Opinions on Oil additives

[oilman 0]

Very interesting post oilman. Thanks.

Is Slick 50 one with chlorinated additives?

 

Slick 50 is no good, have a read of the following.

 

A WORD OF CAUTION ON ADDITIVES!

 

This is the transcript of an AA article published in Motor May 10th 1986.

 

The widely-advertised oil additive Slick 50 has been soundly slammed by the AA’s Technical Services.

The AA claim that their tests show Slick 50 provides no fuel savings when it is added to a cars engine oil – and there is no evidence of any other benefits under normal operating conditions.

The AA have made no press or public announcement of their report, but have produced a leaflet for the benefit of any paid-up members who apply for one. An AA member on Motor’s staff applied for a report in the normal way.

The report states that whilst there is no evidence the product will do harm to the engine, one good point is that most of it will be very rapidly removed by the oil filter. “At about £12 per treatment”, say the AA, “it is a very expensive way of coating your oil filter element”.

The AA performed tests by taking three identical cars and carefully running them in, splitting the driving equally among their test drivers. Oils were changed at 1500 miles, the cars were run a further 500 miles to stabilise the oils’ viscosity, the cars’ tuning was carefully checked and steady speed fuel consumptions and power outputs were measured.

The report says: “The procedure is so sensitive that, for instance, leaving the headlamps of the car switched on will make a nonsense of the results due to the extra drag of the charging system”.

Engineers added Slick 50 to two of the cars in the recommended way at 3000 miles.

After a further 2000 miles, further dynamometer tests were carried out. “One car should show the sort of gradual change expected of a car in good condition” says the report, “whereas two should show a noticeable improvement . Here came the big disappointment. After our several months of careful testwork, we could not distinguish any difference between the three cars.”

The AA claimed that all cars were performing well, but performance was remarkably consistent , within a few percent.

The AA say that a detailed examination of the claims made for the product will explain what happens when Slick 50 is added to an engine. Of one gallon of petrol burnt in an engine, says the report, some 60 percent of the energy will be lost as heat from the exhaust and cooling system. That leaves 40 percent and some 25 percent is used to drive the car and its accessories. The remaining 15 percent goes to losses such as pumping air into the engine (6 percent) and some 9 percent is lost as engine friction. Of that 9 percent, 6 percent is lost in churning the oil and only 3 percent of the total input goes into the sort of “boundary” friction that a solid lubricant could affect. “If tests of Slick 50 did show a 16 percent decrease in this friction, as claimed in current advertisements”, says the report, “it would only affect the car’s overall consumption by a half of one percent”.

The AA also claim that their tests show there is no evidence that Slick 50 produces a surface layer on the engine wearing surfaces, let alone one that could last for 100,000 miles.

 

On questioning John Rowland, Silkolene/Fuchs Chief R&D Chemist for 40 years about additives, I received the following reply.

 

Quote:

 

The AA report encapsulates my opinion of Slick 50, it is an expensive way of blocking your oil filter, Believe me, it does precisely nothing beneficial. It has been proven time and time again that it just blocks oil filters and oilways.

 

For all other “magic” additives, most are based on 1930’s technology corrosive chlorinated paraffins. (synthetic anti-seize compounds originally made 70 years ago. They are cheap, toxic and corrosive. We use them in certain types of cutting oil!) Do not touch them with somebody else’s bargepole!

 

UCL’s on the other hand can be useful. After all, 2-strokes in effect run entirely on UCL. So……the best UCL’s are 2-stroke oils! I always tell people to use a decent 2-stroke at 0.5% or 1%, because they are superior to the UCL’s sold as UCL’s if you get my drift. A litre of Super 2 Injector or Comp-2 will be better than a cupful of cheap mineral oil dyed red (no prizes for guessing the name) any day.

 

Vee engines (twins, to V8’s) benefit from UCL’s because the upper walls of the RH cylinder bank, looking from the front, always run dry. Think about it!

 

Unquote:

 

So, there you have it.

 

Cheers

 

Simon. :wink:

[Kevin Bacon 5]

“it is a very expensive way of coating your oil filter element”.

 

:lol:

[craigowl 0]

Ive been in the AA for 30 years but this is first ive heard of this report. I suppose you had to know of its existence to get a copy.

This Slick 50 stuff then, OK for brushing onto rusty hinges on the garden gate then or pouring onto the Christmas pud? :)

[MikeVR6 0]

UCL’s on the other hand can be useful. After all, 2-strokes in effect run entirely on UCL. So……the best UCL’s are 2-stroke oils! I always tell people to use a decent 2-stroke at 0.5% or 1%, because they are superior to the UCL’s sold as UCL’s if you get my drift. A litre of Super 2 Injector or Comp-2 will be better than a cupful of cheap mineral oil dyed red (no prizes for guessing the name) any day.

