Quote:
Originally Posted by jd3  2) What about the notion that all aluminum block street engines leak oil?
Thanks,
Jack |
This myth has been discussed on the forum before. If true, then there are literally 10s of millions of engines in the US that should be pouring oil on the streets nowadays and they are badged Toyota, Nissan, Mazda, and even GM and Ford these days.
I think the origins of the myth come from early engine designs that had issues with oiling pooling in poor places and bad seals, and happened to be made from aluminum. A prime example of this, and an engine I've had a few of, is the Lotus 9XX series - it's gonna leak no matter what but it isn't because it is made of aluminum. It's just a bad design with bad seals.
Seems some folks older than myself (like my dad for instance as a gear head himself in the 60s and 70s and around that period when ally engines started to become something not only found in Ferraris) certainly think ally engines leak oil. I remember when I got my first set of ally heads for a 5L I was driving the first thing he said was "oh, you won't like that, it's going to leak and burn oil". Fortunately, he was wrong that time....but not wrong many other times!
Ron