Background info - anyone?

[Bryanccfshr]

I am working on my asp. I have 11 years of field experience in the industry so I am in to deep to get out, although lubricants sounds entertaining once it becomes your job it would seem difficult to enjoy as much as I do now. Working with people and problem solving seems to be my strengths so occupational safety , health and environmental responsibilities is a natural fit. Easier than the Marine Corps infantry, I can say that with certainty.

 

[widman]

I've been a car nut since the 50's, restoring various cars along the way, a winning rally driver in the 60's, taught high school and night classes in auto mechanics in the 70's, wrote maintenance manuals and programs for industrial equipment and taught at private companies and university in the 80's and 90's, and became an oil distributor in 96 (when I thought I was "retiring"), moving to Bolivia and importing the best possible lubricants and trying to teach the locals all about a subject that they knew nothing of (average Bolivian thought SAE 40 was for everything that didn't use 250, including automatic transmissions and air compressors).
I keep up to date reading various publications, this board and the articles mentioned, analyzing used oil to determine the contaminates, wear, residual values of the oil, etc, and most of all doing root cause analysis, where we tear down equipment to find the causes of the failure and prepare a way to avoid repetition.
I continue to travel the country talking to mechanics and tearing down equipment.
My current restoration project (www.widman.biz/Corvair/corvair.html is very interesting as I look at things that have been done to a car in 47 years.

 

[MONKEYMAN]

I have a MSW, but learned much more being a monk 5 years. At age 16 my mom made me rebuild the defective carburetor on the 76 Duster in the middle of winter. It was downhill (car maintenance wise) ever since. I am here to learn from the masters. I have a learning disability and work with disabled men. I do not know much about oil. I came here for the sake of my oil burning Saturn, and in the process have found a great bunch of people!

 

[NYEngineer]

I'm relatively new here and I only speak when I believe I absolutely know what I'm talking about. My family owns a diesel generator service company. I began working there when I was 15 years old. I also did a couple years in a machine shop in a large boat yard that assembled mostly speed stuff. Great job when you're an up and coming motorhead. I serviced standby generators for about 18 years, staying up on oil specs and having oil samples tested regularly. After a falling out with my brother and father, I took a job as a stationary engineer. It's pretty boring, so I still maintain and restore various projects to keep myself occupied. I keep hoping one of my Cat 3516's will need a cylinder head pulled or something, but it's pretty unlikely since they're only about 4 years old.

 

[Defiant]

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Defiant, you have been a member since 2004 and this is your first post?

to the show.

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Well, rehab soaks up a lot of time, if you aren't Brittney.

Thank you for the welcome.

 

[ekpolk]

Poorly qualified, if one looks strictly to school credentials (BA and JD, neither of which had anything at all to do with oil, though I did discuss oil and gas law with a prof once before I judiciously elected not to take his elective...).

I've been a car nut, of varying degrees of involvement, since the early 70s, when I started out actually believing that the shiny black stuff inside the valve cover of the Slant-6 in my Mom's 73 Dart was some sort of "grease" that actually belonged there!

Ahhh, the ignorance of youth...

I became aware of oil analysis when I was flying in the Marines (active duty flight status from 83-91). Originally, the program was NOAP (Naval Oil Analysis Program) and some time a number of years back got consolidated into the JOAP (Joint OAP). I remember discussing NOAP reports with our powerplants guys during the stint I served as my squadron's Quality Assurance Officer. I really don't recall any of the particulars for jet engines, except that we sampled from our engines regularly, and every once in a while, we'd have to unexpectedly yank an engine out when the results weren't right.

I didn't really get back into oil analysis until I discovered this site, though I've been a "closet tribologist" for years (all self study, journals, articles, mostly on the internet). I will readily offer my opinions here, but I do try to make clear that if someone has a hard case, they need to talk with a properly qualified pro like Terry.

Welcome, and enjoy the site.

 

[wantin150]

I started my college career majoring in Nuclear Engineering. I even had a 3 yr Naval Scholarship. After killing that, I transfered to another college with a major in Math Sciences. After killing that, I majored in Sociology with an area of concentration in Criminal Justice. Before actually getting a degree, I joined a small police agency and spent 4.5 years trying not to choke the living heck out of college kids. I graduated to a State Police agency and spent 3.5 years trying not to choke the living heck out of the motoring public. I did a little stint in retail trying not to choke the living heck out of the ignorant shoplifters. Now I have an 8-5 managing a warehouse and expanding packing peanuts. Whoo Hooo!

