Grumpy Bear

Believe there was a TSB on that.

I know it's cold comfort but the body takes the time it takes to heal. Remember when my wife broke her ankle over a year ago and was wheelchaired for months? She'd get bluesy too. Cry and rail. Most of the time she just needed to know that someone saw and acknowledged what she was going through. Needed to be heard. She's up and about now and running at 95%. It will pass. Just takes time and humans are impatient creatures. Especially when we are in pain or suffering. You're doing fine sir. Listening is huge. Mine appreciated I didn't let the household tasks slack and a bit of pampering when she was up to it. Get the girl some chocolate.

I believe this has been covered here before but it is new to me. That is, thinning the herd of possessions. Early last year we had a basement flood of about a foot it depth. Window blew out so lots of yard YUCK involved and we had the majority of it cleaned up fairly quickly. Save my shop area. A space I don't use much anymore. So once into it and having to touch nearly everything it seemed there was an awful lot of items I have no use for. Maybe never did. The job is metastasizing. This fall we hired a firm to mitigate this persistent water issue and after six months I think they nailed it. Which means this task no longer has the feel of unavoidable reoccurrence. How many jars of tiny screws and nuts does a guy need, really? I might even paint the lathe and mill. Who knows. I've decided I'm not going to do this job "Dumpster" style where in a commit myself to a weekend of once and done. More like a bucket and box to the standard trash. A bit each day. Something to get me moving in the dead of winter.

You do see the lack of congruent conclusion there, right? The additive difference between those two SS oils is the Vm's polymer molecular weight. The only difference. SS 0W40 V SS 5W50 What? FS is full SAPS! 1.0+ ash. Kind of the definition of FULL SAPS. SAPS is more than ZDDP, it is every additive with a Sulphur backbone. ZDDP, Ca, Mg, Moly and inherent S. Converter life is a phosphorus issue, not a ash issue. LSPI is a Ca issue not an ash issue. Actually it's a combustion end gas issue and Honda has know that for about forever. SAE tech paper on that dating about 1965. Now all that said, people will protect a warranty before they will protect a motor. I get that. But I also understand and have proved to myself in 56 years of driving and maintaining that when ring seal prevents oil consumption ash is irrelevant. (Within reason). This OEM insistence on low ash oils isn't about high ash oil killing cats, it's about hedging a fragile ring seal that promotes fuel economy and sacrifices oil integrity. The perpetuation of the idea that a quart in a thou or two is garbage. Even low tension rings, properly broken in and properly lubricated (sealed) will take the additives loads required to maintain that seal long term. Last note. ASH as defined in the specification is only the ash incurred by the add package and calculated. The autoclave ash is MUCH higher. It's what you get when you thermally oxidize (burn) a Hydrocarbon. It is literally a shell game.

I'm not understanding how what Mobil is doing in disqualifying AMSOIL SS AZF 0W40. Edify me. Please.

Last two results in the Mitsubishi were identical and yet at two different OCI lengths. 5K and 3.4K IDENTICAL 3.66 TBN at 5K and 3.62 at 3.4K. Wear metals the same. I don't mean the same per thousand miles. I mean raw numbers were the same. I only have three quarts of that lot left.

AMSOIL Euro 0W40 does not carry the Dexos R recommendation nor the SN+/SP designation. (LSPI) AMSOIL SS 0W40 carries both. SAPS levels that kill cats and O2's is more a function of how much oil the motor is consuming, not the level of ash. It took nearly 200K miles of Dizzy's 300K using oil at a clip of more than a quart in 1500 miles using a Full SAPS oil to set a P420 code. There is still no definitive test for correlation of SAPS to Cat life, although most CLE's will agree that levels like those in break in oils and motorsport oils will be harmful if used for more than than beak in miles on cat equipped vehicles, that is levels over 2000 ppm. Nick may have more to say on this... Hope he does.

