Restore engine restorer

Can help with compression for a while, but the bearings will get black of friction by grinding out the "soft" metals embbeded to the babbit and the jornals will get all fine polished/scratched... Ask how I know that...
 
That's quite a trade off but if the engine is on its last legs anyway I guess it doesn't really matter, something to think about though before putting in an engine that really doesn't need it to gain just a few psi.
 
Originally Posted by Hammehead
Can help with compression for a while, but the bearings will get black of friction by grinding out the "soft" metals embbeded to the babbit and the jornals will get all fine polished/scratched... Ask how I know that...


OK, I will bite. How do you know that??
 
I know this is an old thread, but I'd like to give some feedback from personal experience.

First of all, nearly all VVT engines are extremely sensitive to anything other than manufacturer recommended oils. I know this from experience. Subaru engines are probably the most sensitive. I have a 2013 Scion FR-S with 139,xxx miles that now needs the VVT system replaced due to adding/running 1 quart of 10W30 between oil changes. I had a little bit of what I thought was a lifter tap. It was the vacuum pump that was making noise. Apparently the 2.0 AT Boxers have those and they just start rattling making you think it's a lifter.

The reason I'm making this comment is because of my current situation.

'99 Ford Explorer 4.0 SOHC with 114,xxx miles. I blew a head gasket and cracked a head. Pulled the heads, then parked the truck for a little over 3 years. Finally got around to fixing it. Bought 2 used engines for $200 and used 1 head and other miscellaneous parts. I did a timing job while it was out. Replaced everything from the block up.

Well, long story short.. I finally got it done, installed, and fired up. It ran like crap. Turned out the mud daubers plugged the fuel line running to the passenger side fuel rail, so I replaced it. It went from running on 3 cylinders (only driver's side) to all 6, but cylinder 1 wasn't firing good. I changed the plugs again, wires, coil pack, etc. Did a compression test and that cylinder was low. Only 92 psi. Frustrated, I added a bottle of Restore to it and within 20 minutes of driving, the engine started leveling out. I'm thinking it has a bad compression ring or maybe a stuck ring. Idk. I'm going to run it more tonight (10/21/2020) and I'll test the pressure tomorrow morning and get back with the short-term results.
 
First of all, nearly all VVT engines are extremely sensitive to anything other than manufacturer recommended oils. I know this from experience. Subaru engines are probably the most sensitive. I have a 2013 Scion FR-S with 139,xxx miles that now needs the VVT system replaced due to adding/running 1 quart of 10W30 between oil changes.

That's quite impossible. 10w-30 at operating temperature is massively thinner than the spec lube on a cold start, assuming it's a 5w-20. It is absolutely impossible for an engine to be that sensitive to viscosity, if they were, they'd all catastrophically fail come winter as temperature has a much greater impact on viscosity than the difference between grades at operating temp.
 
That's quite impossible. 10w-30 at operating temperature is massively thinner than the spec lube on a cold start, assuming it's a 5w-20. It is absolutely impossible for an engine to be that sensitive to viscosity, if they were, they'd all catastrophically fail come winter as temperature has a much greater impact on viscosity than the difference between grades at operating temp.
They use 0w-20 and it's very possible for those engines to fail from adding thicker oil. The FA20s VVT is very flawed. Adding thicker oil will cause the oil lock pin inside to keep it from advancing due to "low oil pressure" and whenever that happens, the springs end up breaking and you have to tear into it and it becomes a nightmare.
 
Arctic grades like 10W-30 are arctic grades in the arctic where engines are always kept somewhat warm. For other uses one better makes sure that the combination is safe for daily shutdown. One quart of 10W-30 really doing harm to any car engine of course would still be as funny as some all too common enlightenment routine...
 
They use 0w-20 and it's very possible for those engines to fail from adding thicker oil. The FA20s VVT is very flawed. Adding thicker oil will cause the oil lock pin inside to keep it from advancing due to "low oil pressure" and whenever that happens, the springs end up breaking and you have to tear into it and it becomes a nightmare.

It's really not.

