I decided to pull a sample and get it looked at. Turns out I've got fuel contamination in my oil. What you guys think I should be looking for as the culprit?
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Post by badbrad on Aug 21, 2018 7:51:13 GMT -6
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Post by kl9 on Aug 21, 2018 7:53:29 GMT -6
Leaky head gasket
Does the car smoke at all? Even a little
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Post by sd51555 on Aug 21, 2018 8:00:17 GMT -6
Leaky head gasket Does the car smoke at all? Even a little No smoke at all. It's a smooth runner, but every once in a while when it's idling, I can feel just little rumble in the combustion like there's a slight miss. That test also showed elevated sodium, I wonder if it couldn't be a loose plug.
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Post by Catscratch on Aug 21, 2018 8:02:25 GMT -6
Rings?
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Post by sd51555 on Aug 21, 2018 8:16:44 GMT -6
That's the leading suggestion I've gotten from the outside. Is that an imminent death, or something that can be mitigated for a while? Been thinking about running 10W-30 in it from here forward If I'm gonna be having fuel thin out the oil.
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Post by Catscratch on Aug 21, 2018 8:23:36 GMT -6
That's the leading suggestion I've gotten from the outside. Is that an imminent death, or something that can be mitigated for a while? Been thinking about running 10W-30 in it from here forward If I'm gonna be having fuel thin out the oil. Loose rings won't hurt anything. You might want to change your oil more often (as per your analysis) your oil is going to become contaminated quicker than before and less effective. It's probably just normal wear and loosening in general. If so you will be fine. It's a particular cylinder that has a scratch or burnt ring you might be in trouble. I've been known to purposely loosen rings (bigger gap) on a rebuild so that when an engine gets hot it won't lock up. I like to crash cars and loosing a radiator usually happens early. The largest friction surface in the entire engine is rings against cylinder walls. Loosen that up some and when things expand it will seal up nicely. Some extra fuel in the oil and some blow-by is no big deal and can be adjusted for with fresh oil.
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Post by sd51555 on Aug 21, 2018 9:28:39 GMT -6
That's the leading suggestion I've gotten from the outside. Is that an imminent death, or something that can be mitigated for a while? Been thinking about running 10W-30 in it from here forward If I'm gonna be having fuel thin out the oil. Loose rings won't hurt anything. You might want to change your oil more often (as per your analysis) your oil is going to become contaminated quicker than before and less effective. It's probably just normal wear and loosening in general. If so you will be fine. It's a particular cylinder that has a scratch or burnt ring you might be in trouble. I've been known to purposely loosen rings (bigger gap) on a rebuild so that when an engine gets hot it won't lock up. I like to crash cars and loosing a radiator usually happens early. The largest friction surface in the entire engine is rings against cylinder walls. Loosen that up some and when things expand it will seal up nicely. Some extra fuel in the oil and some blow-by is no big deal and can be adjusted for with fresh oil. I can absolutely do that. I think I'll drop this oil at 2000 and test it again. I should also mention my O2 sensor(s) have been out for a while. I got tired of replacing the damn things every six months, that I just let them be. A guy was telling me that may be sending too much fuel downstream and causing some to get in the oil. I'll get those both fixed and try to get my hands on some quality ones instead of the whore house parts these shops use.
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Post by Catscratch on Aug 21, 2018 9:34:21 GMT -6
When you replace your O2 sensor does it have a lot of black buildup on it, or is it relatively clean?
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Post by sd51555 on Aug 21, 2018 10:00:13 GMT -6
When you replace your O2 sensor does it have a lot of black buildup on it, or is it relatively clean? I don't ever recall looking at them. I'll have the shop pull them and save them for me when they do it.
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Post by MoBuckChaser on Aug 21, 2018 10:03:08 GMT -6
Just do like I do, run the fucker until it leaves you stranded in the middle of Iowa, then go buy a new one!
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Post by Catscratch on Aug 21, 2018 10:12:27 GMT -6
When you replace your O2 sensor does it have a lot of black buildup on it, or is it relatively clean? I don't ever recall looking at them. I'll have the shop pull them and save them for me when they do it. It's not important really. Just maybe a way to tell if you are buying junk parts, or if you burnt oil or rich mixture fouling them up.
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Post by jbird on Aug 21, 2018 11:05:12 GMT -6
IF you change the O2 sensors be prepared to find out that your cat (catalyst/catalytic converter)is snafu'ed. if it's an old vehicle and still has the catalytic converter in it, the activated elements in them can become so loaded that they no longer work properly and as such your sensors tell the engine to run differently. They do not work like a filter....they work more like activated carbon if you will in that the activation wears off, but there is no real way to re-activate it. I say this as I am an Engineer for one of the worlds largest exhaust system makers currently. The catalysts are not cheap either - they are ceramic with embedded metallic elements and those elements are some of the most expensive in the world....more expensive and valuable than gold, silver or platinum. Those sensors measure the amount of Nox before the catalyst and after to ensure it's working properly and sends signals back to the cars computer to tell it how to adjust the fuel to air mixture to get the optimum result. Take the sensors out or mess with the cat and you can alter how your car runs.....sometimes in a bad way. You start running rich and not burning all the fuel and you get some wear and that un-burnt fuel can contaminate your oil. Looking at the O2 sensors as well as your plugs can tell you some things that may be going on as well.
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Post by benmnwi on Aug 21, 2018 11:33:11 GMT -6
Just do like I do, run the fucker until it leaves you stranded in the middle of Iowa, then go buy a new one! That's the car care plan I'm on right now. You can't appreciate a new vehicle enough until you have an old crappy one that could leave you stranded at any given moment. I can't remember the last time I got in the old Impala without having a bunch of warning lights flashing at me.
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Post by benmnwi on Aug 21, 2018 11:36:37 GMT -6
SD - what kind of vehicle do you have? Maybe we should all offer a guess and whoever guesses closest gets a free bag of Don Higgins beans from MO.
I think you are a 2005 Ford Taurus guy. Likely light gray and missing a hubcap on the front passenger side and a Wall Drug sticker on the bumper.
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