OIL DEVELOPMENT:
I recently saw a program on how oil has been redesigned totally from what it use to be in the past. We all know over the last few years that the weight of oil has dropped significantly due to the manufacturers specifications of tighter clearances of bearings.What they didn't tell you is the development of technology of roller cams and rocker's reduce ware, in the old days thick oil was needed to cushion the flat tappet cams and rocker ball systems, and yes bearing clearances were a little looser. Engines didn't fire up the second it was turned over, if you remember having to pump the gas and hope the choke worked the engine turn over several times before starting, this pumped fresh oil into the bearings.
Today's fuel injected engines with today's technology fire up on a instant every time, and when they do so they rev high up the second they start up due to computer programing. This has a number of problems the manufacture had to over come, the weight of the oil was the main one, to thick of a oil like 10-40 or 15-40 would not be instantaneously pumped into the bearings as when it is cold the oil is much thicker than when at operating tempature. There fore they had to adapt the super thin weight oils so that the instant the engine fired up the oil would easily pump into the bearings.Today's manufactures warranty demand use of 5-30 for the most part, as the light weight helps get better mileage, horse power and pumps on quick start up.Problem is after a few miles the clearances grow causing oil pressure to drop at point of impact.
Regular People who are not mechanics or auto enthusiasts sometimes are confused as to why the different weights of oil. In the old days it was a little easier as for us Canadians in a cold climate would put 10-30 in the winter as so when it is cold the oil will be able to be pumped on start up, and a thicker oil 10-40 or even 20-50 for the summer to protect the engine from friction under heavy loads and extreme heat.
This was before synthetic oils were common, in today's cars it's different with fuel injection and computer's the engine firing up right away so they had to reduced the weight so the oil can flow more easily and faster on start up, the development of the roller cams and rocker's reduced ware so they could reduce the weight of the oil with out compromising reliability(for the most part). Problem is when the engine oil is hot it gets thinner, especially if its regular non synthetic, as it will break down reducing the ability to provide protection, this in turn creates wear on the bearings, which in turn increases the clearances. When the engine is turned off for the night, the oil will actually drain out from the bearings. Normally the oil is under pressure and when the engine is turned of it will hold the pressure if the clearances are tight. The same way you can put a straw in water half ways, put your finger over the top and lift the straw out of the water and water will stay in the straw with out falling out, if you lift your finger, the water will drain out. Well the bearings are like your finger, if the clearances are to loose or the oil to runny they allow pressure to drain down. The result is morning start ups of ticking for the first few seconds till pressure is restored.
The oil looses it's viscosity due to extreme heat and gas being washed into the oil, a dirty air filter or cp problem could cause the engine to run to rich, also if the oil was not changed regularly the gas gets washed into the oil which thins it out. The easy way to check the protection level of your oil is to remove the dip stick when it is hot and wipe the oil on your finger, rub two fingers together, there should be a thick slippery coating, bad oil is almost like water, with no protective cushion. Smelling also is a good indicator, as you can smell the strong fumes of gas in old oil that is black from extreme heat breaking down the oil over time.
Now recently in the past year or so the manufactures have redesigned oil completely thinning out the oil even more by removing the heavy metals that use to provide thickness and cushioning protection. The automanufactures claim it is necessary as the heavy metals in the oil were clogging the catalytic converter's prematurely through the exhaust. Likely story, but this also limits the ability for the oil to do it's job, which in turn wears out the engine faster causing you to buy a new vehicle sooner. All oils dealerships now use semi synthetic, they have to be as to provide minimum protection from high tempature breakdown, protection that wont come from regular non synthetic. I noticed in my old muscle cars with the conventional non synthetic 10-30 oil was just not doing it's job, I heard ticking in the lifter's right after a fresh oil change leading me to think that something was going wrong in the engine. Turned out the non synthetic oils don't offer the protection they once had, once heat is added they turn to a water consistency, sure they do their job in today's engines under normal operating tempter, but put your vehicle under heavy load and in extreme heat like on a summer vacation, camper loaded, towing a boat, going on the Coquahala Highway hills, the oil will not provide the layer of protecting it needs and you end up with metal on metal ware which creates even more heat, and poof! The price of some of the newer vehicles today being 40-60 grand, the protection of good oil is priceless.
