RE: <All> Another Reason for Synthoil

[quattro <quattro@acacianet.com>]

That story brings to mind another old one. A friend had a 64 GTO with a chebby 283 in it and had a replacement Olds 455 engine lined up that he wanted to install in place of the 283. He could not bring himself to yank out the 283 if it was still running, so he decided to deliberately kill it. All water (we couldn't afford anti-freeze) was drained and the Goat was taken out for multiple beat-runs to kill the 283. It would _not_ die. After returning to our parking lot after one particularly long and hot beat run and shutting down the engine we could actually hear the oil _boiling_ inside the engine! When we removed the radiator cap there was not even the smallest wiff of steam - it had been dry for hours. For sure it would be toast - seized solid after it cooled down.

Nope. Started right up and he drove it on home and pulled out the 'still good' 283.......this all well before the invention of Synth for IC engines. Too bad the Olds 455 didn't hold up as well as the ol' 283 did...........

-glen

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From:  Al Powell
Sent:  Monday, June 08, 1998 9:01 PM
To:  Quattro@coimbra.ans.net; z-car@taex001.tamu.edu
Subject:  <All> Another Reason for Synthoil

Geez, I LOVE synthetic oil.

So I have this old 85 Chebby pickemuptruck...it doesn't need much 
attention, and it doesn't get much.  But I do run Amsoil 10-30 and an 
Amsoil filter on it.

And for the last - let's say - month, the temp. gauge has been a 
little erratic.  But I had the dash out fiddling with it right before 
it became erratic....so I didn't worry about it for a while.

[nomex ON...}

And today I check the radiator.  No water in view.  So I add some 
water.  About a half-gallon.  Then the jug runs out, and I go get 
some more  water....at least another half-gallon.  Maybe around 3/4 
gallon more.....

So I realize the radiator was REALLY low - a GALLON(+) low on 
water - so low, the temp gauge couldn't get a reading until it heated 
up!  

Am I worried?  Nope.  Not when running a synthetic oil.  Granted, it 
may have run pretty thin, because that motor must have been getting 
hot.  But it's running great, no expensive noises, and I'll just 
"keep on trucking".

And yes, in case you are mumbling under your breath, I do need to 
find the leak - and to watch the water more closely.

The moral of the story: synthetic oil's virtues are not ALL found in 
extended running intervals.  When you make a mistake, they buy you 
some insurance.  One of those bits of insurance is superior 
resistance to breakdown under excessive heat!

I'm not sub'd at the moment, so all comments should come direct....

[nomex still on....  ]


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Al Powell                        
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