College kids going on a long trip this weekend had a leaking tire. I told them to stop over early on their way.
Nail was in a decent spot, so I patchplugged the tire in about 30 minutes. While the wife entertained them, I added distilled water to the battery and to the red coolant, topped up the oil with SN (Owners Manual says SL) 10W30 (owners manual recommends 5W30) and a tad of DOT3 brake fluid but the owners manual said "Dexron II or III" for the power steering fluid, which was low.
I only had Dexron VI on the shelf, so I left the Power Steering fluid on the low line.
Could I have used Dexron VI?
This whole Dexron II, III, IV, V, VI stuff confuses me to no end. Are they all compatible with each other?
I googled and found all sorts of conflicting answers, most of: All Dexrons should be compatible but maybe not.
That's great. (not). I also saw snipped-for-privacy@Snyder.on.ca's response which was similar.
It looks like Dexron II and III "licensing" is no longer offered so nobody can "say" they are Dexron II or III. For whatever reason, Dexron IV & V were short lived, so the only thing out there, I think, is Dexron VI.
I'm gonna put Dexron VI in there when they come back from their trip as I hate to see a fluid in an engine low, especially for kids, who don't know any better and who have no desire whatsoever to open a hood.
These are kids who care more about opening their purse than opening their hood so I have to think for them. I'll put Dexron VI in their Power Steering reservoir because I can't trust that they'll do it and because I care about them.
One thing funny that I'd like to ask you, which is when I removed the nail, green blood oozed out, which I suspect is fixaflat goop but I've never used a fixaflat and I've only repaired my own tires before.
When I dismounted the tire from the wheel, there was about two or three ounces of very green water that I had to wash out. Not green like algae but green like someone put it there from a can.
Having never used a fixaflat solution other than plugging from the outside or patchplugging from the inside, I never saw this stuff in action before.
I would have thought it was more like goop than water but this stuff was watery for sure. There was a patchy coating of green that remained on the tire after I dumped all the green water out, but it was not what I had expected but what else could cause three ounces of green water to be inside a tire? The kids said they didn't put it in, so, we don't know how the fixaflat got there since the nail itself was an inch long with the head ground down, I can only assume the nail was there for a while, and maybe before the kids got the car (they got it for free from a relative of theirs).
This is one of the best videos out there for tire repair!
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This Tire Industry Association repair video surprisingly, uses a separate patch and plug, but they cover things that most videos don't, including diagrams of when the damage is unrepairable (for example, when two punctures are on the same cable).
They don't talk about two things that I'd like to know more about though, which is the chemical used to "soften" the buffing area prior to rasping the inner liner, nor the chemical used to "cover" the unpatched buffed area after the patch has been applied.
For your power steering, the higher grade Dexron should be just fine. Substituting Dexron V for Dexron 1 in an older automatic transmission COULD cause issues, but would likely be fine in a fresh rebuild.
From GM's own mouth "GM considers Dexron VI to be "backward compatible," meaning GM recommends it for use in any vehicle that originally used any earlier version of Dexron and that it can be mixed with them. However, GM specifically recommends against using Dexron VI in non-GM made vehicles that used Dexron III as original equipment" For example, an Allison automatic designed for Dexrom III can NOT use Dexron VI - and the currently available replacement for Dexron III for Allison transmissions is Allison TES-389. This fluid would be compatible with and safe to use as a replacement for Dexron III and earlier fluids in pretty much any system spec'd for Dexron I-III fluids.
Thanks. You bring up a good point in that tire repair people buy single-use "product" where I buy "chemicals" which have multiple purposes.
For example, I buy acetone, which has many purposes, as does gasoline, turpentine, hydrochloric acid, etc.
I could buy "nail polish remover" and "label remover" and "paint remover" and "toilet bowl cleaner" respectively, instead of acetone, gasoline, turpentine, & hydrochloric acid "chemicals".
So you pointed out that the tire industry treats them as product, while I treat them as just another hopefully multi-purpose chemical to stock in the home.
