[ivanvernon]

Actually the oil gets black from carbon, a byproduct of the combustion of the air/fuel mixture. Some of the carbon gets past the piston rings into the crankcase. Diesel engines get “dirtier”, and blacker, than that in gasoline fueled engines. Engines fueled with LNG (liquefied natural gas) or LPG (propane), will have oil that looks as clean at oil change time as it was when poured in. This is because LPG and LNG are very clean, low carbon fuels, gasoline has a higher carbon content, and diesel is fuel oil, very high in carbon content.

Combustion chamber temps run around 1,500 degrees F. Most of the heat is concentrated on the piston tops, and the cylinder head combustion chamber, and is carried away by the exhaust. Any residual waste heat is carried away quite quickly by the cooling system, to the radiator, and the lubricating oil, carried to the oil pan, and an oil cooler if the vehicle is equipped with one.

What tiny amount of oil that may enter the combustion chamber mixes with the air/fuel mixture, is consumed during combustion and expelled with the exhaust.

Perhaps you are correct. I am only repeating what some of the oil companies have communicated about the oil-blackening process.

[Gorgarath]

I only started doing my own car work since I started my job in IT at the school district. My boss was a former race car driver and taught me a good bit about cars. I now do a decent amount of work on my own and will usually take my car to his place if it's something a little more involved and I need help.

However, about a two years ago, oddly over Thanksgiving break, I almost went back to going back to a shop. I crawled out from under my car during an oil change and went to stand up and my knee just went out. I laid there on the ground for a good 5-10 minutes just clutching my knee in intense pain. Took almost a year before the pain finally went fully away.

[Racer X 69]

Perhaps you are correct. I am only repeating what some of the oil companies have communicated about the oil-blackening process.

Oil company A will tell you that the oil they offer is better than that of oil company B. Of course oil company B will tell you the same thing about their oil.

Lubrication is a science, and all oil manufacturers produce pretty much the same oils. It is the engine manufacturers that write the specifications for the oils they want used in their engines, and the oil companies produce a product that "meets or exceeds" the specification. The "meets or exceeds" is some proprietary elixir that each oil company dreams up to try and compete for the market share.

I would wager that, through industrial espionage, and reverse engineering, they all pretty much have the same oil base stocks, and the additive packages are chemically the same.

When I buy oil for my vehicles, I get the weight needed, and follow the manufacturers recommended API specification.

In every vehicle owner's manual the recommended oil is called out.

The American Petroleum Institute (API) has a program to certify that oil can meet the strict performance and quality standards put in place by the OEM. Here is a sampling of the API “Service Symbol Donut” that you will find on oil containers:

[Ex Finn.]

Daughter called, "all the warning lights are on" Pulled nice, was thirsty at 10.7 MPG.

Attached Images

 

[Sam_I_am]

I prefer old cars over new. I would, and have, used them as daily drivers. After having to part with my last ones due to a family emergency, and major move, I have recently aquired a 1953 Ford F100 that I should have on the road by this coming summer. After that I will be working on my even more recently aquired 1938 Buick Special.

[lesmore49]

I prefer old cars over new. I would, and have, used them as daily drivers. After having to part with my last ones due to a family emergency, and major move, I have recently aquired a 1953 Ford F100 that I should have on the road by this coming summer. After that I will be working on my even more recently aquired 1938 Buick Special.

'38 Buick Special. I'm a fan of these old Buick straight eight engined cars. It would be great to see pictures of this, and of the old F series Ford truck. Are they going to be kept stock or do you have plans to modify them ?

---------- Post added 11-23-20 at 03:30 AM ----------

Daughter called, "all the warning lights are on" Pulled nice, was thirsty at 10.7 MPG.

Hope your daughter's car is ok ? Electrical issues or ?

Our neighbour has a 2020 Ram similar to yours. He has the 5.7 liter hemi, It replaced his 2013 Ram 1500 with a 3.6 liter V6. He tows and reports that the Hemi tows with ease.

[Ex Finn.]

'38 Buick Special. I'm a fan of these old Buick straight eight engined cars. It would be great to see pictures of this, and of the old F series Ford truck. Are they going to be kept stock or do you have plans to modify them ?

---------- Post added 11-23-20 at 03:30 AM ----------



Hope your daughter's car is ok ? Electrical issues or ?

Our neighbour has a 2020 Ram similar to yours. He has the 5.7 liter hemi, It replaced his 2013 Ram 1500 with a 3.6 liter V6. He tows and reports that the Hemi tows with ease.

