oil additives-which ones are the best?

I have heard alot of people say good things about lucas and marvel mystery oil.I'm looking for something that really works based on personal experience...so what's everyone using these days?
Here are some of the ones I have in mind:
restore
slick 50
lucas
marvel
cd-2
rislone
out of the above list which ones actually reduce noise and friction???Is it safe to use the marvel while using other additives as well?
oh and what about this?
http://www.motorkote.com/

Snake oil???or does it really work as advertised?

jeepdeepfreak said:

I have heard alot of people say good things about lucas and marvel mystery oil.I'm looking for something that really works based on personal experience...so what's everyone using these days?
Here are some of the ones I have in mind:
restore
slick 50
lucas
marvel
cd-2
rislone
out of the above list which ones actually reduce noise and friction???Is it safe to use the marvel while using other additives as well?
oh and what about this?
http://www.motorkote.com/

Snake oil???or does it really work as advertised?

Click to expand...

90% are snake oil. And remember, all that crap you are "cleaning" out has to go SOMEWHERE.

That's not an issue because I have a rebuilt motor with only about 1000 miles on it,so it's clean.The problem is I think I have a sticky valve or non primed lifter so I'm looking for something to cure it.

If I have a lifter that's not primed will marvel make it prime????I need to run a vacuum test....

jeepdeepfreak said:

That's not an issue because I have a rebuilt motor with only about 1000 miles on it,so it's clean.The problem is I think I have a sticky valve or non primed lifter so I'm looking for something to cure it.

If I have a lifter that's not primed will marvel make it prime????I need to run a vacuum test....

Click to expand...

I personally have never used marvel, but everyone I know who has, will swear by it. The ONLY two additives I will EVER use are marvel and seafoam.

I have used MMO both as a viscosity improver (1966 Folksvagen Beetle in Northern IN in the wintertime) and as an engine cleanser (preventative and curative.)

Supposedly, newer lifters don't need to be primed before installation, but I do it anyhow. I've got an aluminum plate that I had a 1" hole milled in, about 1-1/4" deep, and about 3" across. I drop the lifter in that hole, put the whole thing into a small container (about 3" deep,) and use an old pushrod to run the lifter plunger up and down to "pump it up." Probably of little use, but it makes me feel better.

If you aren't getting a lifter pumped up, and it's new-ish, that begs the question - did you inspect the lifter bore before you put the thing in? I have this funny habit of using pipe cleaners on the oil supply holes as well - even if they look clean, it can't hurt. Give them a spray of carburettor cleaner right after, since pipe cleaners can carry lint (and why take chances?)

Pretty much anything that is designed to "deposit" a layer of anything anywhere the oil goes is probably going to cause you trouble - and what's to stop all of it from collecting in the filter?

Use a quality oil (I like Valvoline and Castrol, personally) and a quality filter (Baldwin or Wix for me) and change regularly. Putting in a pint of MMO about once a year or so won't go amiss either, for keeping things clean. "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure..."

5-90

Thanks for the input 5-90,it's always valued.

This was a drop in, re manufactured motor...so it was already assembled.I'm thinking that whoever put it together didn't prime the lifters....

About the comment you made about modern lifters supposedly not needing to be primed is not true because I rebuilt a 2.5 cherokee and forgot to prime the lifters and they would not self prime.Finally had to take the valve cover off and remove the lifters to prime them...thank god you can take the lifters out of the 2.5 without removing the head like on the 4.0

How can I prime these lifters without removing them???

I'm still not sure it's lifters or valves making the noises,whatever it is it don't sound right...

jeepdeepfreak said:

Thanks for the input 5-90,it's always valued.

This was a drop in, re manufactured motor...so it was already assembled.I'm thinking that whoever put it together didn't prime the lifters....

About the comment you made about modern lifters supposedly not needing to be primed is not true because I rebuilt a 2.5 cherokee and forgot to prime the lifters and they would not self prime.Finally had to take the valve cover off and remove the lifters to prime them...thank god you can take the lifters out of the 2.5 without removing the head like on the 4.0

How can I prime these lifters without removing them???

I'm still not sure it's lifters or valves making the noises,whatever it is it don't sound right...

Click to expand...

Like I said (at least, I thought I said - maybe I didn't?) I'd only read that newer lifters didn't need priming. However, I know I said that I tend to do it anyhow, just because I don't believe everything I read...

If you can remove the lifters easily, then there's no reason that you can't just pull one, prime it, put it back, and move on to the next one. Just do them one at a time, and you won't be able to mix them up. Just to be sure, I'd also have a small magnet that I could use to "follow" the lifter bore I'm working on, just so I don't go awry - but that's me.

If you haven't isolated the noise, a mechanic's stethoscope can work wonders. If you can't get one, or don't have access to one, use some rubber hose (about 3/8" should work, use a bit about 3 feet long,) and stick an old pushrod or a bolt in the end and use that. Probe about with the metal end, and stick the other end in your ear (I have found that a pushrod works rather better than the bolt, but use what you have available. A metal rod that fits snugly in the hose should also work - cut off a bit about 6-8" long.) You'd be surprised how well you can nail down a noise that way - with practise, you can even tell WHICH engine part is making the noise!

I can't think offhand of any way to prime the lifters without submerging them totally, and operating the plunger.

5-90

Avoid any product that contains PTFE (Teflon). They are snake oil.
Read: http://www.repairfaq.org/filipg/AUTO/F_Slick_501.html#SLICK
and http://www.ftc.gov/opa/1996/07/slick.htm

The only product on the original list that's worth anything is Marvel Mystery Oil. However, contray to what 5-90 wrote, MMO is not a viscosity index improver. It's a viscosity index reducer. It thins the oil; a viscosity index improver thickens it. But it is an excellent cleaner pack for any oil. Anything that helps the engine stay clean also allows the oil to lubricate better.

