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View Full Version : Is engine oil flammable?


hongman
20-04-12, 01:58 PM
If someone asked you this, what would you say?

Someone in the office asked this today. I immediately said no.

Googel was then consulted and we found a flashpoint figure of 400-480F.

So does this mean it is technically flammable?

maviczap
20-04-12, 02:01 PM
you can burn it in a special oil heater I think.

An old motorcycle garage used to have one in their workshop to heat it in the winter using old engine oil

I reckon my diesel would run on it as well

Bibio
20-04-12, 02:08 PM
eeerrrrmmm did you not watch the gulf wars.....

maviczap
20-04-12, 02:27 PM
He's too young to remember that :p

hongman
20-04-12, 02:53 PM
Old farts

punyXpress
20-04-12, 02:55 PM
There've been cases ( ? Berlin ? ) where turbo seals have blown & engines have run away because of oil being leaked into the diesel engine. Cut the fuel off & engine oil becomes the fuel!
Which is a worry

Nobbylad
20-04-12, 02:55 PM
eeerrrrmmm did you not watch the gulf wars.....

Wow...I never realised that Iraq stored huge quantities of used engine oil underground...I always thought it was naturally occurring crude oil :rolleyes::smt082

johnnyrod
20-04-12, 03:00 PM
Yes oil burns, but it needs some persuasion. Flash point is the temperature above which it will burn, once ignited. It's not the temperature it ignites by itself - that's the auto-ingition temperature and will be much higher. Anyway normally flammable means flash point near or below room temperature e.g. petrol, solvents. For diesel it's about 100C i.e. putting a match to it will put the match out if you are below 100C, but it still gets labelled as flammable, I think that's more to do with fuel regs than anything (not sure).

Whitty
20-04-12, 03:01 PM
There've been cases ( ? Berlin ? ) where turbo seals have blown & engines have run away because of oil being leaked into the diesel engine. Cut the fuel off & engine oil becomes the fuel!
Which is a worry

Happens a lot in buses and trucks. Volvos can be prone to it. Sometimes can happen if you only just change turbo. All previous past oil is trapped in intercooler waiting to attack! When it happens its spectacular.lol

johnnyrod
20-04-12, 03:02 PM
Turbos are HOT!

Specialone
20-04-12, 03:08 PM
There've been cases ( ? Berlin ? ) where turbo seals have blown & engines have run away because of oil being leaked into the diesel engine. Cut the fuel off & engine oil becomes the fuel!
Which is a worry

Think this happened to ralph on his old bmw.

Btw, oil burns like a b*tch, they are hard to put out too.

Whitty
20-04-12, 03:12 PM
They generally explode rather than seize cos unlike fuel its ungoverned and just rev till something can't hold on any longer.

NTECUK
20-04-12, 03:22 PM
Untill you have seen a Turbo car runnaway when its burnt its own engine oil you would never belive a disel could rev so fast.
I bravely Ran away when a mondao did in Tesco chelmsford!!!

Bibio
20-04-12, 03:22 PM
Wow...I never realised that Iraq stored huge quantities of used engine oil underground...I always thought it was naturally occurring crude oil :rolleyes::smt082

no. according to the US and the UK they keep their weapons of mass destruction along side the barrels and barrels of motor oil. didn't you know that the sand is a natural filter :p :rolleyes: :smt082

NTECUK
20-04-12, 03:26 PM
This Raphls car???
http://youtu.be/dHOpUPR5TTM

Nobbylad
20-04-12, 03:27 PM
no. according to the US and the UK they keep their weapons of mass destruction along side the barrels and barrels of motor oil. didn't you know that the sand is a natural filter :p :rolleyes: :smt082

lol - I was going to suggest they store it all underground with their WMD's

punyXpress
20-04-12, 03:29 PM
This Raphls car???
http://youtu.be/dHOpUPR5TTM

Just a bit of Italian Tuning.

andrewsmith
20-04-12, 03:32 PM
Yep

But takes a lot persuasion.
This is what happens

http://youtu.be/5zx3qKX_Pno

5zx3qKX_Pno

http://youtu.be/Sg4YSk7aL8k

Sg4YSk7aL8k

NTECUK
20-04-12, 03:40 PM
We had a T30 recoverd in once .It reved so hard it blew the radiator to bits !
New engine ,etc ,next please.

hongman
20-04-12, 03:41 PM
lol, thanks guys.

Mr Speirs
20-04-12, 03:50 PM
Seriously? Is oil flammable? You really answered no?

Jayneflakes
20-04-12, 03:53 PM
Yep

But takes a lot persuasion.
This is what happens

http://youtu.be/5zx3qKX_Pno http://youtu.be/Sg4YSk7aL8k

I am most disappointed that there were no loud violent catastrophic failures there. :smt103
Somewhat scary though, not sure I would want to be about when that happens. Is it possible to stop it, I suppose the only way would be to flood the air intakes with CO2 to stop the engine drawing in oxygen?

hongman
20-04-12, 04:06 PM
Seriously? Is oil flammable? You really answered no?

Yeah :rolleyes:

My immediate thought was if I put a lighter to it and it doesnt ignite, its not flammable. With my definition of flammable as i.e petrol which lights at room temp.

