Originally Posted By: Clevy
Originally Posted By: skyship
Originally Posted By: Roadkingnc
Z-max, I had a 1.9L ford engine that was smoking due to sticking rings. A few doses of z_max and that car never did smoke again but dropped a valve seat out of the head and self destructed. The seats coming loose is a known concern with these engines and happened without warning. Also put in my bikes fuel about 2 times a year, and I work for the guy that owns z-max.
I thought this forum tended to have a lot of members who were well read and that if they owned a vehicle would read the engine manual. You will probably find it says "DON'T USE OIL ADDITIVES" and this UOA is interesting because the result after using Z MAX is worse, the Pb increase is particularly interesting. Perhaps a copy should be sent with the empty bottle and a request for a refund.
I'm amazed by how many folks in the US use snake oil additives, as although they are manufactured and available in Germany very few folks use them in Germany, although the culture here does mean folks read their car or engine manuals and follow instructions more.
Do your owners manuals say no additives,yet I'm sure I've read that you like the liqui-moly stuff.
Your hypocrisy knows no bounds. And your opinion meaningless
I use Liqui Moly oils, not their additives apart from a one time use of a flush before oil change and I don't like that side of their operation, although many engine oil companies including Amsoil make additives (Similar at idle only flush), simply because they make a profit.
Regardless of the advertising hype, oil additives are only of use if you have a clearly defined engine problem that is beyond economic repair, like cam shaft oil leaks with an old car or terminal phase bearing rattles. Then it is worth trying a snake oil from a major brand company if you can't find an HM oil that already has the required additive included.
In the US I would guess 90% of snake oil is sold to folks who don't need them and the UOA results like this one show that 90% of those cases results in a negative effect or no effect. 9% of the other users of snake oil would get a safer better result using a different oil.
I'm in the 90% category, because after using a flush it turned out my engine didn't have any sludge issues anyway.
My main reason for using LM oils is that they are about 30% cheaper in Germany than Castrol. If I was in the US, I would use Castrol, Mobil, Shell or possibly Valvoline, but I would select the oil partly based on EU web site information due to the thin oil game the US car companies are playing.
For the record I doubt if that high Pb figure is due to the detergents cleaning out sludge. Pb stays in the oil and I have not seen it spike when even strong solvents have been used, so it is either a particle streak or a genuine wear figure, possibly caused by the use of too low a viscosity oil combined with the additive. The low viscosity oil would not cause a sudden increase in Pb without Fe and Cr, so my vote is for the culprit being snake oil damaging the layer of Zinc or Moly deposited on the main bearings, or simply interfering with the oils add pack.
The next UOA will be interesting if no additives are used, although mixing different products does confuse the results, as a change to an 0/30 or better oil filter might improve the results.
