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Marvel mystery oil
A mechanic I know says to put a little of this in
your crankcase before an oil change, drive around,
then change the oil.
Supposedly, you can put a few ounces in your gas
and it works like STP to clean your injectors &
fuel system. I have yet to do this, but it would
be a lot cheaper than STP for this purpose --
assuming it works.
Does anyone know of some real research on this? I
put it in with my oil before my last change and
before a 60 miles drive, but another mechanic
opined that it is too thin to adequately protect
your engine.
I'll say this. It *does* smell good. MMMM
I'd appreciate any real-life experience, even
anyone who has good reason for calling me a dope
for using it.
dave
See Also: Fuel and Oil Additives
your crankcase before an oil change, drive around,
then change the oil.
Supposedly, you can put a few ounces in your gas
and it works like STP to clean your injectors &
fuel system. I have yet to do this, but it would
be a lot cheaper than STP for this purpose --
assuming it works.
Does anyone know of some real research on this? I
put it in with my oil before my last change and
before a 60 miles drive, but another mechanic
opined that it is too thin to adequately protect
your engine.
I'll say this. It *does* smell good. MMMM
I'd appreciate any real-life experience, even
anyone who has good reason for calling me a dope
for using it.
dave
See Also: Fuel and Oil Additives
Tagged:
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This discussion has been closed.
Comments
I've seen it in the store, and frankly, I've always dismissed it as snakeoil.
So, I'm afraid I don't have real-life experiences with this, but I'll keep reading this thread and see if there are others who do, because I'm curious.
and yes dave, it DOES smell good! lol...
-Chris
1) it can replace your lead additive if added to gasoline. It doesn't say that on the package, but top cylinder lubrication is basically what lead did when it was in gasoline.
2) it can be used to free a stuck engine. Pull your plugs and pour a little bit into each cylinder (not too much, don't want to hydrolock it) and let it sit overnight. Then try cranking it over. The stuff frees up your piston rings if they are rusted to the cylinder wall. Of course WD-40 does the same thing but it smells funny.
Yeah, this stuff smells good...I used it in the gas tank of the 1965 Chevy I owned when I was in high school...only because there was a half a case of the stuff in the trunk and my mechanic told me to use it and not waste my money on lead additive. That straight six definitely outlasted the rest of the car, while I tore up the clutch and busted brake line after brake line.
Or something like that...
Glad i'm not the only person who thinks it smells damn good. My wife didn't care for it one bit. maybe it's a guy thing?
I'm thinking that if i don't find out for sure one whay or the other, i can just use a little every other oil change. It will probably end up costing me 50cents every 6K miles that way. Click and Clack put it in the "can't hurt" category.
dave
Rislone and Marvel Mystery Oil, instead offer things like "quieter lifters," "reduced oil burning" and a "cleaner engine."
Most of these products are made up of solvents and detergents designed to dissolve sludge and carbon deposits inside your engine sothey can
be flushed or burned out. Wynn's Friction Proofing Oil, for example, is 83 percent kerosene. Other brands use naphthalene, xylene, acetone and
isopropanol. Usually, these ingredients will be found in a base of standard mineral oil.
In general, these products are designed to do just the oppositeof what the PTFE and zinc phosphate additives claim to do. Instead of leaving
behind a "coating" or a "plating" on your engine surfaces, they are designed to strip away such things.
All of these products will strip sludge and deposits out and clean up your engine, particularly if it is an older, abused one. The problem is, unless
you have some way of determining just how much is needed to remove your deposits without going any further, such solvents also can strip
away the boundary lubrication layer provided by your oil. Overuse of solvents is an easy trap to fall into, and one which can promote harmful
metal-to-metal contact within your engine.
As a general rule of thumb these products had their place and were at least moderately useful on older automobile and motorcycle engines of the
Fifties and Sixties, but are basically unneeded on the more efficient engine designs of the past two decades.
My 1962 car converts to unleaded easily by using harded (stainless steel) valve seats. If I don't use the uprated piece, or some form of lead substitute, I'll need to teardown the engine in about 40,000 miles.
However, there is NO need to worry about this condition in a newer car.
