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I’m getting a transmission fluid leak repaired this weekend, and it made me think of a question:

If all your transmission fluid leaked out, and you were stuck in the middle of nowhere with no cell phone, but you had a case of motor oil in the trunk, could you pour motor oil into the transmission and drive the car?
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My nephew (who is an actual auto mechanic) had this to say:

Hypothetically, I think it would work, but I don’t know for how long. Transmission fluid has significantly lower viscosity than motor oil. I imagine this would result in slow operation of the transmission… shift points that are non-ideal, shifts taking longer than normal, components taking longer than normal to disengage, etc…

If it were a legit emergency I think I would give it a try, but at the same time I would expect to take a significant amount of life off the transmission.

Anyway, feel free to add your thoughts on the topic of emergency auto maintenance.

MPH [High Praise!] left this comment about the powers-that-be in Detroit deciding to build a new street car line in the city:

Yeah, Detroit’s problems are all caused by a lack of inflexible, fixed route, public transportation. Spending the money on crime suppression, or removal of abandoned and dilapidated buildings, or just reducing the 6% city income tax, won’t do nearly as much for reviving Detroit as stepping back 100 years and putting street cars back in service. I mean, it isn’t as if street cars were ever really tried anywhere, and then they died out for a good reason, right?

Detroit – getting what it’s been asking for, for over 50 years.