I mixed today...and badly

[Cubey]

Originally Posted By: SR5
BTW - Tap water for their radiator, good choice, and I never thought I would say that.


I was reading through the official, genuine GM owner's manual for my 2003 Pontiac Vibe it tells you that you can use "drinkable" water, repeatedly:


"A 50/50 mixture of clean, drinkable water and the proper coolant will:"

"What to Use
Use a mixture of one-half clean, drinkable water and one-half coolant that meets GM Specification 1825-M, which won’t damage aluminum parts."

"Use a 50/50 mixture of clean, drinkable water and the proper coolant."

"50/50 mixture of clean, drinkable water (preferable distilled) and good quality
Ethylene Glycol Base Coolant"


The LAST time it casually mentions "preferable distilled".

 

[SR5]

Originally Posted By: Cubey
Originally Posted By: SR5
BTW - Tap water for their radiator, good choice, and I never thought I would say that.


I was reading through the official, genuine GM owner's manual for my 2003 Pontiac Vibe it tells you that you can use "drinkable" water, repeatedly:


"A 50/50 mixture of clean, drinkable water and the proper coolant will:"

"Use a 50/50 mixture of clean, drinkable water and the proper coolant."


I assumed Shannow used 100% tap water and no coolant, but I could be reading it wrong.

 

[Garak]

Originally Posted By: Shannow
They got FIL to pop for the Roadside assist. Turns out it was a snapped timing belt.

That should make for a fun holiday. A few years back, at Christmas, one of my buddy's "challenged" relatives drove out to his farm, knowing full well they'd not have the gasoline to get back.

 

[SR5]

Originally Posted By: Shannow
Originally Posted By: SR5

You helped them lots, and you were prepared to help more, but it was never enough for them and it was never going to be enough, because the next thing would have happened to them. Time to walk away from the situation, sounds like a never ending unfair tax on you, enforced by unfair emotional pressure.


They got FIL to pop for the Roadside assist. Turns out it was a snapped timing belt.

Country town, New Year's eve and a three day weekend, it's going to get expensive fast.


That timing belt was going to snap on them sooner or later. If they drive a car with what was effectively ( or close to) a dry radiator and a almost dry sump, I can't see them changing the timing belt every 100,000 km. Same with brake fluid and brake pads, destined to just "run out" one day.

Sounds like any break down was always going to be somebody else's fault and somebody else's bill if they had any say in the situation.

 

[Shannow]

Originally Posted By: SR5


I assumed Shannow used 100% tap water and no coolant, but I could be reading it wrong.


Correct, I started walking out of the shed with a jug of 50:50 that I'd made with deionised water, and realised that the bone dry radiator had no trace of green, no sweet odour, and no sign of white crust... No point blowing THAT $20.

 

[wemay]

You did plenty, Shannow. Plenty.

 

[Jetronic]

Originally Posted By: Shannow
I think it was Carlin who suggested that if you lend someone some money, and you never see them again, it was probably worth it....he was right.

What's worse is lend them money, as they "forgot" to renew their licence and needed a bank transfer to get to FIL's place to have Christmas...And they show up here today...lending them money was supposed to fix that. And them showing up was supposed to repair the lending issue and get back to scratch.

They text my wife...is there a Supercheap auto in town, and is it open, the oil light has been flickering the last few hundred km.

Wife responds ... get oil, from the supermarket, fix it and don't drive it until there's oil in it.

They arrive, eat food, and drink beer., and I ask how low was the oil level, and was told that the engine was too hot to get near...so they drove here after getting the oil...hmmm.

Pulled the dipstick, and bone dry...varnish extant to the tip, and the tip was bone dry.

The litre of Helix 10W40 they bought (didn't want to overfill it, so bought 1L) got a reading on the dipstick

So got my "spare" (Caltex C3 synthetic) from the Nissan, and it got near mid way, and decided to go for broke, and drop the half litre of Penrite 20W60 in to get it to the full mark.

Coolant tank looked dry (it was), checked the radiator and it was too, and harking back to the mixing thread, anything is better than nothing, they got tap water.

So I mixed today.
Whatever gunk was in the engine
1L of Helix 10W40
1L of Caltex C3 3W30
(about) 500ml of Penrite 20W60.

And I am 100% certain that the sum total was better than a flickering oil light.

But I can't even hazard a guess at what specs it met.


assuming an engine has feelings, do you think it cares?

but I was thinking about something I read on BITOG recently. I wonder how many certifications printed on the label are even worth the paper they're printed on. If one can pick and choose which tests to have done at which lab, and they don't check anything beyond what's asked to to be tested it would be easy to send differing blends to each lab catered to meet the test they are doing... and nobody would know. Let's call this Oilygate should it ever come to light...

 

[Jetronic]

Originally Posted By: subsonic
When I was a young buck, I was changing my oil. A good looking, blond lady friend pulled up and asked me if I would check the oil on her Eagle Talon for her. Told you it was a long time ago. Anywho, I check the dipstick and nothing. Hmmm.... I had a half quart left and put that in. Nothing. We had an automotive store across the street. I ran over and picked up a quart of Castrol GTX. Put it in. Nothing.

