Name brands/additives/snake oils. What say you?

easternnc4me

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Let me preface this by saying I am not a mechanic by any means. I can do basic stuff (oil/transmission fluid change, belts, alternator, starter, etc). Just wanted to see what some of you like to use. Yes, I know routine maintenance is the #1 thing to do when it comes to cars. What do you think is BS? A few things I use or that were recommended over the years:
1. Motorkote. My oldest brother is a truck driver and first told me about this. He says several truckers swear by it. He uses it and based on his recommendation I use it. A test done by Project Farm (you'll see I enjoy his videos):


2. Seafoam and Techron. Seafoam was recommended by a family member. Regarding Techron, the mechanic that works on my lawnmowers recommended it. I was having a carb issue and he recommended I run a couple of tanks of Techron through it to see if it improved before carrying it to him.


3. Name brand oils. I recently picked up another work car and bought a Mobil1 oil filter and Mobil 1 synthetic oil to do an oil change. My older brother said I was just paying for the name and Super Tech synthetic oil from Walmart is perfectly fine. Your thoughts?


Added bonus for those of you that know how to trace shorts in wiring this may interest you:
How To Make Your Own Test Lights
 
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Motor kote is just like any other of the newer additives some of the light duty diesel guys swear by it as well

Seafoam and or techron. OLD SCHOOL been around for years and both work well for their purpose. Mainly an intake cleaner and tank additive.

Oils. Just start with a good one and stick with it.

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My mechanic told me "if I could drink Seafoam I'd do it. I use it in every engine I own"
Currently 2 cases sitting on my garage shelf. Cheapest at walmart.

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Auto-rx.com

Auto-rx is an engine cleaner that works slowly and isnt a solvent. The stuff gets rid of sludge and dumps it into your oil filter so you have to follow the regimen of swapping in a new filter, running it, and then rinsing with a cheap oil change for 2 or 3K. It works, and has sealed up leaks by cleaning the false seal that carbon creates.

If you're using oil due to stuck rings it will restore lost power and cut oil consumption.

I'm currently running it in my wife's VW Passat since it has developed a thirst for very expensive synthetic oil between extended oil changes (factory calls for 10K)

I have also used it successfully in transmissions instead of a flush
 
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I am a Techron fan. Cleaners like that, that contain PEA should be relatively effective. I try to use it every oil change in the name of being consistent. I also make it a point to fill up with top tier gas, which contains more than the minimum level of detergents.

I will use Seafoam as a cleaner through the intake on occasion, and MM oil in the oil (low doses only, and for short durations) on occasion.

Is any of that necessary? Maybe, maybe not, but I have fun with it.:D

Project Farm makes cool videos.
 
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In the year 1999 I bought a new Ford Ranger, 3 liter , 5 speed trans with the only option of AC. I had a Petroleum Engineer through here that told this story:

I have no dog in this fight, I don't work for BMW or Mobil. I was at the Nurbergring personally for this test. We put 1 Million miles on 3 7 series BMWs. Day after day after week. We went back to the factory and tore down all three engines and there was ZERO measurable wear.

The kicker was the oil was NEVER changed for 1 million miles. Every 7,500 we threw away the filter and added a quart of oil and off we went. This was using Mobil 1.



At 3,500 miles I changed the oil in my new truck and filled up with Mobil 1. Every 7,500 miles or 1 year it gets a new filter and 1 quart of Mobil 1. It is 20 years old this year and I invite one and all to pull the dip stick out of it today. It looks like Honey.
 
In the year 1999 I bought a new Ford Ranger, 3 liter , 5 speed trans with the only option of AC. I had a Petroleum Engineer through here that told this story:

I have no dog in this fight, I don't work for BMW or Mobil. I was at the Nurbergring personally for this test. We put 1 Million miles on 3 7 series BMWs. Day after day after week. We went back to the factory and tore down all three engines and there was ZERO measurable wear.

