Wanna see what 50 year old transmission oil looks like?

[Maximus Gladius]

Wow, this gave me a flashback...

In the late 80s I worked at an oil and lube shop. An older woman brought in a 70s era Cadillac. As I pulled it in, I could tell it hadn't been maintained. Once we got it up in the air, I pulled the oil plug and nothing came out.

Nothing.

After about 30 seconds, a slow, oozing string of oil fell like it was in slow motion. I'd never seen anything like it, so I caught some in a cup. It was like tar.

The car needed so much work... transmission fluid, air filter, coolant, hell even the wipers were wasted. I went to the waiting room to talk to the owner. She was very nice, grandmotherly. She told me her husband had died, and he used to do all the vehicle maintenance. I extended my condolences, and asked how long he had been gone.

Eight years. It had been eight years since the car had absolutely anything done to it.- She drove it daily, about 50 miles a day by her estimate.

I ended up flushing the engine with kerosene, then put a new filter and 5 quarts of 5W-30 in it. Ran it for about 15 minutes, then changed the oil and filter again. I wouldn't touch the transmission - too many problems changing the fluid on a tranny that neglected - and did all the other required maintenance. Cut her a discount on the regular maintenance and didn't charge her for the flush. Scored a customer for life. She would come in on Monday mornings, which were slow, to get her oil changed and just talk. Very sweet woman.

You are a rare breed. High 5 to you.

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[Hootbro]

Wow, this gave me a flashback...

In the late 80s I worked at an oil and lube shop. An older woman brought in a 70s era Cadillac. As I pulled it in, I could tell it hadn't been maintained. Once we got it up in the air, I pulled the oil plug and nothing came out.

Nothing.

After about 30 seconds, a slow, oozing string of oil fell like it was in slow motion. I'd never seen anything like it, so I caught some in a cup. It was like tar.

The car needed so much work... transmission fluid, air filter, coolant, hell even the wipers were wasted. I went to the waiting room to talk to the owner. She was very nice, grandmotherly. She told me her husband had died, and he used to do all the vehicle maintenance. I extended my condolences, and asked how long he had been gone.

Eight years. It had been eight years since the car had absolutely anything done to it.- She drove it daily, about 50 miles a day by her estimate.

I ended up flushing the engine with kerosene, then put a new filter and 5 quarts of 5W-30 in it. Ran it for about 15 minutes, then changed the oil and filter again. I wouldn't touch the transmission - too many problems changing the fluid on a tranny that neglected - and did all the other required maintenance. Cut her a discount on the regular maintenance and didn't charge her for the flush. Scored a customer for life. She would come in on Monday mornings, which were slow, to get her oil changed and just talk. Very sweet woman.

On a matter of principle, I hated working on any old persons vehicle. When I was like a 15+ year old teenager, my Grandfather would "voluntold" me out to all the old people widow/widowers in our church to help them with their vehicles for simple maintenance items.

Those old folks would blame me for anything that went wrong with their vehicles no matter how disconnected from the issue I helped them with. Change a headlight bulb, I was now responsible for why their rear differential took a dump.

All their interiors smelled the same. 40+ years of being a Lucky Strike smoking hag and Vick's Vapor Rub smell.

 

[NC_Overland]

On a matter of principle, I hated working on any old persons vehicle.

Those old folks would blame me for anything that went wrong with their vehicles no matter how disconnected from the issue I helped them with. Change a headlight bulb, I was now responsible for why their rear differential took a dump.

That’s unfortunate, but your example made me laugh.

 

[NC_Overland]

Wow, this gave me a flashback...

In the late 80s I worked at an oil and lube shop. An older woman brought in a 70s era Cadillac. As I pulled it in, I could tell it hadn't been maintained. Once we got it up in the air, I pulled the oil plug and nothing came out.

Nothing.

After about 30 seconds, a slow, oozing string of oil fell like it was in slow motion. I'd never seen anything like it, so I caught some in a cup. It was like tar.

The car needed so much work... transmission fluid, air filter, coolant, hell even the wipers were wasted. I went to the waiting room to talk to the owner. She was very nice, grandmotherly. She told me her husband had died, and he used to do all the vehicle maintenance. I extended my condolences, and asked how long he had been gone.

Eight years. It had been eight years since the car had absolutely anything done to it.- She drove it daily, about 50 miles a day by her estimate.

I ended up flushing the engine with kerosene, then put a new filter and 5 quarts of 5W-30 in it. Ran it for about 15 minutes, then changed the oil and filter again. I wouldn't touch the transmission - too many problems changing the fluid on a tranny that neglected - and did all the other required maintenance. Cut her a discount on the regular maintenance and didn't charge her for the flush. Scored a customer for life. She would come in on Monday mornings, which were slow, to get her oil changed and just talk. Very sweet woman.

That’s a great story and very kind of you. I’d imagine that was one of the caddy big blocks. Those were hard to kill. I had a 65 Coupe DeVille convertible with the 429 V8. It had been sitting for like 23 yrs and the engine stuck. Pulled the spark plugs and let them sit with Marvels Mystery Oil in the cylinders for a week and it unstuck. It smoked for a while, but it went away after driving it more regularly. Only 80k miles on it though. Not a spec of rust anywhere on that car. I regret selling it. I went back to college and I couldn’t bear to let it sit outside. It was over 18’ long and wouldn’t fit in the storage options I could afford at the time. It’s in Sweden now.

 

[Hootbro]

That’s unfortunate, but your example made me laugh.

A few were alright. The majority taxed me mentally. Usually was the ones that should not have been driving anyways.

 

[MPMB]

Those old folks would blame me for anything that went wrong with their vehicles no matter how disconnected from the issue I helped them with. Change a headlight bulb, I was now responsible for why their rear differential took a dump.

Well of course they would, because it's all related. Why else would the guy at Shuck's/O'Reilly's/AutoZone ask all those questions when looking for a common part?



In racing, we raced the first ever NASCAR Northwest Tour road course race at Portland Int'l Raceway in 1995. We put a transmission cooler on our Jerico transmission. What we didn't know is it developed a crack in the rubber hose. Under race conditions, that crack grew past the hose clamp and started to leak.

That crack was on the scavenge line. It was sucking out oil and leaking. About halfway through the race, my b-i-l came over the radio and said he smelled oil, but everything was running fine. Engine temps looked good (no temp gauge on the trans or rear end). Finished in 3rd.

ESPN covered the race, so I watched my recording. A few times we were caught coming off the last turn and heading down the drag strip. I could totally see the oil smoke coming off the back of the car.

After the race, we looked inside the car. The interior to the right of the driver is all aluminum/steel panels, no standard "floorboard." It was brown from the oil.

The transmission was pulled out and inspected by us. There was maybe 1/2 cup oil left in it. We sent back to Jerico to have the experts look at it, put new gears, etc., in it. They said it looked fine and shipped it back, no work done.

That's my tranny story. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

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