Yeah, there's an additive you can use in situations like that. It's called "Motor Oil." Most major retailers carry it in handy quart sizes, but if you are going through a lot of it, the 4 or 5 quart size can be pretty handy too.
Yeah, there's an additive you can use in situations like that. It's called "Motor Oil." Most major retailers carry it in handy quart sizes, but if you are going through a lot of it, the 4 or 5 quart size can be pretty handy too.
Hess, this keyboard was just cleaned you shiny happy person 
+1 for oil. I run it in my cars all the time. They run great and haven't had a problem since I started using it! Even the race car runs better with oil.
http://kalecoauto.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=8
fixed
amaff wrote: +1 for oil. I run it in my cars all the time. They run great and haven't had a problem since I started using it! Even the race car runs better with oil.
+1. We tried running our racecar without it to save weight, but it didn't work worth a damn. I'm pretty sure we were down on power, even before we air conditioned the block.
Be smart when offroading.
derekshannon wrote: This would be pretty funny if I learned that school was out for Christmas vacation and you kids logged on to your dads' computer. For grown ups it was pretty simpleton humor at best. Much too obvious. If I had asked you guys what you'd do if your fuel pump went bad out in the middle of nowhere would your answer be "I would first replace the fuel pump."? While not entirely incorrect I would've suggested a spare aftermarket pump from the toolbox with lines and clamps or the old gravity-fed fuel can trick with enough line to go to the carb. Works in a pinch to get you back to camp but not at all a long-term fix. Clearly nobody has ruptured an oil pan 5 miles from camp or has blown a remote oil filter line out in the middle of nowhere or had a fellow rider/vehicle that has! Or God forbid rolled wheeled up and had oil poor out the valve cover and didn't have enough to replace it. We've lost and replaced starters, power steering boxes, brake lines all with spares and hand-tools. Howerver, I was just looking to see if you had ruptured or otherwise caused a loss in oil, there was a longer-lasting lubricant that could keep the damage down temporaily. Not too many offroaders here huh?
Simpleton humor is still humor.
That said - yes I offroad. Yes, we've had vehicles go over. Generally, they don't loose much oil. Flip 'em back, pull the plugs to clear the combustion chambers, and fire it up. If they did lose oil, replace it. Extra oil should be part of the spares. As for rupturing a pan, no we've never had someone do that. If I did it on my rig and a combination of black-smithing and JB weld didn't fix it, I'd hitch a ride out, get a spare pan, and hitch a ride back in. I wouldn't run without oil.
derekshannon wrote:DILYSI Dave wrote: As for rupturing a pan, no we've never had someone do that. If I did it on my rig and a combination of black-smithing and JB weld didn't fix it, I'd hitch a ride out, get a spare pan, and hitch a ride back in. I wouldn't run without oil.More like it. At least you realize that ideal situations don't exist when you break something out in the woods. Thanks.
It's true. That's why I don't wheel alone.
Anything with lots of ZDDP will help.
FWIW, I've run a few laps with low oil in the racecar knowing that the oil was leaking and/or gone. It was a case of park it, or try to finish the race. I finished, and I do believe that good old STP made it possible.
On disassembly, the rod bearings had started to melt and extrude between the crank and rod. But I did salvage the crank with a regrind.
Carter Shore
Oh i've holed a pan before once while on the road i hit a cinder block and holed my school bus pan. Hammer and vice griped it. got to the next exit and pulled in to the junk yard (thankfully they were open) drooped the oil and brazed it in place. poured the oil back in and off to the races.
I now always have JB weld in my tool boxes. Used it several times on alum oil pans in the dwarfs.
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JB weld will fix. if it's too big for JB weld alone to patch use a piece of belt leather or shoe leather held in with JB weld..
There were a few excerpts from an Army "improvised jeep field repairs" field manual WWII era which were printed in a Skinned Knuckles magazine a few years ago, I have yet to have run across the field manual. But it would be awesome to have!
The majority of the context was to somehow plug the hole and put more oil in it. A external filter or cooler could be bypassed. They even suggested whittling a leather belt into appropriately sized strips to run as crank or rod bearings in a circumstance where you needed to get out of there.
So if you want to save the engine, plug it and add oil at a similar speed to how fast it leaks out. Rags, plastic bags and duct tape can hold oil in non-stressed places.
derekshannon wrote: In reply to daytonaer: The last few replies are GREAT! Much more akin to what I expected to get in the first place. Thanks so much guys!
So, da guys say to use OIL as the additive and you like that, but you don't like it when I suggest adding OIL in response to your "what additive should I use if I'm going to be low on oil" question? You didn't ask "How should I stop a leak from a hole in my pan so I can get home." OK. Whatever. I'm just tryin' to hep you out here. And, FWIW, I have been in that very situation, blown O ring behind the oil pump on a 5SFE, going through a quart every 5-10 miles. I used (wait for it...) OIL. Lots of it. Enough to get me home. Dumped a gallon+ in, drove 20 miles, dumped another gallon in, made it home, pulled the oil pump and put a new $2 O ring on (and a timing belt while I was there.) I will admit, though, that I added all my oil by putting it in the hole covered by the 710 cap. I think that makes a difference.
