Miracle Oil Additives.

Here is what "Landline" (a magazine for professional truckers) says:

"I researched professional journals on lubrication and spoke with my contacts at The Technology and Maintenance Council (TMC) from the oil companies, engine manufacturers and wholesale oil additive chemical suppliers, companies like Lubrizol and Exxon-Mobil. They sell the component chemicals that oil refiners put into their oils. They were unanimous in their opinions: Truck operators should not put anything in their oil. Oil is a delicate balance of about 30 percent to 35 percent additives blended under controlled conditions and proprietary processes with selected base stocks of mineral or synthetic oil. Having too much of any particular additive could reduce the benefits of other additives, and if an aftermarket additive is not compatible with a component or refiner's oil, the additive could damage the engine."

What do the additive suppliers say?

Typical comments are: "The oil companies don't want our products used because it would cut their sales volume by at least 10 to 20 percent (mix ratios) and probably more because we make oil last longer," and "We have a breakthrough product, and the establishment testing hasn't caught up with our performance."

Many rely on anecdotal evidence, not controlled tests. Some refer to "a prestigious university" or "a well-known testing laboratory," but rarely identify which ones. Many that are identified are outside the United States. I still haven't seen evidence from any manufacturer with properly documented tests.

Normally, when test results are published, verifiable reports give the location and dates of testing, names of personnel conducting the tests, a description of test procedures if new, or a list of established test protocols developed through the scientific process (reaching consensus and addressing all objections) by ASTM, SAE, API and other recognized technical organizations"

and finally a conclusion:

"Can we reach a conclusion? This is one of those questions drivers argue about now and will argue about for decades to come. I've heard owner-operators swear by the oil they use, most often Rotella-T, Delo 400, Delvac 1300 or Delvac 1. I then hear those same drivers rave about the good that Lucas or some other additive does.

Well, which is it? Is the oil good, but only with the additive? And what does "good" mean? How is oil performance really determined? Engines and oils have improved in the past decade, and we have 10-year-old engines that have gone a million miles or more with extended oil-drain intervals.

My own personal opinion is that if it were my truck, I'd pick one oil based on its reputation and use it for the life of the engine without any oil additives. One of the oils I'd consider would be Lucas. LL Paul Abelson can be reached at truckwriter@netscape.net."

So it would appear that if any of the additives are any good, Lucas just might be a good one.

What sold me on NOT using Lucas is their web site. They did not show any test results, they based all of their success on Testimonials. I am leery of Testimonials.

from: http://www.landlinemag.com/Archives/2003/Jul03/equipment/maint_qa.htm

Generators on boats are like certain family members: They are never quite quiet enough.

Bill Grannis service manager

I remember back in the 60's J.C.Whitney was selling "Fire Injector" sparkplugs. My dad bout a set to put in our '60 Plymouth stationwagon w/ a 383...

Fire Injector? more like "Foul inductor"

http://www.ftc.gov/opa/1999/09/prolong.htm

But you CAN still buy the stuff:

http://www.prolongsales.com/?gclid=CIbG-9WBg4ICFQP4PgodaihaCw

http://www.prolong.com/Main.aspx

Here is the transcript of the infomercial. This was one of the most impressive, unbelievable ads I had ever seen.

http://www.ftc.gov/os/1999/09/pslcmp.htm

and the complaint against the company.

http://www.ftc.gov/opa/1999/09/prolong.htm

When I was Googling Prolong, I also found something Harry might find helpful.

http://www.askmen.com/love/product_guide/40_product_review.html

Yes sir... :>)

This is a great review of various "Snake Oils" and other Miracles.

http://www.performanceoiltechnology.com/aftermarketadditives.htm

"Tucked into a musty corner of the massive petroleum industry, sheltered by the indifference of oil marketers, auto makers, retailers and the American Petroleum Institute, is the $150 million aftermarket lube additive market – a virtual plague of engine oil additives, supplemental additives, oil treatments and engine treatments."

