What do you think of adding STP oil treatment when you change oil? Good or bad idea?
Thanks in advance.
What do you think of adding STP oil treatment when you change oil? Good or bad idea?
Thanks in advance.
</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
Good or bad idea?
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No technical knowledge, so I'll admit that I cannot really defend my position, but I can tell you that not only would I never use it, but I would never buy a used vehicle if I knew STP had been used in it.
After having been in the auto service business for the last 35 years I can tell you this. Todays oils are FAR superior to the oils of the past. Dino oils have better additives than ever before and the new synthectic blends can not be beat. Pure synthetic oils (ie Mobil 1) are thin because they have the ability to reach close tolerances and lubricate without thickness. I agree with Bird. STP is a additive of yeseteryear if even then it was any good. The best preventive maint. is to use a quality oil and change it per manufacturers schedule. Nuff said.
Gettin Back To My Country Roots
If you wish to enhance the economy by creating more cash flow by all means use it. If You wish to service your engine properly leave it on the store shelf.
With some newer engines it may even aid in blocking oil ports or be too viscous to lubricate properly.
It works best in an oil burning vehicle just before you wish to sell it privetly : [img]/forums/images/icons/frown.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/frown.gif[/img]
Egon
My personal and professional opinion agrees with all of the above.
However...
I currently work for a high line european dealership, and we ocassionally have a vehicle with what could be termed "reluctant" lifters. We have had some success adding an oil treatment to these cars, and then allowing the owner to put some miles on them. We do NOT add additional additive at the next oil change.
Gregg
Remember - If I sound like I know nothing about farming it's because I really don't!
Gregg, using an additive for those "reluctant" lifters makes me wonder just what the additive is. Many years ago, it would have simply been a very high detergent additive. Since my dad owned both a service station and an auto parts store, we sold a wide variety of additives and told customers that we did NOT recommend them, but had them if that's what they wanted. I still remember in the late '50s when Mobil's engineers claimed that none of the additives were any help and only two would do no harm; those two being Bardahl and Alemite CD2. They said those two would do the same thing as Mobil's own Upper Lube and no more. Were they right? I don't know. I've also known mechanics who, in order to free up sticking lifters, add two quarts of ATF to an already full crankcase and run the engine at idle (not driving or revving it) for about 10 minutes, then drain the crankcase and refill with fresh oil.
Bird,
The additive we have used is CD2. The vehicles we have used this on are all factory fill with 5W-30 synthetic oil, and the service intervals are 15,000 miles (don't get me started on that). Even with full maintainance warranties (as in oil changes are free) some folks can't seem to be bothered to have the car serviced. Additionally keep in mind we're talking about "precision engineered" components. Remember the story of the Luger vs. the Colt .45? The Luger was a beautiful, accurate firearm, until you dropped it in the mud. The Colt? Well you could walk across a field after a battle, pick up 5 inoperable Colts, and make 2 that worked, even though the Colt was manufactured by several different companies. Same issue - too much precision, not enough practicality.
I suspect we have had some luck because of the momentarilly high doses of detergents. I can recall when I was cutting my teeth using either a quart or two of ATF, or in extreme cases 3 or 4 quarts of kerosene or diesel, to effect a flush of wayward oil systems.
The drawback to this practice, of course, is that you might well flush loose some deposits that would have been better off left alone.
As I said above, my personal and professional reccomendation is not to use these addititives on a regular basis. Premium quality oils, changed at appropriate intervals, with premium quality filters, will provide all the protection any engine should need.
And as an aside - the recent rash of "special purpose" oils (i.e."SUV" oil, "High Mileage" oil, etc.) is simply another marketing tool to sell you a particular companies oil. Stick to the engine manufacturers reccomendations for oil type and viscosity, and use a premium grade oil. For very high mileage vehicles with oil comsumption problems SOMETIMES a slightly higher viscocity will help, but be aware that overhead cam engines DO NOT like heavier oils. I have also seen some engines reduce their consumption by switching from regular to synthetic oils (I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it, on 3 different cars...).
Gregg
Remember - If I sound like I know nothing about farming it's because I really don't!
One additive of potential merit that was overlooked so far was Marvel Mystery Oil (administered via an underhood installed inverse oiler.) This too may be a totally obsolete thing now for all I know. For those too young to recall it, there was a reservoir under the hood for the MMO which was fed into the intake manifold by engine vacuum in inverse proportion to the engine vacuum. This resulted in very little if any MMO being used when the engine vacuum was high (low load) and more and more being added the harder the engine was working (lower vacuum.)
Of all the smake oils, I liked that best.
In theory, a good filter stops nearly all the particulate contamination but it certainly does not hurt anything to use a magnetic drain plug. When you change oil you check the plug for wear products and get excited if you see much and try to find out the source. When a magnetic plug was unavailable I have placed a bar magnet just inside the drain hole where I could pull it out to look at it when changing oil. This does no harm. It could warn you of something needing attention. It will trap the fine metal wear products and hold them where they can't circulate in the oil.
Dyes are also good additives, if there is a leak, as they will help you find the source not just the location from which the drips fall.
STP, Motor Honey, et al are not a good idea for an engine in good condition. They have kept engines overdue for repairs running a while longer for lots of folks (bad rings, valve guides, work bearings, etc. A temporary life extension strategy.
[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat
"I'm not from your planet, monkey boy!"
What would you think about adding one quart of synthetic and 4 quarts dino as my next oil change? It seems like you might get some of the benefits(?) of the synthetic, yet lesser cost.
Introducing Marvel Mystery Oil or anything else oil based into your intake tract on a modern engine will cause it to detonate under load. The old engines they used to do this to were down around 6.5- 7.5 to 1 compression. Anything higher than that and it's ping city.
I've worked on a lot of newer engines that have had serious problems just from running 20W-50 oil in them instead of the 5W-30 they were spec'ed for. I've seen a bunch of them spinning without compression because the hydraulic lash adjusters pump up and then won't bleed down. Being that most new engines are not freewheeling this can create a lot of expensive problems if the valves hit the pistons. Ford had a problem with the oil filter canisters balooning when a higher viscosity oil was used until they revised the oil pump or the oil pressure relief valve, I forget which. Read the owner's manual and follow the specs. You do, however, own the vehicle and can get as creative as you can afford to pay to get it fixed . [img]/forums/images/icons/smirk.gif[/img]
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