oil and way off the subject

[tomale]

Maybe it is not so off, if you consider the implications.... Last year on my way to Hammer and Tong... the race. I experience something that I had never experience before. We had been in california the week before and I traveled north to Mac's house picked up my bikes that I had left with him... Thanks Mac! and headed to the race. Heading east we traveled up the columbia river, crossing the river we headed up a very steep hill and then it happened... the truck started make some of the worse noise. It sounded like I had several bad lifters and it was missing really bad and had no power, forunatly there was a gas station close and I pulled in and let it cool down. I opened the hood and everything looked fine, I pulled the dipstick and it had plenty of oil, but it looked thin, I replaced the dipstick and pondered the situation, going thru my Head was Thermal breakdown, I dismissed it at first but it was the only thing that sounded like a possibility. It seemed remote at the time but now I am beginning to think that it is not so remote. I changed the oil putting a bit heavier weight oil in its place and almost imediatly it started to run better. It was a very hot day and I finally got the courage to limp it up the hill to the race track that was only 10 miles away. Ther truck runs fine now and I never did do any repair other than normal maintainence. Why bring this up now... well, this year at the same race some one asked me about it and as I was telling the story one of the guys says that his brother works for a corporation that dino tests and he said that the major oil companies have changed some things in the oil we get.... something about less polimers which have caused others to have a similar experience. I have noticed that I can see or feel a difference in the texture of the oil after it has been in the car or truck for awhile. His solution to the problem was to go to full synthetic. For sure it has caused me to be alot more careful about doing regular oil changes and as I sit here typing this up, I wonder what changes has been made to our favorite oils that we put into our beloved bikes... any thoughts

Thom Green,Still crazy after all these years!
76' 250 MC5 (orginal owner)
75' GS400 (project bike)
72'sixday (project bike)

[dennis foley]

thom, i have had the same type of problem but on cold starts, 10 degrees or lower. some times you think a rod is going to come out of the pan, the engine is in great shape ,oil changed every 3000 miles. the problem only showed up a few times. i had change the oil after the last episode and when i took off the filter it was almost dry, it was a fram filer, i replaced with a wix brand and no more problem, i even have better oil pressure, i have been in the auto industry for about 30 years, these probems seem to poping up more often, i would say the quality of the products we use arent what they use to be. dennis

[tomale]

Dennis, With so many companies trying further support the bottom line it is small wonder. I have seen a rather extensive research on the effectivness of oil filters and it is amazing how muck difference there is in the quality of the filter material and how it is put together. My brother-inlaw has a truck that he bought brand new and he is very carful about his maintanence and at this point the truck has over 500,000 miles on the orginal motor. It has never been opened up. It does not have the same power it did even a few years ago but it still hangs in there. It does not leak oil and it burns very little. He has had to change the weight of oil as the truck gets older but not bad considering.. What does he use for an oil filter, Delco filters. always has, my own experience with cheapies netted to thermabreak down, and I believe I came dangeously close to engine failure because of it. Can't get to the races if I do not have a dependable truck... What's that they say about maintanence is cheaper than replacement... Same goes for our bikes too....
Thanks for the reply...

Thom Green,Still crazy after all these years!
76' 250 MC5 (orginal owner)
75' GS400 (project bike)
72'sixday (project bike)