slick 50 in the race car. Years ago i put it in a beater cause I got it for free, after I put it in I had to turn the idle down a little....my engine builder also uses it. Don
I use Lucas oil additive. I put it in my O/T daily driver and it started running like a champ. 210,000 miles and it runs like a brand new car. I've also used it in many other cars. A friend used it in a 53 235 that sat for 20 years. smoked like a bandit before but after he cleaned out the engine and put some Lucas in it no more smoke and ran like a new engine.
I've always used STP in my cars, can't tell ya if it helped or not but i got use to using it in the 60;s & always have. I know alot of people swear by "restore" but its not cheap & only lasts 1 oil change. People also swear by "lucas" & "amsoil".Amsoil is like a cult!! i think they gey ex "amway" people to hawk it!! They might be "moonies" JimV
I like Marvel Mystery oil. I use it in my O/T daily driver if the valve train starts to make noise (and it's not low on oil ) or gives the telltale puff of blue on start up. It seems to clean the internals. We use it on the Pratt radials at the airline if the valve guides start coking up. cleans them right out. Nothing quite like a 155 or so cubic inch backfire.
Marvel mystery oil is..both a marvel and a mystery LOL. seriously, i cant tell you what the ingredients are but i can tell you that it is 1. an amazing lube for air tools. 2.if you apply it to any fresh machined surface it will not rust. 3. and my personal use for street motors has proved that after 300k+ miles on our tow rig the cyls and bearings looked NEW! I learned about 24 years ago that a major fleet in our area was using 1 pint in every oil change for all the gas engines. kinda thought they were wasting $. you know ..snake oil etc.. when we purchased a wrecked truck from them (for the block) and tore it down all we had to do was touch up hone the cyls and wash the block... zero wear ! marvel is awesome ! dave
Jack up the radiator cap and put a new one under it. Sorry, just something dad used to say to me every time I tried to fix up something he considered too far gone. I would worry more about why the pressure is low than try to use an additive. If you have to you can usually run a heavier oil though. The 'single viscosity' oils (ie. 30 wt) tend to work better for this. Of course I met a mechanic once that said he preferred 90 wt, didn't leak out as fast.
I've been using a bottle of STP in my car with each oil change strictly because I heard it is loaded with ZDDP (Zinc) that is now supposedly not in our oil itself. It's only like 1.79 a bottle and my grandfather swore by it his entire life, using it in everything from farm machinery to his Chrysler 300, and never had any type of engine failures, so I figure it can't hurt anything, and may actually be a real benefit now that the zinc is all but gone from motor oils.
I usually use some Marvel. I used to use the Lucas. Then somewhere, I think it was here, some guy had all this research on a website about the Lucas. So I quit using it. Who knows? Might be worth a search just for the info.
I tried Lucas oil additive a couple weeks ago. I was impressed on the differance in made in my cars rear end and trans.. I never use additives that much before. Plan to now
as a veteran of the auto parts/ machine shop biz. for 30 + years i can tell you within 30 sec. if an engine has been running stp or not. no offense to stp, but while it is a great lubricant it leaves horrible deposits behind.. as for the zinc issue with todays "modern" blends of oil.. we have found the best solution to be "diesel" rated oil.. lots of zinc and really, if you think about it...if the oil can stand up to 24 to 1 compression and 2 mountains of torque it should be able to take any punishment we can give it with our gas motors.. for easily available oil my personal favorite is chevron "delo" 400 in 15/40 wt. (costco sells it ) And Shell "rotella t "works well also... I really prefer to use valvoline "all fleet" but its hard to find locally.i like this oil best because it comes out of the bottle nearly clear. makes it real easy to tell when its time to change. dave
I must have tried every oil and fuel additive over the years. The only one I still use occasionally is Marvel Mystery fuel additive. Lucas oil additive works well on an old engine. However on a well tuned relatively new vintage engine, I found that nothing lubes better than pure straight grade oil with the least amount of additives, including polymers that make multi-grade oil and eventually break down. Less is more... Flat tappet cam engines like zinc in their oil, especially for cam/lifter break in, but also for everyday use. Since last year only certain racing oils and diesel oils like Rotella T and Delo 400 have sufficient zinc. And since this year, the newest CJ rated generation of these also don't have enough zinc any longer. STP red bottle can be used to boost the zinc content of regular oils. - Cheaper with every oil change than engine break in lubes. GM EOS is also discontinued since this year.
I grew up on STP. Dad still uses it every change. I stopped using it when I went to synthetic in my drivers. Anybody use it with the synthetics? I'm going to use it every change in the '33/283.
Not any more: http://www.lubereport.com/e_article000288578.cfm and that article is from 04 Plus gm stopped making EOS and I can't find another additive high in zddp so we're close to screwed. Valvoline "Not street legal" VR Racing oil still has zinc in it though. Primo
90W gear lube isn't rated the same as engine oil (look it up some time - there's SAE viscosity charts out there...) Anyhow - I've used the "racing 50W" oil - it's thick and has zinc EP additive in it... For low oil pressure you've usually got 2 ways to 'solve' it - the first is a cheapie bandaid - and that's putting a HV oil pump in there - the more volume pumping will allow it to build some pressure back. The next is to replace the bearings - which may require machining to get clearances back in check.... More $$$ and time... As for me - I don't use any addative at all - had lots of vehicles over 200k with nothing more than good oil (I've used castrol mostly), The daily has 232k on it and still going strong with no oil consumption...