 

So a cupfull of 2 stroke oil added with regular oil is a good idea?

[oilman 0]

UCL’s on the other hand can be useful. After all, 2-strokes in effect run entirely on UCL. So……the best UCL’s are 2-stroke oils! I always tell people to use a decent 2-stroke at 0.5% or 1%, because they are superior to the UCL’s sold as UCL’s if you get my drift. A litre of Super 2 Injector or Comp-2 will be better than a cupful of cheap mineral oil dyed red (no prizes for guessing the name) any day.

 

So a cupfull of 2 stroke oil added with regular oil is a good idea?

 

It is handy, especially if you have a V8 or an engine that suffers valve seat recession.

 

And you mix it into the fuel, not the oil.

 

Cheers

 

Guy.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Interesting.... might give that a whirl. What sort of ratio is a good mix? E.g 100 ml of 2 stroke per Litre of engine oil?

[oilman 0]

Interesting.... might give that a whirl. What sort of ratio is a good mix? E.g 100 ml of 2 stroke per Litre of engine oil?

 

A basic guide to measurements are in the post I made, however it goes into the fuel, not the oil.

 

Just like a two stroke.

 

Cheers

 

Guy

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Ah I was wondering about that. Surely Redex does the same thing? I don't want any embarrassing blue smoke pluming from my exhaust!

[oilman 0]

Ah I was wondering about that. Surely Redex does the same thing? I don't want any embarrassing blue smoke pluming from my exhaust!

 

Redex does do a similar thing, however they dye it red, put it in a fancy container and charge you a lot of money for it.

 

Go for a good quality 2stroke and you will not get plumes of blues smoke as the amounts are small.

 

Cheers

 

Guy.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Ah OK, that was the "Guess which brand" cryptic clue from earlier then? :D

 

Cylinder numbers 1 and 6 seem to suffer premature wear in the VR6 engine, so an UCL can only help reduce it. What brand do you recommend and preferably one that's easy to get hold of, i.e. Halfords, petrol stations etc etc.

 

Thanks

Kev

[oilman 0]

Ah OK, that was the "Guess which brand" cryptic clue from earlier then? :D

 

Cylinder numbers 1 and 6 seem to suffer premature wear in the VR6 engine, so an UCL can only help reduce it. What brand do you recommend and preferably one that's easy to get hold of, i.e. Halfords, petrol stations etc etc.

 

Thanks

Kev

 

Kev,

 

Just any half decent brand will do. Most motor factors will have a good one, dont bother with halfords own though.

 

Cheers

 

Guy.

[MikeVR6 0]

Hmm, food for thought.

[kerrinmay 0]

Just been recommended by my VW specialist about putting in ZX1 to my engine, I've told him that I'll leave it for now as rather dubious about the whole thing having read all of the comments on this thread!

 

The guy was recommending it because my engine temp is apparently warming up a bit quicker than the coolant so he thinks that maybe there is excess friction in the engine. I'm not too sure myself. The guy has already told me that I've got one of the quietest 16v's that he's heard.

 

Any opinions, or suggestions on why the temps might be they way they are? Think the warmest I've ever seen my engine temp get is 112 degrees. Does this sound ok?

[Kevin Bacon 5]

112 degrees isn't much but bear in mind VW's MFA temperature is actually 10 degrees less than sump temperature....so the oil in your sump is actually 122 degrees!

[kerrinmay 0]

Is that still an ok temperature though? What about the fact that the engine temp is warming up quicker than the coolant? Does/Has anyone else had this problem? Is it a problem or not worth concerning myself with?

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Should be OK, Oilman can confirm what temperatures oil plasticers and viscosity stabiliers start to shear at. Up to 150 would be fine I'd have thought but I believe optimum viscosity occurs at 100 - 110 degrees. Mobil 1 claims to be stable to 300 degrees C, so it depends on oil quality I guess.

 

Engine oil warming up faster than the coolant.... well, the heat exchanger transfers heat from the oil into the coolant and vice versa..... so you may need to look at that first before assuming an expensive problem. Maybe the HE is blocked and not soaking heat from the oil into the coolant? Or perhaps your coolant circuit is undercooling the engine? Thermostat stuck open?

[kerrinmay 0]

Is there any easy way to tell if the thermostat is stuck open without pulling it all apart? VW main dealer did put a new one in when they replaced my water pump back in November and then did various other bits and pieces relating to cooling such as new radiator, about 4 new coolant bottles, oh and head gasket! So I wouldn't be surprised if it's something they have done! I'm sure when I first got the car in October the coolant temperature warmed up fine.

[oilman 0]

A very good quality pao/ester synthetic like the Silkolene and Motul will be happy at 145 deg for prolonged periods of time.

 

Cheers

 

Guy.