# It's the darn taste! (way oil)!



## graham-xrf (Nov 26, 2019)

I dunno how it happened. Maybe the back of my hand brushed across my face while I was having a bit of a struggle with getting the respirator thing off - or something, but somehow, the tiniest smidgen of a trace of Mobil Vactra #2 made it to the taste buds. Yikes, but that stuff is tenacious! Spit, wash out - not even a small swig of Jim Beam would strip it away!

I once had a mishap under a car, involving a differential, and spilled Castrol Hypoid EP-90. You know what it's like. The thing is awkward, and suddenly overflows out the the top-up hole, and one is .. well.. underneath!

Granted, that EP-90 stuff was a great deal more evil-smelling than Vactra, but the yuk taste lasted for several days!

Gotta be more careful!


----------



## mikey (Nov 26, 2019)

Wait until you use a slitting saw that requires a lot of coolant and you happen to yawn ... Not fun! I use a shield now, for obvious reasons.


----------



## benmychree (Nov 26, 2019)

Perhaps you should have resorted to a single malt instead of the Jim Beam ---


----------



## darkzero (Nov 26, 2019)

If you don't know what all the fluids in your shop tastes like how else will you identify them when the labels fall off the bottles? When I worked as a mechanic I knew what all the fluids taste like from cars so I could easily identify what was leaking.


----------



## pontiac428 (Nov 27, 2019)

darkzero said:


> If you don't know what all the fluids in your shop tastes like how else will you identify them when the labels fall off the bottles? When I worked as a mechanic I knew what all the fluids taste like from cars so I could easily identify what was leaking.



Dang, that's hardcore!  I just settled for identifying fluids based on the way they felt between my fingers.  Fuel, brake, ATF, oil all feels different.  Reminds me of that Cheech and Chong sketch:  Schaffolnik, come here!  That look like dog $hit to you?  Look like dog $hit to me too.  Now pick up! Taste!


----------



## Janderso (Nov 27, 2019)

I remember replacing a radiator that had the green stuff back in the day.
Got a string of drops right in the mouth. Hmm, sweet. No wonder dogs drink this stuff.
It's poison too.
Gear oil? I'll pass.


----------



## RJSakowski (Nov 27, 2019)

Janderso said:


> I remember replacing a radiator that had the green stuff back in the day.
> Got a string of drops right in the mouth. Hmm, sweet. No wonder dogs drink this stuff.
> It's poison too.
> Gear oil? I'll pass.


I lost a pedegreed beagle to ethylene glycol antifreeze.  It attacks the liver. A teaspoon is enough to do the job.  

Curiously, propylene glycol is used in food products.  Notably as a substitute for for ethyl alcohol in flavor extracts.


----------



## darkzero (Nov 27, 2019)

pontiac428 said:


> Dang, that's hardcore!  I just settled for identifying fluids based on the way they felt between my fingers.  Fuel, brake, ATF, oil all feels different.  Reminds me of that Cheech and Chong sketch:  Schaffolnik, come here!  That look like dog $hit to you?  Look like dog $hit to me too.  Now pick up! Taste!



Haha. I kid I kid. I have no idea what all the fluids in my shop tastes like except Tapmagic. When I worked on cars although I did know what anifreeze, motor oil, & atf (when burnt) tasted like that's not how I actually told the difference. But my mentor actually did sometimes. Brake fluid I could tell by feel. And gear oil, well anyone who works on cars is very familiar with the smell.


----------



## mmcmdl (Nov 27, 2019)

You could taste that old time Aluminum tapping crap spewing from your skin .


----------



## eugene13 (Nov 27, 2019)

RJSakowski said:


> I lost a pedegreed beagle to ethylene glycol antifreeze. It attacks the liver. A teaspoon is enough to do the job.


Sorry for the loss of your pet.  Ethylene glycol attacks the Kidneys, there is an antidote however, ethyl alcohol.  It binds up the chemical that crystallizes and plugs up the kidneys.


----------



## RJSakowski (Nov 27, 2019)

Thanks for the correction.  That happened more tha forty years ago and my memory fails me at times.  The upshot, though is to keep antifreeze away from pets. If I spill some nowadays, I do a hazmet cleanup.  I wasn't aware of the ethyl alcohol antidote.  Thanks for that insight.  A good reason to keep the brandy bottle in the first aid kit. .


----------



## eugene13 (Nov 28, 2019)

Or beer in the shop frige.


----------



## graham-xrf (Nov 28, 2019)

mmcmdl said:


> You could taste that old time Aluminum tapping crap spewing from your skin .


mmcmdl: Aw .. do tell?
From "old time", it lets me know that these days we maybe use some more modern (better tasting??) tapping crap.