At this point, I was like WTH!? I grew up in a family where we maintained cars, so the thought that anyone would take care of their car in this manner was absurd. I crawled under and looked to make sure it was not running out on the ground somewhere. It wasn't. I ran and got another quart. Finally saw a touch of oil on the stick. Ran and got another quart of GTX. Finally got it in the normal range. Educated her a bit on how to check her oil and that you needed to actually change it. She left with a simple Thanks!


but she doesn't need to change it.... you did it for her.

 

[Jetronic]

Originally Posted By: Shannow
Originally Posted By: SR5

You helped them lots, and you were prepared to help more, but it was never enough for them and it was never going to be enough, because the next thing would have happened to them. Time to walk away from the situation, sounds like a never ending unfair tax on you, enforced by unfair emotional pressure.


They got FIL to pop for the Roadside assist. Turns out it was a snapped timing belt.

Country town, New Year's eve and a three day weekend, it's going to get expensive fast.


time for another engine or car, it won't be worth fixing this one from what I've read here....

 

[Jetronic]

Originally Posted By: Shannow
Need another thread for picking up hitch hikers... I picked one up and no one saw me for three days...


was she that good looking?

 

[05LGTLtd]

Originally Posted By: Jetronic


time for another engine or car, it won't be worth fixing this one from what I've read here....


I agree.

 

[Shannow]

I think that the car has been dumped at the mechanic it got towed to.

They found a hire car (there's the escalating bill for FIL), and "just got home" according to facebook and the 4 Iphones travelling in the hire car.

13-14 years ago, there was another rescue mission ironically within 20-30 miles of where this car came to rest, when they got pulled over for speeding and the car was found by Police to have a lapsed registration/insurance.

When we saw the car, it turned out that "lapsed", according to the sticker was well over a year.

They know their way around...getting a hire car where they broke down is seriously an effort. Just need someone to pay for it.

 

[Jetronic]

Happy New Year!

 

[dlundblad]

As long as the car holds up long enough to get them off your property and well down the road, you are good.

Turn off/ disconnect phones when they leave.

 

[Gasbuggy]

What kind of car?

 

[02SE]

So I had a chance to read the rest of the thread.

Just as I feared. Nothing you do will be good enough, AND it will be your fault.

Sorry to hear it. But I hope you and yours manage to have a Happy New Year, anyway.

 

[Bill_G]

Originally Posted By: Shannow
Originally Posted By: SR5


I assumed Shannow used 100% tap water and no coolant, but I could be reading it wrong.


Correct, I started walking out of the shed with a jug of 50:50 that I'd made with deionised water, and realised that the bone dry radiator had no trace of green, no sweet odour, and no sign of white crust... No point blowing THAT $20.


Shannow - you really need to consider writing a book - I think it would bring in big bucks.

 

[SuperDave456]

I learned a long time ago to not be the "car guy" people come to.
They expect everything for free, and when you say something like "You should really have someone look at your (insert anything here)."
They want you to do it for free, and if you don't they will gripe at you when (whatever you told them to take a look at) dies, breaks, or sets them back a small fortune because of their neglect.

For Instance, I helped rebuild a van/bus for a friend who runs a homeless ministry.
The dodge 318 gas engine grenaded after "following them down to San Antionio and back going 70 mph".
They knew the transmission had 3 gears, and I had warned them not to go over 55mph. It wasn't designed for that.

They knew the engine sounded bad at 65mph, and the van/bus at 70mph was deafening.
But "the guy leading in front of us insisted on going 70-75mph".
I installed extra coolers and filters on the transmission, which added extra capacity, and replaced the fluid in the differential with Amsoil. That's probably why those didn't go first.

I am shocked to this day that the 318 lasted that long. They drove what I estimate 7 hours at 70 mph with at least 10 people and their gear on board.

I spent serious time, energy, and effort cleaning up that 1970's Bus/Van.
They then asked if I could help rebuild the engine.

 

[fdcg27]

Originally Posted By: Shannow
Originally Posted By: SR5

You helped them lots, and you were prepared to help more, but it was never enough for them and it was never going to be enough, because the next thing would have happened to them. Time to walk away from the situation, sounds like a never ending unfair tax on you, enforced by unfair emotional pressure.


They got FIL to pop for the Roadside assist. Turns out it was a snapped timing belt.

Country town, New Year's eve and a three day weekend, it's going to get expensive fast.


Screw 'em.
Anyone foolish enough to avoid keeping coolant and oil in an engine as well as anyone foolish enough to exceed the large margins built into recommended timing belt replacement intervals deserves what they get.
You're in summer now, so it's not as though these folks would have been left freezing by the side of the road.
Those with limited funds should take better care of what they have.
It might be time for them to suffer from the consequences of their own neglect.
They might then learn to take better care of their things.
They would have survived with no assistance from anyone and might have learned to help themselves in the future.

 

[Bigdaddy345]

I never mix oil.