Yes, it happened to me too: the coolant hose with the 90 degree bend at the oil filter of my turbo engine broke. Appeared just after start on a warm day, first symptom was poor power, I immediately rolled off the road, with temp meter in the rightward pits. Under hood temp near barbecue. Left car there to cool off. Sleepless night worrying about damage.

Next day I took car to a do-it-yourself garage, and fixed the hose. Drained oil pan. The oil (synthetic, changed maybe a month earlier) was very thin, almost watery.

Filled new synthetic, car OK since then, still good power, no rattles or rumbles or anything.

Question: is this thin watery appearance a sign of thermal breakdown? I had expected the oil to be syrupy, is that what would have happened to a regular oil?

Was I lucky that I had synthetic in there?

Cheers!

Gustaf

I eaxpect that an oil analysis would have shown your synthetic to be still serviceable. And yes, you probably could have saved major damage, depending on how long the engine ran hot.

I presume you drained the oil when it was hot--and even synthetic will thin out when hot--just not as much as the non-synthetic. It will only get syrupy if
1: it gets contaminated with something that will thicken it (anti-freeze or fuel)
2: it gets cold.

Hi,

Well, the oil was warm when i drained it, but have drained the same brand before at same temp, and then much thicker, so something had changed the one that was overheated.

This synthetic is a 5W-40 according to the European labelling, meaning that it won´t thicken until well below minus 30 centigrade which is very low temp; can´t figure out right now what that is in Farenheit.

Bottom line of my experience is: check these hoses not by looking at them (it looked fine) but by squeezing them. If stiff, change them now! I wonder how many engines have passed out because of these little bastards?

Gustaf

Knock on wood, Gustaf! :-)

Would you please take a minute to describe a do-it-yourself garage?
Where do you find such a thing?

First, it sounds like a good idea.
Then people begin to think of the things that could go wrong with it. :-(

What does such a shop help you do WELL? (And how?)
How in the world is it set up to prevent the things that could go wrong, e.g. falls, poisons, fires, filth...?

Thanks very much!
--
Gregg; Mpls, MN; 1987 745, 1967 Amazon 4-dr.

Hi,

Only logged back in today to checkm the replies. A DiY garage is, in Sweden where I live, a do-it-yourself found at a gas station, mainly one of the chains here calle OK/Q8. Very nice because they have very good hydraulic lifts which make things very easy. You can´t do any paint work, bur you can borrow some basic tools for a buck a piece. I guess a DIY would be difficult to set up in the US because your liability legislation.

Gustaf

Gustaf, that DIY garage with lift sounds very civilized. Sweden. Don't you know. I grew up in the Swedish Evangelical Covenant Church (immigrants to the U.S.), which was full of civil people. :-)

Thanks for explaining!
--
Gregg; Mpls, MN; 1987 745, 1967 Amazon 4-dr.

i actually found something like this in my area the other day, i had never heard of them before. i wish i knew where to find an all out garage where you can do everything, because it sounds like the place in the link below only allows tire work

http://www.tirewarehouse.net/tires/servicesh.html

Hello Gustaf,
You were probably on the verge of a thermal melt down. My guess is that the turbo had a lot to do with frying the oil. Hopefully there isn’t any long term damage. I have only seen old dino oil turn to a near watery state. I think Europe is big on synthetics. You may want to look at another brand incase the oil prematurely self destructed under the high heat.
--
Tom F. Three 940s. The '93 T-Rex (Regina) is now running very well. Mods, RainX & cup holders. Lien holder on two more (the kid's). Rust In Pieces, '78 245

i cant answer your questions. but in regards to your oil question, ive found this site to be extremely informative on oil, filters, and other things as well.

bobistheoilguy.com

bobistheoilguy forums