So.....I was thinking about my grandfather recently, and a random thought came to my mind and of course it got me thinking. I have a memory of being with him at a gas station in the 1980s. I think we were in his 1977 Buick LeSabre. It was a full service station and my grandfather opens the trunk. He gets out a container of engine oil, probably 10w30 or something like that. He tells the gas jockey to add just a little bit of the oil into the gas tank before pumping the gas. My grandfather was an electrical engineer. He knew how stuff worked. The gas jockey did seem a little confused, but followed the instructions and stopped pouring the oil when he was told to do so. I didn't think about it at the time, but after 30-Something odd years later, now I am thinking......why was he doing that. Have any of you guys and gals ever hear of such a thing or have an idea why he did that? Thanks.
About 50 years ago I had a part time job to make ends meet as a taxi driver in the evening. My cab was a 1967 Mercury Montcalm unsure now of engine size, but every time I filled up at local White Rose I added a cup or so of transmission fluid as per owners request..
I remember a gasoline additive called Top Oil. I think it was made by Bardahl or Rislone, we sold both brands where I worked back in the 70s. It smelled like kerosene if I remember. It was marketed as an upper cylinder lubricant. This might have been what your grandfather was adding to the gas tank.
Coming up 50 years ago I pumped gas at the local Shell station. A regular customer that drove a former RCMP highway car (71 Ford 429) had me add a pint of automatic transmission fluid to his fuel tank before filling. I dont remember if it was with every fill but it was often enough that I always had it on hand if he asked for it. He never explained why and I never asked.
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72 Nova SS, 66 Beaumont Sport Deluxe, 09 Pontiac Solstice GXP Coupe
Would also pour that ( Rislone/trans fluid) down the carb to get rid of sticky rings in engines that had sat too long. ...just like Zinc additive in todays engines.
-- Edited by hawkeye5766 on Friday 15th of January 2021 10:27:10 PM
Every petrol station here back in the day (gas was what you cooked with) had Redex upper cylinder lubricant available. I didn't know anyone that used it, mainly because of the extra cost I think.
The brand is still available today but marketed as fuel system/injector cleaner. Still don't know if it's any good!
I don't think a catalytic converter would take to kindly to oil in the fuel. Not to mention a smog test!
A friend recently gave me about 2 1/2 gallons of Redex fuel treatment. He had a parts store years ago and still had this Redex fuel treatment. He was using it in his car until he went in for an exhaust pipe replacement. The tech asked if he was using some type of fuel treatment as the catalyst in the converter was tinted red. I looked up the msds and it was basically kerosene so I added it to my parts washer.
