Thread: Oil additives?

Surely if any additives actually worked the oil manufacturers would already include them in their oil packages.

Top quality oil without randomly added extras can double the life of your engine compared to the same engine run on supermarket oil. Years ago I stripped down a Falcon taxi motor that had done 600,000km on Penrite oil, virtually no wear. Their previous engine had done 700,000km on cheap super oil and was totally knackered in every way.

Oh and a mate of mine who swore by some well known teflon additive was mightily surprised at all the wear in his engine when I pulled it down for inspection. That additive did less than nothing.

I think the hardest thing is knowing what's good and what's not. There is so much market hype.

Just a couple of comments I've heard. Teflon is a solid, they add a thinner to it to make it a liquid that will mix with oil, this also thins the oil and makes the oil less effective so one cancells out the other. If oil companies added some of the really good additives, the oil would be way to expensive and no one would buy it, so they sell the oil and then sell the additive so the customer can choose.

Believe what you like. I have used that Nulon 80,000km treatment. Someone knows if it works, that person isn't me. I've used that teflon in the orangie coloured tube for gearboxes. A diffenrent person knows if that helped, that person still wasn't me.

If I buy the stuff depends on if I have cash to buy it on the day and the mood I'm in.

I think the problem is that engines wear so slowely that very few people have the chance to run 2 motors, gearboxes or what ever in the exact same enviroment to know if something works. Maybe a fleet manager might be smart and interested enough to run half a fleet on something and the other half on something else just to see if it works. By the time the vehicles have done enough work he has probably moved on. The few that see a product for long enough to know they have made a differance are commenting amunst so many other so called experts their actual good advice is watered down with that much crap that only they truly know what works.

Happy Days.

Oil additives = snake oil.

If you think you know more about oil chemistry than a triboligist in a white coat with a PhD in chemistry then go for it....

If someone wants to improve an oil, buy a better/more expensive one !

Often air filtration has a much greater bearing on engine wear than the oil type used.

There are a lot of people that change the oil filter every second oil change just to save few dollars. big mistake.
Regarding oil changes I have noticed that oils last longer now that what used to last 30 years ago. I am not sure if it is because developments in oil composition, the new engines or combination of the two.
There was no way that oils last 10000 km in good condition in the old Valiants slant 160HP engines, Falcons XL or the old Holden FB.

Originally Posted by joel0407

I think the hardest thing is knowing what's good and what's not. There is so much market hype.

Just a couple of comments I've heard. Teflon is a solid, they add a thinner to it to make it a liquid that will mix with oil, this also thins the oil and makes the oil less effective so one cancells out the other. If oil companies added some of the really good additives, the oil would be way to expensive and no one would buy it, so they sell the oil and then sell the additive so the customer can choose.

Believe what you like. I have used that Nulon 80,000km treatment. Someone knows if it works, that person isn't me. I've used that teflon in the orangie coloured tube for gearboxes. A diffenrent person knows if that helped, that person still wasn't me.

If I buy the stuff depends on if I have cash to buy it on the day and the mood I'm in.

I think the problem is that engines wear so slowely that very few people have the chance to run 2 motors, gearboxes or what ever in the exact same enviroment to know if something works. Maybe a fleet manager might be smart and interested enough to run half a fleet on something and the other half on something else just to see if it works. By the time the vehicles have done enough work he has probably moved on. The few that see a product for long enough to know they have made a differance are commenting amunst so many other so called experts their actual good advice is watered down with that much crap that only they truly know what works.

Happy Days.

Intersting

Top quality oil without randomly added extras can double the life of your engine compared to the same engine run on supermarket oil. Years ago I stripped down a Falcon taxi motor that had done 600,000km on Penrite oil, virtually no wear. Their previous engine had done 700,000km on cheap super oil and was totally knackered in every way.

Oh and a mate of mine who swore by some well known teflon additive was mightily surprised at all the wear in his engine when I pulled it down for inspection. That additive did less than nothing.


Yeah mate..I run Penrite in all my 4wds, 15W40 with a new Filter every time I do the oil