phylo_roadking

Guys... ...does anyone have an identifiably 1939-42 K2 manual??? I've just been told elsewhere that there was indeed a widespread change from "M"-prefixed oils to HD" -prefixed, detergent oil types sometime between between October 1942 and October 1943 :shocked: And of course manuals from later than this, even for earlier marks/models still in service would from THEN on list the new specification...

Hi Stefano... Actually, it looks like an appreciable number of the "1,400" may have been waterproofed K5s issued to GT companies for the assault...then recalled into the reserve of "B" vehicles that was fast building up in the bridgehead and the GT companies issued with new, unwaterproofed vehicles. Therfore they had many and various mileages when they came to be checked for re-use in late August/September. But the Admin History specifies TWO "issues" - that they were "worn out" AND that they were "defective". THAT'S what I was thinking...bearing in mind that the waterproofed 4x4s ran appreciably hotter than standard 4x4s. Castrol tends to change the formulation of GTX depending on the oil specification of the largest number of cars on UK roads at any given time In the late '80s, for example, it was 20/50...!

Guys, thanks for everything so far! To those of you with the manuals - From the K2 manual, dated 1944: ...while they may be for "all" K5 variants, and/or 1944 types - do they actually specify a publication date? (Thinking here of experiences over recent years with "AP" pulications from the Air Ministry - Pilots' Notes, technical manuals etc...that contained a full doument control procedure and recorded/dated all changes to the content...!) Here's the "smoking gun" that started me on this particular trail...one part of an exchange with the "ministry" regarding Austin cars etc. ordered by the War Minstry in 1946... ...In other words - oil scraper rings weren't necessary or THOUGHT necessary UNTIL HD 30 oil was specified. As in...they weren't fitted BEFORE this on that particular engine at least. If it does in fact turn out that HD 30 was specified from "new", as were oil control rings, on the K2/3/5/6 egnines...then fine, that closes out one line of enquiry. The definition of the problem in the 21st Army Group Admin History is interesting from ONE respect that often passes people by... The problem affected 1,400 K5s that were found to be worn out and defective when they were looked at to augment the number of L of C 4x4 3tonners...but the SAME "defect" affected REME's available number of complete SPARE K5 engines I.E. ones that would have been palleted at the factory from new! Whatever the "defect" was it affected old AND new engines Thing is...there's nothing turning up ANYWHERE in any war diary or other file at Kew!

All, I'm doing some work off and on on the September 1944 Austin K5 "problem" while a Tom O'Brien busys himself with the papertrail at Kew! My part in his efforts has been to throw some light on various possible technical problems that could result from what issues he HAS found with the K5...which is a lot LESS than the American statements about the K5 would have us believe! But one thing that has surfaced in the last week is the question of engine lubrication specifically - what grade of engine oil was specificed for the K5, and the earlier K2 also? A hint has surfaced that earlier examples of the K5 GS may not have had an oil scraper ring on the piston; but this lack only gave problems when the detergent-laced "HD 30" grade oil was used. Having "killed" an H-D Sportster 20 years ago now by using what the dealer recommended...Castrol GTX...rather than a "straight" grade oil, one with far less detergents in it...I know the damage that can be done by a detergent-heavy oil stripping carbon out of odd corners of oilways and oil galleries...especially places where the engine designers expected carbon to build up! The same thing is happening today with motorcycle engines and synthetic oil. If an engine has been run for most of its life with mineral oil...and a new user changes to synthetic oil...this "cleans out" oilways etc. of YEARS of carbon deposits...which circulate around the engine until the next oil change! Using synthetic oil in a bike after years of mineral-based oil is a surefire way of killing it Now - one document turned up at Kew hints that the lack of an oil scraper ring in the K5's engine only gave problems AFTER the change to using HD 30 grade oil.... So what was used BEFORE HD 30??? Does anyone on the forum happen to have K2 or K5 drivers' manuals, or the disassembly/reassembly manual, and would be able to tell me what grade(s) of oil were listed for use in the K5 in 1943 and 1944...and possibly in the K2 before that for comparison?

Hi! Some of you wandering around the net might have encountered me before on Axishistory or Feldgrau...and here now chasing down a few leads on the Austin K5 1944 issue I'm not the guy doing most of the research...that's Tom O'Brien, but while he chases down details at Kew trying to feel out the edges of the actual problem... ...and you'd be suprised, but very little is showing up! - just some American exaggeration... ..while now and again I throw in a few technical ideas, being a longtime classic military vehicle fan and runner of old motorcycles!