Question One: What real benefits does this “mouse milk” (to use the oil industry’s own snickering phrase) provide?

The Answer: None, nada zip, zero.

Question Two: Do ALAs cause any harm?

The Answer: To engines, some probably do. To consumers and their wallets, yes. And to the environment, a resounding yes.

In its owner’s manual, Ford Motor Co. recommends against the use of aftermarket lubricant additives (ALAs) for engines, transmissions, transaxles, etc. For example, the engine oil section in the 2003 Ranger pickup’s manual states twice, for emphasis, on the same page, “Do not use supplemental engine oil additives, cleaners or other engine treatments. They are unnecessary and could lead to engine damage that is not covered by Ford warranty.”

q “Don’t add anything to you oil.” – 1998 Buick Regal owner’s manual

q “Do not add any material (other than leak detection dyes) to engine oil. Engine oil is an engineered product and its performance may be impaired by supplemental additives.” – 2003 DaimlerChrysler owner’s manual

q “Using supplemental additives is generally unnecessary and can even be harmful (emphasis added). One should never use an additive to fix a mechanical problem.” – Detroit Diesel bulletin several years ago

"What part of NO do you not understand".

q “ExxonMobil does not recommend (additive supplements and/or engine treatments).” – Mobil 1 website

Years ago their was a Miracle Additive, that was on Late Night Infomercial, that would eliminate 99% of the heat and friction. They would run the car with this additive for a few hundred miles, drain the engine, remove the oil filter and then run it all over town for hundreds of miles. The engine was " perfect" and it wouldn't even get hot. They then had Mario Andretti do the same thing over a race course, of course, he won the race. They then would remove the value covers, throw dirt into the engine, spray it with water, cut the radiator lines, red line the engine and the engine was "perfect".

This product had endorsements from God and the world. For some reason I don't see this product being advertised anymore. I wonder what happened. ; ) I would have thought this would have taken over the lubrication industry.

PS - Does anyone remember the name of the product. I would like to do a Google.

Sorry Tom, First you said it was oil co hype, now your saying its the dealers invention. Unless the dealer wrote the owners manual on my 02' Silverado HD 2500 4x4, then your just blowing smoke. Just to be sure Alzhiemers hasn't kicked in yet I checked my manual this AM, and it still says every 3,000 miles. As far as Dealer hype, Oil co hype, Jiffy lube hype goes, It don't matter a lick to me, since I've always seviced my own vehicles. So far so good. UD

Every time you start/service your engine, you have what is called "dry run". This is when an engine is running, but proper oil pressure has not been reached. Have you ever noticed how you oil light stays on a few seconds more after an oil change? That is dry run, and its a killer to an engine.

Our lab did extensive testing on the subject, and found that (of course) engine with more dry run time had *significantly* more wear/damage.

Think about it...change your oil every 5k...assume 2 seconds of dry run for each change, over the course of 100k miles, that's 40 seconds.

Now change your oil every 1k...that's a whopping accrued dry run time of 3 minutes and 20 seconds for 100k miles!

Anybody ever seen the inside of an engine after it has ran for over 3 minutes with no oil pressure? I have, and it aint pretty.

Listen to the engine manufacturer (not your lube store) and do NOT over service.

__

"It's just about going fast...that's all..."

http://home.columbus.rr.com/ckg/

Interesting.

Later,

Tom

As I said, if I thought the additives were harmless, I might use some of the additives and as inexpensive insurance. But, I don't change my oil every 3,000 miles because of the recommendations of the oil companies or mechanics who profit from me changing my oil every 3000 miles. I change my oil every 3000 miles because of the recommendations of the auto manufacturers, and ALL auto experts I can find recommend changing the oil every 3000 miles, and these experts do not profit from me changing my oil every 3000 miles. I have had some friends who are mechanical engineers who told me they always change their oil every 3000 miles. I had one who used Mobil 1, and he said he always changed the filter every 3000 miles, even though he would go 12-15,000 between oil changes. I understand they now make filters that are supposed to last the full 15 m miles, but this was 10 yrs ago.

