MMO was used by both cars and commercial gas powered trucks as an upper cylinder lubricant in an attempt to cut down on stuck piston rings due to carbon buildup. Cars usually used a metered system, but trucks just dumped into the saddle tanks.
http://www.ampcolubes.com/products/ https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/anyone-beleive-in-marvel-mystery-oil.828912/
A buddy put a Judson supercharger on his VW bug back around 1969. I believe it has a MM "Inverse Oiler" in the kit to lube the sliding vanes. https://i.pinimg.com/originals/a1/22/e7/a122e7177ee52e1ceff767448d0f3841.jpg Judsons had been around since the mid 1950s I think.
I still use it; a half-pint at every other gas fill and 4 oz at each oil change. Mainly because it's become a habit and also because it smells so good. It never hurt anything either, and probably helped a bit.
Is this the Marvel Mystery Oil that was also a good penetrating oil? If so, where is it still available? I remember using it as a kid in the early 60s, and it would creep out of the metal cans once the seals were opened.
Yup it's still around. I get mine at O'Reilly. I only use it for oiling air tools as I'm paranoid of anything with "mystery" in its name after hearing my dad's stories of mystery meat lunch he had often in school around 1970 lol
Put some in an open container for a few months and see what's left after the solvent eliment (kerosene) has evaporated off.
Years ago, a buddy of mine was gifted a 55 gallon drum of the stuff, on a rolling rack no less. He'll let me have some whenever needed. I keep a bucket-full for freeing frozen parts--just toss it in and leave it for a couple months.
Back in the 60's & 70's before we went to diesel and then electric all our irrigation wells had propane fueled power plants. We had the Marvel Mystery Oilier on every engine to lubricate the upper end of the motor.
My local Walmart never seems to have it on the shelf. So I order it online from Walmart in the gallon jug and they send me an email when it's ready to pickup. Last gallon I got was $22. It's $25.28 now. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Marvel-M...8?classType=REGULAR&athbdg=L1200&from=/search
Nope! Not the same stuff. It was brownish-black, and wasn’t the stuff you out in the fuel tank. It was just a penetrating oil. Oh well, just wondering if it was back. I bet it had some nasty chemicals in it that caused baldness or something. Or incontinence…
MMO now comes in maybe 5 different variations, but can't say I've ever seen one that was brownish-black? I even have a full metal can of old MMO sitting on my garage shelf and it's not that color, and doesn't mention anything on the label about "penetrationg oil" use? I do recall seeing old advertising where it was said to be a corrosion inhibitor and penetrated metal. Maybe that's what you're looking for? Those ads were from WWII era if I recall? Walmart carries all the various current MMO types, and none show as a penetrant either. I buy the one rated for motor oil, or gasoline additive.
> >Wonder what the viscosity is of MMO? >>> Sure. Let me Google that for you. Here you go. Now that you know, what're you gonna do with all this info?