Let's look at some examples here:
Synthetic 0w-20:
Visc @ 100C: 8.8cSt
Visc @ 40C: 47.1cSt

Synthetic 10w-30:
Visc @ 100C: 10.4cSt
Visc @ 40C: 59.7cSt

Let's assume dude with the 10w-30 is located in Florida, so the coldest temp he might see is 10C.
- At 10C the 10w-30 is 261.70cSt

Let's assume dude with the 0w-20 is located here in Ontario, so the coldest temp he might see is -30C, but let's just look at 10C cooler, 0C:
- At 0C the 0w-20 is 362.85cSt

So, at freezing (0C), the 0w-20 is 100cSt heavier than the 10w-30 is at 10C yet the difference between them at operating temperature is less than 2cSt.

As I said in my original reply to you, temperature has a FAR greater impact on viscosity than the grade on the bottle. Engines absolutely must be tolerant of a wide range of viscosities for that reason. Temperature swings are a fact of life and these vehicles are operated in locations from Anchorage to Phoenix where that temperature will vary the visc of the oil in the pan by orders of magnitude.

Also, as an aside, increased viscosity increases oil pressure, not decreases it.
 
It all depends. Oil pressure beyond tighter orifices, channels, bores, clearences... would of course decrease. If a warning had been plausible depends on the sensors locations or derivation methods. Whenever in principal higher visco could become problematic it will be decisive how two oils compare at the same low temperatures – it wouldn't help to find them within 2 cSt @ 100°C or to compare them for different low temperatures. Within the specified ranges everything should be covered but even then things can meet up, so of course engines need not be tolerant of much more viscous grades and lowest temperatures at the same time.
Decide from the actual areas of problem. Whatever roots could be traced back to whatever coldest moments of an engine can tell you to rethink oil choice. There could be more to northern oils if people wanted to look at distant areas like those of piston ring cleanliness etc. but even just oil pressures can get you into trouble as they can be quite territorial and relief valves in the cold could bleed them off while tiny bores weren't yet seeing enough flow.

No use in gross statements without looking at actual occurrences. Then of course one quart per a sump hardly ever is that much wax...
 
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Restore engine restorer, any good? Does it work? Increase performance? Should you use it with an oil change once a year? Will the engine last longer? Work for a smoking lawn mower?

This product certainly has been around for a long time.
Have an old Briggs powered Troy Bilt that had become quite the oil burner in the last couple of years despite bi annual OCs with the recommended 5w-30 synthetic. To be fair.....it's got a crap ton of hours on it.

I went from 5/30 synthetic to 10/40 conventional with 4 ounces of Restore (recommend amount for small engines).

Did 3 OCs over the course of a couple of months....12 ounces of oil and 4 ounces of Restore each time. Within a few weeks nearly all smoking and burning is gone.

I'm now back to 2 OCs a season with just a dash of Restore each time. Very little makeup oil in between.
 
Somewhere in here that must be 2 million post on this,,,at least back to 2008...Im a sucker for genie in a bottle stuff too,,,IM an old Marvel Mystery Oil nut..................😂
 
Somewhere in here that must be 2 million post on this,,,at least back to 2008...Im a sucker for genie in a bottle stuff too,,,IM an old Marvel Mystery Oil nut..................😂
I have a buddy that swears by MMO. I swear he even cooks with it too.

All joking aside....the Restore worked for me. The heavier oil probably didn't hurt either.

I keep a jug of various weights/types of oil that are leftover from oil changes. When my mower started burning oil, I just started using that. No sense in wasting money on new oil. The Restore was effective enough that I've gone back to using that mixture with very little loss in place of the straight 10/40.

I don't expect it to be 100% because it's one of those "check and add" engines that claims to never need an OC. But I swear it uses less oil now than when it was new. I'll continue to add a dash of Restore at each OC from now on. This mower has more than served it's purpose. Any extra time I can buy is just bonus time
 
Restore seems to work for its intended purpose which is to improve compression and reduce oil consumption on heavily worn engines. If used outside its intended purpose that is misuse, and misuse of a great many automotive products can have bad results.
 
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