Sorry!

Mr Speirs
20-04-12, 05:16 PM
Hong!! You funny man!!

hongman
20-04-12, 05:16 PM
hongfunnyman

:(

Dave20046
20-04-12, 05:30 PM
If someone asked you this, what would you say?

Someone in the office asked this today. I immediately said no.

Googel was then consulted and we found a flashpoint figure of 400-480F.

So does this mean it is technically flammable?
only if something's wrong!

Dave20046
20-04-12, 05:32 PM
*according to the definition of flammable which me and hong share 'hold a lighter to it, if things don't get fun after a few seconds ...then it ain't 'flammable'"

andrewsmith
20-04-12, 05:41 PM
I am most disappointed that there were no loud violent catastrophic failures there. :smt103
Somewhat scary though, not sure I would want to be about when that happens. Is it possible to stop it, I suppose the only way would be to flood the air intakes with CO2 to stop the engine drawing in oxygen?

I couldn't find one of full failure. Quite a lot nip up like a stroker
Starving the motor is the only way as 'in theroy' CO2 would do nothing

Mr Speirs
20-04-12, 07:58 PM
*according to the definition of flammable which me and hong share 'hold a lighter to it, if things don't get fun after a few seconds ...then it ain't 'flammable'"

Haha apparently Hong is correct!! I feel bad for taking the **** now!!

Engine oil, as it's flashpoint is above 200degrees is actually classed as a combustible.

All hail the hong!

hongman
20-04-12, 09:23 PM
Hoorah!

Bluefish
20-04-12, 10:33 PM
Hong for el presidente, preston your sacked lol

-Ralph-
20-04-12, 11:54 PM
I reckon my diesel would run on it as well

It would indeed!

There've been cases ( ? Berlin ? ) where turbo seals have blown & engines have run away because of oil being leaked into the diesel engine. Cut the fuel off & engine oil becomes the fuel!
Which is a worry

Me

Happens a lot in buses and trucks. Volvos can be prone to it. Sometimes can happen if you only just change turbo. All previous past oil is trapped in intercooler waiting to attack! When it happens its spectacular.lol

It is indeed

Think this happened to ralph on his old bmw

Hmmm, correct you are young Jedi!

Untill you have seen a Turbo car runnaway when its burnt its own engine oil you would never belive a disel could rev so fast.
I bravely Ran away when a mondao did in Tesco chelmsford!!!

Yep, I removed the ignition key through the window, then got in and tried to pull the car mat off the accelerator pedal as I concluded that must be the issue, when that wasn't the problem I contemplated a high gear, hard on the brakes, and drop the clutch, but I could neither see out nor breathe by that point, so I got out and ran too.

This Raphls car???
http://youtu.be/dHOpUPR5TTM

Same colour, I'd be prepared to bet it's the same engine type, and yes it made that much smoke

I am most disappointed that there were no loud violent catastrophic failures there. :smt103
Somewhat scary though, not sure I would want to be about when that happens. Is it possible to stop it, I suppose the only way would be to flood the air intakes with CO2 to stop the engine drawing in oxygen?

Oh mine made three lovely big bangs as debris from the collapsed turbo went through three of the pistons. See above post about stalling the engine by sticking it in high gear, but you may just end up damaging clutch, gearbox, etc as well as having a knackered engine.

NTECUK
21-04-12, 12:04 AM
I think the clutch centerplate would rip out if you tried to drop the clutch.Likely mosh the Dual Mass flywheel too
Oh Recall college use to say,
inflammable or flammable =easily ignited

combustible = capable of igniting and burning.

Berlin
21-04-12, 12:04 AM
Yup, it was my Peugeot 406 that ran away on the side of the A1, blocking all four carriageways with smoke. I jumped back in and deliberately stalled it. Saved the engine and after changing the turbo (twice, as the replacement from the scrappy was also busted) it went to a guy who is still running around in it.

Oil will burn especially if it is wicked. Its excellent at getting wet fires to light. Which is what I used to use my old engine oil for in Yorkshire. a quick sprinkle on wet coal would get it to light no problem.

Flash point is the point at which it will ignite in normal atmospheric conditions. If you hold a flame to it at the flash point it will burn. However, it will also ignite under pressure in a diesel engine as we've seen in the vids. Or when spread thinly on a wick like candle wax.

Its amazing how long the car will go on for when they run away before they pop. :-)


C

Richie
21-04-12, 02:39 AM
Back in the day... Pull up a sand bag and I'll swing the lamp... :0)
We had a Warrior call Damion call sign 13C that started up by itself...
and when started when we got to it, wouldn't turn off...!!!
SPOOKY !.....

turns out the oil seal on the FIP (Fuel injection pump had failed and she was drawing in engine oil to run on... )
after we got her Stopped... BCF fire extinguisher in the AIR Intake... we found a mouse...! that eat through some wires in the DIP (Driver instrument panel) and shorted the starter ignition together...

Fricking spooky when your alone in a workshop and a tracked vehicle starts up with no-one there... :0/

yorkie_chris
21-04-12, 08:49 AM
You can melt iron with old engine oil :)

You can also run diesel engines on it.