Technical Snake oils or not snake oils??

Aw come on now, i think i was born out of a can, paint-n-oil runs deep in my veins,musta been the *child prodigy* of a paint can maried to a oil can ...lol

 

When I worked in a gas station in high school in the early '60's I sold so much Winn's Friction Proofing that the Winn's salesman gave me a fancy jacket. Have no idea if that stuff worked or not. Sold a lot of STP also, had to have a special heater that gripped the can to get it to flow in a reasonable time. I personally never used that stuff and think that regular maintenance works as well as anything. I do believe in the gas additives that take water/ice out of the fuel tank and lines.

 

My DAD had a 76 cougar, was " pulling" to one side, took it to a reputable front end shop to be told the alignment was good and to put a can of TRANS X in the power steering as the " valve" was sticking....it worked!....also LUCAS oil additive does seem to reduce the slight knock that often occurs the first second or so after startup on high mileage engines.

 

Quit awhile ago when Slick "50" was the best thing going I poured a can of it in my hot rod and within 3-5 hundred miles it started smoking so I dumped it. After new oil and filter, it was still smoking pretty good. I picked up a can of Restore and in a 100 miles it stopped smoking so I swear by it.


Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.

 

Here ya go Mr48--->Full/ and my disclaimer, i NEVER used the stuff(stp)
.

 

This is one of the truest statements I have heard in a long time!

 

Lucas oil additive has been keeping the loose bottom end of my 235 togather for a few years and Seafoam does a good job of cleaning injectors in my late models.

 

Recommended to be purchased along with

 

Man, I am flashing back to my service station days. Anybody remember Dry Power? To incentivize sales, each Dry Power can had a metal token inside that the pump jockey could redeem for cash, usually 50 cents, but every so often you hit the $5 jackpot. They had like a dozen different kinds, and as far as I could tell each was a differently labeled can of kerosene...

(For the record, in case there are any Dry Power lawers left in this world, this is just my opinion and I ain't no chemist)

 

When Slick 50 1st came out all my pals were bragging about how well it did, and this was when fuel mileage became top priority after the 1st rush of pricing. I gave in and tried it in my driver at the time which had an OEM digital mileage feature. I was impressed that more than 2 MPG was noted and the average jumped almost 2. On a long trip we realized an improvement of 4 MPG (!) and needless to say I was impressed. It was a "once and done" product so I thought it was $$ well spent. Next oil change we just did the regular ol gig and in a couple weeks went on that same long trip (Northern MI). Milegae was right back to it's old self again, all of the increased mileage, gone. I determined that the slickest thing about Slick 50 was their marketing. Much like Fram filters, if they spent more on product and less on ads it might be worth using. I use Lucas injector cleaner/lube in my Dmax dually and the there's a real difference in drivability, notably quieter when the engine's loaded.

KW Permanent Block and Head Repair works. Double your $$ back if it doesn't, but it does. Sort of like the old Ceramic Seal drag racers liked for so long.

 

To paraphrase Hans and Franz, "It will pump you up!"

 

What I'd like to know is how many snakes do you have to squeeze through the wringers of an old fashioned wringer washer to get a bottle of snake oil ?
And how many times do you have to run them through before you get oil ?

 

I put slick 50 in my 86 turbo t-bird with about 100,000 miles on it . after a few thousand miles the engine started smoking , I figured the engine was worn out , long story short , the slick 50 plugged the oil drain line from the turbo to the oil pan and oil was backing up into the turbo and making it smoke . cleaned the drain out , changed the oil , car now has 282, ooo miles on it , never been into the engine , no more snake oil for me .

 

I've used Trans X additive with excellent results in automatic transmissions but the best was using it to patch up an old ford escort we had at work. We were planning to replace this staff car in a few months but the bosses needed to use it until then. It had been using power steering fluid in the power rack and was getting worse..filling it every day. They didn't want to pay for a new or rebuilt steering rack, soooooooo..........
I filled the P.S. reservoir with straight Trans X and the leak got better...filled it again and the leak completely stopped! We drove it for 3 more months with no more problems....even that "hissing whine" from the Ford power steering pump was gone.
And it sealed up many mopar shift linkage seals too.