The kicker was the oil was NEVER changed for 1 million miles. Every 7,500 we threw away the filter and added a quart of oil and off we went. This was using Mobil 1.



At 3,500 miles I changed the oil in my new truck and filled up with Mobil 1. Every 7,500 miles or 1 year it gets a new filter and 1 quart of Mobil 1. It is 20 years old this year and I invite one and all to pull the dip stick out of it today. It looks like Honey.

Saw an LS1 tested similarly. So there's this number, called TBN that basically is the most important overall spec for oil "total base number". As oil 'wears' it picks up acid, blowby products, fuel etc. Synthetic oil deals with all that crap much better which is why you can run the extended oil changes only on Group IV PAO synthetics. Lots of 'hydrocracked' oil out there calling itself synthetic but it's really just superDino oil. Synthetic oil is made in a lab with natural gas, no ifs and or buts.

Anyhow, what you're doing by dumping the filter, and adding new oil is bumping up the TBN and it's perfectly fine. Very eco-friendly since you're not dumping all that oil back into the world. Filtration with a system like that is key.
 
A few years ago my brother bought an F150. He went to change the oil and when he took off the oil pan plug two globs of "oil" the consistency of chewing tobacco came out. He talked to his elderly neighbor who told him years ago they used diesel fuel to clean out tractor motors. They would put it in the crankcase, crank it and let it run for 5-10 seconds then shut it off. Change oil filter and repeat. On his recommendation my brother put 1/2 gallon of diesel fuel in the crank case, fired it up and shut it before 10 seconds. Took the plug out and after a brief pause "Crap came pouring out." He let it drain out, replaced the plug, changed the oil filter, put a gallon of diesel fuel in the crankcase and fired it up again. Shut it off before 10 seconds and drained it again. Changed the oil filter, put oil in it and he said it was fine after that.
Another one I've heard is occasionally putting a quart of transmission fluid in a tank full of gas to clean the fuel system.
 
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In the year 1999 I bought a new Ford Ranger, 3 liter , 5 speed trans with the only option of AC. I had a Petroleum Engineer through here that told this story:

I have no dog in this fight, I don't work for BMW or Mobil. I was at the Nurbergring personally for this test. We put 1 Million miles on 3 7 series BMWs. Day after day after week. We went back to the factory and tore down all three engines and there was ZERO measurable wear.

The kicker was the oil was NEVER changed for 1 million miles. Every 7,500 we threw away the filter and added a quart of oil and off we went. This was using Mobil 1.



At 3,500 miles I changed the oil in my new truck and filled up with Mobil 1. Every 7,500 miles or 1 year it gets a new filter and 1 quart of Mobil 1. It is 20 years old this year and I invite one and all to pull the dip stick out of it today. It looks like Honey.

Kinda related, I repaired and rebuilt ultra centrifuges. They would spin up to 80,000 rpm and hold that speed for days. They had billions of cumulative rpms on them. The oil was never changed unless there was a catastrophic failure. The oil used in the majority was synthetic mobile 1.
 
I have wrenched and still wrench 10 hours a day for the lasr 32 years. I think everyone of them is snake oil with only 1 exception and it is BG44K. It is only sold to shops though. I have not seen anything else do squat.
 
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I have wrenched and still wrench 10 hours a day for the lasr 32 years. I think everyone of them is snake oil with only 1 exception and it is BG44K. It is only sold to shops though. I have not seen anything else do squat.
Never heard of it until your post. Project Farm did a video on that too:
 
That video doesn't test what we use it for which is cleaning fuel systems. We have seperate BG products for internal engine cleaning. The carbon inside a flathead engine is not comparable to a car engine. The carbon deposits we really care about are on the valve stems not in the combustion chamber itself. If your modern engine gets as bad as that briggs inside you will have a whole lot of other things to deal with before that. A Briggs motor is basiclly 1920's state of the art the clearances on then are huge plus they are air cooled.
 
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