Most of the Snake Oil additives end up in court sooner or later with orders to either remove their product or refine their outrageous claims. The only place I see any use for slick 50 is brokeback mtn.
The only oil additives that I have used and would recommend. It's not really an additive though is Auto-Rx & LC20 from Lube Control.
www.auto-rx.com
www.lubecontrol.com
Other then Auto-Rx & LC20 I wouldn't add anything.
My 7.3L PSD was somewhat sludged up, thanks to the previous owner and his bad maintance habits. After 2 Cleaning phases of Auto-Rx and 10oz of LC 20 with every oil change. I removed the valve covers and found the springs and rocker arms sludge free, even most of the varnish was gone. Each Cleaning Phases was 2,500 miles. New Filters added also. Cut open both filters, it's hard to imagine all that nasty goo was within the 7.3L. A clean motor is a smooth healthy running motor.
This is just my personal experience.
2001 Ford F250 CC-7.3L-4x4-3:73L/S-{Many Mods}-{267K Miles}-{SoyPower}every fill up.
"Donaldson's" SD-AIS Intake w/ZooDad-FumotoValve-DieselSite Coolant Filter-DieselSite Transmission Filter,203 Deg T-stat-4"MBRP.
I have never seen a need for any additives, I have my oil tested by Blackstone Labs every oil change and have never had a bad report on this or my previous CTD that had a ton of miles. If I were given a free sample I'd give it to one of my friends that swear by the snake oil ads.
2005 Dodge 3500 Quad cab CTD Dually, Laramie, G56 sbc con-ofe, GPS-NAV, Sirius, intake and exhaust, Gauges, 100 gal aux fuel tank, Rokktech, Quad box, Pacbrake, 85,000mi
2000 Gulfstream Seahawk, Sat TV, Solar, 6.5kw gen, Washer/Dryer
I think almost all oil additives are a waste of money. The motor was designed to use just oil. I have even seen a report that some additive restrict some of the properties of the additives already in the oil. Like detergent and antifoam. If you get small air bubbles in the oil it decreases the lubricating properties of the oil. Some aftermarket additive lower the antifoam properties. I just still with the basic maint. schedule and just straight oil....
How is the fishing? Looks like you caught a few keepers.
A friend of mine had his oil light come on and he came over to my garage to work on it. He wanted to drop the oil pan and clean the screen on the oil pick-up tube. Well he cleaned it all up and put it back togther but the oil light still wouldn't go out. He drove it another week before it finally siezed up on him and died. A couple of weeks later I found his oil pick-up tube in my garage. LOL, he drove a week without oil before the motor siezed, and he didn't even have any additives in it.
Ken
08 Ford F250 SuperCab Lariet LB 4x4 6.4L Powerstroke
04 299RLS Sprinter
07 Ultra Glide Harley
00 BMW 540I Maroon
Friend of Bill Wilson
Doesn't seem many use additives. I wonder if it is because many people who post into tow vehicles are generally fairly engine savvy and therefore don't believe in any benefits that may accrue from oil additives.
I knew a guy who used to add a particular additive, even to brand new vehicles, which surprised me and something I certainly wouldn't do, because of warranty concerns if anything went wrong with his engine and it was traceable to the additive.
I also haven't seen any adverts lately on TV, I'm not sure what that means.
Well good, I'm not putting any additives in my engine and I'm going to continue changing the oil/filter at 3000 miles (5000 km)...even though one of my vehicle's computer says I still have 65% life left in the oil.
From what I have read on bobistheoilguy.com, there are some additives that are useful and work for the intended purpose.
Example:
- I had to replace the intake gaskets on my wife's 2001 Chevy Venture van. The engine oil got contaminated with dexcool. I caught it in time to prevent major engine damage (thanks to the fact that I do my own oil changes). However, even after the oil change, there was undoubtedly still some contamination of the engine oil. That could/would quickly overwhelm the additive package of any oil. I used a detergency additive for the next couple fo oil changes and shortened the oil change interval slightly to compansate.
- I have also read of a product the guys rave about at bobisthoilguy called S.L.O.B. (Street Legal Oil Booster I think?). Anyway, it has been analyzed by a member or two (straight out of the bottle) and contains many of the "good" additives of a quality motor oil. Sounds to me like it adds more of the things that separate a quality oil from a minimalist one. Whether or not this is necessary or does any good (or harm) is up for debate, but it supposedly DOES contain things you would want in an additive. Sadly, I have never seen it for sale in Canada - supposed to come in a pink bottle if memory serves.
Other than situations like the above, my theory is a quality oil should not need any additives. I just use 0w40 synthetic from the local refinery (Co-op D-Mo SL 0w40 100% synthetic CI-4) in the Cummins. In the van, I use whatever is on sale in the "High Mileage" formulation. High Mileage formula oils have also been analyzed (virgin analysis = clean oil), and found to contain more anti-wear additives, and more detergent additives (can't recall exactly what other ingredients they contain above standard motor oil). They are slightly more expensive than regular 5w30, but I like the extras blended in. I guess this could be considered as almost the same as buying an additive separate and pouring it in yourself.
Offline