 

And for a good & cheap assembly lube I use a mixture of STP and common white grease...half and half. But I use the E.P. cam lubes for the camshaft and lifters.

 

I have luck with some of the stop leak stuff and use STP in flat tappet engines because It's the cheapest zink additive I have found.

 

i drove big diesels and our shop used a lot of marvel mystery oil...

 

We always used STP for assembly lube. Before cam companies had their own lubes we used STP on them too or GM had a cam lube.

For repairs in a can or bottle I've used and had success with;
KW TransX for automatic transmissions and power steering
KW block sealer
Zecol Mendtite cooling system sealer
Marvel Mystery Oil especially on flat head engines mostly as a preventative but occasionally for sticky valves

 

When the unleaded bug bit here, there were all sorts of addatives to replace the lead to cushion exhaust valves, etc. I gave a sample to a bloke at work who is a chemical engineer, he put some into one of his analyising gizmos and said it was more than 99% diesel.
So I have been adding a squirt of diesel to the tank of my used-to-run-on -leaded-gas engines, So far I haven't had any problems with the heads.

 

I have never been a believer of fix a leak with a liquid. I did use some engine restore on a high mileage OT daily that was making some noise and it quieted it down. Wasn't worth the rebuild. It was hardly worth the can of restore.

I do use Lucas in the rear diff and manual trans. I also use their fuel treatment as it is a good lead substitute according to one of their reps I spoke to.

 

That's valuable info there.

 

I never was either, but I had luck with Blue Devil sealer, followed instructions to the letter. They're pretty proud of it though.
Also use Lucas Injector Cleaner in the daily's when I think of it.

 

I've used Marvel Mystery Oil to resurrect old engines that have sat a long time with good results. It seems to free up rings and lifters pretty well.
For automatic transmissions that have sat a long time Lucas Transmission additive seems to make them work normal again in just a few miles of driving. I don't use cooling system stop leak after seeing what the inside of my engine/radiator looked like, I just bite the bullet and fix 'em.
I may try the KW products for transmissions next time, I hear good things about their products. I just don't see them on the shelf around here.

 

My dad had a special mix of stuff he did with every oil change on all his cars and trucks that his buddies had used on the race track back in the late 50s and early 60s. He was proud of the fact that he could get 50,000 miles out of a used car with his mixture. It didn't help any of the 3 350 Buick motors I had to put in my 69 Buick, though he tried every additive he could think of. None of it could fix the cracked block, the worn out bearings and crank, or what ever that 3rd motor's problem was that prompted me to trade the car off.
After the Buick experience, I bought a 72 Plymouth. Working at a gas station at the time, the Plymouth saw very regular oil changes with high quality oil and filters, but no additives (my boss was against adding them to anything he owned). I put over 75,000 miles on the old Plymouth, my conclusion was that my dad's luck had more to do with regular maintenance then the special mix he used.
As time went on, I discovered there were several additives that could buy some time with a wore out or grossly neglected drive trains, but were none were a long term fix. I still approach a fix in a can/bottle as something that might buy me a little more time before I need to repair something correctly. Some things buy me more time then other things, but all are still temporary patch jobs. Gene

 

I believe in Lucas and TransX!

My 1992 Dodge Cummins D350 began slipping in third, and wouldn't shift into OD. When I changed the transmission fluid, it was kinda brown. I added in the Trans X. Within 50 miles third was back, and my OD began working again. I drove the truck back and forth to Kansas and San Diego. But, I am thinking that a transmission rebuild will be needed soon. I am happy to buy more time with my truck, but I don't trust the repair as a permanent solution. Especially since I change the transmission fluid regularly. This is not a case of neglect...

