Rotella, covering VIN as anti-theft

[Mike Arman]

Shell makes "Rotella", I've seen it in 5 gallon jugs at Pep Boys, etc.

Just a datapoint - Rotella seems to be the ONLY oil that will work properly
in the little Hercules wankel powered motorcycle ('76 vintage). It seems
that anything else rather quickly gums up the tip and edge seals on the
rotor, and then you do a teardown and clean it up. The Hercules owner's
group (talk about a niche market!) says use Rotella OR ELSE. Remember this
is a pre-mix engine, so it burns some oil normally. There's no separate oil
sump.

Tentative conclusions - in 1976, Rotella may have had a lower ash/goo/crud
content than other oils, so it worked properly while other oils didn't. By
2003, it is quite possible all other oils have been improved or at least
changed to the same standard, so now it may not make any difference at all.
The five gallon jug of Rotella I bought will probably last me at least five
years, so I'm not going to worry about it too much.


Covering the VIN to prevent car theft - Urban legend, and not even a very
good one. I think covering the VIN is illegal - it is supposed to be
visible to law enforcement from the outside of the vehicle. When someone
goes to the local dealer with a VIN, that dealer is going to want to see a
registration or some other proof of ownership AND some ID before they sell
a key to the brand new TT convertible sitting on the front of their own lot.

Having a key made is also more trouble than an aspiring car thief needs to
go to. Something like 30 to 40% of the cars stolen in the USA have the keys
RIGHT IN THE IGNITION!!! In the past three days, I have seen three cars
sitting, engines running, no one inside, all anyone has to do is open the
door and sit down. One was in front of the post office, one in front of a
city recreation center, and another in a Wal-Mart parking lot. I guess the
idiot owners didn't want the car to get hot in the sun, so they left it
running. This is amazingly stupid and also totally illegal - and if the car
is stolen, not only won't the owner's insurance pay for it, but the owner
is responsible for any damage caused, because the insurance won't pay for
that either. And in Florida, leaving the keys in an unoccupied vehicle is a
misdemeanor, and I think it becomes a felony if the car is stolen and
anyone gets hurt.

It is also nice not to have a "target" vehicle. Given a choice between
stealing an Audi 5000 and a Corvette, which do YOU think is going to go away?

Best Regards,

Mike Arman