Originally Posted By: mbell1968
Was looking in PepBoys today and saw Lucas oil stabilizer, STP oil treatment, Marvel Mystery Oil, and Restore engine treatment. You add all of these to your oil and they are supposed to make your engine last longer, run better, cleaner, less noise, etc.
Not totally....not necessarily. Not necessarily "longer" - obviously, a "clean engine" will run better, and with less noise....but those are 4 very different products....for 4 different purposes...
Originally Posted By: mbell1968
Two questions, first, what is the difference between these 4 products
Lucas oil stabilizer- Viscosity Improver basically.....known to cause "bubbles" in the oil, which is potentially bad for a modern engine....
STP oil treatment - shake the bottle, it's extremely thick - thus, viscosity improver, as well as the added benefit of "zinc" additive, particularly for "older" vehicles that call for oil that contain Zinc.....note: the API/SAE/CAFE is slowly removing Zinc from motor oil, and so many collector/vintage vehicle owners run the STP Oil Treatment, to put the Zinc back in their motor oil.
Marvel Mystery Oil - light based oil, with solvent based cleaners which work to slowly clean up the engine during a "normal" OCI (read: no more than 3k miles/3months...) - MMO has not been "stress tested" to be used for "extended drain intervals"- most will run the additive with a simple conventional oil (PYB, Mobil Super, or any store brand...) as a "clean up phase" - then transition back to your normally scheduled oil usage....will quiet down noise lifters, etc.
Restore engine treatment - supposidely contains metallic particules which "fill in" cracks/crevices in the cylinder walls, to "restore" compression within the engine....
Originally Posted By: mbell1968
and second, should you use them at all, in a newer or older engine?
The only one I could justify using in a "newer" engine would be the Marvel Mystery Oil....in a 5 qt. crankcase, you add 1 qt of MMO, and 4 qts of desired motor oil, and drive as normal, for up to 3k miles or 3 months, then drain. I personally use MMO every "other" OCI, just to keep my engine clean. I don't really notice any affect of the MMO, but my car is also in good working condition and tuned properly (no CEL, etc....)...but I have that piece of mind that the innerds are kept clean
Originally Posted By: mbell1968
I thought any SM or SN rated oil contained all the additives any engine would need, so why pay extra for additional additives. This is assuming regular 5-10K OCI's and a quality filter. Thanks for any info.
If you research motor oils, and the various "specs" you will find the the government has been forcing a lot of the oil manufacturers to "modify" their tried, true, and tested formulas through the years....vehicles are lasting too long for GM, so they've been removing some valuable additives from motor oil, in search for better "eco friendly" additives.....Zinc seems to be one of the big ones. A lot of classic cars rely on the additive, as it is slows down wear, etc...but most modern motor oils only contain small amounts of it, or "none" at all, due to reqs. set by the government....and this is where the oil additives "fill the void".
Was looking in PepBoys today and saw Lucas oil stabilizer, STP oil treatment, Marvel Mystery Oil, and Restore engine treatment. You add all of these to your oil and they are supposed to make your engine last longer, run better, cleaner, less noise, etc.
Not totally....not necessarily. Not necessarily "longer" - obviously, a "clean engine" will run better, and with less noise....but those are 4 very different products....for 4 different purposes...
Originally Posted By: mbell1968
Two questions, first, what is the difference between these 4 products
Lucas oil stabilizer- Viscosity Improver basically.....known to cause "bubbles" in the oil, which is potentially bad for a modern engine....
STP oil treatment - shake the bottle, it's extremely thick - thus, viscosity improver, as well as the added benefit of "zinc" additive, particularly for "older" vehicles that call for oil that contain Zinc.....note: the API/SAE/CAFE is slowly removing Zinc from motor oil, and so many collector/vintage vehicle owners run the STP Oil Treatment, to put the Zinc back in their motor oil.
Marvel Mystery Oil - light based oil, with solvent based cleaners which work to slowly clean up the engine during a "normal" OCI (read: no more than 3k miles/3months...) - MMO has not been "stress tested" to be used for "extended drain intervals"- most will run the additive with a simple conventional oil (PYB, Mobil Super, or any store brand...) as a "clean up phase" - then transition back to your normally scheduled oil usage....will quiet down noise lifters, etc.
Restore engine treatment - supposidely contains metallic particules which "fill in" cracks/crevices in the cylinder walls, to "restore" compression within the engine....
Originally Posted By: mbell1968
and second, should you use them at all, in a newer or older engine?
The only one I could justify using in a "newer" engine would be the Marvel Mystery Oil....in a 5 qt. crankcase, you add 1 qt of MMO, and 4 qts of desired motor oil, and drive as normal, for up to 3k miles or 3 months, then drain. I personally use MMO every "other" OCI, just to keep my engine clean. I don't really notice any affect of the MMO, but my car is also in good working condition and tuned properly (no CEL, etc....)...but I have that piece of mind that the innerds are kept clean
Originally Posted By: mbell1968
I thought any SM or SN rated oil contained all the additives any engine would need, so why pay extra for additional additives. This is assuming regular 5-10K OCI's and a quality filter. Thanks for any info.
If you research motor oils, and the various "specs" you will find the the government has been forcing a lot of the oil manufacturers to "modify" their tried, true, and tested formulas through the years....vehicles are lasting too long for GM, so they've been removing some valuable additives from motor oil, in search for better "eco friendly" additives.....Zinc seems to be one of the big ones. A lot of classic cars rely on the additive, as it is slows down wear, etc...but most modern motor oils only contain small amounts of it, or "none" at all, due to reqs. set by the government....and this is where the oil additives "fill the void".