There is allot of movement in the industry currently. Not much of it is good. API SQ is another step backward and there is little we can do about it. ICE's are getting boxed out at the regulatory level. So, we, as consumers are faced with a choice to abandon ICE's OR adapt. Adapt in this case means to utilize the best of what is left in a way that best suits the needs of the engine it protects. I believe this product being offered by @Black02Silverado is most likely that product. And it may very well be the last of a class of oils being sold at a price the consumer can live with. It is not without it's compromises. I've stated before, there isn't a perfect oil. But it checks more boxes on my list that anything currently being offered. Full disclosure: I would have likely moved to this product quite some time ago IF I could have gotten assurances on KRL and ester content from AMSOIL. I take no ones word in the business for anything. Rats left in charge of the cheese and all. I would have made the move anyway IF the SS product line were still offered in a 5W40. Ester containing oils with enough ester to actually be useful are fading fast. Those in the majority that use some do so at the minimum required to register their being in testing, that is an oxidation result of just over 30 abs. AMSOIL, at my last look, is still about 60 abs. This is what I meant earlier by the last of a class of oils. My concern with the KRL was based in the fact this oil, SS 0W40, sits right at the bottom of the SAE HTHS value for the specification under the 30 cycle injector test, 3.7 cP. HPL and SPEED Diagnostics now having relieved that concern with KRL results tells me it can be trusted to stay not just in grade under the lighter parameters of the usual viscosity test but under fire. I think this is a great offer.

[A cut and paste of my response to this video posted in a Mitsubishi Forum when asked about it] [quote] Grumpy Bear always pays attention to Red Line Results. In fact you may recall I've been posting those results in my garage entry thread. There indeed has been a change in chemistry. [at Red Line] It has indeed resulted in an increase in total wear metals. But nothing in the order of severity Oil Geek is reporting. To me, base on my results, it may be corrosive wear brought on by a substantially lower starting TBN without letting the consumer know thus impeding the consumers response to those changes. That deposit test is.....worthless. Oil is dripped over a heated plate, the oil vaporizes and what is left is weighed. There are variations on this test, using a rod dipped i.e. Ever watch your mother check a iron by licking her fingers and tapping the irons face? She doesn't burn herself because the contact time is short enough to prevent the spit from fully evaporating. Just sizzles. In a running motor even when ring land temps or under piston crown temps are higher than the oils flash point or even fire point the oil never gets to that temperature because it is constantly moving. Oil squirters are now used to cool piston domes from under based on this principle. The deposit test dips a heated rod into a limited volume of oil or drips it on to a heated plate. About one step under an autoclave ash test. Does your motor EVER see those conditions? Maybe. On a hot shutdown. So what is the cure? Let the motor idle for a few seconds before shutdown and it will cool several hundred degrees. Your valves will love it tool. Limit hot cold cycles. Long haul vehicles always last longer than short hoppers. One of my biggest gripes about testing is the test relevance to the real world conditions. Test argue they have to do this to accelerate testing to a short enough period to get a result. Anyway. Look, there is no perfect oil. Not because there can't be but because profit is always placed above performance and the consumers requirements while bowing to governmental regulation. All we can do it choose and then adapt to our choices. I may very well find I can no longer live with these new changes and I repeat, NEW CHANGES. Kiddo's, they all do it. AMSOIL and Pennzoil, Mobil 1, Castrol are a shadow of what they once were. You will always have CLE's pandering to governmental regulation ahead of wear. IMO, people over weight Internet "experts' because the cost of testing on their own in prohibitive. Problem is....you NEVER get all the information you need WHEN you need it. I am not happy with Red Line right now for this very reason but, I knew, and you did to if you've paid attention to my results, that this was happening. [close quote] Now, having that out of the way and not yet completed my current inventories and adjustments in its (Red Line HP) use based on my UOA's my gut says Phillips has or is in the process of sinking the Red Line boat. I'm sure I can make it work I'm just not sure I can do it at a cost I'm willing to endure. It seems fortuitous that @Black02Silverado is making AMSOIL SS 0W40 available to members at a discount. Thank you Nick.

My first experience with Goose Berries was in Fruit Cocktail and I loved them....until I tried them raw. Same was true of Campbells Tomato Soup. Loved it until I had homemade tomato soup from scratch. Point is, when we haven't had better we are quite pleased with what we are accustomed to. I still do a can once in awhile. Habit, ease but not preference. I might be odd man out here but when I am shown a better way to skin I accept that progress and look for more. A bad meal spoils my day. I like Ruby Red Grapefruit. All my life I cut them in two and used a pairing knife to separate the sections just like mother taught me. Sprinkle a bit of sugar and eat with a thin long handled teaspoon. I didn't eat many as they were time consuming and wasteful to eat like that. Then I learn to Supreme a grapefruit in about 30% of the time and found they don't need sweetening if you are not eating pith and membrane. Learning this skill enhances my enjoyment and provided a sense of personal satisfaction in learning and mastering a new skill. Same feeling you get after detailing the truck. Did I mention it is quicker? I'd bet I've eaten thousand of diner omelets made on a flat top. Okay, some call them omelets. It's a Persian dish the French perfected. You'll never get one on a road side diner and they are special. I don't eat them out anymore. And when is the last time you got a soft boiled egg in an egg cup at a diner?