I don't know any better, so I go for anything brown stuff labeled "cutting oil", though I don't know the difference it has to regular oil. I know it smokes madly on a drill press, and a whiff of it leaves a metallic taste, and can make the chest start wheezing!

Is our hobby a minefield of liquid substance hazards?


----------



## graham-xrf (Nov 29, 2019)

eugene13 said:


> Or beer in the shop frige.


I heard you can get a "shop vac", or various "shop" goodies like a "shop heater" or "shop belt grinder".
I should have figured a "shop fridge" would have been way up there!


----------



## brino (Nov 29, 2019)

darkzero said:


> When I worked as a mechanic I knew what all the fluids taste like from cars



....and do you prefer domestic or imported? 
-brino


----------



## darkzero (Nov 29, 2019)

brino said:


> ....and do you prefer domestic or imported?
> -brino



I'm not picky..... as long as it's a premium blend.


----------



## graham-xrf (Nov 29, 2019)

darkzero said:


> I'm not picky..... as long as it's a premium blend.


By any chance in your mechanic career, did you ever get a mishap when siphoning gasoline? There was a time when, although yuk, it was not too hazardous. Nowadays, the stuff cracked from heavier oil fractions is just evil!


----------



## darkzero (Nov 30, 2019)

graham-xrf said:


> By any chance in your mechanic career, did you ever get a mishap when siphoning gasoline? There was a time when, although yuk, it was not too hazardous. Nowadays, the stuff cracked from heavier oil fractions is just evil!



Luckily no. I've only had to siphon fuel like maybe once or twice. I have replaced a bunch of fuel pumps but they were changed mostly due to upgrades and on Japanese imports. Most of them were accessible from the top under the backseat/trunk.

I've never tasted gasoline from these days but there's a lot more ethanol in it days so it should taste better eh?


----------



## eugene13 (Nov 30, 2019)

graham-xrf said:


> By any chance in your mechanic career, did you ever get a mishap when siphoning gasoline? There was a time when, although yuk, it was not too hazardous. Nowadays, the stuff cracked from heavier oil fractions is just evil!


I was changing a fuel filter that was mounted on the frame and got gasoline in my ear, it hurt like hexx.


----------



## darkzero (Nov 30, 2019)

eugene13 said:


> I was changing a fuel filter that was mounted on the frame and got gasoline in my ear, it hurt like hexx.



I really hate the feeling of gasoline running all the way down my arm & hitting my arm pit! I know it all too well!


----------



## 682bear (Nov 30, 2019)

Nothing tastes worse than brake fluid...

-Bear


----------



## mcostello (Nov 30, 2019)

Syphoning gas once and the gas came too fast. Burped gas smell for several days.


----------



## brino (Nov 30, 2019)

682bear said:


> Nothing tastes worse than brake fluid...



My own worst memory of dripping brake fluid was after I needed to use a torch to heat a brake coupling that would not come apart. It was the joint from steel line to flex line at the front wheel. The flex hose was already damaged, so no loss. I finally got it apart, but then wondered what the funny noise was.....only to discover that it was drips of burning brake fluid making really weird and long vvvvvvippppppp, vvvvvvvvvippppppp sounds as they went past my face. I'm lucky I never caught one of those.....
-brino


----------



## graham-xrf (Dec 1, 2019)

682bear said:


> Nothing tastes worse than brake fluid...
> -Bear


Agreed - and among them, there is a special place reserved for Skydrol. You don't have to actually get any in the mouth. Just be close enough to get a whiff, and you will taste! Vactra #2 is benign by comparison.

It got widely specified for aircraft hydraulics, I think because of it's less likely to ignite, but in every other way, it it was nasty. It cut through everything in sight, needed special seals, absorbed water like no other, and naturally, had to be replaced often. I could tell by the stripped paint around stuff where it was used, and I steered clear, because it made the chest tighten and wheeze for maybe several minutes.


----------



## 682bear (Dec 1, 2019)

graham-xrf said:


> Agreed - and among them, there is a special place reserved for Skydrol. You don't have to actually get any in the mouth. Just be close enough to get a whiff, and you will taste! Vactra #2 is benign by comparison.
> 
> It got widely specified for aircraft hydraulics, I think because of it's less likely to ignite, but in every other way, it it was nasty. It cut through everything in sight, needed special seals, absorbed water like no other, and naturally, had to be replaced often. I could tell by the stripped paint around stuff where it was used, and I steered clear, because it made the chest tighten and wheeze for maybe several minutes.



Been there... done that... it also burns like fire if you get it in your eye...

-Bear


----------

