STP oil treatment

[Pat]

bgott, Yeah right! Next thing you'll be telling me I don't need to take the spark coils out and bake them in the oven to dry them out, and stuff like there isn't any need for a hole in the front bumper because the radiator is in the way of using a manual crank handle anyway, or how I can't mix in a third or so of kerosene with the gas, or how backing over hills when low on fuel isn't required, or using candles for defrosters is out of style, or...

I didn't realize that the Marvel Mystery Oil historical data was quite so... well, historical. Right up there with shutting off your engine when a horse drawn conveyence was met to let them pass without frightening the horses.

I recall this mantra which originated with a magazine(TDR) for turbo diesel Dodge pickup owners who mod their rigs...

I am my own warranty station, I am my own warranty station, I am my own warranty station, I am my own warranty station, I am my own warranty station, etc.

I personally avoid virtualy all automotive "snake oil." I do use Bio Bore or equivalent algicide and anti-gell agents (in season) for my diesels. I did use some motor honey (generic for STP, sorry Andy G.) in my Dakota (controlled smoking and excess oil consumption) while awaiting the opportunity to have it down for the required time for a long block.

My brother in law (the EE) mixes his own home brew automotive snake oil which includes upper cylinder lube and acetone. He adds it to his gas tank. I don't know what all in the fuel system he is disolving into the gas with acetone but I wouldn't do it to my vehicles withought credible recommendations.

Thanks for the words of wisdom.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[bgott]

I always got a kick out of someone running a top end lubricator on an overhead valve engine. Vacuum pulls oil down the valve guides, not only would you have oil coming down the guides the extra oil would get sucked into the cylinders before much could work its way up. I think the top end oilers would have been for the flatheads. The can of STP a lot of people seemed to have used would thicken the oil to the point where it couldn't be sucked up the guide, which is how the side valve motor's guides got lubed. They might have been designed so that a little oil rode the valvestem up into the guide but it didn't seem to work really well from all the monsterously clapped out guides you see in flatheads. The top end of a flathead ran hot so it probably coked the oil before it could get to the top. Add the fact that you have to run them rich because the fuel falls out of suspension with the air because of all the corners it has to turn to get to the cylinder so you would be washing the oil back down the guide. When I was a kid I had the audacity to ask an old time expert about this and got the "look". I never did figure out if it was because he never thought about it that way or if he figured I was calling him a dumba$$. [img]/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif[/img] It doesn't pay to think deep thoughts, or at least verbalize them, when you're 13 or so. [img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]

[Pat]

bgott, If I knew what you know about cars, I could throw away what I know and still be way smarter.

Warning, off topic trip down memory lane due to gas washing down the oiled part, comment...

The old air cooled VW engines (circa the mid-late 60's) when operated in really cold weather (North Dakota, minus 40's) would never warm up and hence their pistons never fit the cylinders all that well. The automatic choke would NEVER turn off and the resultant overly rich mixture would wash down the cylinderwalls and get by the rings into the crankcase. In truly bitter conditions, a drive of 15 miles (USAF SAC base to town of Minot) would cause the dip stick indicated oil level to rise considerbly, an indicatioin of oil dilution by gasoline. Oil thus thinned didn't protect the engine very well and the engines would wear very fast and fail. Every winter they'd lose a few VW to this "winter kill" phenomenon.

As regards the marvel Mystery Oil inverse vacuum oiler... I only saw one installed and that was on my dad's 1960 Ford straight 6 pickup. He hd it installed when the truck was new. Theory sounded OK to a teenager (me.)

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[bgott]

Some folks loved those VWs because they didn't have a radiator to freeze up but I always kind of liked being able to block a radiator with cardboard to get the heater to work. [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Pat]

bgott, In really cold weather if you didn't have an electric outlet to power a batery charger and block heater for a VW bug you had to take the battery out and take it inside to keep it warm. It would still take two people to start a VW. One to hold the clutch in, twist the key and "pump" the gas and the other to spray starting fluid into the intake. When it began running the starter fluid spray guy would slowly wean it off till it was running on gas only. Still, you couldn't let the clutch out (EVEN IN NEUTRAL) or it would kill the engine since the gear oil was so thick at low temps.

A few folks burned out their clutches trying to "feather" the clutch and prematurely engage the tranny in neutral before some heat wicked through to it from its intimate connecton to the engine. Eventully (usually) the engine would warm up enough in a few minutes to make enough power to allow you to let the clutch out in neutral (a little heat getting to the trany helped.)

The cold grease in the wheel hubs would cause the front wheels to slide instead of roll for several yards (unless you hit a dry patch.) You can't steer if the tires don't roll! Of course the flat spots on the tires were frozen in place and the whole car would bounce up and down as the odd shaped tires rotated. It could take a few blocks to "beat" the tires back into shape. The motion got really funny after a turn when the "synchronization" of the flat spots was lost.

You had to set the door latches out a bit to make door closing possible when the gaskets were hard with cold. So, in a cross wind with blowing/drifting snow, you'd have snow blowing in one door and out the other. With all heat diverted to the defrosters there wasn't enougn to remove the ice on the inside of the windshield in the corners of the windshield where the defroster ourtlets were. Consequently you needed a second person to scrape the inside of the windshield. This was a continuous process since your breath would continually frost the inside of the windshiled. In really cold weather, the best the defrosters woud do is sort of make the frost on the inside of the windshield right in the corners whre the "hot" air came out, nearly transparent. It wouldn't melt it but it would get fairly clear instead of frosty looking.

Driving around in town and using your brakes in the "warm" daytime the drums could warm up enough to melt snow. So, when you parked and blowing snow or meltwater from above the brakes got in between the brake shoes and the drums, as temps fell it would freeze locking your brakes. Not enough power in a VW to break free of the frozen brakes. You get out with a tire iron and beat the %*(^=* our of them to free them up and then drive a ways with your foot on the brakes to heat and dry them.

My MG-A roadster (side curtains no roll up windows) ran poorly in really cold weather. The only time it ran right in the winter was one time when a radiator hose burst and the engine got up to operating temperature. Cardboard helped but still didn't do enough. I considered (but sold the car before) installing a valve to allow an adjustable bypass of the radiator.

The oil in the shocks was so thick that the car hardly moved when you got in. A couple guys of my acquaintance got frustrated when trying to start their car and hit the dash with their fist. Nice big "STAR" where the cold plastic shattered.

STP was a frequent item for lots of folks with older cars then but I imagine it got kinda thick at -40 degrees (F or C, it doesn't matter, -40 is -40.)

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[bgott]

Wow! No wonder they called those old VWs "Hitler's Revenge"! [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] And to think they were supposedly designed for cold weather. [img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]

[Pat]

VeeDubs were great in "COLD" weather, snow, and ice... JUST not arctic weather. Gasoline powered accessory heaters (fueled from the car's tank) were extremely popular in northern europe and were in fairly wide use in the USA and Canada too. Those heaters were beyond just nice to have in a VW van due to its size for the available engine heat and they were also popular in the Kubelwagen (AKA "The Thing".)

OH by the way, STP was sometimes used when assembling an engine in an overhaul to prelube rotating parts. A "Great Product" that gets misapplied is WD-40. It sucks as a long term lubricant. Folks use it for EVERYTHING but often something else needs to be used either instead or in addition.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]