I mixed today...and badly

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Shannow

Shannow

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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.
 
I rescued a coworker once with some left over Mobil 1 10W-30. Oil pressure light on solid and no reading on the stick. I filled it back up and taught her how to check the level and add oil.

It was all in vain. The car burst into flames a month later. A Dodge Neon.
smirk.gif


Desperate measures justify mixing.
smile.gif
 
Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
Originally Posted By: Shannow
They text my wife...


Who is they ?


Wife's brother and his wife.

strange dynamic when I suggested that the car might well be cool enough to look at...it was registered in her name, she could fix it.
 
Don't you just love near-to-well relatives?

I have in-laws and outlaws. My wife's are mixed, mine are outlaws. I moved a 2 day drive away in 1981. Probably saved my marriage.
 
I say this with PURE HUMOR not anger.....

If someone has a flickering oil light, no coolant or anything like that how can the question of mixing even come up? ....except maybe for coolants which can sludge-then water is the way to go.

You think a mixture of oils is better than nothing? WOW, don't go out on a limb or anything crazy.

This is why I always have a gallon of the best of my own used oil around. When a joker, dippy-doo or scatter brain comes by who's down 2.3 quarts of oil he leaves with a quiet engine.
He's likely happier to get topped off for free than I'm fretful of incorrect oils.

They're all compatible. Happy New Year Kira
 
Originally Posted By: Shannow
Wife's brother and his wife.

strange dynamic when I suggested that the car might well be cool enough to look at...it was registered in her name, she could fix it.


If he's not willing to check the oil then he shouldn't be driving the car either.
 
You had better hope that car makes it 75% the way back to their house before seizing...
 
Originally Posted By: Miller88
Did they overheat it and crack a head / blow a gasket or something?


This. Hopefully you told them to start saving for a head gasket. I suppose educating them on some basic maintenance would be a waste of time.
 
Last edited:
It was worth it to get them back on the road and out of your house.
Besides what else were you going to do with 500ml of Penrite 20W-60? Wait for Mad Max to drop around for a cup of tea and a oil top up?

BTW - Tap water for their radiator, good choice, and I never thought I would say that.
 
I wouldn't worry about specs. I'd worry about the blame you'll get for adding some "garbage" to their engine which caused it to fail.

I wonder if coolant was the more critical item here...
 
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
I wouldn't worry about specs. I'd worry about the blame you'll get for adding some "garbage" to their engine which caused it to fail.

I wonder if coolant was the more critical item here...


+1 No good deed goes unpunished!
 
I used to have an odd dynamic: MIL would watch my infant/toddler so I could fix my BILs car. Whatever, it was a change of mental scenery.

BIL hated saturns b/c they were chick cars so I put him in a few whenever he blew up something better. I got one for $250 that he put 70k miles on in 15 months.

I mostly did it to pat myself on my own back for vehicle choice and preemptive preventative maintenance. The engineer in me wanted to see how far the next one would make it.
 
Hahaha... nice story Shannow.

A new legend:
"...and that's how Shannow became Sith Lord, Darth Mixer. Combating Caterham's frankenbrew at every corner.

hqdefault.jpg


Darth Vader
Darth Sith
Darth Mixer (insert sinister laugh)
 
Originally Posted By: demarpaint
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
I wouldn't worry about specs. I'd worry about the blame you'll get for adding some "garbage" to their engine which caused it to fail.

I wonder if coolant was the more critical item here...


+1 No good deed goes unpunished!


+1 more ...
 
Originally Posted By: Shannow
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.

Who cares about the specs in this case ? Any fluid, ATF or PSF or gear fluid or unknown grade used oil ..., is better than bone dry dipstick. 2.5 quarts low out of 5-6 quarts sump is too low.
 
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