Wouldn't the PCV system help get rid of the gas in the oil system eventually?
Flooded my engine, should I change my oil soon?
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Patman
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I got a call from the dealer this morning, and the car is fixed, the new coil and coil wire did the trick! Awesome!
I still haven't heard from Terry but I've pretty much talked myself into changing the oil at 5000km now. I know the GM dealer would've done a lot of idling during this repair process, plus the misfiring and backfiring that was happening during the last few days couldn't be that good for the oil either.
It'll be a good learning experience seeing that UOA anyhow, to see if there is any fuel left in the oil by the time I hit 5000km (it's at 2600km right now) This also means I'll have a full 10,000km interval with GC during warm weather only, as that next interval will end up being from mid May until early September. Otherwise I would've ended up with a 10,000km interval from mid May to mid July, then one from mid July to late October. So both of those intervals would've had some cold weather in them. But this way I can truly see how GC does over a 10,000km period in nothing but good temperatures.
I still haven't heard from Terry but I've pretty much talked myself into changing the oil at 5000km now. I know the GM dealer would've done a lot of idling during this repair process, plus the misfiring and backfiring that was happening during the last few days couldn't be that good for the oil either.
It'll be a good learning experience seeing that UOA anyhow, to see if there is any fuel left in the oil by the time I hit 5000km (it's at 2600km right now) This also means I'll have a full 10,000km interval with GC during warm weather only, as that next interval will end up being from mid May until early September. Otherwise I would've ended up with a 10,000km interval from mid May to mid July, then one from mid July to late October. So both of those intervals would've had some cold weather in them. But this way I can truly see how GC does over a 10,000km period in nothing but good temperatures.
Change the spark plugs and change the oil ASAP.
When the plugs get soaked with fuel they get deposits on them and that will lead to decreased performance, especially on cold starts. You will not notice this but it will be happening. There was a service bulletin back in the late 90's that addressed this concern with fuel soaked plugs.
When the plugs get soaked with fuel they get deposits on them and that will lead to decreased performance, especially on cold starts. You will not notice this but it will be happening. There was a service bulletin back in the late 90's that addressed this concern with fuel soaked plugs.
well, it's fixed now so obviously this was to blame. i must say this really puzzles me, though. LT1, right? the coil wire on the LT1 comes nowhere close to the exhaust. it's a short little thing going from the coil on the front of the cylinder head directly to the opti.
-michael
Patman
Staff member
I'll see how the car performs at the next dragstrip outing before I bother with the spark plugs. It's a major task changing the plugs on these engines.
Patman
Staff member
Yep, it's an LT1. I was a bit puzzled when the service manager said that too, as I didn't think the wire came close to either of the manifolds either. But I figured maybe the cheap aftermarket wire set I had put on used longer wires or otherwise the service manager got his info mixed up on exactly how the wire got burned.
here's my 2 cents:
I don't remember from reading if your LT1 is a dragstrip only car, but if you do some daily driving I say leave the oil in and do an oil sample at 5000km (3106.856 miles). This way we can see a UOA on how the GC holds up to some fuel dilution from been flooded ( a real world condition). After all, isn't that what UOA's are for? And if the UOA shows high fuel, low TBN, bad visc numbers, then you can at least feel better about dumping it early.
Most of the fuel will probably burn off if you run the car at operating temp for a while. Whether you want to run the car hard (at the dragstrip) on the oil, before or after UOA, is your call.
To me, most used oil smells like it has gasoline in it even after a 1000 miles, and the few UOA's I've done show zero fuel dilution.
I don't remember from reading if your LT1 is a dragstrip only car, but if you do some daily driving I say leave the oil in and do an oil sample at 5000km (3106.856 miles). This way we can see a UOA on how the GC holds up to some fuel dilution from been flooded ( a real world condition). After all, isn't that what UOA's are for? And if the UOA shows high fuel, low TBN, bad visc numbers, then you can at least feel better about dumping it early.
Most of the fuel will probably burn off if you run the car at operating temp for a while. Whether you want to run the car hard (at the dragstrip) on the oil, before or after UOA, is your call.
To me, most used oil smells like it has gasoline in it even after a 1000 miles, and the few UOA's I've done show zero fuel dilution.
Patman
Staff member
The car is my daily driver, 365 days a year, so that's why I'm leaning towards doing the oil change at the 5000km mark. This is a long enough period to give us a good idea of how the fuel affected the wear numbers, but not too long to cause any lasting damage. Oil pressure is exactly as it was before, and no strange noises, so I'm not worried about leaving it in there for a little bit longer. I might see a bit more wear but I doubt it would be catastrophic.
The UOA on it will definitely be informative!
But if you've now run for a few miles at normal temps, the fuel is GONE! So any effect the fuel had on your wear numbers has already happened, and you aren't going to save any damage by dumping good oil too early
Cmon Patman...leave that oil in there!
Since you are trading up to a Corvette long before this bad boy will die (whether you change this oil or not), let's see how good PAO synthetics really are at handling fuel dilution!
In the name of science - long drainers unite
Since you are trading up to a Corvette long before this bad boy will die (whether you change this oil or not), let's see how good PAO synthetics really are at handling fuel dilution!
In the name of science - long drainers unite
Patman
Staff member
It is also possible though, that with a lot of fuel being in there all at once, that during that time the oil was degraded enough to do some slight wear damage. Not to mention it's TBN might be affected too. I'm also worried about the effect all of my misfiring might have had on the engine too, and all of the excessive idling that the engine saw during it's time in the service bay. All of these things add up to a very real possibility that I've got higher amounts of wear metals in there. Plus as I mentioned too, I really like the idea of getting to see a full 10,000km run on this oil from May to September (where it would see warm temps only), instead of having one 10,000km run from March to July and then one 10,000km run from July to late October, where in both cases there would be cold temps.quote:
Originally posted by Tree Hugger:
But if you've now run for a few miles at normal temps, the fuel is GONE! So any effect the fuel had on your wear numbers has already happened, and you aren't going to save any damage by dumping good oil too early
If it were just the one incident of no starting, such as when I originally posted this thread, I wouldn't worry too much, but with all the other things that happened to the engine afterwards, it just leaves too many variables. I know the techs had to take off my air intake while replacing the coil, so it's also possible they got some dirt into the engine as well. Better to be safe and just cut it back to a short 3000 mile interval. I'm really looking to see my "best ever UOA" over a 6000 mile period, so I don't think this one would be it if I continued past 3k on this particular batch.
Well its your car, I would have changed the oil right away even if I had dumped in Amsoil the day before. Anything that contaminates the oil is not good for the engine. There are lot of harmful additives in today fuels and the effect they could have on the engine in the big unknown.
To me, its just to big a risk to take.
To me, its just to big a risk to take.
Patman
Staff member
Terry Dyson responded to me yesterday and told me I would be safe to run my full interval if I wanted to. I'm splitting it down the middle I guess, by doing it earlier than normal. I think the wear numbers will be a little higher, but not alarmingly so. I'm confident the oil will still show itself to be serviceable, but not quite up to my picky standards perhaps.
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