I had a Subaru 4X4 wagon that I used as a ski vehicle. I bought it used and put a JDM twin carb H.O. engine in it soon after purchasing the car. I added a quart of Slick50 from the start and a half a quart at every oil change. I ran the car for a year and a half and changed the oil twice in that time. In the summer of 1991 I loaned the car to an acquaintance and on a very hot (100F-105F) summer day a heater hose broke and he ran the car until it ran out of compression.
My friend Brian Challender and I fixed the broken heater hose were the car sat, filled it with water and started the engine. It had very little compression left but it ran well enough to limp home.
When the heater hose blew the engine got very hot. Anything plastic that touched the outside of the engine was melted. I had a mechanical oil pressure gauge inside the car and the 600F rated oil line was half way melted through were it touched the engine. Every rubber hose that was attached to or touched the engine had melted or was brittle enough to break with your hands.
We did a leak down test and discovered that the heads were leaking so we popped them off and found they were both approximately eighty-thousandths out.
We hand lapped the heads (figure eights on a sheet of laminated glass using 200-400 grade) and got them within ten thousandths before putting it all back together with new gaskets.
The engine started right up with good cranking compression and we let it warm up while doing all the normal checks. Everything seemed tip-top so we took it on a short road test and it seemed to run perfect. After driving it back in the garage we did oil and filter change and checked the compression. The engine lost about ten PSI even on all cylinders and was still on the high side of spec (for a U.S. engine).
That evening I drove the car to town (13 miles from 1500` to 2700`) on the highway and it started cutting out at three-quarter to full throttle and got worse to the point of cutting out under any load above forty percent within five minutes after the problem first started.
The car ran well with no other symptoms and would rev out fine as long as you didn’t exceed forty percent load (low vacuum).
What the problem ended up being was that the plastic anti-friction device inside the distributor had melted and was so distorted that under low vacuum the ignition sensor pulled away from the shaft causing the loss of spark. I made a new anti-friction device out if a brass key blank and was back to running perfect.
I have never heard of an engine getting that hot and not losing ring tension. I think it is very possible that Slick50 saved the engine.
My friend Brian (a professional mechanic I think since birth till 1995) does not believe that Slick50 has anything to do with the engine not being slag.
Opinions?
Vince Russell
My friend Brian Challender and I fixed the broken heater hose were the car sat, filled it with water and started the engine. It had very little compression left but it ran well enough to limp home.
When the heater hose blew the engine got very hot. Anything plastic that touched the outside of the engine was melted. I had a mechanical oil pressure gauge inside the car and the 600F rated oil line was half way melted through were it touched the engine. Every rubber hose that was attached to or touched the engine had melted or was brittle enough to break with your hands.
We did a leak down test and discovered that the heads were leaking so we popped them off and found they were both approximately eighty-thousandths out.
We hand lapped the heads (figure eights on a sheet of laminated glass using 200-400 grade) and got them within ten thousandths before putting it all back together with new gaskets.
The engine started right up with good cranking compression and we let it warm up while doing all the normal checks. Everything seemed tip-top so we took it on a short road test and it seemed to run perfect. After driving it back in the garage we did oil and filter change and checked the compression. The engine lost about ten PSI even on all cylinders and was still on the high side of spec (for a U.S. engine).
That evening I drove the car to town (13 miles from 1500` to 2700`) on the highway and it started cutting out at three-quarter to full throttle and got worse to the point of cutting out under any load above forty percent within five minutes after the problem first started.
The car ran well with no other symptoms and would rev out fine as long as you didn’t exceed forty percent load (low vacuum).
What the problem ended up being was that the plastic anti-friction device inside the distributor had melted and was so distorted that under low vacuum the ignition sensor pulled away from the shaft causing the loss of spark. I made a new anti-friction device out if a brass key blank and was back to running perfect.
I have never heard of an engine getting that hot and not losing ring tension. I think it is very possible that Slick50 saved the engine.
My friend Brian (a professional mechanic I think since birth till 1995) does not believe that Slick50 has anything to do with the engine not being slag.
Opinions?
Vince Russell