My recommendations are to use a name brand full synthetic oil plus a oil stabilizer like Lucas(my favorite) for maximum protection. If you have a vehicle that gets loaded down allot, use one step up thicker oil in the summer especially if you have more than 100 000 km's. In hot summer's it's important to use high octane gas under heavy load conditions as it will protect against premature detonation which happens with out detection, majorly contributing to over heating. Heat kills oil and oil is your front line protection. It may cost a little more but the oil usually lasts twice as long before break down and the protection your engine is getting really is priceless. I really like the added strength of the oil, as if I over heat on a hot day( which I have had happen) my engine has the extra little bit of protection needed to save the engine from serious damage.
Propane/Natural Gas:
Propane, (which is a by product of gasoline production) and Natural Gas, (which most of North America is floating on under ground) equipped vehicles have been some what of a mystery to many consumers as to what the advantages and disadvantages are of these types of fuels.
Many people have the idea that propane is dangerous and troublesome like hard starting in the winter, or eats valves, which can be true, especially in the 70's when it got a bad rap for that due to engines not being built with harden valve seats because the lead in the gas use to cool the valves, but in Canada lead has been banned for thirty some odd years and all manufactures now use harden valve seats to run on Unleaded gas. Hard winter starting can be solved with a primer installed( sort of an electric choke). usually only a problem on old systems with many miles on them, new system are actually better as in sever cold tempatures gas or diesel freezes due to water contamination due to condensation, while propane never needs gas line antifreeze. Also in extreme heat propane keeps it's same properties while liquids change in their abilities to move resulting in vapor lock, not so common these days but not long ago because of mechanical pumps it happened allot.
Every fuel is dangerous, Propane and natural gas are quite safe in vehicles, and has many benefits that many people don't realize. Because these fuels are in vapor form at point of entering the engine they burn much cleaner than Gas or diesel because they are a liquid and are required to turn into a vapor before combustion and must do so on the way from the carburetor to the combustion chamber. The result is a portion on the gas or diesel stays in a liquid turning into carbon from the heat of the combustion. Carbon is the hardest material on earth, this is what wears out the engine and contaminates the oil breaking it down which in turn wears out all the other moving parts in the engine.
Propane and natural Gas are already a vapor so every breath is burnt with out carbon deposits, leaving the inside of the engine spotless, infact oil never gets dirty which greatly increases the life expectancy of your oil and your engine. Working in the engine shops down at the coast in the 80's, while I worked half a dozen years as a auto machinists, we use to see engines rack over a million km's on heavy working vehicles like tow trucks and taxi's thanx to propane and natural gas.
The emissions of propane and Natural gas are about one third less than gas and diesel, that's on a average day, a worn out or poorly maintained diesel engine can produce an enormous amount of carbon and pollution especially under heavy load.
Propane is a vapor in the carburetor so it won't spill out if there is a roll over, unlike gas which is a major fire risk if there is a role over aswell it floods the engine causing damage and hard starting.
The very best thing about propane is that it's much cheaper than gas or diesel!
We use to see many manufactures sell propane and natural gas converted vehicles right off the show room floor, this is not happening as much any more, for why I don't know. Infact you'd be hard pressed to find a natural gas filling station any were anymore and propane is fast following suit. I am appalled at the conditions,(many pumps are worn out and don't pump when it's hot, yet ministry of transport could care less), the availability, (propane pumps are fast becoming extinct along major highways in B.C, making it hard for people from out of town to be able to find a filling station easily), and often times the service stations do not have staff on hand to pump as staff is required to have a ticket certifieing them.Good idea except the staff member has to pay the $100 bucks himself on minimum wage or sometimes the service station will pay, but this leaves very few people qualified to pump propane. These problems are flying under the radar of municipalities and ministry of transportation and all levels of government causing a higher demand on gas reserves and dumping billions of tons of carbon into the atmosphere. In reality I believe we could convert every vehicle in Canada to Natural Gas and tell OPEC to "KISS OUR ASS!"and leave that dirty polluting tar sands right were they are. Unfortunately the Government makes to much money off of oil and refuses to grow a conscious as the tar sands requires three parts natural gas to make one part of gasoline, typical polititcians. Not only are we polluting when we burn the gas but before we even see the gas(not including manufacturing pollution) we burn three parts of natural gas. OH The tangled web we weave.
