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Old 08-09-2010, 01:19 PM   #51
Freddie (Memphis)
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Join Date: May 2010
Location: Germantown, TN
Posts: 109
Default Re: Marvelous Mystery Oil?

A related (somewhat) story...

After we were married, I bought us a new '78 Pontiac Bonneville Brougham...big four door model, 350 cu in, auto, air, steering, brakes, power everything, crushed velour interior...a real pimp-mobile...rode like your living room. Well, we kept that car for almost 75K miles, which is about my limit on cars...after that I'm tired of 'em. Mama drove that car all the time - it was really "her" car. One day she came home telling me how the car had something wrong with it...seems to have "hitch" in it she said. Said she could feel it at the light...it would sorta "hiccup" as she referred to it. So...I checked it out and diagnosed it as either a collapsed hydraulic lifter, or a stuck valve. Next morning, I drove it to a local shop near my office, Pashby's Automotive. Charlie Pashby was an older man, now long gone, that I had great respect for...he had forgotten more by accident than I will probably ever know about automotive mechanics. Charlie listened to my explanation, and even agreed with my diagnosis in part. He suggested it could also be a fouled plug, even a bad plug wire. But, he said he'd look at it and for me to call him back after lunch. I walked across the street and on up to my office a couple of blocks away.

So, after lunch I called Charlie. He said the car would be ready when I got off work, just come on by and they'd be there until about 6:30. So, I walked on over when I left the office.

As I rounded the corner of Charlie's lot, I noticed my Pontiac sitting right next to the building...hood still up. "Hell," I said aloud, "...I'll bet it's not ready!!!" I started to get all spooled up when Charlie came out of the shop and walked over to my car. "It's about ready for you, Fred." he said over his shoulder, "Jump in and start 'er up for me." So, I did...but I noticed it was hard to start. I could see Charlie working the throttle open and shut while I was cranking on the starter, and could feel the vibration on the gas pedal. Finally it caught and started running, but it was ROUGH...stumbling, coughing, and barely maintaining idle speed. Then I got a view of the smoke...BOY HOWDY...was it smokin'....! Damn thing looked like a mosquito fogger...clouds...and I mean CLOUDS of smoke coming from the exhaust....CLOUDS! Wrapped all around the end of Charlie's building and billowed on down the street. You'd a thought it was a WWI phosgene or mustard gas attack! I caught a glimpse of Charlie under the edge of the still open hood and he was pouring something down the carburator. I got out to see, and he was pouring a quart can of automatic transmission fluid down the carburator throat...not fast, just drizzling it as he held the throttle open to keep it from dying. Smoke was everywhere...clouds of billowing white smoke poured out of the exhaust.

I waited until he had finished and asked him what was up... He said he had poured about a half a quart through the carb after I had left and kept on until the engine died. Then he had just let it sit for several hours. He said that gave the ATF a chance to seep in around the stuck lifter and free it up. That's what made the engine so hard to start when I tried to start it, he explained. He went on to say that he poured the rest of the quart through the carb after it started back up just to make sure. He told me to take the car out on the expressway for a while to blow it out...or, just drive home in second gear to allow the engine to rev higher than it normally would to help clean out all the ATF from the intake, etc. Total cost, $10.00, cash....and thank you very much for your business.

Well...that did the trick...ATF down the intake until the engine strangled, and then let 'er sit for a few hours. I'd have never guessed that would have been all it took to fix that sticking lifter.

MMO is prety much the same idea, I 'spect...

Charlie Pashby...I miss that ol' man...he may not have had all the formal educational courses in automotive mechanics, nor all the certificates on the wall...but, he sure knew how to make an engine run and keep it running.
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Freddie (Memphis)
"...an opinon on everything...an expert on nuthin'..."

I'm still doin' the rhumba, Baby...I just can't seem to quit. If momma catches us doin' the rhumba....momma would just pitch a fit. I can't help myself....it's much bigger than me. If I were you I'd hang on to a rhumba man like me...!

Last edited by Freddie (Memphis); 08-09-2010 at 01:54 PM.
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