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Engine Additives
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It's enviromentally correct (assuming you are not the snake that did the donating), a renewable resource, biodegradable, available in all 50 states and I have yet to see any owner's manual advising against its use. It is in limited supply in the winter which is why I switch to 5W30
As for changing thermostats.... the same applies. If you do decide to mess with your thermostat start a auto parts store so you will have the needed parts later on.
I've found that synthetic oils provide superior protection against wear, but this is NOT something you will notice unless you drive the car for 200,000 miles, which very few people do.
I have found that almost all oils though, subject to time and exposure to heat and friction will degrade to the base elements (thick goo = sludge). Mobil 1 or any type of synthetic oil does not justify the price when you follow the time proven schedule of vehicle maintenance.
I do agree with and wont contest that synthetic oils are blended for harsher service and do hold up to extreme heat and friction alot better than conventional oils. If severe service is the main reason (and not laziness), then by all means use it. and maintain your changes on time. Still, to me, the cost doesn't justify the gain unless you just don't care about your vehicle.
If you want, this site has some interesting information on oil filters for all that oil.
Again, sorry for the confusion. Rick
http://minimopar.simplenet.com/oilfilterstudy.html
curious. We also plan on driving this car until the engine falls out of it.
not notice any difference in performance. I do
use either a full synthetic or synthetic blend (my
favorite-Castrol syntec.) I bought a used '87 VW
Vanagon that was serviced from new with Mobil 1
5w-50 oil. It now has 143,000 miles on the original engine, the compression is within factory specs, does not burn oil, and runs strong. I think by using a high-quality oil, mineral or synthetic, regular oil changes, it is
not difficult to achieve long engine life. There
is no need for additives/treatments.
another trick to remove sldge was, according to him, was to add disel to engine oil after draing the old oil completly and flush it out and replacing with new fresh oil. i was informed by a mechanic few years by a mechanic of this being true only if done correctly by him, of course. BUT I DONT GO THAT MECHANIC SINCE I NOTICED I ENDED UP GOING TO HIM EVERY FEW WEEKS TO GET SOMETING REPAIRED. since i have been going to dealers and being taken for a succor, i have not been there for any other major repair execpt scheduled maintainance.
Remember, you can buy alcohol from most gas pumps nowadays, and it essentially does the same job. Brand name (and most off brand) gas contains cleaners too.
Most dry gas is 100% iso-propyl alcohol (IPA).
Most rubbing alcohol is 70%IPA/30% water. Buy the 100% IPA if you are gonna stick it in your car. The OTC drygas products are probably cheaper than 100% IPA from the drugstore.
As to ATF or diesel fuel to the crankcase, please don't do it. Diesel fuel is not a lubricant and you are almost certain to incur some bearing damage immediately. Many people did advocate this procedure several years ago ... but it wasn't a good idea then either. See info in the engine oil topic.
another person told me that if you change to synthetic after using regular oil for so long the engine will develop oil leaks. In fact some people have said not to even dare change the brand as this will lead to leaks or sludge formation aaaargh! What is the REAL poop?? thanx
Synthetic oil will not cause oil leaks, sludge, or the like. However, if your engine has a leak, synthetic is small enough/slippery enough to find leaks that regular oil will not find. It won't damage the seals, but if the seals are border line, synthetic will show the problems where you might go for years with regular oil.
Synthetic likewise won't cause sludge, but the additives might be better detergents, and therefore clean all the deposits, which were harmless in big passages, but will clog the small ones, (hopefully just the oil filter) as it passes through.
Personally I'd go with synthetic on newer cars if I can afford it. If the car has problems or is old don't bother. For Turbo cars, synthetics can take more abuse then normal oil, so it is a better idea yet.
I think it is a tough call. How much of the life of the turbo is gone? Maybe an inspection could tell. The guy did GREAT by keeping the oil clean. Hopefully, he also idled a bit to let the turbo cool before shutting the car off, and didn't stomp on the gas upon starting the car. I think these habits might make that baby last longer than any oil type change.
thus when CR did their trial... BOOM....
my 2 cents... or prolly a cent and a half....
a retired person who now works at an oil refinery
ican tell you this... dont use wax based oil.
Despite the operating temps it will gum up faster
and cause you more in repair later.'
I'm still low on the learning curve about such matters, but I'm pretty sure that's an urban myth. Here's what the Pennzoil web site says:
"Few, if any, misconceptions about motor oils have been so widely circulated as this one: 'motor oils containing paraffin can leave deposits in engines.' No one seems to know how this misconception got started, but it sometimes appears to have taken on a life of its own.
Most major motor oils today are formulated using paraffin-based crude oil. And they do not leave behind deposits in engines. In fact, one of the reasons paraffin-based oils are used is to insure against deposits. The confusion apparently begins with the fact that our first introduction in life to paraffin is as a wax.
When motor oil chemists speak of paraffin they are referring to relatively non-reactive hydrocarbons, extracted from crude oil, which have excellent oxidation stability. That stability prevents oils from breaking down under extreme operating temperatures and as a result are unlikely to form deposits.
Motor oils not formulated from paraffin-based oils use naphthenic-based crude oils and are more likely to leave deposits in engines."
I know this response may be posted after the issue has lost it's interest, but I am new to the forum and was reading old messages. Interesting!
mjr asked about moly (#28, May). It is molybdenum disulfide MoS2. It is sold by several vendors; the stuff I had was made by Acheson. Moly is a solid so it comes as a fine powder suspended in an oil base.
I worked at a small research company in Michigan for 12 years, and the scientists there would buy a 55 gal. drum of it then everyone would take a quart or a gallon for several years' use. It is an excellent wear inhibitor and prevents (OK, *almost* prevents for the purists) metal-to-metal contact. You use just a couple of ounces in your engine oil.
