Your Problems

["Al Powell" <APOWELL@agcom.tamu.edu>]

Dan, I honestly can't see ANY way that the TYPE of oil you run could 
have caused this.  I'm wondering about your mechanic's attitude 
toward synthetic oils - most mechanics love them, but some old-timers 
(or those old at heart) think they're bad juju....and most of them 
have never done their homework, they just don't like new things.

I agree with your and Mobil's analysis - the difference in oil types 
cannot account for anything major.  And for that matter, think it 
through: burning oil does NOT hurt the engine by itself.  I suppose 
that over time, it could build up carbon deposits which could cause 
damage, but that wouldn't show up the way you're talking about.

Besides, I have driven a 66 GTO which used a quart of oil every 30
MILES and it didn't have mechanical problems as a result!  

IMO, if the oil actually burns, it's really not a factor in engine 
wear....just smoke and oil refills.  I suspect a lot more damage might 
have been done by a faulty plug tip which broke off and could be 
dancing around in the cylinder.  Hopefully it went out the exhaust 
valve and didn't cause scoring, etc. in the cylinder.  But that's a 
spark plug fault, NOT an oil problem!

The only way I can see oil causing damage is if you get enough in the 
cylinder that you're literally FULL of oil - then when the piston 
came up on a compression stroke, it would be trying to compress a 
cylinder full of oil - which, being liquid, is not compressible.  Big 
trouble!  But that clearly is NOT what happened, either.

Overfilling an engine with oil can cause some weird behavior, 
depending on the engine.  Some burn it quickly; in some engines, the 
crankshaft slaps it, froths it, and it potentially can damage the engine 
due to air in the oil which is pumped.  I have not seen this damage 
happen but theorize that it could occur.  I would bet AGAINST it 
unless something really unusual happened.  (Maybe some of the 
hard-cores know what Audis tend to do in this situation...)

I'd suggest the following:

1)  Do a wet and dry compression test.
2)  Put new plugs in, IF no reduction in compression is present on 
the cylinder with the missing plug tip.  If it's low, you better yank 
the head and see what's up....could be the tip's in there chewing 
things up.
3)  If you went with the new plugs, CHECK THE OIL level; get it 
right.
4)  Fire it up and see what it does.  I bet it runs ok.


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Al Powell                           Voice:  409/845-2807
Ag Communications                   Fax:    409/862-1202
107 Reed McDonald Bldg.             Email:  a-powell1@tamu.edu 
College Station, TX  77843-2112
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