I'm a DIY kind of guy who loves to tinker. I usually learn by error. I know a little about a lot ofthings which usually gets me in trouble, like on this board.

 

[Doc8404]

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I started my college career majoring in Nuclear Engineering. I even had a 3 yr Naval Scholarship. After killing that, I transfered to another college with a major in Math Sciences. After killing that, I majored in Sociology with an area of concentration in Criminal Justice. Before actually getting a degree, I joined a small police agency and spent 4.5 years trying not to choke the living heck out of college kids. I graduated to a State Police agency and spent 3.5 years trying not to choke the living heck out of the motoring public. I did a little stint in retail trying not to choke the living heck out of the ignorant shoplifters. Now I have an 8-5 managing a warehouse and expanding packing peanuts. Whoo Hooo!

I'm a DIY kind of guy who loves to tinker. I usually learn by error. I know a little about a lot ofthings which usually gets me in trouble, like on this board.

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Hey, ummm, sooo, do they offer anger managment through your employer's Employee Assitance Program?

 

[Norm Olt]

National Merit Scholarship awarded 1969 University of Miami (FL) Marine Biology

Paper Technology Scholarship, Miami University (Oxford, OH)1969-71, eventually a #@$%! Management & Organizational Behavior 1973 (could have had a dual major in Economics but dissed the paperwork)

Special Agent, US Dept. of Transportation, FHWA, BMCS

Certified Claims Professional, 1986

ISO 9000 Quality Systems Auditor (circa 1997)

Installed computer systems in automotive dealerships for a couple years. Worked 15 years in the transportation sector as regulatory agent, operations manager & safety manager for contract carrier, transportation loss & damage claims, casualty claims for self-insured ($3M retention) common carrier, aircraft liability.

No formal qualification nor any claim to be an expert on oil. I doubt my Father ever even touched a quart of oil or put a wrench to a car after 1956. At 16 I started to work on cars & motorcycles because I enjoyed it. Never took a single class in auto mechanics, plumbing, carpentry, etc.

I basically just like to attempt to competently accomplish things that others charge what I consider to be exorbitant fees to do.

Semi-retired since about 1999 with a 3 summer-stint as a mechanical insulator, a prevailing wage construction trade.

Was this thread only for "oil experts"?

Cheers!

 

[Doc8404]

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Was this thread only for "oil experts"?
Cheers!

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If that were the case, we'd have about five very bored people on it LOL.

 

[wantin150]

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I started my college career majoring in Nuclear Engineering. I even had a 3 yr Naval Scholarship. After killing that, I transfered to another college with a major in Math Sciences. After killing that, I majored in Sociology with an area of concentration in Criminal Justice. Before actually getting a degree, I joined a small police agency and spent 4.5 years trying not to choke the living heck out of college kids. I graduated to a State Police agency and spent 3.5 years trying not to choke the living heck out of the motoring public. I did a little stint in retail trying not to choke the living heck out of the ignorant shoplifters. Now I have an 8-5 managing a warehouse and expanding packing peanuts. Whoo Hooo!

I'm a DIY kind of guy who loves to tinker. I usually learn by error. I know a little about a lot ofthings which usually gets me in trouble, like on this board.

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Hey, ummm, sooo, do they offer anger managment through your employer's Employee Assitance Program?

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Me? Angry? Nah. LE types know what I'm talking about.

I always told myself that when I stopped enjoying the job, it was time to get out. I didn't want to be stuck in a job too long and not be able (flexible) enough to be able to try something else. It's all good now.

 

[johnd]

I have a B.S. In Industrial Arts Technology and an Med in Education. I was a school teacher for a while, did a long stint with Social Security as a Disability Determinations Officer, ran my own business for 10 years and now I'm an administrative employee at a big university. I've always maintained my own vehicles an since joining this site have actually learned enough about lubrication so see how little I really know. Lots of valuable information here.

 

[ThirdeYe]

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I am probably the youngest one here. Just turned 21, working on my business degree. Have a small oil stash... a little more than 100 quarts. Not an expert, but enjoy maintaining my car. I have learned a great deal here.
Hopefully I will be able to educate someone on the subject of oil.

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I just turned 20, so maybe i'm the youngest one now? I'm sure there has to be younger though

 

[Doc8404]

I'm 12.

 

[B00SS]

I stayed at a Holiday Inn on my last vacation.

