Does anyone know the deal with a static electrical charge on the oil pan on the bottom of the car when lifted on Jack's to do an oil change? I think it must have something to do with not being grounded while up on jacks. Has anyone else experienced this? I am concerned there may be a short somewhere in the car because the electrical charge became even greater when I started the car while up on the jacks.

 

Never heard anything like that before.

 

You started the car while on jacks????!!!

 

LOL - they're not toothpicks! (they are also Jackpoint jack stands - which are even more stable than standard stands)

 

This is a bit of an old question. I've never heard of triboelectric charging from an oil change. But let's continue with the thought experiment.

Do you think the car is 'grounded' while sitting on rubber tires?

If your concern was valid wouldn't it also get charged up as it flows through the engine?

I think the answer to both of the above is no. So I wouldn't worry about it.

Edit... One other thing. Static build up can be a concern for the electronics. There's a thread on renntech where polishing the headlights caused the front control unit to go out.

Double edit. I see now, you're concerned the engine created a charge from running with the car on jack stands. Same sort of answer the car is not electrically grounded through the physical ground. So it shouldn't make a difference.

 

Not sure where I picked this up but my recollection is the tires are electrical conductive. On purpose. Not as conductive as say copper wiring of course but conductive nonetheless.

 

The tires of a car are not electrically conductive. They are an insulators.

This is why we are told that in the event that you are in your car and a power line is in contact with it you are to stay in the vehicle. The car becomes a Faraday cage and anything inside the car/cage is safe from the power line. Should you exit the car you will be electrocuted as soon as you put your foot on the ground and create a path for the energy to flow.

As for the OPs question about static electricity on the oil pan, that is a triboelectric charge. This has nothing to do with the car being up on jack stands and should not be an issue for the cars electronics provided you are not doing something to increase the static potential to a level that would harm the elctronics.

The charge that you experienced (you didnt say if you got a shock or saw something like a piece of paper stick to it or had the hair on your arm rise up) is caused because two different materials came into contact with each other and when separated allowed a positive charge to stay on one item (the oil pan) and a negative charge on the other (a rag maybe). In theory it could have even been caused by driving the car and air passing underneath it and coming into contact with the oil pan….airplanes experience this but only because of their speed and the fact that the air is so dry at those altitudes.

Hope this helps

 

So as it happens I found myself at work this week testing a lightweight lunar wheel prototype with the engineers (who designed it) from none other than Michelin. These guys were from R&D and both extremely knowledgeable in many aspects of physics and engineering but also as expected in tire design. At dinner I got to ask them the question de jour about the conductivity of tires.

They explained that yes tires are conductive due to the carbon used in manufacturing, but that there is no manufacturer (auto or tire) specification for conductivity. Because they don't engineer them to meet a certain conductivity, I don't know if it's fair to say they are designed conductive on purpose. They also explained that tire manufactures are including more silica in place of carbon to make higher efficiency tires thus the conductivity can vary greatly.

Just for fun I tried measuring the resistance of my MPS2s with a fluke multimeter. I put the probes very close to each other and pushed into the side wall a bit. It's no surprise but it measured an open circuit, which makes sense because the conductivity is so incredibly small.

Given this information of no specifications, I still believe that auto manufacturers do not design a cars electrical system to dissipate static electricity through the tires so I don't think running a car on jack stands is the root cause of the OPs problem, but Macster I admit I was incorrect in my assumption about the conductivity of tires. You were right, it's there albeit incredibly small.

Cheers,

Matty

 

Wow. Thanks for all the input and information. Sounds like its not much to be concerned with. I will just be aware of it and keep watching for anything getting worse.
BTW - I did experience a front control module error code upon removal of track tape a while ago. Turns out the module in fact was not bad. I was able to reset the code with a Durametric global reset.

 

 

Love that video. Makes me laugh every. single. time.

 

love the video but he is a dumba s s

 

Hahaha that video is awesome!

 

I can't stop laughing! I loved how he was so serious each time he restarted the video recording. The contrast with his reactions when he got "zapped" was just too funny!

(Did he do that on purpose for demonstration purposes to be funny, or was it all genuine? Either way, it was HILARIOUS!)