Edmunds dealer partner, Bayway Leasing, is now offering transparent lease deals via these forums. Click here to see the latest vehicles!
Options

Car Additives

nikhilpatel05nikhilpatel05 Member Posts: 2
edited April 2014 in Lexus
I have 250 miles on my Lexus IS300. Does anyone have any particular advice on a solid additive to add to the car, IF ANY, on my next gas fill up? I heard there are special additives formulated for new cars to extend the life of the valves, and so on which you can initially add on your first fill up. Thanks alot.
Tagged:

Comments

  • Options
    Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    I think you are referring to what is called a "top oil" or "upper cylinder lubricant"...it is a very light oil that goes in the gas.

    Personally, I don't think modern engines need this at all. Scheduled oil changes, periodic valve adjustments, and timing belt changes as needed should protect your valve train for the life of the car.

    Mostly top oil was used in older engines, where upper engine lubrication systems weren't the best, and valve guide wear was pretty common.

    However, after saying all that, certainly there's no harm in using it and perhaps in adverse conditions it might actually do something...hard to say...
  • Options
    brorjacebrorjace Member Posts: 588
    In my 1986 Escort GT I used 3-4 ounces of Marvel Mystery Oil in about every tank of gas for most of the time I had the car. I can't be sure if the engine ran smoother or not but the light oil consumption the car experienced disappeared when I used this stuff and the mileage might have improved 1 mpg or so. I can't be sure of the latter but the difference in oil consumption was easy to measure and the effects were almost instantaneous.

    I'm a little leary about using this stuff in newer cars as I'm afraid they might clog the injectors. While Marvel Mystery Oil has come out with newer formulas for fuel-injected cars, their heyday was back when carburetors were the norm.

    Now, I only use a little Redline SI-1 fuel system cleaner and some isopropyl dry gas in my cars.

    --- Bror Jace
  • Options
    Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    Just a coincidence, I think. I can't see any relationship whatsoever between top oil and oil consumption....oil is burned either due to engine wear or bad valve guides/seals, and Marvel Mystery Oil isn't going to fix either of those problems. Maybe you knocked a piece of carbon off a valve in the process or freed up a sticky valve...that might account for a little more mpg...but the oil consumption issue...well, I have no idea what happened there....good luck, I think.
  • Options
    brorjacebrorjace Member Posts: 588
    Mr. Shiftright, there was no way it was a coincidence. I started and stopped this practice of mixing MM oil with my gas numerous times and you could see the minimal oil consumption stop and start corresponingly.

    I believe it had something to do with lubricating the upper cylinder walls and allowing the rings to seal more effectively.

    --- Bror Jace
  • Options
    Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    But seal what? Oil rings? So it would have to get past the compression rings to touch the oil rings...so why didn't it seal the compression rings well enough to keep itself from reaching the oil rings, which it then supposedly seals from the oil splashing below?
  • Options
    adc100adc100 Member Posts: 1,521
    Isn't it possible that the MM oil ads a film to the cylinder walls which would allow less crankcase oil to work their way through the control rings? This sounds basically simple to me. This is not a slam, just an honest question.

    brorjace: I also saw about 1 mpg improvement with MM. I'm with you about using it anymore though.
  • Options
    brorjacebrorjace Member Posts: 588
    Mr. Shiftright. That was my initial guess when I was using the stuff over 10 years ago. Perhaps that IS the reason for reduced oil consumption. I just can't say for sure.

    --- Bror Jace
  • Options
    Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    Well, who knows? Always fun to speculate.
  • Options
    isellhondasisellhondas Member Posts: 20,342
    I think we are seeing a placebo effect here, but, hey, if he's happy...!
  • Options
    brorjacebrorjace Member Posts: 588
    I'm well aware of the placebo effect and am always asking myself if that's the case whenever I try something new ... but that's not what's happening.

    The use of MMO consistently took my car's light oil usage and turned it into ZERO oil usage.

    --- Bror Jace
  • Options
    Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    Well, my interpretation is that of course you observed what you observed accurately (no one is calling you a fool or dishonest, I assure you) but that the reason for the result may have been misperceived. Some very brilliant scientists and researchers do this all the time...in fact, it is the usual case with us humans.
This discussion has been closed.

Helpful Tools

Most popular vehicles