[Vwdiesel] Candles? Was: Topic limited, or people enabled? And Wheel Bearings.

[James Hansen]

>The damage you can do to crankshaft bearings by forgetting >to change your
straight grade oil when it gets cold far >outweighs the benefits that may be
there in running the >straight grade oil in the long run.

Are crankshaft bearings the usual thing to get damaged at
low temperatures when running single grade oil of the
wrong grade?
How easy is this to do?

   --  Gavrik
_____________

Pretty easy to do actually.
Just run a 40W in summer and forget to change to winter oil, let the motor
run for a time while the pump cavitates as it tries to get the mush in the
oil pan to move.
It's worsened if the operator isn't paying attention and drops it into gear
and starts to drive while the oil pressure is near 0.
Rod bearings seem to get the worst of it on the stuff I've torn down.  The
crank bearings don't fly around in circles and fling the clingy oil off,
while the rods journals do. Usually the damage is a turned rod bearing,
meaning the little hook on bearing stops doing it's job of keeping the
bearing from turning in the journal, then all hell breaks loose once that
starts.
It happens around here all the time after the first cold snap at the start
of winter.  The big truck shops see this a few times every winter as well-
the oil pan heater fails, highway tractor is plugged in, with the block
heater providing the heat to start the engine, but the 15-40 in the pan is
like cement at -30, and who looks at oil pressure gauges.  Engine runs 5 or
so minutes without oil, then gets oil pressure eventually...when the driver
starts to drive, it starts to knock. ten grand down the toilet.
-James

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