Acid (was: Drain valves versus plugs versus suction)

[Darringer, Chris]

Larry,

Your mentioned acidification of oil, and that reminded me of a recent
incident that I have been meaning to get a clarification on.

My car was recently in the shop, and one of the mechanics had it parked
right in front of one of the bays.  Inside the bay was a beat up 4k that was
elevated a bit, and the engine had just been started up.  There was
tremendous amounts of black "stuff" dripping out of the exhaust and all over
my car.  In fact, about 25% of my hood was covered with this "black water"
by the time it caught anyone's attention.

I told the mechanic, somewhat angry, "thanks for covering my car with
sufuric acid", to which he said, "What are you talking about?  I haven't
heard that one before, thats just some harmless water!"...

It was dilluted sulfuric acid, wasn't it?

Chris
'90 80q

-----Original Message-----
Subject: Re: Drain valves versus plugs versus suction

You forgot to mention the acidification of the oil due to the combustion
products of water, H2SO4 and CO2 in the crankcase. IF the oil doesn't
regularly get warm enough to boil off the water, it combines with the
other combustion gases to produce various acids. The acids will only form
in the presence of water (acid is simply a dis-sociation of water, as are
bases), so if there is water in the crankcase (also a byproduct of
combustion), from frequent short trips, then you would need to change the
oil to fight acid build up.

LL - NY