Oil Shower -- Revisited

[peterr]

I had a 1981 Dodge Omni, among the worst cars ever. I had a crack in the block and the steering rack went. I was unemployed at the time and moving to a new city, so I loaded up the car and I took it onto the highway for the first time in months to move.

It was losing about a quart of oil every 100 miles an a journey of just under 200 miles. When I stopped halfway to check the oil, there was a coating of oil all over the back of the car. I could not see a cloud or smoke or anything so I think the leaking oil caught in the slipstream and exacerbated under acceleration makes sense.

Anyhow I got it to my ne home, unpacked, took the plates off and called the wrecking yard to send a truck.

 

[ekpolk]

quote:

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Originally posted by mechtech:
Antifreeze feels oily, and can appear dark when old.
I never heard of an oil shower like that.
Sounds more like a head or gasket was cracked, and coolant was being spewed out the pipe.

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Definitely not coolant. I had literally hundreds of little of droplets of oil all over the front half of the car. The ones on the slope of the hood were blown along, creating little runs with smallish spots of oil at the end. It's brown and smears just like oil. Also, as I said in an earlier post, I dabbed some up on a papertowel and it left little brown oil spots. I've spilled slightly larger drops from the end of my dipstick, and it looked just like the drops I got from this incident. I'm very comfortable that it's oil -- I'd just like to know how it got there.

 

[ekpolk]

quote:

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Originally posted by tom slick:
another theory; you may have been following too close to James Bond and he decided to make a quick get-away!!

I have been in smoke but never an oil shower. very interesting.

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Dang -- I never considered the Bond theory!

Seriously, though, there was ample acrid smoke as well. Whatever was happening, I'm also pretty sure that the engine involved was not long for this world.