I let my friend borrow my car to take his newborn (four to five weeks premature) daughter home from the hospital because the A/C in his Explorer (the only car they have right now because the other was recently totaled) is inoperable, one window is stuck partially down, that trip required some freeway travel with possible stop and go, and the outside temps were in the mid to upper 80s. They drove the Explorer to the hospital so I drove it back to their house for them. When I got behind the wheel, I noticed that the sticker on the windshield said that the next service was due in July 2012! I know this friend is not so great with car maintenance, but thought surely that he had not gone a year (or 9 months if that interval was based on 3 months/3,000 miles) past due so I decided to do some investigating. I stopped for gas and checked the oil color and level (dark but not too bad, nothing on the dipstick after wiping and re-inserting), coolant level (about two quarts low), air filter condition (dirty as all get-out), and tire pressure (each about 10-15 psi low). Holy cow!
I filled the tires at the gas station and added some water to the coolant reservoir to bump up the fluid level halfway between the original level and full line as I did not want to dilute the coolant too much and just need to add coolant to get it up to full and have the proper ratio. When I got home I used up some of my stash of G-Oil to get the oil level back up to the low line on the dipstick as I wanted to add oil but didn't feel the need to top it up all of the way due to the need for an oil change anyway. That took two quarts, meaning that the vehicle was three quarters short with only a six quart capacity. Ouch! I drove it a bit after that and then discovered what appeared to be an oil leak that worked its way down the seam between the transmission bell housing and the engine block. (I am now questioning that because the good sized stain on the driveway has disappeared. Maybe G-Oil biodegrades that quickly?) I know what some of you are thinking: I should not have done anything to the vehicle because I can now get blamed for anything that goes wrong. I thought that as well, particularly after seeing the fresh oil stain on my driveway. I told my friend what I had done and about the leak and he said that he knows he really sucks at keeping up on car maintenance and that the Explorer leaked before. I did not see any oil stains on his driveway so maybe running so low on oil and for so long kept the oil from reaching the leaking gasket and/or it was too thick to leak out!
Well, I'm in elbow-deep as it is, so I thought I would dive a bit deeper and offered to change the oil for my friend and burn up some of my stash (because they are tight on money and partially so I can justify purchasing more
). The engine is spec'd for 5w-20 but the oil change sticker from the nearby Ford dealer stated that they had used 5w-30. I have a stash of Valvoline MaxLife NextGen and G-Oil syn, both in 5w-30. Which should I use? My thought is that the G-Oil is probably thinner and would therefore be closer to the 5w-20 spec but it is ester based and may clean up some gunk on the gaskets and reveal a few leaks. The Valvoline is a HM oil so it may help clean up after the vehicle's life of abuse (internals viewed through the fill hole looked surprising clean!) and keep leaks at bay due to the seal conditioners, but is thicker.
Details on the vehicle and use: Ford Explorer, unknown year (2002?), 4.6L V8, unknown miles (digital odo is broken, but probably well north of 100k), mostly driven 10-20 mile highway trips, often at speeds of 75+ mph.
I filled the tires at the gas station and added some water to the coolant reservoir to bump up the fluid level halfway between the original level and full line as I did not want to dilute the coolant too much and just need to add coolant to get it up to full and have the proper ratio. When I got home I used up some of my stash of G-Oil to get the oil level back up to the low line on the dipstick as I wanted to add oil but didn't feel the need to top it up all of the way due to the need for an oil change anyway. That took two quarts, meaning that the vehicle was three quarters short with only a six quart capacity. Ouch! I drove it a bit after that and then discovered what appeared to be an oil leak that worked its way down the seam between the transmission bell housing and the engine block. (I am now questioning that because the good sized stain on the driveway has disappeared. Maybe G-Oil biodegrades that quickly?) I know what some of you are thinking: I should not have done anything to the vehicle because I can now get blamed for anything that goes wrong. I thought that as well, particularly after seeing the fresh oil stain on my driveway. I told my friend what I had done and about the leak and he said that he knows he really sucks at keeping up on car maintenance and that the Explorer leaked before. I did not see any oil stains on his driveway so maybe running so low on oil and for so long kept the oil from reaching the leaking gasket and/or it was too thick to leak out!
Well, I'm in elbow-deep as it is, so I thought I would dive a bit deeper and offered to change the oil for my friend and burn up some of my stash (because they are tight on money and partially so I can justify purchasing more
Details on the vehicle and use: Ford Explorer, unknown year (2002?), 4.6L V8, unknown miles (digital odo is broken, but probably well north of 100k), mostly driven 10-20 mile highway trips, often at speeds of 75+ mph.