 

[otis24]

I am 42, went to college for five years (but did not graduate). My intrests and fields of study are history/social sciences. I am the youngest of nine children. My twin brother got all of the mechanical skills. I do what I can and had to learn from doing. Used Havoline motor oil most of the time. That's what one of my older brothers liked. When I started driving. I liked the price of Havoline and it was often on sale (up to pre-Katrina times) for 99 cents per quart. My father-in-law, who is pretty knowledgable (school of hard knocks) used Havoline as well, so that reinforced my choice.
In June of 05, I purchased a new Grand Caravan. I knew that it would have to last until it was paid for (negative equity cycle). I did not really KNOW anything about oil; only what others had recommended. I decided to google and find out which is the "best oil" because I wanted to take good care of my ride since it will have to last about 200K miles until it is paid for. That lead me here to BITOG. I have relied on the collective knowledge and UOA's posted by others here to form the opinions I hold now.
Following is what I purport to know, based on research done here:
Any SM/API rated oil is good for 3000 miles.
For the price, there are some really good dinos that are hard to beat (Havoline, TropArtic, Motorcraft, Pennzoil)
Avoid the orange canister.
In most applications, today's hydrocracked dino's make synthetics un-necessary for most drivers.
Your OCI can be extended past the 3K mark, but this depends on your driving habits. (I had adopted a strict 5K OCI using dinos. I decided that this may not be the best policy for me. I live in South Dakota and winter driving in sub-zero temps is often done in 2-3 mile trips for much of the long winter season. I am rethinking the 5K OCI for my type of driving. I may split the difference and stick to a 4K OCI).
I had heard of UOA's before but thought that it was a lot of hokey-pokey. Now that I understand what they are for and how they are used, I will get at least one done on my vehicle once I settle on an oil that my vehicle likes. I have had some problems with oil consumption on my new van. I am currently using a synthetic (Pennzoil Platinum). Even if it does help reduce the consumption, I will probably go back to a dino because of price. Easier to add a quart at $2 than to spend nearly $5/quart on synthetic.
And so this is what I know. If that ain't right, I guess I don't know anything. As posts here show, you could nit pick all day about this oil or that oil, but the bottom line for me comes to cost/benefit. At 200K miles, my van will probably be pretty well worn out (mechanically or otherwise). I figure that a good dino with reasonable OCI's will get me there for less cost than a synthetic.
Also, learned that most oils are a chemical masterpiece. No need for miracle additives to mess things up.

 

[1sttruck]

'Lubricants' are interesting to me. They affect the performance and durability of some mundane things like bathroom vent fans, Dremel tools, etc., obviously things like motorcycles, cars and trucks that I have or do own, and lots of stuff in between.

I find some subjects interesting, tend to take the underdog position, and like teasing apart assumptions. I assume that most people dealing with technical issues tend to be rational, and if they get something wrong it's because of an overlooked assumption. :^)

I don't have the time or money to purchase hard copy or online journals, which is where most of the info on lubricants seems to reside, so I allocate x amount of basically Google time to different issues in an effort to 'see what's really going on'. An advantage in that approach is that the references are readily available for others to see too.

 

[jdelk69]

I've been a grease monkey most of my life. My dad started teaching me when I was 12. I'm considered my many to have Oil OCD, when it comes to changing oil. Professionaly I don't have a degree in the other disciplines associated with oil or its industry. But, I have been blessed with a mind that can associate good oil, when in contact with it. Ha, ha. I have a Bachelor in Criminal Justice and work in the Law Enforcement arena. Like I said earlier, just a shade tree trying to learn more than I did yesterday. Thanks, Joe.

 

[VeeDubb]

I have an advanced degree in economics and statistics so I am pretty familiar with how to use scientific methods. While that doesn't make me qualified to talk about oils, it does give me a nose to smell B.S. Anyways, I consider myself more of a student here than an expert. I've learned quite a bit about what works for my specific application (VW 1.8T) engine and am learning about what works for our new car (Toyota V6 3.5 GR2). If I give an opinion or recommendation, I try to make sure I know what I'm talking about. If not, I keep my mouth shut to reduce the disinformation content on the site.

 

[Anduril]

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I just turned 20, so maybe i'm the youngest one now? I'm sure there has to be younger though

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Unfortunately, yes. I just turned 19 about 2 weeks ago. I learned most of what I know about cars from the 1969 Bug I owned for 2 years and worked on with my grandpa. I still don't know #@$%! about that fancy new computer-controlled engine thingy in my Corolla, though.