What is everyone's experience with these types of oil additives, have there been any test that show they really do work? Do any of you use them, and if so, What are your opinions?

 

Work for what exactly?

Only reason to use anything other than oil in your crankcase is either to clean built up sludge and varnish on a poorly maintained motor or to thicken up the oil so it doesnt burn so much oil while you save up your last few dollars to rebuild the engine. The rest is all snake oil backed up with 500 pages of marketing.

 

Well, I just got this car, 1991 Camaro RS 305, TBI, and the car has 200k miles on it. Bought it from the original owner who has been letting the car sit for a while, and I do believe that the oil changes may have been a bit more spaced out than what I prefer. It doesnt seem to have oil burning problems, but it is due for an oil change. Just dump some good ole Castrol GTX in and call it good, or can I use something to clean up the inside of the engine and De-sludge it?

 

Just change the oil and dont worry about it unless something is wrong.

 

http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2001/02/zmax1.shtm

"The agency alleges that enhanced performance claims for the product are unsubstantiated, that tests cited to support performance claims actually demonstrated that motor oil treated with zMax produced more than twice as much bearing corrosion than motor oil alone, and that the three different products - an engine additive, a fuel line additive and a transmission additive - were all actually tinted mineral oil."

 

hahaha, OUCH !!! Thanks for that info chesterfield!

 

You know, thats funny. A bunch of... ok I'll refrain but I got blasted halfway across the planet just a couple months ago on the product review board for calling it snake oil and dont do it.... and looky there.

 

yeah one of these days people will realize u cannot fix mechanical problems with chemicals....

 

I disagree, I have found sea foam worked well on fixing a screwed up carb on my motorcycle.

just my experience....

 

thats cause it cleaned out deposits.....im talking bout stuff like engine restore and crap like that. the closest you can come is having a chemical that swells rubber seals to help them seal better and thats just half assed in my opinion...

 

Ok, I wasn't sure. I personally find sea foam to be VERY effective. I wasnt sure if anyone else had good experiences with these compression builder do-das.

Thank yall for your input I dont think I will be Z-maxing my engine any time soon

 

yeah seafoam is a great cleaning agent......

 

But isn't seafoam just rebadged diesel fuel?
I tried it once. Did nothing for me.
Many many moons ago I even tried Slick50. I thought it helped until I opened up the engine to find that crap sticking everywhere.

 

the manual calls for regular oil changes. I would just change the oil and use a 5-50 synthetic if you want to help the bearing tolerances abit...

 

Any specific brand of synthetic better than another? I am concerned about spending the cash on synthetic and then the car developing an oil leak. If that happened, i would end up changing it again....

 

if ure engine has alot of crud in it helping to plug leaks (which it probably does if its high milage) then the better synthetics are going to cause leaks cause theyl break up the sludge thats helping to plug them. Best synthetics are MOBIL 1 Valvoline Castrol and AMSOIL..... I use Mobil 1 there is a reason the worlds top supercars use it ya know but those others i mentioned are bout just as good....IMO.

 

makes cents on the tellie they say it soaks into the metal doesnt that make it an acid

 

the way i see it, if a product has been around for a long time, there's a reason for it. products like marvel mystery oil, engine restorer, seafoam, duralube, etc. have been around for a while. i work in an auto parts store and the old timers always come asking for the mystery oil and they swear by it...same with the engine restorer...you know, that blue stuff that comes in an old school oil can. i've heard bad things about z-max too.

per oil change i use: mobil 1 high mileage 10w-40, engine restorer, and zddplus. never had any issues and engine now runs better than when i used dino oil alone.

 

Why not just throw in half a liter of tranny fluid with the engine oil and let the motor run for abit then drop the oil. That should clean out the build up...

 

Stuff like marvel and slick 50 etc... Aren't those mainly used for band aids? I know my tranny in my tbird is slipping like a **** but to keep her going long enough for me to get another ride i threw a good chunk of slick50 in her and she's been grabbing a bit better since then, for how long I don't know. I'll be getting my 89' rs this weekend anyways though so I'm okay.

 

as far as marvel goes, i mainly use(d) it for cleaning purposes. i'd dump 1/2 qt. in the day before an oil change and drive around a bit. that way, it cleans out the gunk, but won't cause leaks to form due to it sitting in the engine too long. also, it helps free sticking lifters. for what it is, it works pretty well.

i've never used slick 50, but the engine restorer i use works pretty well. i noticed a difference after i started using it every oil change, after not using it for a while.

this is the stuff i'm talking about: http://www.restoreusa.com/

 

I feel like weighing in. I'm a believer in Restore. I'm also a professional automotive machinist, engines are my life. What restore actually does, I can't say. But the results are as advertised. Improved cranking compression, and not just for a few days. I can't prove any other advantages, but it's good stuff to buy when you just dragged home another car you know little about.

 

i use marvel mystery oil for the simple fact that it smells delicious!!!
jk
but it does smell good though.
i usually pour a quart in every other oil change though.
figure it cant really hurt anything.

the bigger thing to worry about IMO is filtration.
you can have the best oil on the planet, but if crud is not getting filtered out, then you are screwed.
next oil change i am going to try one of those amsoil filters that supposedly get down to the half micron or whatever.

 

years ago i had a girl friend whose pickup was using oil like mad.
not only did it leak, but it smoked out the tail pipes, bad.
a round trip to work and back for her was about 9 miles, it used 3 or so quarts of oil a day.
you could watch the cylinders firing by the puffs of smoke from the breather tube.
a set of oil non-foulers kelp the plugs clean enough that it didn't start missing too bad for few days between plug cleanings.

i don't remember what it was she bought, all i remember was telling her she wasted the $10.00 on it and laughing about it.
it took her from the 3+ quarts a day to less than a quart a week.
it cleared up at least 80 percent of the tail pipe smoke and 95 percent of the oil leaks. the puffs of smoke from the breather tube were barely noticeable. and the plugs didn't need to be cleaned near as often.

the stuff was bright yellow and in a yellow quart oil can, and it didn't smell bad at all.
about once a month she would dump another quart of that stuff in.
it allowed that motor to live for a few more months until we could afford a new motor.

i never heard the end of it, every time we had a fight, she would bring it up
man im glad i didn't marry her

 

rislone?
http://www.barsproducts.com/rislone_products.htm