Silly? question about oil storage and heat / cold

[Clubber_Lang]

After a coolant flush, I was idling the car unattended for 5? or do hours with the heat on full blast to try and cycle things through the heater core. That coolant flush got the heater and car red hot with the windows up.

Had a few quarts of unopened redline gear oil in the passengers seat I didn't think about. Obviously the gear oil can take the heat / cold, but what about the container? Just by feel car interior felt like 120-130°F?....So, for the silly question of the day, what hot / cold extreme temperatures would it take to compromise the integrity of a plastic oil container? I would think it would be fine, but the thought has crossed my mind before I change the gear oil. I would think car interiors can get even hotter sitting in the summer sun.

 

[ctechbob]

Gets way hotter than that sitting in a trailer during delivery in AZ.

" For common commercial grades of medium- and high-density polyethylene the melting point is typically in the range 120 to 180 °C (248 to 356 °F). The melting point for average, commercial, low-density polyethylene is typically 105 to 115 °C (221 to 239 °F). These temperatures vary strongly with the type of polyethylene."

Your car interior has a ways to go.

 

[Donald]

Originally Posted by Clubber_Lang
After a coolant flush, I was idling the car unattended for 5? or do hours with the heat on full blast to try and cycle things through the heater core. That coolant flush got the heater and car red hot with the windows up.

Had a few quarts of unopened redline gear oil in the passengers seat I didn't think about. Obviously the gear oil can take the heat / cold, but what about the container? Just by feel car interior felt like 120-130°F?....So, for the silly question of the day, what hot / cold extreme temperatures would it take to compromise the integrity of a plastic oil container? I would think it would be fine, but the thought has crossed my mind before I change the gear oil. I would think car interiors can get even hotter sitting in the summer sun.


Hot for people but not for oil.

 

[GoldDot40]

It's fine.

 

[danez_yoda]

Thermal expansion could be a concern if you bottles are tilted and filled vary high with little or no air bubble. oil could push through the seals and leak out of the cap. I would think they would have figured that out though.

 

[Kira]

Yeah, I'd bet the plastic bottle would soften and stretch IF the foil seal held. I also bet the seal WOULD fail first.

The mere idea of gear oil spilling on a car's interior gives me the willies.

 

[toneydoc]

5 hours of idling?
I do not think I would do that to my vehicles. I would drive them for 15-30 minutes and then check level

 

[PimTac]

Originally Posted by toneydoc
5 hours of idling?
I do not think I would do that to my vehicles. I would drive them for 15-30 minutes and then check level

Yep.

 

[csandste]

Originally Posted by toneydoc
5 hours of idling?
I do not think I would do that to my vehicles. I would drive them for 15-30 minutes and then check level

Remember cars overheating after idling, but that was the seventies. Probably no different than driving slowly for five hours but certainly things I'd rather do with my gasoline than idling. In fact I never idle my engine. If it's cold I want to heat up all systems. For that reason, remote starters don't appeal.

 

[Toys4Life_C5]

A black plastic dash sitting in AZ sun in August has to get past 150F I would imagine...

Question - Were you suspecting your heater core was plugged? If coolant won't circulate through the heater core in 30 minutes, I highly doubt more time will help.

 

[DGXR]

The oil container will be fine.

 

[CR94]

Originally Posted by Toys4Life_C5
... If coolant won't circulate through the heater core in 30 minutes, I highly doubt more time will help.
Right, even a much shorter time should suffice, as long as the thermostat has opened. The point of running the heater after a coolant change is to circulate coolant through the heater core, not to heat the interior. Therefore, there's no need to have the fan on above its lowest speed (or on at all, if you have a system that sends coolant through the core with the fan off). In fact, diverting a lot of heat to the interior would delay thermostat opening.