After I posted, I did some more googling where it's easy to find the "product" at all the local auto parts stores (although mine don't stock it, they can get it).
There's a "product" for "softening" the rubber liner before rasping it, but as far as I can tell, that product isn't really necessary for home use because it's mostly to save the rasp from getting clogged up. (Time is money for the auto repair industry.)
There's another product for "protecting" the rasped area after the fact, which is really the only product that I care to purchase. I was hoping it was some multi-use tar compound that had other uses in the home (like crazy glue or shoe goop has) but it's ok if it's a single-use "product".
In summary, I get your point and understand that the tire industry treats it as single-use "product" while I was treating it as a multi-use chemical.
Your problem is these are specially formulated comounds made particularly for the job. A special recipe - mix of several chemicals compounded for the job. They are NOT simple generic "chemicals" relabelled for the application. Talk to a chemical engineer sometime.
Half a quart should be OK. If it is like some of my cars of long ago, it will be at proper level in a couple of hundred miles.
If you were a couple of quarts over I'd be very concerned. You may force oil out the exhaust and damage the cat converter or O2 sensors damage rings, and a few other potential problems.
That's kind of where I was leaning, where it's not likely that it's gonna throw a rod thru the block if I put in 16 ounces too much oil.
I actually put that oil in before the kids' trip, and didn't want to drop the pan plug to remove it because the kids had to go, and I figured half a quart can't be all that bad.
Googling there is mention of "foaming" from too much oil, but the real question is whether 1/2 of a quart will cause that foaming.
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This youtube video says adding too much oil robs power & runs hotter but it also says "always check your oil level daily", which instantly negates anything they say as ridiculous:
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This also says that power is robbed from having too much oil:
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Here's a guy siphoning excess oil out of the dipstick with a syringe, which seems OK I guess if you have the suction equipment handy:
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This says a seal can bust, but nobody says how much is too much, not even in general values so everything I read is suspect as just hearsay because you can add a gallon too much or just an ounce too much where the difference I would think is huge.
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This answer at least says "if the oil is high enough to contact the crankshaft", which gives us at least a rough idea of how much is too much:
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This one concurs that the oil should be below the crankshaft, where they opine a quart too much is probably ok.
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This specific article on the topic written a few days ago reiterates that the crankshaft is what needs to stay out of the oil (although I thought the crankshaft was bathed in oil all the time?) and it says other expensive stuff will be ruined by the "slinging" around of all that oil and mist.
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Overall, I think the half quart is going to be ok. Thanks.
There are a number of "Dex/Merc" fluids out there that say they are for older transmissions that specify Dexron II/III, or Mercon. I've used them with no ill effects in transmissions like older Torqueflites and Aisin-Warner, and in Jeep transfer cases.
Aeration of the oil is the most serious problem - causes lack of oil pressure, The other possible problem is blown seals - but that would be rare. To be safe, you would remove and drain the filter - replace, run, and recheck.
I didn't get the blown seals stuff although I did read about it. Presumably blown seals are from "too much pressure" but where did the too much pressure come from?
The lubrication system isn't a pressurized system, is it?
A friend had a 1937 Chevy coupe vintage stock car with a highly modified Chevy 230 cu inch engine at Flamborough Spoeedway many years back. It went like a scalded cat, but was constantly being black flagged for putting oil on the track. One Friday night I was at the races with him in the pits when he got black flagged ASGAIN. He had added crancase breathers, and had evert gasket plastered with silicone gasket sealer and it STILL leaked. I said "put it on the trailer" grabbed a pair of coveralls and some wrenches and pulled the pan, sending him searching the pits for a pan gasket. I hammered the pan lip flat ( it had been overtorqued at least once too often), stuck the dipstick in and marked it half an inch below the counterweihted crank throws, then put it back together with a DRY cork gasket, then filled the crankcase to my new mark. He said "you are two quarts low" when I finished putting in the oil. I said"If you want to put oil on the track, add more oil" and sent him out to win his first feature with his fastest ever lap times. I guess the extended sump didn't hold as much extra oil as he thought it did!!
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