Oil additives

gordy,

don't mess around with additives. Idon't know what kind of oil hyou're using now. But I would simply switch to a good brand of 5-30 wieght. Short trips are the toughest miles on a car. You want the oil lubricating the engine as fast as possible. I've read that the first minute of cold engine driving is equal to a hundred miles of driving when the engine is hot.

You might check with your dealer about using 0-30. If the car never warms up, I think that 0-30 oil would be even better.

I never use any oil additives, however I use 3 different oils for my 3 different cars. It really depend on the type of engine, the temp at which the engine runs and the stress the engine receives, It is VERY important to change the oil often no matter what the car maker says.

I recently used an oil additive, it clogged up my oil pump , $ 300.00 repairs.

I've heard it both ways. One of the best heavy vehicle mechanics in town firmly believes that the frequency of oil change is way more important than the quality of the oil, for whatever that's worth.

For short trips, I suggest good synthetic oil--I'd use Mobil 1 0W-40.

My Cadillac gets that, in fact.

Edit (Moderator): Link removed.

I will admit that I have a bias here but if you have some experience with the industry you know that the FTC came down on Slick 50 and other companies basically at Slick 50s request. Their competition was starting to gain on them and as they were owned by one of the big oil companies (read: deep pockets) they could better weather the storm of fines, etc. If you have ever seen a demonstraition of an additive then you know the stuff works. Better products come along everyday, but big business for all its benefits also keeps the barriers to entry very high.
Have you ever seen the movie -Tucker?
Everytime one of these oil companies introduces a new motor oil specially formulated for older cars or for 4X4s - all they have done is add more additives. Oil companies have done a lot of research - and what they are looking for is a recurring revenue stream. GE can make a light bulb that will last a lifetime - but they don't, why?
Oil itself won't do anything for you - it is just the fluid carrier - the additives do all the work in terms of friction protection.

This is simply nonsense and dangerously wrong. If standard motor oil was "only the carrier" then you should be able to just use the additives without any oil at all in your car and it should work just fine. I wouldn't recommend it.

If you read the Material Safety Data Sheets on most popular motor oils they are at least 95% paraffinic base oil with the remainder being almost entirely detergents (usually zinc alkyldithiophosphates) that have NO lubricating qualities.

Actually, I posted something from another site that someone else had just recently written, why did you remove the link? This is a forum right? I never said that you could just use additives and neither did the poster from the other site. If you hadn't removed the link then you would see that he said oil is the FLUID carrier, just like the water in your blood carries cells & nutrients so the oil in your car carries detergents and other additives. Apparently, I wrote something threatening for you to take such hasty action and twist words. Before I was just trying to get some other people's take on what the guy was saying now I am beginning to think that he was on to something. Here is the link again Edit (Moderator): Link removed.

First of all, I didn't remove the links. I am but one of several Moderators and another of them removed them because they violate the Terms of Service for this site.

Secondly, your post was neither threatining nor anything else other than a lot of misleading nonsense - regardless of whether you originally posted it on the other forum you frequent or someone else did.

Thirdly, my post was neither hasty nor did I twist anything. I took the exact words you posted and explained why they are wrong. I also never stated that you or anyone else said you could just use the additives. It's a simple logic chain. If, as the post states, the oil is just the carrier and the additives do all the lubricating then, since lubrication is the only desired function, we should just be able to use the additives without any oil at all. That is patently false.

Ok, I apologize for accusing you. I didn't realize about the forum rules. What I do know is that motor oil is more than just base oil and the function it provides is more than just lubrication. Looking at the API website, along with base oil (the carrier), motor oil contains: pour point depressants, oxidation and bearing corrosion inhibitors, rust and corrosion inhibitors, detergent/dispersant agents, foam inhibitors, viscosity index improvers, extreme pressure agents, and friction modifiers - what do these all have in common? they are all additives.

