Immortalities totally random thread

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In-Tech
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Re: Immortalities totally random thread

Post by In-Tech »

It looks like there is one place in the US that sells this oil. I'm interested to try it as my beat up '03 Pontiac 3100 does make some noise on cold start that is quite annoying. It does have a shade over 200,000 miles(~320,000 km). In your opinion is it negligible to the cat life or anything else?
immortality
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Re: Immortalities totally random thread

Post by immortality »

I've done 20,000km on this oil and haven't noticed any issues but it's hard to say if its effected the cat. I believe the manufacturer says it's safe to use, it meets certain standards so I'd assume it's fine to use

If you want high zinc oils check out Power Driven Diesel in the US, they make their own oils with lots of zddp.
immortality
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Re: Immortalities totally random thread

Post by immortality »

I should also add since fitting the truetrac I've been getting weird wheel chatter/hop when the roads are wet when cornering at very low speeds. The tyres on the car are getting fairly old and the rears are almost down to the wear markers so I've ordered a new set of tyres and will have them fitted this week. If that doesn't improve the wheel chatter/hop problem I'll look at the rear shocks next.

Work wise my job security still isn't certain. My employer has lost maybe 40% work, some weeks I'm doing my regular days, other weeks I'm only getting a single shift. We are coming into the busy period of the year but the government subsidy runs out at the end of this month. Redundancies will either occur next month or they will keep us on till Xmas when the "rush" ends.
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vlad01
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Re: Immortalities totally random thread

Post by vlad01 »

In-Tech wrote:It looks like there is one place in the US that sells this oil. I'm interested to try it as my beat up '03 Pontiac 3100 does make some noise on cold start that is quite annoying. It does have a shade over 200,000 miles(~320,000 km). In your opinion is it negligible to the cat life or anything else?
Generally anything over 1500ppm of zinc will slowly poison the cat especially if the engine is worn and starting to use oil.

These engines by their design really don't care for high zinc oils, it's only an issue for really old design flat tappet cam engines using softer cast iron cams and even then anything 800ppm and above is considered safe.


Just use a known brand to the specs (viscosity and API) stated by the manufacture.
I'm the director of VSH (Vlad's Spec Holden), because HSV were doing it ass about.
immortality
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Re: Immortalities totally random thread

Post by immortality »

Been a while since I posted here.

Ignition switch on the Calais broke yesterday, in particular the return spring when rolling the key to the start position, the switch still works in all other regards (just doesn't return from the start position which the starter motor isn't liking).

Does anyone have any experience with these ignition switches, can it be repaired or is it a replacement unit time?

Car also got her 260,000km service this weekend, plugs and filters etc. Still using the Penrite full zinc 15w-40. Engine is quieter now than it has been when we got it. No rattles like it used to around the 7000km mark after oil change etc. Do the oil change, start the car and no tappity tappity before the engine makes oil pressure for the first time after the change. Great stuff Penrite.
immortality wrote:I should also add since fitting the truetrac I've been getting weird wheel chatter/hop when the roads are wet when cornering at very low speeds. The tyres on the car are getting fairly old and the rears are almost down to the wear markers so I've ordered a new set of tyres and will have them fitted this week. If that doesn't improve the wheel chatter/hop problem I'll look at the rear shocks next.

Work wise my job security still isn't certain. My employer has lost maybe 40% work, some weeks I'm doing my regular days, other weeks I'm only getting a single shift. We are coming into the busy period of the year but the government subsidy runs out at the end of this month. Redundancies will either occur next month or they will keep us on till Xmas when the "rush" ends.
Ended up putting new tyres on the car and that seems to have sorted the wheel chatter issues. Also ended up doing all the shocks with Munroe GT sports, again much better than the other shocks I had before, the shock compression and rebound rates seem much more in tune with the lowered springs.

Still got a job, but after work volumes picking up earlier in the year it has gone real quiet now. Who knows what the future holds?
immortality
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Re: Immortalities totally random thread

Post by immortality »

Anybody know anything about rules around trailers?

I was in the process of converting my trailer to Holden stud pattern hubs but when I fitted my wheels they hit the side of the trailer so I need to widen my axle. The trailer has Trojan trailer parts. The axle looks like 45mm square tube with weld in stub axles. It looks like I probably need about 20mm on each side. So the easiest way would be to cut the axle in the middle and add a 40mm bit of tube and then add a few braces for strength (don't see this been legal) or grind off the welds on the stub axles, pull them out and re-weld or remove the stub axles, get a new section of square tube to the correct length and weld in the stub axles again.

OR just use some longer studs with a few wheel spacers? Trailers wheels aren't hub centric?

Thoughts and suggests appreciated.
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Re: Immortalities totally random thread

Post by immortality »

Wow it's been a long time since I've updated this.

Recently I found a problem with the main earth wiring on the Calais, found a 3 ohm resistance between the battery earth post and main earth cable so I just replaced the OEM main earth battery terminal clamp with a solid brass unit (salvaged from my old VN) and now there is virtually no resistance when measuring between the same locations.

Calais just got her 280,000km service, new radiator and thermofans, fixed the PS hoses going to the new PS cooler and a few other minor bits and bobs. A little while back I also discovered that the closed loop temp settings were incorrect to suit a cooler thermostat so basically closed loop wasn't functioning quiet right and she's been running rich, we discovered this when the low speed thermofan stopped working and that allowed the engine to reach the higher temp threshold for the closed loop function.

Changed out to a cooler plug, autolite 104's and have been running e10 98 from Gull which it seems happier on and playing with the tune my economy is now as good as if not better than it was before.

Mr 24 moved over to Aussie just before Xmas and is looking for work as a paramedic, Mr 23 has also graduated as a paramedic but for now he's staying here in NZ waiting to pick up work with St John's although I think he is considering going to the UK for a few years so he can work and travel etc.
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Re: Immortalities totally random thread

Post by Charlescrown »

Measuring ohms resistance is not the best way to find high resistances in wiring. A voltage drop tells all. Example if you had placed the probes of your multimeter onto the battery plus post and the terminal with the meter set to millivolts and cranked the engine and got more than 0.2 volts you have a dirty battery terminal. If you get a high reading like 1 volt you have a major problem. Just my 2 bobs worth.
immortality
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Re: Immortalities totally random thread

Post by immortality »

Hi, yes there was a voltage drop. I only discovered the resistance when I was checking wiring for a sensor problem, my normal method is to push the negative probe into the battery terminal and then work around with the positive probe but I was getting weird readings. TBH I can't remember what the voltage drop was, I think it was in the range of .3+ volts. I had previously removed and cleaned both battery terminals but this seemed to make no difference. After changing the terminal the voltage drop is gone.

What I don't like about the OEM battery terminals is that it's a split design where as the brass unit is solid and covers the entire side of the battery post.
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