Joe A. wrote:
>I seem to remember that the Bentley manual for XKE's gave a pecking order for
>brake fluid that went something like this:
> Preferred: Castrol LMA DOT 4
> OK: Any other DOT 4
>In an emergency, flush afterwards: DOT 3
>The implication is that there is something different about Castrol, but it
>isn't crucial. Perhaps the low moisture absorbtion property?
This may be just a case of brand-insistence. Just like "For best results
use only MOPAR fluids" in your Dodge, or "Always use Autolite" in your Ford.
But Joe, don't you know that there is no such thing as an XKE? It should be
called an E-Type! All the Jag-you-are owners here (which seem to be coming
out of the woodwork) insisted so just a few months ago! You should know better
than that. (Weren't you the guy ran a Jags-only repair shop?)
Ian McW. asks about unleaded gas and the U.S. having found good substitutes.
I think that was a bunch of bunk (and I am a bit of an environmentalist, as,
I would expect, we all are). In the U.S., new cars were mandated to use no-
lead gas way back in, oh, maybe the mid-70's or so, give or take a year or two.
But leaded gas itself was not legislated away per se. If you owned an older
car that needed leaded gas, you could always get it, though not always in the
octane you wanted. If "they" ever found a real replacement, then "they" never
told "us". I suspect the reason it never became a consumer issue is that any
car company who wanted to keep playing the game just went to hardened valve
seats as soon as they put in catalytic converters that required no-lead gas.
Amoco, however, has maintained all along that lead was not necessary, and has
sold a lead-free gas for many decades. I don't know if the have a "special"
additive, but it certainly isn't new, nor have they ever had a big public-
image problem of cars that used Amoco gas burning their valve seats.
Jim
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