One of the additives I've heard mechanics recommend is Renew. It's not cheap, but it's supposed to help restore power by sealing small cracks and fill scratches in the engine. I'm not going to post a link because the mods might think I've given up fertilizer sales and am now in the snake oil business.

You just keep shoving the fertilizer, cjhsa. We'll keep reading.

By the way, does anyone know of a car manufacturer that recommends an oil additive? I don't.

Watch that renew stuff.I heard that is swells seals in the motor and therefore stops leaks and stops the motor smoking,and you think it's a great product,but then then after a while the seals harden and the motor is worse than when you started.

Man this is a funky site, I stated in my last post that my information came from the American Petroleum Institute web address and now there is a link for some other business - of which I have no involvement (i.e. I posted no link or website but there is one there now). I have noticed that for every one who says something positive about additives - there are usually about 3 people who will fire back with a negative whether they have tried one or not. I personally use additives and have been very pleased with the results. Most people that come out and say something like Renew damages seals - has never even used Renew - no offense Gordy - I know you are just being helpful. But I also guarantee you that for every person that has actually used an additive package (there are a lot of them and a lot of them aren't very good) and has had a bad experience - there are a hundred people that are very pleased with the benefits. You can't believe everything that you hear or read, if you did you would starve to death because as you have seen on the news - every kind of food available causes cancer.

additives
I'll agree that most additives are garbage because they are just copycats of other formulas. I drive a 735i (160k miles) with expensive stuff to replace in it and followed the manual's instructions to the letter. But, their instructions are biased, outdated and without research outside their financial interests. A big reason manufacturers don't recommend additives is because there are too many to test. Some work, some don't, some make things worse.

After having my transmission practically die on me after several fluid and filter changes with no luck I figured I had nothing to loose by trying some additives. Trans problems: overdrive= violent seizures (shudders), reverse=terrible noise, lower gears=slipping, very hard shifting, major loss of power. I tried LUCAS trans additive on the road. It's a thick blue sludge that didn't really do much. A few hundred miles later the car was limping around again so I guess the stuff didn't work. I drained so fluid and added Greased Lightning as a final shot in the dark.
Results: within 2 minutes of adding the stuff shifts were smooth, lots of power returned, reverse noise went away, overdrive halfway worked, definitely better but not fixed.

So far the only additives I've ever put in my cars that have worked are Techron, Water Wetter (Redline) and Greased Lightning, everything else was a waste of money. Also a fantastic oil is Amsoil. Mobile 1 is not worth what it costs. Lab results I've seen show that Castrol is usually better anyway. Mobile just has better ads and marketing. Amsoil beats any of them in every category and you'll notice the difference when driving. It cost more initially but you don't have to change it nearly as often so you actually save money in the long run.

My point is: go out and do your own research, try stuff, experiment and make your own judgments. And please stop watching the informercials. Many of those products are not regulated by the same guidelines as products in actual stores. Trust me I've shot infomercials before (not proud of it).

I've seen Restore work. It claims to restore compression on worn engines...and I've seen the results firsthand. It works.

Water Wetter also works--it made my Caddy run 15 degrees cooler.

What about the long term effects mentioned about using Restore? Have you seen a car long after the use of such product? I know these things are great quick fixes or time buyers, but I want to know long term effects on a healthy engine. I put stuff in my transmission because I have nothing to loose. It's past it's time. It's like a 15 year old cat that just wont die. Any kind of work besides what I can do myself will cost more than a rebuilt one, so what the hell.

I just looked up Restore. I've used that before. Didn't notice any real difference.

It turned a 2-quarts-a-week Ford 302 into a quart-a-month 302. The engine had ~350,000 city miles (1984 Grand Marquis taxi). ~75,000 miles later (yes, the car has over 400K). Last time I saw it (about 4 months ago), it still ran fine, & hadn't started drinking oil. The car was junked in March after getting sideswiped by a UPS truck. It still ran, & they might actually have pulled the engine as a spare.