You should remember that NO manufacturer of engines or oils recommends oil additives of any kind. If your new motor doesn't work properly with the recommended oil, get one that does.

I wonder if you could pour oil into the offending lifter hole and pump it up with a pushrod by hand.
Forgot to post this, was interesting reading.
http://www.compcams.com/information/Articles/Type/Chevrolet/CC_CC0902-003.asp

Eagle said:

The only product on the original list that's worth anything is Marvel Mystery Oil. However, contray to what 5-90 wrote, MMO is not a viscosity index improver. It's a viscosity index reducer. It thins the oil; a viscosity index improver thickens it. But it is an excellent cleaner pack for any oil. Anything that helps the engine stay clean also allows the oil to lubricate better.

Click to expand...

I probably misphrased the idea - as I'd used it, "viscosity improver" was pretty general, and means that it brings the basic oil viscosity closer to where it needs to be for the application. A "viscosity improver" therefore can either increase or reduce the basic viscosity of the oil - I used it as a reducer, so my VW could actually start circulating oil fairly quickly down around 30* and lower.

Yes, I do agree with the idea that it keeps things clean. Only thing I ran across that worked better, oddly enough and entirely by accident, is olive oil. I was ten days from payday, out of oil in the shed, and low in the engine. Someone (probably me) had used the last quart of oil in small engines. Olive oil was all I could find.

Damn, the inside of that VW crankcase was clean! I'd probably not repeat the experience, but WOW!

Naturally, I try to stay stocked up on engine oil now - it's just too important to dick around with, y'ask me.

5-90

That all depends on what you mean by works? What is it your looking for the additive to do?
As far as motorkote goes truckers and fleet owners swear by it.

Does anyone have any first hand experience with the motorkote?and should marvel be ran for an entire 3000 miles before the next oil change or only for 500 miles or so before an oil change??Do I just subsitute one quart of regular oil for one quart of marvel at my next oil change and run it all the way untill the next change?

Can't say on the Motorkote, but I've used MMO for quite some time...

How long you let it run depends on what you're using it for. For a "first flush," substitute one full quart of engine oil with one quart MMO, and run for 500-700 miles - change while HOT. Should work wonders for decrappifying your engine.

Maintenance flush? About once a year or so, you can either add one pint MMO to specified oil volume, or substitute one quart MMO for one quart engine oil, and run normally (~3000 miles, depending upon your change schedule.) No harm there - I've done that for a number of years.

Also, if you use it as a "viscosity modifier" in colder climes (how is that, O feathered sage? :laugh3: ) you can run it just fine for the full interval without any issues.

Long and short? If you're doing a heavy-duty cleaning, run for a short time, and change while hot. If you're running it for maintenance, you can run the full interval without issue. I have done both.

5-90

Haven't seen anyone say anything bad about auto-rx yet, and they love it over at bob.

Excellent customer service when DHL lost my order.

I'm not sure what the functional advantage of a clean engine is unless you want it to be clean for disassembly, and I'm not sure how I'll tell the difference without tearing down mine, but the pictures sure look pretty. If nothing else, it ought to keep the lifters nice and free, which seems to be a problem on the 4.0

I work in a parts store so I get a lot of feedback on additives and I've used a few myself. Seafoam is great for all 3 of it's uses, and I use it to clean out my top end on my stock renix every few oil changes and once or twice a year on my stroker. Lucas works great on older engines that need a viscosity improver and people swear by it. They even have a synthetic additive even though I don't see a reason to need the additive if you run synthetic. People swear by marvel and it's been around for a long time and every 60+ year old man tells me they use it on everything they own. Pryroil makes an engine flush to use before an oil change that I have heard good things about. Other than the cleaning purposes I don't see a huge need for additives. I don't recomend leaving a cleaner in your oil for too long either. It's best to use them before an oil change. You can get the same effects by changing the viscosity of oil you use, that is all the additives do any way. You can pay $2.49 a qt for 4 qts of a name brand oil and $10 for a qt of additive to thicken or thin your oil, or you can pay $2.49 for 5 qts of a different viscosity oil.

CW said:

You can get the same effects by changing the viscosity of oil you use, that is all the additives do any way. You can pay $2.49 a qt for 4 qts of a name brand oil and $10 for a qt of additive to thicken or thin your oil, or you can pay $2.49 for 5 qts of a different viscosity oil.

Click to expand...

Oh, I can understand that - but in northern IN in the wintertime, it was not common to be able to find oil in anything "lighter" than 30, and warming up an old Bug was a pain. MMO helped.

If an engine is clean internally, that's all the less crap to get knocked loose and potentially restrict flow through the filter overmuch, and certainly less to get into the oil galleries and cause "engine artheriosclerosis." I wasn't after a crankcase I could eat out of, just one that didn't have any sludge or crap that could get loosened up. The best insurance is something you don't have to keep paying for every damn month (why can't insurance companies realise this?)

5-90

Waste of money!! Change oil and filter regularly more often under loads and all will be fine. Use good oil and filters. But don't waist your money (IMO) on super heavy duty high presser, volume, capacity this and that.

Maybe it depends on climate and other conditions, but I've never had engine longevity problems using just good quality dino oil and good filters, especially with 4.0's which are good engines to start with. Here in the rust belt the vehicle will rot before the engine gives out. Marvel Mystery Oil is the magic if you have sticky valves or other internal carbon problems, but I wouldn't bother with it on a healthy engine.

The rest is just MOUSE MILK!