I have kind of a silly question I would like to ask. This is just a “which is worst” senario.
So let’s say you are out in the woods with your 4x4 truck and you punch a hole in your oil pan. you shut it down right away, and patch the hole. the problems is you are stuck in the middle of nowhere with no oil to put back in (all the oil drained out, lets say). Supposing you can’t leave it there and you MUST drive it until the engine seizes, would putting water in place of the oil extend the life of the engine longer than had it been run with nothing in the crankcase?
Question: would putting water in place of the oil extend the life of the engine longer than had it been run with nothing in the crankcase?
Answer: No.
I’ll play along. No. Water would wash off the remaining oil in the engine and would jeopardize it’s life. Years ago there was a commercial for oil or an oil additive that proved a good point. A city taxi was drained of oil and driven across the country successfully. The key was driving slowly and keeping the rpm’s down. The first engines did not have oil pumps or oil filters at all. They were lubricated by the “splash” method. Engine bearings ride on a very thin film of oil so you might just make it out of the woods if you use a lot of dexterity and keep those rpm’s down.
It would be a better idea to drain the transfer case fluid out and put that in the engine and then see if you can get out of the woods without it being in 4x4.
Tester
Fanshaw college did a test years ago witha v8 filled it with water and run it an equivalent 100,000 miles. water is a great lubricant you just have to keep adding as it evaporates and as soon as you shut it down you have to flush with oil or it seizes solid.
You’re kidding, I hope.
Ed B.
Prior to wondering about any oil,
out in the middle of nowhere…
what do you patch it with ???
one of those puzzles that has everyone mulling over the second portion but missing the first .
Because in the puzzle you mention you patch it.
But the puzzle actually hides that conundrum as well . ( out in the woods in the middle of nowhere…you patch it ? )
I read where Andy Granatelli entered a car in the Indianapolis 500 race in the years just after WW II. There was a rule against adding oil to the engine and somehow some part had been machined incorrectly so it threw oil out. (I don’t remember the details on this). He added water to the crankcase which raised up the oil that remained in the crankcase. He ran a couple more laps before the engine blew.
I know some submersible well pumps had bearings that ran in water. If the bearing seal failed, the pump wouldn’t know the difference.
What do you suppose the water in the crankcase would do at the operating temperature of an engine?
“What do you suppose the water in the crankcase would do at the operating temperature of an engine?”
Turn to steam.
I figured duck tape. 
There is no parameter that would make it better to try and drive till it siezes that would be better than walking from the start, you are not going to get very far. I suppose if you commited a crime and you had to get the vehicle out of there or get caught, no that is a stupid idea also.
Gee, I just KNEW there was a reason I always carried a quart or two of oil in my car. Now I know the reason.
You may as well walk because that’s what you’re going to be doing anyway by adding water to the crankcase. You may walk 10 feet less than with no oil at all but you’re going to walk pure and simple.
As to running the engine 100k miles on water then I would ask why everyone is not doing it now. Who needs oil.
The one about Granatelli I don’t get either. Adding water to the oil sump will raise the oil level but since feed oil is pulled from the bottom (water) then what’s the point?