| Author | Message | ||
     Donald Maloid New User Username: prodmgr Post Number: 6 Registered: 9-2007 |
Ok everyone, It is June 29, 2008. I've had my 1960 Bentley S2 for a year now with very little problems other than some concerns posted earlier. I am the fourth owner of this awsome vehicle. While sittng in the drivers seat I was gazing at the odometer and noticed the mileag. I assumed it must have rolled over a few times but looking at the color of the first digit I realized it was discolored from age which tells me it has never moved. Being that the odometer are moving mechanical pieces, why are the others not the same color? I called the previous owner and ask if this was the original miles on the S2? She said to me "yes!" I was excited to hear this so she told me more about how this came to be. The owner before her kept the car in storage for many, many years and used it on occation but never went far until she bought it but neither did she. So what should I do about this low mileage car or would it's value be affected? I am courious to know. By the way, the odometer reads 1978 miles... -sorry for the long story...  | ||
| Donald Maloid Experienced User Username: prodmgr Post Number: 13 Registered: 9-2007 |
Ok Guys, After careful examination of everything considered in regards to the seemingly low milage, I really can't believe that what I thought is true. I really think that the odometer rolled over I guess. In looking at the rag type oil filter with it still being intact, makes me wonder how long will it be before it dissolves into the engine and destroys it? I've long sinced removed it but I will always wonder, how many times did the odometer roll over? | ||
| Colin Silver New User Username: colsilver Post Number: 2 Registered: 8-2008 |
Hi Donald Guess you will never know. Might pay to get a mechanic to give their usual tests to give you an indication of the state of the engine. (compression test, etc). It might give you some comfort. Sad that the future thinking RR engineers didn't think to add a cog to the odometer to give us 1 million mile turnovers. I have no idea how many miles my '55 Cloud has done. | ||
| Paul Yorke Prolific User Username: paul_yorke Post Number: 211 Registered: 6-2006 |
Hi Donald, It's often hard to know what mileage an old car has done. It sounds like it may have had the 'low mileage syndrome' though before you bought it. So many cars end up not getting annual services / oil & filter changes because they've only done a few hundred miles this year. I'm guessing this may be what happened to your oil filter. It sounds like you are making up for it now though. Whenever you drain your new cars oil, stick your finger through the drain hole and see what's resting in the sump. Very low mileage cars are often not the best ones - and are rarely good value . . . hope that thought cheers you up! | ||
| Donald Maloid Experienced User Username: prodmgr Post Number: 15 Registered: 9-2007 |
Mr. Silver and Mr. Yorke, Thanks for that good advice. I did change the oil and discovered a little sludge at the bottom of the oil sump so I'm convinced that my Bentley probably does have high milage do to this discovery. Should I leave the sludge inplace or is it a bad idea to flush as much of it out of the engine? Thanks.... | ||
| Jonas TRACHSEL Experienced User Username: jonas_trachsel Post Number: 23 Registered: 2-2005 |
Dear Mr. Maloid You write that you found some sludge at the bottom of the sump. Well, the forming of sludge is certainly no indication of mileage, it also can form from long periods of idleness without first changing to fresh oil. Dropping the sump for closer inspection and cleaning out certainly will not harm. I do not know wether your engine has these so-called sludge traps in the form of hollow big-end journals with removable caps, such as the pre-WW 2 engines have. These hollow journals are well known to act as centrifugal oil filters and invariably fill up with carbon-like hardened sludge when these engines were serviced with non-detergent oils. And the oil filtration system of these engines certainly was not very effective. To your question about flushing out of the sludge: I am not certain how much you would be able to just flush out. I even consider this "process" as dangerous: Lumps of sludge may be carried away some distance and then get stuck somewhere in an oilway and block it with disastrous results to the health of your engine. This compex of problems has been widely discussed in the different RR&B-forums. Some say: Never fill a sludged-up engine with modern detergent oil and others sound the all-clear and suggest that detergent oils are not capable to remove sludge once it has been deposited. Just my personal opinion on this matter. Jonas | ||
| Paul Yorke Prolific User Username: paul_yorke Post Number: 213 Registered: 6-2006 |
Donald, I would go with Jonas and never flush an oil engine. Removing the sump and cleaning it out is the best option by far. Leaving any hardened carbon-like bits in the block undisturbed. I don't think the sludge is through mileage (probably the opposite!), just lack of oil changes. Change the oil @ 6000 miles or annually even if the car hasn't moved. Change it when the engine is as hot as you can stand. Get it hot and let it cool to a safe working temperature. I'd use 15-40 mineral oil & change it often. | ||
| Bill Unregistered guest Posted From: 121.223.184.62 |
For Colin Silver, your lament about the absence of an extra digit in the odometer reminded me of the iconic 20HP whose instrument acquires a new lease of life every 10,000 miles. There is a car somewhere in Australia with a series of holes drilled in the dashboard where the owner recorded each of these events as they occured. If we could ever get into the bowels of the Hunt House we would probably find that the odometer capacity was related to major overhaul intervals. And this is reinforced with the later cars running to 100,000 miles before turnover. (Message approved by david_gore) | ||
| Colin Silver New User Username: colsilver Post Number: 3 Registered: 8-2008 |
What!!!, The owner drilled a hole for each 10 grand of mile. Classic, love it. It reminds me, from what I have been told, that one of the early owners of my Cloud I was a NSW farmer. He was known to put a sheep in the back seat. |
