Pull the oil plug and let 'er run till.....

[Linctex]

Lort.... I really hate this new website.... I can't STAND the cursor jumping all over the page!!!

I was thinking of something as I was dozing off last night.
There used to be a "raffle/pool" at the county fair every year (late 1970's to early 80's)

They would buy some old car for $50, fill the tank with gas, pull the oil plug out, and let it run.
People would buy chances to guess what time it would quit (seize up)

They started about 9:00 or 10:00 at night, and everyone would stand around and drink beer and visit while the old '64 Chevy Biscayne (or whatever old heap they could find cheap) would run at 800-1000 RPM.

Usually - they lasted at least an hour (who would've thought, huh?)
but I remember one year in the 80's where they bought a big Buick with a 455 ('75 model, I think)

...and that thing ran all night long!

I think they shut it off at 5:00 AM, and whoever had the latest time won the pot that night.

Naturally - - this was a VERY rural "redneck" kind of thing to do
Is this something that anyone else experienced, or was it just in the region I was in?

 

[64bawagon]

Sounds like good clean fun to me.

 

[old1]

Oh sure, just 2 years ago, at a local car show they did the same thing. I have watched these contests several times. But here they drain the oil, and the water, and start it and put a brick on the accelerator and let it scream. Usually won't run more than several minutes. They just slowly start going slower til they can't turn over anymore. Never did see on actually "blow". Usually after they cool off, they can put oil and water back in and start it and drive off.

 

[BrocLuno]

Yup, we did that at High School (1966). When it finally quit, they had the football team demolish it with sledge hammers. 1942 Ford flathead V8 convertible. I nearly cried the whole time

They do it at car shows here and there. Oil and Water out. Usually run 20 minutes to 1/2 hour ... at 4,000 or so

 

[Linctex]

Originally Posted by BrocLuno
Yup, we did that at High School (1966). When it finally quit, they had the football team demolish it with sledge hammers. 1942 Ford flathead V8 convertible. I nearly cried the whole time

That **IS** a tragedy!!!


Originally Posted by BrocLuno
They do it at car shows here and there. Oil and Water out. Usually run 20 minutes to 1/2 hour ... at 4,000 or so

That's only long enough to drink one beer... there's no fun in that!


This all started when some guy I was talking to was convinced that an engine would seize after about 30 seconds losing oil pressure.

I told him about the big ol' Buick running all night long and he wouldn't believe me.

 

[andyd]

I did it to a '57 Chev PU, no water or oil ran WOT for 15 minutes or so and slowly rpm dropped to nothing. Never thought to re-start when cold. I've run more than one engine to death. My wife has done a couple for me too.

 

[john_pifer]

When I was 18 in around 1997, I had a 1987 Nissan Maxima 5-speed with around 75,000 miles on it. I'd bought it from a schoolteacher and I think it had sat a while before I got it. Anyway, one time I took it to Valvoline for an oil change. Very shortly after pulling out of the parking lot, I noticed that the engine was making a noise. Not knowing anything about cars, I got to my parents' house and told my dad about it. He didn't know much about cars, so he told me to take it to Firestone. I did (it was about 2 miles away), and Dad followed me up there. We went back home after dropping it off. About 15 minutes after we got home, the phone rang. It was Firestone. They said it didn't have any oil in it and the drain plug was missing. They had put a new drain plug in, put some oil in and cranked it. Fired right up and quit knocking. No harm, no foul. I drove it for years and tens of thousands of miles after that, and ran it quite hard most of the time. Never missed a beat. I ended up selling it several years later and for all I know, it's still running today.

 

[Shannow]

We did it 30 years ago with a Toyota Corrolla.

No oil...nothing much seemed to happen for ages.

Drained the water...still not much.

Sand in the fill hole...no oil to carry it around, nothing much.

Eventually it DID squeak to a halt.

 

[02SE]

The closest I came to something like this was watching some friends and former automotive tech colleagues destroy some decent vehicles during the 'Cash For Clunkers' debacle.

 

[Silk]

I've run an engine without oil until it destroyed itself....but I didn't mean too.

 

[Kira]

There was that video from Finland where a running engine in a junk yard car was "converted" from oil to Coca-Cola.

It ran a bit (12 min.?) then seized up.