When an unsuspecting motorist stopped to have his oil checked, the attendant would disable the car by tinkering with the generator or pouring water in the crankcase oil, then .
Her sponsors set a leisurely schedule of nine days for the northward flight, but a crankcase broke near Para, Brazil, and there the laggard sat down again to await a new motor .
From the cylinders, the fuel enters the crankcase, where its hydrocarbon-rich fumes mingle with the vapors from hot engine oil, then slip out through a vent into the surrounding .
Dale Earnhardt Jr in Winston-Salem Journal (registration) Some blow-by in the cylinder head, and it filled the crankcase up with oil, and the pressure was blowing out the oil tank itself,Earnhardt said. "It just ran out of oil. Then we were just sitting there running along, and the tire exploded....