Electrical, CAN bus down. She traded it in for a 2016 Mitsubishi Outlander sport 2.4 SEL? AWD.
Kinda clad that the VW is off my back, fun car with great handling and loads of turbo 2.0 power.
Working on it, not so fun despite having the Ross-tech VCDS HEX-V2 that is a must if one wants to do anything at all, short of airing up the tires.
Yes, my hemi (3.92 gears) pulls a trailer with ease also.

[blues_hawk]

Followup on an old comment. Kitsune is still pretty happy and has some serious photo drives under her belt. 2004 7thgen civic ex!

[robgski]

I have enjoyed owning my Mustang Bullitt for 10 years, but now it is up for sale. In 10 years, I've only put 55,000 miles on it, and I'm too busy to really drive it. I will miss having a manual transmission and horsepower when it's gone.

[lesmore49]

I have enjoyed owning my Mustang Bullitt for 10 years, but now it is up for sale. In 10 years, I've only put 55,000 miles on it, and I'm too busy to really drive it. I will miss having a manual transmission and horsepower when it's gone.

I was impressed with the Mustang Bullit when it first came out. I'm not a Ford guy, more of a GM/Chevy guy, but I admit, I really wanted the Bullit edition.

Back in '69 I was 19 years old and wanted to get me a muscle car. I narrowed it down to two cars. One was a '67 Chevy Camaro RS Coupe with a 327 cube V8 and a 4 speed Muncie. The other a "67 Mustang Fastback, 289 V8, 4 barrel, with a toploader 4 speed manual transmission, some nice Bullit style mag wheels, the Mustang emblem removed...plain, black grille, dual exhausts...painted the Forest Green of the Bullit movie car.

In the end I went for the Camaro, bigger engine, more power and my Chevy leanings won the day. But it was a close one, a guy like me, almost going over to the dark side...the dark side being Ford.

But that Ford Bullit model that you have, well back when it was a new model, I recall checking them out at the dealership. It was and is a wonderful sportscar. I'm sure it will continue to appreciate in value as years go by....and even though you don't drive it much...I can only imagine what it must be like for you to go for a spin. Throaty exhaust note rising and falling, as you snick from gear to gear....pushing it into tight corners, etc.

Funny thing is, nowadays, a number of grocery getters are actually surprisingly quick. We have a '20 Chevy Traverse SUV...3.6 liter V6, DOHC, 4 valves per cylinder, near 7000 rpm redline, 9 speeds forward, AWD and according to magazine performance tests...1/4 mile ranges from 14.8 -15.1 @ 94 mph, etc...0-60 is 6.4 seconds, top speed estimated @ 130 mph..

I think my current 4500 lb. SUV would show it's tail lights to a not untypical sports ride from the '60's......like my old '67 Camaro. Things have evolved and for the better.

I'm not talking about your newer Mustang Bullit...that is a modern sports job and a good one.

[robgski]

Funny thing is, nowadays, a number of grocery getters are actually surprisingly quick.

Without a doubt, newer cars have better suspension, brakes, drivetrain. What most lack is the style cars had pre 1970. IF I had unlimited, money, time, talent, and garage space, I'd be doing restomods using classic car chassis and all that fine sheet metal, but upgraded with the tech of today.

[dbs]

Nissan ( Datsun ) tried that with a M G T G body on a Pulsar chassis / drivetrain in the 90's

[Madaboutpix]

Skoda Octavia III Combi 1.5 l / 110 kW TSI engine.

Does basically all I could want from a car, and does it well. A joy to drive, looks awesome too. Best car I've ever owned.

[ThorSanchez]

Without a doubt, newer cars have better suspension, brakes, drivetrain. What most lack is the style cars had pre 1970. IF I had unlimited, money, time, talent, and garage space, I'd be doing restomods using classic car chassis and all that fine sheet metal, but upgraded with the tech of today.

As systems mature you'll often find design driven into fewer and fewer choices that work best. Cars used to have the freedom that not caring/knowing about safety and aerodynamics brought. Now you can't get away with making your legs the crumple zone (see: VW bus, older vans), or the front of the car a perfect pedestrian eviscerator, or (except for the popular Greyhound bus-sized SUVs) a drag coefficient of 0.75. You see this in a lot of other areas, like baseball is in the midst of a drastic narrowing of strategies around power, strikeouts and standardized batting stances.


But having said that, there are plenty of very beautiful cars today. Everything from a Morgan to a C8 Corvette. They just don't necessarily look like the cars baby boomers grew up with, so they suffer from not being part of the biggest nostalgia craze of all time. Also, it's hard to make those tens of millions of SUVs and crossovers look like anything but a cereal box.

[ChrisPlatt]

Years ago my wise mother would say it was far safer to drive a "coward's car".
Unfortunately today's cars have capabilities exceeding the skills of many drivers.

Chris