Castrol is supposedly coming out with an oil formulated for cl***ic cars with former levels of ZDDP in it. Haven't seen it nor heard from anyone who has independently tested it. Many of the big box "racing" oils are no better than their street oils repackged. For true racing oils, try Bradd Penn, Joe Gibbs, & Redline a**** others...
It's to be expected that very soon there will be several brand ZDDP additives available, other than the STP which has been around for ages. Specialty ZDDP formulated oils for flat tappet cam engines may also be available from a few of the bigger brands. Whenever there is a demand for something, there is profit to be made and another product is born.
The "NEW" Mobil 1 15W-50 has the proper level of ZDDP you need. Walmart carries it. Called 1-800-ask- Mobil and spoke to a Tech Rep. He advised the new Energy Conserving oil like Mobil 1 10W-30 does not contain enough ZDDP for flat tappet motors. What ever you do, make sure you have ZDDP protection during breakin of a new motor otherwise you risk wiping out your cam lobes.
A guy I know off has a baja truck he races that is sponsered by Lucas motor oil. They kept blowing motors (like every race). So they switched to Mobile 1 and haven't had a problem since? Now they poor the lucas oil into a 55 gal. drum and fill the bottles(lucas) up w/ mobile1 before each race. So they look like there still using lucas, to keep there sponser.??? I never tried they'er motor oil though...
Yes that's true, and I should have been more specific, he was an Aircraft Mechanic and was speaking of single viscosity Radial Aircraft Engine oil which was available in SAE engine oil grades all the way up into the 140's.
I use Marvel Oil for all sorts of things. It has kept my 30 year old CP 1/2" impact going strong, a little in the fuel of the hot rod once in awhile keeps everything running nicely and a little dash of it in the wifes flathead crankcase gives her peace of mind. She also uses it on her bare lakester headers, rubbed in with some green Scotchbrite the pipes always look great. My 80+ year old Dad has used and recommended Marvel for decades now......he even puts it in his CTS Northstar Caddy motor!
I have been curious about this... I have a 250 L6 Chevy in my pickup - it uses about a quart of oil a week. I have been using Lucas oil additive, and it seems to be a little better. Are any of the "fix your cylinder wall" oil treatments worth a ****? thanks - Joe
OK, I've got to throw a bit of scientific research into this discussion. I used to work for E**on Research and Engineering. Test Car Lab. We did all the research and testing on oil and fuel additives, before they started buying "packages" of additives from third parties. I attended many research symposiums, in-house, where they discussed the additive packages they were considering adding to oil, as well as research findings on addpacks. What i found very interesting, with regard to this post, is that the proper ratios of additives was more important to the oil wear characteristics, than anything else. While one additive is very important for wear, if you put in too much of it, or put in too much detergent, it decreased it's effectiveness. Too much of one would cancel out the advantages of another. Too little of one, and another would lose effectiveness, as well. It was a very precise balancing act to get the right mix of anti-wear, lubricity, detergency, viscocity, shear strength, etc. This is the result of many, many carefully planned, and executed experiments. So.....my question is....what happens to this carefully thought out and crafted mix of oil additives (in a formulated oil), when you add something else out of a can from Pep Boys? Now, I am not completely negating the effects of oil additives, as I sometimes add STP to high mileage engines, or Marvel to one that has a lifter tick, but it really goes against any form of scientific research.
About the only thing that's ever worked for me in a situation like this is G.M. Top Engine Cleaner. If your oil consumption is due to a few stuck rings, it'll usually shake them loose.
Thanks HEATHEN... I think I'll give it a shot before dumping 5 or 6 hundred dollars into it... Question: I found this while doing a search <TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=3 width="100%"><TBODY><TR cl***=bgblack vAlign=top align=left><TD bgColor=#000011>Using GM's Top Engine Cleaner</TD></TR><TR vAlign=top align=left><TD>Scott Simpson - Scott231@Juno.com</TD></TR><TR cl***=bgyellow vAlign=top align=left><TD>Objective</TD></TR><TR vAlign=top align=left><TD>To remove any carbon buildup from the cylinder head combustion chambers, valve train and possibly the outside of the fuel injectors.</TD></TR><TR cl***=bgyellow vAlign=top align=left><TD>Equipment Needed</TD></TR><TR vAlign=top align=left><TD>One can of liquid (not aerosol) GM Top Engine Cleaner. Should be less than $10 at your local GM dealer. This stuff may be available at NAPA or your favorite parts store for less</TD></TR><TR cl***=bgyellow vAlign=top align=left><TD>Procedure</TD></TR><TR vAlign=top align=left><TD> Bring engine to operating temperature and shut off. Disconnect MAF sensor and inlet pipe from intercooler. Also loosen the inlet pipe to throttle body hose/clamp and rotate inlet pipe to pour in the cleaner. Start engine. You will get error code 34 but that can be ignored for now. Slowly pour half the bottle of cleaner into the inlet pipe while keeping the engine from dying. You will probably see some white smoke coming out of the exhaust which is the built-up carbon from the cylinder heads. Now dump the remaining half bottle into the inlet pipe. This will kill the engine (if not shut it off). Allow the cleaner to "soak in" for about 15 minutes. While waiting, reconnect everything disconnected above (including the MAF sensor!) and unplug then reconnect the orange ECM wire to reset the error code set above. Start the motor and watch lots of white smoke pour out of the exhaust. Good-bye carbon! For obvious reasons do not do this in the garage! I'm guessing that I simply pour 1/2 a can in while the engine is running, wait, then pour the second half in... No m*** airflow sensor on my 250! thanks - Joe </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
The Jalopy Journal