I used one in an Olds 307 with 80k miles, with no bad effects. If the user follows the instructions, and doesn't put the vehicle under any load while that stuff is swishing around, I can't imagine any harm being done. Wouldn't someone have sued already if their bearings were destroyed?
Guitarzan
Community Leader/Vans Conference
Jim
IT PROBABLY IS A GOOD IDEA TO RUN SOME IN THE OIL FOR A SHORT PERIOD JUST BEFORE AN OIL CHANGE BECAUSE IT IS NOT TOO HARSH OF A SOLVENT..
SIDE NOTE: I READ A BOOK ABOUT A GERMAN FIGHTER PILOT IN WWII THAT TOLD ABOUT HOW DURING THE VERY COLD RUSSIAN WINTER A RUSSIAN PRISONER SHOWED THEM HOW TO PUT GASOLINE IN THE MOTOR OIL OF THE FIGHTER PLANES SO THEY COULD CRANK THE MOTOR IN THE MORNINGS, THE GAS EVAPORATED AS THE MOTOR WARMED UP .IT MADE THEM CHANGE OIL MORE FREQUENTLY
BUT AT LEAST THEY COULD CRANK THE MOTOR.PROBABLY WOULDN'T DO THAT IN MY TRUCK BUT I GUESS THEY DIDN'T HAVE ANYTHING TO LOSE...
HOPE THIS HELPS
Dan
But use it in my modern fuel-injected automobiles. Nooooooooo....
I installed one on my '41 Plymouth. It used about 1 Qt. in 1000 miles. Don't know how much good it did as I sold the car soon after that.
Do any other old timers remember this?
I don't think I used too much, about a half-quart per six quarts of oil (IHC motors use just over 6 qts). It must have worked, because I've got an IHC 304 that I bought with 70K on the clock. It sat for at least 5 years, and I've put another 30K on it. There is one problem though, finding Scout parts!
I've been using MMO for years (7+) not for the benefit of the top cylinders but rather my fuel injectors. Those pintle's like a little lube now and then. I own an 89 Mustang 5.0 with 172k miles (with the original injectors) and she still purrs at idle like the day I bought her. Any time she starts idling rough I go for the MMO first instead of the Gumout. It's like giving a kitty a saucer of milk.
cheers,
JB
So who thinks what about this product?
Pat
Roving Host
As added to crank case oil at the time of adding new oil several ounces will hurt nothing, and may well keep varnish and sludge from building up in the first place, by keeping contaminates in suspension.
It seems here that from what I have read sludge build up is a concern somewhat out of proportion.
I can remember well air cooled V W Beetles that used 30 weight non-detergent oil forming sludge from the act of mixing engine oil with condensation. This sludge in away was a useful thing as it sealed a wide variety of internal engine parts, such as push rod tubes. And yes at times when the oil was not changed in time did clog the oil strainers of those days. One of the most common problems with older cars then was the removal of all sludge in a worn engine, as this caused oil to become abundant in the combustion chambers, which caused excessive smoking from the tail pipes at all times!
To add MMO to engine oil just before changing the engine oil seems to me a waste of MMO, time and money, as the solids are adhered to the engine castings by then due to heat, weight of solid contaminates, and trapping in areas that do not tend to drain well, for example places lower in the cylinder heads than the drain holes which I am willing to bet all engines have this common flaw.
Also as this MMO seems to have no chemicals that eat plastics it would there fore be safe to use in injection systems, where other additives might dissolve certain internal injection parts. MMO is thin in viscosity, and even thinner when mixed in gasoline, so passing through filters should not be a problem.
Oh I did read above a statement that said something about rusty rings. The only time piston rings could get rusty it if water were to sit for a long time with some form of water present. This would take a long time indeed, and only in the case of neglected storage of an engine. In this cases MMO can and will free rings in this condition to get the crank shaft to turn, but the MMO can does not say Marvel Magic Oil now does it! You might well expect to need to rebuild such and engine with no false witness to MMO.
just my opinion. Von
Is it good to ad this to my fuel injected Grand Marquis? Its a 1998 with low mileage.