Egg Drone It must sound silly that I drone on about a million ways to cook eggs. I say order breakfast in any new restaurant you try, assuming that if they can cook a egg it may be safe to try other things as well. However this only works if you already know the difference between a perfectly prepared egg and one that just makes it to a plate. Cooking eggs is easy. Getting them right might take a lifetime. I expect there is an entire branch of science committed to the eggs protein structure. If not there should be. I do know that what most restaurants call an omelet is anything but and scrambled eggs shouldn't double and Superballs. Egg's Benedict is Hollandaise sauce and not yellow 'whatever that is', and they are served with Canadian Bacon. There is no substitute. Finally there are infinite ways to get poached eggs wrong. I don't bother even trying them eating-out save for a few higher end Hotel restaurants. Then again I'm picky about words. There is no such thing as Vegan Lasagna. Create a new name for that abomination. Don't try to sell it trying due to name recognition. Ditto egg dishes.

Micky "D's" Mc Muffin Has got to be one of the nasties things a human can put in their mouth. I still eat one once in awhile. Thomas Muffins are so much better and a hard fried egg in a hint of butter is a good start to something better. IMO anyway. Toast, not grill, that muffin well. A hint more butter and a slater of 'Real Mayo". Hold that thought. Deli had some marbled Pepper Jack/Colby rounds thick cut and some nice thick cut Corned Beef slices. Melting the cheese on a lightly salted egg as it finishes frying and heating the beef next to it, then adding to the muffin with a little fresh horseradish. Good ingredients and mixed heat, BOOM!

Looks like it's holding up well. Good!

Kitchen Tips Let's hear them. Dishtowel under those poly cutting boards to keep it from moving about. Or wood that doesn't have rubber buttons.

98 is a different motor than than the Ecotec3 4.3. The early motor was a unkillable beast. Dad had two at more than twice the milage you have on yours. Keep servicing it and it will keep servicing you. Sound like you have a good one.

Put NGK Ruthenium plugs in Pepper about 10K ago. Non-event event. Now in 3 of the 5 on the lot. Dizzy is eating oil to the tune of a quart in 1500 miles and has for years. Not a misfire one.

Woke up to -14 F and windchill at -36. Got a whole 7 degrees warmer and the high not just for today but the next three we are being told. Dog is taking a hot second to do his business and limping back to the house. I don't let him off lead nor outside alone. Short hair and thin ears.

Is the possible with Pepper?

Lot's of on point in this post. What I put in bold is pure gold. When I was working I ate to survive, not enjoy, and rarely took the time to linger over the one or two meals a day I ate. Lived on bad work coffee club coffee mostly. I also smoked and I hadn't much of a sense of taste anyway. The one or two I ate I did so in minutes. Horrible habits. I'm not that guy that can tell you what 'notes' are in a bourbon or tell you what region a wine if from by smell but since I quit smoking and my sense of taste returned and cooking for the background has become somewhat of an obsession. People intentionally, at times, cover the taste of foods with 'adds' because they either don't like the food they are eating OR and I find this true allot, never learned to prepare it in a fashion that showcases the the food in a way that engages the senses. Your point on how fast we eat is so on point and not just what it does for volume control either; although I understand that is the point you were showcasing and I appreciate that.

She's grounded until she can take the altitude change, correct?