Sent from my XT1585 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

First, a disclosure that I am an independent Amsoil dealer.
Now that that is out up front, I deal in their products because I have a long personal history with their synthetic oils, and use them in all my vehicles and other equipment with internal combustion engines UNADULTERATED. But this post isn't about my choice of oils.
Instead I want to relate about Stabil 360* fuel additive. I use non ethanol gas with the regular Stabil in all my small engine stuff like lawn mower, weed eater, leaf blower and generators, so that I don't have problems with fuel system components during the time these things aren't used.
But my roadster and my '40 coupe are both sorta borderline on the non ethanol because it's only 90 octane, rather than the 93 of premium with ethanol.
So after trying a few different additives marketed for alleviating problems from ethanol fuel in older fuel system components, I came across the Stabil 360* and started using it.
October 2016 I filled the roadster up with 10% ethanol premium with Stabil 360*additive. Due to a series of mechanical problems with the car and health problems of my own, including a compression fracture of a vertebra in my back, half of that tank of fuel was still in the roadster when my fellow Sock Fucker Car Club members gathered at my shop this past Sunday and put the car back together for me.
When the car came down off the jack stands and was ready to start, I climbed in, turned on the electric fuel pump, and when fuel pressure was up I pumped the accelerator a few times, hit the starter and after only a few seconds she fired up and after a bit of warmup, ran smoothly as it could with my Comp cam.
We drove the car around all afternoon, burned about a quarter tank of gas and she never sputtered or coughed once warmed up.
So here I am endorsing a competitor's product. Why? Because it works. By all past experience with ethanol added fuels, I would been tearing down that pair of Edelbrock carbs, and possibly replacing some fuel lines.

 

That is a false urban legend that has been around a long time. Oil does "wear out", it's called "Oxidation" and in some cases "Nitration". It is what causes oil to darken in color and increase in viscosity over time. It causes polymerization of the oil resulting in lacquer and varnish formation, and eventually sludge. Oil does wear out. Period.

 

I'm a certified Lubrication Specialist with the STLE, and have a few other fancy credentials too, and am employed by a major lubricants company you all know as a lubrication engineer. All of these snake oils on the market are good for exactly 1 thing, separating you from your money. It's not that they don't do any good, it's worse than that, some of them actually cause harm to your engine.

All of these additives are not alike, there are different types that contain different types of chemistry's. One category, such as the STP's of the world, are really just a lot of long chain polymer's in a low grade mineral oil. Polymers like this are used to make multi-viscosity grade oils, like 10W30, or 15W40 for instance, so they aren't bad just by themselves, used the right quantity. But when you overdose the oil blend with these, they may have a short term benefit on the oil pressure, but they are not very resistant to shear, and end up breaking down rather quickly. In an old engine that burns a lot of oil, the broken down polymers get carried along with the oil down around the piston ring grooves and ring lands, where they are exposed to high combustion temps and end up as deposits that lead to stuck piston rings, more blow-by, more oxidized and nitrated oil, leading to more lacquer and varnish and more deposits, and it becomes a viscous cycle.

Some one once posted in another thread here on the HAMB that they used STP to increase the level ZDDP in their oil, because STP claims to have ZDDP as an ingredient. A little web surfing turned up an oil analysis report on a sample of STP showing the level of zinc was LESS than typical modern engine oil, so if anything it was DILUTING the level of zinc, not adding to it!!!

Every engine manufacturer out there says NO to use of any of these ALA's (aftermarket lubricant additive). Do yourself a favor, just say NO. Stay clear of that aisle.

 

EGR Carbon? Care to explain that? I think you have your information mixed up.

What is in Lucas oil stabilizer? What does it do?

 

Bullshit, he didn't write the book on motor oil, that is asinine. Please get me the info on this book he wrote. You do realize there is an entire lubrication industry filled with chemists and automotive engineers, right? Did the lubrication industry start and end with Torco? Get a grip...

I gave you easily verified facts, don't be lazy, look it up.