I typed in "how often should I change my oil" in Google, universally, unless you drive in ideal conditions, which I do not, all of the experts (who do not profit from my oil change in any manner) agree that it is best to change your oil every 3000 miles ". As Yahoo Auto stated: " if frequent short trips (less than 10 miles, especially during cold weather), stop-and-go city traffic driving, driving in dusty conditions (gravel roads, etc.), and driving at sustained highway speeds during hot weather. For this type of driving, which is actually "severe service: driving, the recommendation is to change the oil every 3,000 miles or six months."

So I might be getting fooled and suckered, because heck what do I know, but I look at it as inexpensive insurance.

How often do you change your oil?

I could careless about oil company recommendations, but rather what manufactuers recommended lubrication intervals are, and mine says every 3,000 miles. UD

After you mentioned that I checked on it, and it looks like the experts recommend changing it 12,000 miles or once a year.

From memory you have some very old cars, so you must be doing something right.

I have two cars w/ 50,000 miles and the dealer and Firestone recommended changing brake fluids and steering fluids. I don't remember doing this in the past, but when I checked it seems that this is considered very prudent.

As I said, I want to drive these cars as long as possible, so I can trying to keep up with the maintenance.

I also change the oil and filter on the boat engine every fall. I would change it more often if I put on more than the 50-80 hours/season I put on the boat. We only used our larger boats for general cruising, mainly to beaches for swimming.

This year may be different as the boat we now own is smaller and will be conducive to fishing once I replace the helm seat. It is also small enough that I can comfortably take it out by myself.

I will change the oil on the boat at 100 hours (and again at haul out) when/if I reach that number this year.

Do you see any drastic mistakes I am doing with the boat?

It is easy to do and cheap insurance.

That's a tough manufacturer. Most are up to 5 or 6,000 these days. That seems about right to me, equates to about 100 hours or so.

I was surprised however to see a 250 hour recommendation on my Kohler diesel generator. I try to do it a bit more often however. It's really difficult to equate hours to equivalent miles on a lightly used generator.

Most of the time when I change it, it's as clean as a whistle - seems a shame.

On the other hand, I had an '80 something Ford Ranger with the small six in a 4x4 that I bought off some carpenter as a farm truck - had 80,000 miles on it and the guy didn't remember when the last oil change was but it was somewhere around 40,000. I used it to bounce it through the woods when we stacked our cord wood way out back, I was on the local wild/forest fire team and I bounced that thing over, through and around trees, rocks, etc, I used it hunting, I towed a 16 foot Lund into places not normally associated with boat launching, hauled hay when we had horses and mules, manure, it went on rescue calls, night and day - I beat the crap out of that truck, never once changed the oil except to add some now and then, never changed the oil filter although I did do the brakes, air/fuel filter and PCV valve occasionally. About the 210,000 mile marker, the State of Connecticut in it's infinite wisdom decided that farm trucks were now subject to emissions inspection because evidently the 800 or so farm trucks were causing pollution or something like that.

When that truck was tested, it had cleaner emissions that my wife's new town car - no joke.

I sold that truck to the farmer who borders my property and he's still using it to chase heifers out of the pasture and chores around his spread including hauling wood and hay/silage to the calves and heifers. It's got to have 300,000 on it by now and I still see it from time to time working away. Not much of a body left, but it's still doing it's thing.

Dan

Dan

Our Kohler should be so lucky. We put over 1,000 hours on it this last summer.

It seems that is a can of worms, I prefer to stay away from.

<tschnautz@gmail.com> wrote in message

I've used Lucas, and I imagine it's as good as anything els.

I've run straight oils and think they're about as good as anything else too.

I really haven't seen any evidence that shows oil additives have really helped performance, engine longivity, , or economy, on anything.