From STP oil treatment to Slick 50. Do they work?
never ever put an additive in a new car. I dont suggest any additives until at least 45 to 50 thousand miles. On todays cars, 60 to 70 thousand miles. Stp is just an oil honey. It makes the viscosity thicker so it clings longer than oil by itself would. I found stp tohold" dirt. Lucas seems to be the best treatment I have found for high mileage motors, especially ones with weak oil pressure from poor main bearings. It does a nice job of creating abuffer" inbetween the bearings and is formulated to keep it clean. Alot of additives areparaffin" based, Thats right, WAX! those are the ones to stay away from. Penzoil and a couple other motor oils used to be pariffin based oils. Slick 50. It says in the pamplet that comes with it in the box, do NOT put in a new car. It will not let the rings seat. Only for high mileage motors. amazing what one learns by reading! But I am a beleiver in that product in this respect. I had an Olds 88 with a 4.3. 126 thousand miles on it. Used slick 50 in it since it had 100 thousand miles. It seemed to make the motor run cooler. Major sale point for me was it was 3 in the morning and I was in Galesburg Illinois. The oil sending unit blew. All the oil blew out onto the underside of the hood and firewall. I had no oil. I just said the hell with it and drive it. I drove that car into my driveway in Peoria Illinois and shut it off. The lifters just started to make noise a few blocks from my house. In the morning, I put a new sender and fresh oil and drove that car another 32 thousand miles and sold it with 158 thousand miles on it! The lifter noise went away within 10 minutes of running it with oil when that happend. So I have to beleive in slick 50. Whatever that polymer is in it, clings like crazy and actually worked for me. I own 2 shops now and recommend that product on all cars with over 100 thousand miles. I recommend Lucas for all cars with low oil pressure that people dont have the money to repair correctly
My father has been a mechanic for over 36 years. He had previously rebuilt a motor on our pickup. We had been running Mobil 1 Synthetic oil and had also put in Slick 50 once. He said that the inside of the engine looked extremely clean and almost new in some areas. We put Mobil 1 in a few other vehicles. In one of our pickups, it seemed to start using (burning) the oil afterwards. We didn't worry too much and simply added what it needed between oil changes (every 5000 or 7500). We never had problems with those engines.
This Site Might Help You. RE: Do automotive oil additives really protect your engine? From STP oil treatment to Slick 50. Do they work?
Slick 50 works for me - it does NOT act as a viscosity improver, but adds teflon to the engine and allows it to work into the crevices as an anti friction agent. It does eventually filter out over a period of a few years - I noticed on first application a significant 20 pound improvement in oil pressure and no more rattling lifters. That was five years ago and I ran that particular car down to one quart due to a severe leak more than once. I'm still driving it and the pressure needs pumping up again - and the pesky lifter is rattling again at idle. I'll pick up another quart next time its on sale and do it again. It's a '90 Cherokee with over 175,000, and I don't plan on getting rid of it yet. Other additives are much less helpful - STP for one, as all it does is boost viscosity, just like a 50 weight oil change. The most specific additives are becoming a lot more helpful, zinc phosphate the most. It has been reduced in the latest SM rated oil to reduce emissions and because modern roller lifter engines don't need it - but older flat tappet motors, especially those just rebuilt, desperately do. GM offers anew engine assembly lubricant," which they used to sell as just an additive, which is zinc phosphate, with a good reputation in the industry. Some other additives, such as Seafoam, or Rislone, will do what they are marketed for - clean out the gunk from engines used in stop and go suburban commuters, but the rest can be really difficult to accept unless you have direct experience with them - like the latest marketed push in the big white jugs. That wasn't any better that STP, and racers claims that it works don't show up in the winner's circle. It's just a sponsorship paid claim. Zinc phospate is still in 10-40 oils and thicker, older grades. But for all the rest, it's largely snake oil, except for teflon, moly disulphide (another racer's secret,) and zinc phosphate.