I was skeptical and called a Ford lubrication engineer for his opinion. It was: Yes, if the particle size is small enough it will do as claimed. It is very slippery, adheres tenaceously to metal and it is almost impossible to force it off (hence prevents parts wear even at high pressures). MoS2 particles must be less than 1 micron. (Acheson was 0.1 micron as I remember). I asked if it is so good why isn't its use more widespread? He said Ford tested it, and found it to be a good additive. But it is very black, stains easily and permanently, and is messy and just disagreeable to work with. Oil technology is sufficiently advanced these days that it really isn't needed. You can't tell your oil condition by looking as it is opaque and very black.
I put it in our family cars regularly for awhile, now once in awhile (not close to every oil change).
I don't know if it has helped or not. We've had no lubrication related problems on our cars (last car 177,000, wife's and my present cars 124,000 each).
Changing the oil regularly probably is sufficient.
David,
I, too, was confused by recommendations to avoid paraffin-based oils. My old chemistry text says that there is a 'paraffin' series of compounds starting with methane (a gas, 1 carbon) ethane (2 carbons) which are 'saturated' i.e. no double bonds, and so on. If you go higher in the seies you get octane (the fuel, 8 carbons), then oils, then waxes. The word Paraffin means little affinity, or little reactivity.
The point is, just because it is paraffin-based doesn't mean it has waxes in it.
It was my understanding that most oils deriving from mineral oil ('DD' here in this forum) are paraffin based.
Perhaps those Forum authors recommending against paraffin-based oils would be kind enough to provide more details on which oils are paraffin based, which are not, and why.
1) Paraffinic solvent-extracted base oil(this is "standard old technology"). Solvent extraction pulls out the wax, yes wax, from an oily distallate, often called "VGO" "vaccum gas oil". They are slightly colored without additives, because solvent extraction does not remove all impurities. The wax is used to make other products like firelogs, etc... Called "group 1" stocks to insiders.
2) Hydrocracked & catalytically dewaxed base oils. This is a chemical reaction made to the oil stream to eliminate wax. These oils have many "semi-synthetic" properties. Chevron has the leading technology here, it is used by many refiners. Some oil co's are trademarking these "water white" base oils which have very low impurities. These oils called "group 2" in the industry. The industry is generally moving toward these types of oils to meet the new GF-3 specs due in 2001.
3) Synthetics are made from the ground-up as an oil molecule (methinks starting with an organic gas stream). Typically PAO's [polyalfaolefins] and some others. Syns are benificial in some applications, most folks do not need them and will get full engine life without them.
ALL motor oils may be thought of as "parrafinic" in nature --- this is GOOD!!!
Napathenics base oils are the other choice, these oxidize easily and are a niche product today.
No end-user of car motor oil needs to be too concerned about this stuff as long as a major brand oil meeting spec. is used.
We had an excellent mechanic at the time named Bob, who hated Pennzoil and Quaker State oil.
When he would pull a valve cover off a sludge filled engine, he would say " Here's another Pennzoil engine!" After asking the owner or by looking at the door sticker, he was usually right!
His favorite at the time was Havoline made by Texaco.
So, to this day, I won't use the stuff! Maybe things are different today?
As for Pennzoil, perhaps the racing money has helped development. I used 5w030 Pennzoil for 5 years in my Integra, with fine results.
guitarzan
Community Leader/Vans Conference
The point is I think the Slick50 worked for me. I use it in my '94 Nissan Maxima. It currently have 96k miles.
Do you not think your Maxima would have made it to 96k without the Slick 50?
It sounds like you do good, regular maintenance. Don't waste your money on additives.
None of these have proven to make any difference. I bet your Conquest would have crapped the turbo with or without Slick 50.
do a search on slick 50 on the web... read some of the research that's been done... buyer beware.....
guitarzan
Community Leader/Vans Conference
I've added Duralube to BOTH my turbodiesel and normally aspirated gasoline engines. They run great. However, since I've added it, I've done a lot of snooping at Consumer Union, the web, and an old petro-chemical engineer buddy. They all say what Craig "Isellhondas" said: Don't waste your time or money. Change your oil <5000 miles regularly and you'll get optimal engine life. Reason: Today's "SJ" oils are VASTLY superior to the SE/SF crap we all used in the 70s. The quality of the oil, and the longevity of the additives in today's "SJ" oils mean you don't have to use Duralube. If I had it to do over again, I wouldn't waste my money.
Anectodal evidence: I doctored up (with sexy additives my supremo deluxo 76 280Z with 297,000 miles on it when we had twins, and had to buy the Volvo. On the other hand, my wife's Datsun 510 (same engine, but only 4 cylinders) just got treated with regular Quaker State oil every 5000 miles (despite that bad juju some have said about QS oil). The non-treated engine looked MUCH better (less deposits, less polishing of the camshaft) than the one I did all the special treatments too. I'm still trying to figure that one out.
-psycho
p.s. Happy birthday, Marine.
tHANKS
Pat
oil is designed to give a rated viscosity index at operating temp. (aprox. 250 deg. F) equal to the larger of the two numbers, & a cold oil index equal to the lower of the two. Primary importance is the operating temp. index.
30w oil, at operating temp., will maintain aprox. .001 in. clearance between two conforming surfaces. If a eng. crank-shaft main & rod bearing clearance is set at .001 in. (common in the automotive industry) 30w oil will provide good lubrication. At the same time, if we try to use 50w oil for the same eng. we are sure to suffer bearing damage and failure due to the fact that 50w oil, at operating temp. will not be able to get between bearing & crankshaft surfaces.
The best policy is to always follow manufactures recommended lubrication oil for all components, (eng., trans., PS. etc.).