ATF - Add to the crankcase? Gas tank?

[SimpleSimon]

I've seen several posts suggesting additives that go into the gas and oil, etc... One such item is ATF. I've heard that adding ATF to the crankcase will help keep the motor cleaner than oil alone. Is this true? How much to add? Should it only be done within 100 miles of an oil change? I've also heard of adding ATF to the gas tank, but I've no idea why. What good would ATF in the gas tank be? Good for carbs and bad for injectors?

 

[Shannow]

Simon, search is your friend...there are many many posts on this particular topic.

 

[Shannow]

There are heaps of potential threads here. http://theoildrop.server101.com/cgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=search_tng;d=results;record=2453950-025240-96AK;result_start=0

 

[SimpleSimon]

Thanks... I've tried searches, and get lots of hits, but I don't see a lot of definitive results. Lots of posts about using ATF with MMO, or FP... but nothing concrete. Example thread Just looking to find out if adding ATF alone to the crankcase or gas is a good thing, and if so, how much? I know a lot of this is speculation and it's all relative to the condition of the engine, what else is added, etc. What I'd really like to see is a table showing what additives are good/bad, what they accomplish, and when they should be and should not be used.

 

[Gary Allan]

ATF doesn't belong in your engine. I've used it in the past and had good results with it as a combustion chamber cleaner. It worked so well that when I had cause to take off an exhaust manifold to replace the gasket ..that the interior was down to cast metal. But Terry has advised that this is not a good thing. That is, without outright citing the reason why ..that there is some side effect that is unfavorable. I assume that there are some ash issues or whatever ..but it may just be along the lines of any type of draconian method. The use of ATF as a combustion cleaner has its origins in the days where vacuum modulators were conmmonly tapped to one runner of the intake manifold (typically the driver side rear cylinder). When a car had a leaking vacuum modulator ..and also had cause to have the heads pulled, it was noted that this ONE cylinder was clean ..while the other 7 were heavily carbon laden (carb engines). So ..it's not a myth ..but that doesn't mean that it's a wise method and it may speak more for upper cylinder lubrication then anything else. but ..that all said, I've used it on literally dozens of engines ..both carb'd and injected and never failed an emissions test or had any apparent negitive side effects. That doesn't mean that there were not any. To make a point, I heavily dosed my fuel tanks with both ATF and MMO ..to the tune of about a gallon between the two of them. Had the heads pulled (for other reasons) and found no deposits of merit in the combustion chamber or piston tops. I had no issues passing my annual emissions test. Now there were favorable effects from this. Starting became instantanious with just a bump of the key ..yadayadaya ..but more importantly it showed what did not occur with massive doses. You won't find the tables that you're looking for as a reference. But I'll offer you this thread to give you a perspective of what doesn't ocur. http://theoildrop.server101.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=5;t=003309;p=1

 

[Papa Bear]

"but I don't see a lot of definitive results." Ahh Simon, you are looking for the simple, absolute, guaranteed RIGHT ANSWER ... like the HOLY GRAIL. Well, you've come to the WRONG place !! Or maybe you've come to the right place !! As with most things in life, it is a balance and a compromise. Please do us a favor...if you do find the RIGHT answer, be sure to post it here for us mortals !! P.B.

 

[psudaytona]

Adding it into the gas would make me nervous about harming the cat. I run a tad of it through my weedwhacker from time to time to keep it running smooth but it smokes like a dragon and I dont think that would do much good for a car with a cat con and O2 sensor on board. I would leave crankcase cleaning to AutoRX and fuel cleaning to Techron, Regane, FP, Seafoam and any of the other fine additives we all hop our cars up on.

 

[snofarmer]

According to the U.S. Army's quarterly fuel and lubricant bulletin (March 1994), laboratory testing using the Ball-on-cylinder lubricity evaluation (BOCLE) had shown that the addition of ATF to a low sulfur fuel does not improve the fuel's lubricity rating. Moreover, the presence of ATF in fuel can adversely affect other performance properties of diesel fuel

 

[jayfa82]

Originally Posted By: snofarmer

According to the U.S. Army's quarterly fuel and lubricant bulletin (March 1994), laboratory testing using the Ball-on-cylinder lubricity evaluation (BOCLE) had shown that the addition of ATF to a low sulfur fuel does not improve the fuel's lubricity rating. Moreover, the presence of ATF in fuel can adversely affect other performance properties of diesel fuel

Do you have a link to that bulletin? I'd like to check that out. I've seen another set of tests that were run on various diesel fuel additives, but haven't seen this one.