Max Life Engine Protector

[novadude]

Anyone know anything about this Valvoline product? It is an oil additive marketed with the MaxLife name. Here is the MSDS:

http://msds.ashland.com/ShowMSDS.as...N&F=ANSI&N=MAXLIFE+ENGINE+PROTECTOR++12/15+OZ

 

[MolaKule]

Definately has potential. We need to test and analyze this one!

 

[mkosem]

hmm 1-9%moly, I wonder if it's like a #123 competitor.

--Matt

 

[novadude]

I saw this stuff at Walmart for < $5. It was next to the STP, etc.

 

[RobZ71LM7]

Sounds interesting.

 

[Steve S]

I haven't been to walmart yet. Is it a STP with moly type stuff?

 

[Mystic]

MaxLife engine oil supplement is real heavy, kind of like the old STP. It is made by Valvoline, a company that makes motor oil. They should know what they are doing. It makes me wonder, however-if their motor oils are so good like they claim, why do they need oil supplements? You don't see Castrol making supplements for their motor oils. And ExxonMobil says that nothing should be added to Mobil 1. I have become very tired of ads for engine oil supplements and engine treatments. The ads promise the world and then somehere down the road the additive is usually discredited. All kinds of companies that make oil supplements and engine treatments have been fined by the FTC. The one engine oil supplement I believe in (and it is really not a supplement) is Auto-RX. It cleans an engine good and can be used to keep an engine clean. Auto-RX and a good brand of motor oil, together with good air filters and good oil filters, will probably get the job done well enough. If there is any oil supplement that really works, I would like to see the proof. If somebody really came out with some miracle stuff it probably would not be long before the same stuff or something similiar appeared in all motor oils. It seems like a lot of people are always looking for that miracle additive. I tried a few things myself-Tufoil, Lubegard, etc.

 

[Ken2]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Mystic:
MaxLife engine oil supplement is real heavy, kind of like the old STP. It is made by Valvoline, a company that makes motor oil. They should know what they are doing.
.....

---

OCTOBER 8, 1997
"Ashland, Inc. has agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that ads for the Valvoline Company's Teflon-containing TM8 Engine Treatment product were false and unsubstantiated. Valvoline is an unincorporated division of Ashland."
www.ftc.gov/opa/1997/9710/valve.htm


Ken

 

[highmiles]

I once read that a good oil has all the additives in it that it needs. The only time I would ever use an oil additive is if the engine is using oil or a noisy valve lifter. Most additives that claim to reduce wear probably do more harm than good.

 

[FowVay]

How would the organomolybdenum complex in the MaxLife compare to the Zinc Dialkydithiophosphate in the STP oil treatment with regards to reducing/preventing unwanted wear numbers? The reason that I ask is because I have a engine that actually benefits from adding 8 ounces of the STP (blue bottled thickener) to the oil. The bushings in the vacuum pump are worn just enough to allow slop in the oil pump drive. With a mineral based 15W-40 oil I get low oil pressure at idle but the 8 ounces of STP with Zinc prevents this. I actually use the Wal-Mart brand additive that costs a whopping $.78 for 15 ounces so I'm wondering how a $5.00 additive would compare.

 

[MolaKule]

With the Walmart Oil Additive or the STP Oil Additive (same stuff), you are simply thickening the oil. The extra ZDDP is not affecting your loose clearance problem.

 

[FowVay]

So a 20W-50 oil should give me similar results to the oil additive? Isn't there some benefit to using the zinc?

Fortunately I have a new pump coming in the mail so this is going to be a non-issue but I was hoping that the zinc in the oil additive would do something beneficial.

 

[RB Shannon]

"The one engine oil supplement I believe in (and it is really not a supplement) is Auto-RX. It cleans an engine good and can be used to keep an engine clean. Auto-RX and a good brand of motor oil, together with good air filters and good oil filters, will probably get the job done well enough."
I for one believe this is as good as you can get,if you get the engine cleaned up the oil will do it's job.I have had great success with Neutra on this end.We've seen where Lucas dilluted the antifoam additives in gear oil,and Machinery Lubrication just had an article on turbine journal bearing prelubes where an OTC thick engine oil additive is used during startups but was found to cause demulsability problems,in the same article Chevron's testing found that the calcium in engine oil reacts with acidic rust inhibitors and forms an isolubale calcium carboxalate.It's probably much safer to add heavier viscosity oil of the same brand to correct clearance problems,that way the add packs do what there supposed to.

 

[Mystic]

It seems like there is always somebody coming out with some 'miracle' oil additive that is supposed to improve fuel mileage, reduce wear, etc. Just recently I heard of another new one that will be coming out-Kiwami. It was tested in Japan. Maybe it is the answer, maybe not. A lot of the oil additives and engine treatments that have come out over the past several years have been fined for false advertising. Some of these engine treatments and oil supplements used technology that had been rejected by the motor oil industry. Some stuff that was tried in oil additives does eventually get into motor oil-like Moly. They had to find the right chemical makeup to make it work in an engine. I can remember my Dad using STP, even in the wintertime. We had to heat it on the stove for a while so that it would pour, after it had been stored in the cold garage. The old STP basically just increased the weight of the oil, and it had anti-wear additive. You can do the same by using a heavier oil. Hey, if you have an oil burner, use 15W40 or 20W50 in the summertime. But I do like Auto-RX and I am going to give Neutra a try also. Auto-RX cleans an engine up in a safe manner so that the oil can actually do its job. I have a problem with any oil company that sells oil supplements and yet claims that its motor oils are tops. As far as I know, Quaker State still sells Slcik 50, a product that I never used. But I have to admit that I tried some other oil supplements, like Tufoil and Lubegard. I think a person is better off using the best conventional or synthetic oil they can find (and this web site helps with that), the best oil filters and air filters they can find for a reasonable price, and use a product like Auto-RX or Neutra to keep the engine clean. As an engine ages and becomes more worn, you can increase oil weight somewhat. Use a 10W30 in the summertime, instead of 5W30. Or use Mobil 1 5W40 instead of 5W30. There have been some tests of some oil supplements and engine treatments by people at this web site. One supplement was tested and basically was found to be just a rip-off, containing very small amount of additives in a thick mineral oil. Something like that is not going to help you. Use a good motor oil that meets SL and SAE requirements.