Avoiding Catastrophe, Just Lucky?

[RKDinOKC]

2nd car was a 71 Plymouth Satellite Sebring Plus muscle car, a road runner only a little smaller and normal horn. Was going around a corner that had RR tracks and the car kind of wobbled a little. Stopped at a full service gas station 1 block from the tracks. We put it on the lift. The mechanic wiggled the right front wheel and it fell off into his harms. The bearings were gone and it was just about to wear thru the axle end.

This may sound like a commercial, but...

Had a 78 GMC Jimmy. It was exactly like the full size Chevy Blazer only it had a 278cuin inline six. It would only go 80mph, but had so much torque it could pull a house at 80mph.

This was back when Slick 50 first came out and when oil still came in those cardboard cans. It was not in stores, it sold thru word of mouth. My brother had gotten a case to help a friend but wasn't too keen on additives. He gave my Dad a quart and he wasn't too keen on additives either. Noticed it when I was changing the oil on the Jimmy.

Followed the instructions of draining all the oil and changing the filter. Then added all back but the last two quarts, then start the engine and add in the Slick 50, then the last quart. Then run the motor and drive around for 30 minutes. Did that and almost immediately it started idling higher and higher. Had to readjust the idle on the carb to get the idle back down to normal from 3000rpm. Thought that was impressive.

My Dad ask me if he could borrow my Jimmy to make a cheese run. A small town 70 miles away that made cheese, and my parents bought cheese and distributed it to all their friends an coworkers. It was mostly cheddar and came in these big cylinders called horns. It was very popular but not in the local stores. The amount of cheese they were buying was almost 2000 lbs.! They completely filled that Jimmy with cheese.

Before they left I noticed the oil with the Slick 50 was overdue for an oil change. Asked them to stop and a quick lube place and get the oil and filter change on the way out of town and they agreed.

When I got off work I went by to trade my Dads car back for my Jimmy and was tight on time to make it to night classes. When I went by my parents had unloaded all the cheese and had the Jimmy ready to go. My Dad said they got the oil changed but I should check it because it kind of started clattering on the way back into town. In a hurry to make class I jumped in and took off without checking the oil.

School was 11 miles form my parents house and at 10 miles it started clattering like it was low on oil. No gauges or dummy lights. As soon as I pulled into the school parking lot I hurriedly checked the oil. The dipstick was bone dry without a trace of oil.

I was freaking out in class. A girl in class had just happened to buy a couple cases of oil on sale for 50¢ a quart. Said she would sell me what ever I needed. During a break I put the full 9 quarts in to bring it up to the proper level. It was completely dry. Also checked and yes both the drain plug and filter were attached and not leaking.

Drove to my parents without any problems and asked what was up. My Mom said she noticed when they were refilling the oil they were putting in the wrong viscosity. She said something so they supposedly drained it out and put the correct oil in. Only they must have gotten their wires crossed and not put the plug back in or something until after filling the oil. They couldn't have checked the dip stilck because they let my parents drive off with no oil in the engine.

So, my parents drove my Jimmy 70 miles without oil. Filled it with a 2000 lbs. payload (abuout twice what a Jimmy is rated for). Then drove it 70 miles home. All without any oil in the engine. And my Dad said it didn't even start clattering until they had gotten a few miles from home.

Drove that Jimmy another year without having any problems. After that the case of Slick 50 my older brother had somehow evaporated cans and all.

[JavaBrewer]

Mid 80's I was driving my best friend & our our two girls home from a party in Santa Ynez valley. We were on San Marcos Pass (highway 154) dropping into Santa Barbara. We all had been drinking. I was driving mello all the way but my GF goaded me saying I thought your car was fast... I had driven and ridden that road many times. However I did not account for the extra weight of the 3 passengers and my less than aware state. We rounded a bend with a gravel shoulder, no guard rails, and a nice 100+ foot drop off. We made the turn, with maybe a couple inches to spare before hitting the gravel. My friend knew what happened but the girls were laughing. I drove 10 under the speed limit the rest of the way home with most of my underwear up my butt.

[Scott Douglas]

Another Slick 50 tale.
Driving to work, o'dark thirty on the San Diego Freeway north bound right at the 605 junction, I noticed the warm air from the heater had turned cold. This was in an '85 Mustang GT 5.0 convertible and it was cold outside. I checked the temp gauge and it showed a little below normal. I played with the heater controls wondering what happened to the heat? Check the temp gauge again and it show cold. Uh oh, must not be any water in it. So, how do I get back home without shutting off the engine? No gas stations open in an area I know so which off ramp to turn around quickly. I get off up in Long Beach and zip under the freeway and get right back on. Get home OK and look under the hood. Bottom radiator hose had blown off and dumped all the water. I waited till it cooled down completely, then filled it back up and burped the system.
Car ran fine after that. Only thing I can think of that saved that engine was me having run Slick 50 in it the oil change before that episode. I felt really lucky as that was a new long block I'd installed when I got the car. It had about 50k miles on it when this happened IIRC.