Natural Laws

by Tim Case

"It is natural for man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts...For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth, to know the worst, and to provide for it."

~ Patrick Henry

It was a 3 AM wakeup in late September. The threat of an early frost had necessitated that the last 1000 acres of corn be harvested quickly to avoid the potential loss of what remained of the 2010 harvest.

Cresting the Cascade Mountain range of central Washington, beginning my decent into the Yakima valley, I noticed that it was just minutes before sunrise. The crystal clear dark blue sky promised a warm day, but was also the cause of nights that were getting colder. The truck thermometer read 28 degrees however, that was to be expected at 4000 feet on top of a mountain. I remember wondering if it had gotten cold enough to frost further east. In almost the same instant, I noticed what seemed to be small drops of my engine oil on the door window.


Having driven the road literally thousands of times, over the years, I knew there was a turn-out less then a quarter mile ahead where the truck with its dual trailers could safely be pulled off the road and a search for the cause of the oil droplets could be made.

Exiting the cab I was greeted with the unmistakable smell of engine oil which had unceremoniously left its assigned place in the engine, made obvious by the myriad of miniature puddles of oil forming under the truck. The rogue oil now coated the driver side fender well; the underside of the hood, the driver side running boards, and in a final act of rebellion was flowing off the left fuel tank quickly threatening to combine into a rather larger extended puddle on the side of the road.

Lifting the hood to expose the 475 horsepower, Caterpillar C15 engine, I noticed that my partner, who had stopped a short distance from me, was approaching the driver side door. "Wow, it looks terminal to me."

"Yeah, something is really wrong," I answered.

Gerald with his usual dry wit didn’t understate the obvious: "Well, at least that CAT® engine decided to bleed out on a nice day. It won’t be too bad a wait for the shop mechanics. Only two and a half; maybe five hours and you should be on the road again. Sure looks like it’s been raining oil, doesn’t it?"

I wasn’t amused and my expression must have shown my annoyance because Gerald then turned serious. "Let’s see what we got here before we call the shop."

As we both approached the driver side steering tire Gerald started looking at the oil filter and rear of the engine while I began inspecting the lines and the front of the engine. It was only a matter of seconds when I realized that the whole problem was due to the oil filler cap which was no longer in the filler tube but hanging from its retaining chain.


When that filler cap had left its assigned position the laws of pressure (expansion) had instantly come into play. High pressure always flows to a low pressure. The high pressures that are generated in an engine of this size (or any engine for that matter) are useful as long as the system remains closed.

In my case that meant the release of pressure took one gallon of engine oil with it; all in a matter of a few minutes.

I mention this not because it is anything extraordinary but because it is how prudent people respond countless times a day to a potentially serious crisis. When something doesn’t look, feel, or sound correct we judiciously stop and find out where the problem resides. We do this to avoid loss of production, to evade suffering a financial catastrophe or for countless other reasons.

Read the rest at Lew Rockwell