Dear Tom and Ray:
After the boating season, I sometimes have two to four gallons of gas mixed with outboard motor oil. I like to start fresh in the spring. Can I run the old gas through my car if I use a gallon or two per tankful, and fill the rest of the tank with fresh gas to dilute it? - MooseTom: Sure, Moose. Most outboard motors require a gas/oil mixture in a ratio of something like 50:1. So there's really not much oil there to begin with.
Ray: And people used to (and some still do) dump mystery oils and potions into their gas tanks in hopes that these oils will do things like lubricate the top end of their engine and make their fuzzy dice softer.
Tom: Whether these "mystery" oils do any good is not clear. But I think we can safely advise you that putting a small amount of oil in your gasoline once a year won't do your engine any harm.
Ray: Of course, just to be on the safe side, you might want to do what my brother did last time he found himself in this situation; he tried the gas in his wife's car first.
Dear Tom and Ray:
I own a 1990 Plymouth Voyager. During the spring of 1991, I noticed what appeared to be tiny orange rustlike "blemishes" all over the body. I took it to a local dealership and after a quick inspection, it was determined that during transportation of my vehicle by railroad car, metallic dust particles from the flat car's wheels had settled on the Voyager's finish, to resurface many months later as rust. After a quick buff-out job by the dealership, the condition disappeared. Unfortunately, it came back. And now the dealership and a Chrysler factory representative have concluded that it was never rail dust, but a condition brought on by metallic brakes, which cannot be prevented.
Now, I find this extremely hard to buy. I can't imagine how brake dust can escape from behind full wheel covers, to be attracted to the entire body like a magnet! And what about the regular washing and waxing I did? Would that not keep this "dust" from sticking to the car's finish? A couple of body-shop people I talked to have never heard of this happening. They suggest that perhaps something settled on the finish when it was first applied. Have you guys ever heard of this problem? Is there a solution? - Fred
Tom: These guys should get a Nobel Prize for fiction, Fred. I mean, the railroad car story is a beaut. But then the surprise ending where it turns out to be brake dust instead of train dust! Positively inspired!
Ray: Brake dust my foot! Something obviously contaminated the car's finish when it was first painted. That means Chrysler is responsible for it, and they owe you a new paint job. It's that simple.
Tom: They don't want to do it because it's going to cost them a lot of money to strip the whole van and repaint it. But you have to insist.
Ray: Call Chrysler's toll-free customer assistance number at 1-800-992-1997. Tell them you've been given this ridiculous line of baloney and you're not going to stand for it.
Tom: Chrysler is on a roll these days. And I'm sure someone in Detroit won't want to jeopardize their new-found reputation for quality by letting stories of shoddy customer treatment like this leak out. Let us know how you do, Fred.
The Magliozzi brothers' radio show "Car Talk" can be heard each Saturday at 10 a.m. on KUER FM 90.1 If you have a question about cars, write to Click and Clack Talk Cars c/o King Features Syndicate, 235 E. 45th St., New York, NY 10017.