>From the archives (Nov 1990) comes this story from Dan Mutchler about
Castrol motor oil:
>As a second testimony, my friend starting using it after a fresh
>engine rebuild on his Toyota diesel. After 10,000 miles the car was
>still using a lot of oil, so he had the mechanic look at the car.
>The mechanic inquired about the type of oil and when he heard it
>was Castrol told him to not use it for the next 5,000 miles. Seems
>they have had a lot of problems with engines not breaking in when
>Castrol was used because it was so slick the necessary friction couldn't
>take place. Seems a little far fetched to me, but it seems to be
>working. Miles on Quaker State seems to be reducing the smoking.
>When it stops smoking (as much as a diesel can) he'll go back to Castrol
>and see if the smoking returns.
Well, this lesson seems to be one that I should have remembered when
I put my new engine in. Bob from BPD just called. He's torn down my
engine to find out why it's going through oil so quickly (by converting
it to big puffy clouds of blue smoke). He found that it hasn't broken in
yet. This is with nearly 700 miles of varied driving with Castrol
Motor Oil in the engine.
He's going to check out the top end and install a set of new piston
rings ("while I've got your engine in little pieces it seems a shame not
to replace something"), reassemble it, and put some other brand of oil in.
Then it's up to me to drive around again and seat the rings.
This says good things about Castrol as a lubricant, but not as an oil
to use in a fresh engine.
FYI, the pistons Bob used in this engine are genuine MOWOG early MGB 4
ring pistons (they bought a bunch of them), 40 over (I guess that's .04"),
solid skirt (don't know what that means). The rings are a Swedish brand
that sounded like Deeves, the valve guides are chilled iron ("bronze is
nice but wears out too fast").
In any event, the drive to Diamond Springs was nice, the last stretch is
over some fun roads. And there's a good rib place nearby. Unfortunately
I won't be able to pick up the car this weekend so the next phase of
this car's story will not begin until the Ides of March.
-DannyD.
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