My mother was one of those who ate to the grave by my age and after multiple bypasses and much doctor coaching and help from my father who watched her diet like a hawk. For her, it was a compulsion. I smoked a good deal of my life. When forced into retirement I went five years without gaining an ounce and was quite thin for a 6 foot plus frame. 145 lbs. Lack of daily work in the industrial setting didn't have much effect. Five years later I quit smoking and over the next 18 months put on 70 pounds while maintaining my life long eating habits. Curious indeed. I've never been a huge sweets guy and eat meat like a condiment for most meals and skip it altogether much of the time. Wife is a vegetarian. Sort of. She was until she got hurt and I took over the kitchen then she ate what I could fix. Poor girl. Eating should be a joy, not a burden. IMO anyway; and even when dieting aka eating sensibly it doesn't have to be like eating a diet of paper plates and old boots. Nor does it have to require cooking school to enjoy but you have to work at it a bit like any skill. We do this with joy when it comes to our hobbies, right? Cooking can be a hobby as well as a necessity.

Richard if a guy is to lazy to lift a fork to his own lips then I got nothin for em.

Okay, there are 8 USDA beef grades. Prime, Choice, Select, Standard, Commercial, Utility, Cutter & Canner. Know what goes into that $4 can of Dinty Moore Beef Stew? Canner, near floor sweep. Or you could buy Choice Stew meat and make your own in a crock pot for about the same cost. Commercial is most used for packaged ground beef at a cost you can have ground Choice at your ma/pa store. I can use Select from Walmart for braising cheaper than Prime or Choice. I can buy oxtails cheaper than stew meat even two grades better and benefit from the bone and marrow. I buy artisan Carraway Rye bread for the same price as commercial bakery breads and often one to two dollars a loaf cheaper. Loose the conditioners and preservatives and greatly improve taste. And yes, wife hits up the $2 a quart Strawberries that will be a science project in a day or so and I clean and macerate them and they last a week longer and taste better. Things I buy canned are tomatoes out of season, some fish and beans. Unless I'm crocking. Fresh fruit and veg is cheaper than canned most of the time save a few like asparagus and even that can be cheaper in season. Thing is fresh has a short life so buying more than about three days worth is counter productive. I don't mind but some may. I get that. We are in a cold snap currently so I bought a few days of fresh and the remainder of the week in cans, boxes etc. Hybrid. Biggest thing is staying out of the fast food chains. Any idea what sort of meal I can whip up for $25 worth of burger combo meals for two? Iowa Chops, mashed cauliflower, blanched green beans with bacon bits a wedge salad and ice tea. Or a three pound pork shoulder with red potatoes, onion and carrots low and slow for about three suppers. Flounder with asparagus and lemon and boiled new white tatter in butte with tea cake and ice cream for desert. Three days of bacon and eggs with toast and fried red potatoes..... Six or seven Starbuck tall dark roast cost about the same as a pound of premium whole roasted beans and produces 25 cups of French pressed that isn't over brewed and bitter. I can buy a two weeks of tea bag for the cost of two fast food iced teas. I cook for my dog and use USDA Choice 95% and some fresh human grade fruit and veggie for about 25% the cost of the cheapest kibble.

I would contact the manufacture's support. They may have to find and an create a software patch. Linear Logic did one for my Mitsubishi's CVT fluid temperature. Just a thought.

Food Cost Food cost money and lots of it and I get that. But the least expensive way there is to eat and eat well is teaching yourself to cook and going fresh, raw and simple. Every time a food is processed it cost more money. Even if that processing is simply putting it in a bag, jar or can and every time it is processed it looses something; Color, texture, taste and nutrition...and often control over seasoning as well as inclusion of preservatives and artificial ingredients. The one upside to processing is having more variety available for off seasonal foods. In which case I prefer frozen to canned. I get to keep everything but texture. People get intimidated in the kitchen and often because they over complicate almost everything about it. To much TV influence. Experts doing crazy things in complicated ways with ingredients you don't or won't have access to. It can be really easy if you stick with the basics. For example Broccoli fresh cut to florets and blanched 3 minutes returns a colorful, flavorful al dente bite as is and becomes something special with a bit of butter and salt. Or you can buy frozen at triple the price and get boiled water logged rubber balls. Fresh Green beans or peas ditto. Perfect the blanch, it is newbie friendly. How hard it boiling water and cutting up produce? Food gets really expensive, or can, when you introduce the proteins. And it raises the difficulty but not horribly. Especially if you learn to braise pork and beef or poach fowl and fish. Crockpots are new person friendly as well. Now I can't prepare and cook green beans as fast as you can open a can and heat them in the microwave but the difference isn't as much as one may think and the outcomes are night and day. Besides, there is a good deal of gratification in the process. And I know how we like our instant gratification.