Jumper cable and some change and you can, in a pinch, weld something like that up. Nickles seemed to work best as the "filler rod" while quarters were good for patches. I have fixed several oil pans and an alternator bracket this way. We even temporarily put a half shaft together this way just to get us home. filed a v on either side of the brake then held it in place with a vice grips and put about a dollar's worth of change into it.
A friend of mine that welds taught me this. He was the one that "welded" the half shaft. He drove it home very gingerly (0-30mph measured in minutes) but we made it.
Same bus motor about 6 months later got some leather belt as a rod bearing pulled the cyl plug wire and drove the 90+ miles home on 7 cyl. The one nice thing about a school bus is you can drop the pan with the oil in it and still have loades of room.
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There ain't no magic additives. That was my point in my first post up above. Or, the magic additive is the 710 additive. If you run out of oil and don't stop the motor within seconds, you will need a new motor shortly.
Cool on the jumper cable welding, dean. I'll have to experiment with that sometime.
Had a small leak in a Healey 3000 oil pan back in 1970 when I was young and poor (as opposed to old and poor). A sheet metal screw through a doubled-over piece of inner tube into the hole got me through the work week until proper repairs (welding) could be affected...and I kept an eye on the oil level.
I guess an answer to the original question might be that a lot of products might work in the laboratory but out in real life with loads on the engine the odds are against it..
derekshannon wrote: In reply to daytonaer: The last few replies are GREAT! Much more akin to what I expected to get in the first place. Thanks so much guys!
For the record, there was nothing in the OP that said "I sprung a leak / holed the pan while out four wheeling, what's the best get-me-home improv for such a situation?". It looked like your post was "my car runs low on oil, what can I do till I really fix it?".
Thus the smartypants answers you got. Once you made it clear you were out in the backwoods somewhere you got more helpful answers.
I think in 99% of the situations where low oil is a problem, extra oil+repair leak if possible is really the only solution. I remember hearing of someone buying a old chevy 4x4 fire truck with a seized engine, and the story was they were using it on a grass fire and a t-post put a hole though the oil pan, and there was no time to do anything but just drive it out, becasue it was better to replace the engine than the whole truck.
I would add a tow vehicle and trailer to the original question....there is no other option short of pulling the pan if possible, none of mine can come out without the engine being at least raised
Hey, I was trying to help. The best additive you can use is the 710 additive. Anything else is snake oil, or snake 710. However, if it makes you feel better, I'll sell you a magic addtive that will make your motor last much longer without oil than if you didn't use my additive, which contains magical Poly-Tetra-Flouro-Ethylene micro beads which will imbed in metal-to-metal surfaces and provide a super-slick frying pan coating. Not to be confused with Teflon(R), which is a trade mark. I'll even demonstrate it at the junkyard by draining a motor and running it. It sells for only $500 a treatment. No warranty expressed or implied. Serving Suggestion. Results not typical. Your results may vary. Do not run out of oil. No refunds or returns.
710 Hhahahahahahahhahahahahhahahhhaahhahhhhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaa
duct tape works as rod bearings.. indeed it does.
JB Weld is one way I've seen small oil pan leaks being repaired but if you broke off a chunk of the pan that'd be a tough situation unless you brought a spare pan or sheet metal to weld it on.
If it were me and I wheeled often I'd definitely look into installing a skid plate that covers and protects the oil pan.
Once you loose all oil (or oil pressure) you're going to have various metal pieces coming in contact with one another quite vigorously. You may get another few minutes of usable runtime out of an additive package but nothing's going to save the engine should you choose to run it without pressure for more than a few seconds.
I'm with everyone else, putting oil back in or plugging the hole are your only options if you want to keep the engine.
My experience has led me to try X1R oil treatment, Restore, and Slick 50. I purchased an old Monte Carlo waaay back in 1994 with a Chevy 305 V8. The engine was tired then and it's still in the car today. I figure even if it the additives only do 1/2 of what it claims, I'm still ahead of the game. Years ago, I started racing in an Enduro class at a local dirt track. At the time, I didn't have a fresh engine, so I just threw in a 350 I had in the shop. Within the first ten laps the oil pressure went to 0. I just slowed down and waited to hear noises. Nothing happened and I finished the race about an hour or so later. Never found out what the problem was, but the engine still runs today and the oil pressure guage is in another car. That engine had a quart of X1R treatment in it with some Valvoline 20w50. For me, any of the aforementioned additives appear to help keep things from coming apart.
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