Do oil additives actually work

[junkyardjeff]

I was thinking about adding some Lucas oil stabilizer in the 351-W I have in my 55 sunliner for the trip to Florida in november,I will be driving straight through and it will be running a long time so will the additives help out in a long trip.

[wayne petty]

i love OIL additives...

they add to the bottom line of every parts stores daily sales...

they add to the bottom line of hurting engine rebuilders and automotive recycler yards across the country..

lets discuss what oil thickeners do...

this is my personal opinion..

they take up the clearance between the gears in worn oil pumps...

they take up the clearances between the bearing surfaces and the crank and cam shafts when engine components are worn and nearing the end of their service life... (before the pin is pulled on the grenade)

they bring the oil pressure up on the gauge to turn off that annoying oil pressure warning light..  this is just before the craigslist ad is posted.. or before they roll across the auction ramp..

what happens in real life..
all of the above... plus..

thicker oil flows slower... at high rpms .. the engine can run dry.. as the oil is so thick that the pump cannot lift it fast enough from the pan...

eventually.. some people forget to change it...

this is the real issue..  it will get thick ... cling to things like the walls of the crankcase.. the valve train..  coat the oil pump pick up screen..  this reduces the amount of oil the pump can pull up from the pan....

lastly...  oil cools the moving bearing surfaces.. there is a shearing action when the crank and cam rotate against the bearings on a thin layer of oil... massive amounts of oil flow are needed to keep this surface cool...

back in the mid 90s.. somebody came out with a oil additive..  wow... it created a coating inside the engine.. must have been 5/16" thick.. covered everything..  including the oil pump pickup screen... these engines came in starved for oil.. usually with a rod tossed...  when i tried to clean teh sludge off some of the parts that were not damaged.. it would NOT come off...  i had them in the jet tank for an hour.. still would not come off... got out the gasoline.. would not come off.. got out the acetone... would not come off..
i ended up throwing away almost everything that i should have been able to clean and install on the reman motors.. i could not even save the heads...  we did not have a thermal oven at that point..  that might have hardened it enough to shot blast away..  i saw about 10 engines come through with that stuff that year... and we were a tiny rebuilder..

[junkyardjeff]

If thats the case I will just use a quality oil and nothing else.

[wayne petty]

lets see what anybody else has to say.. i am just one voice in a crowd...

one additive combo that i knows works.. is

mobil 1 synthetic and slick 50.. but only a partial bottle of slick 50...  per oil change...

i also have many friends who have abused this combo..

4,000  miles on a mobil 1 oil filter swap..  4k to 5K on oil filter changes.. and 20 or 25k on a full oil change...

this is the best use of mobil 1 full synthetic...

my aunt drove her 71 plymouth 318 to 250K doing this.. until the rear end wore out and the mechanic who went to replaced it blew a stop sign and got tee boned in her car..

[Arnold]

Seafoam in the oil..AS per directions IF you are cleaning it out.
GM EOS in the oil.
I have used Pennzoil for quite a while now.

If the engine is already knocking..or burning oil..then sure..go for the STP.

True story. I bought my first taxi(when I was a driver) and pretty broke back in the mid 1980's. The deal was that it DID run..but needed an engine.It was licensed,insured,radio.. was on the road. I would put an engine in it THEN use it. I fired it up and it knocked like it would only last a few more seconds. And smoked like it would run out of oil any second too!
It was a cold winter night and crazy busy. Why not drive it until it quit? Tow it then change the engine.

 Brainwave..it was already low on oil. Why not fill it full..and a bit over
with 140 wt gear oil haha AS IT RAN. I knew that if I shut it off I would never be able to re-start it. In went the 140 gear oil. Wow! Did that ever quiet it down..and slow the smoke down. Still knocked..still smoked.Out I went to work. Crazy busy and really good tips as people felt sorry for me haha.
I poured the gear oil in and put gas in it as it ran knowing I could not re-start it..drove  until I was just too tired to drive anymore.Changed the engine the next day.

[junkyardjeff]

The motor has less then 30,000 miles and should be fine but just wondering if there would be anything that would help on long distance trips when the motor will be running constantly,it had a lifter making noises on the trip last year but after putting in some 15 w 40 diesel oil it this spring has not made any noises this summer. I used a stores house brand oil on the last trip and I dont think the motor liked it.

[fast401]

The motor has less then 30,000 miles and should be fine but just wondering if there would be anything that would help on long distance trips when the motor will be running constantly,it had a lifter making noises on the trip last year but after putting in some 15 w 40 diesel oil it this spring has not made any noises this summer. I used a stores house brand oil on the last trip and I dont think the motor liked it.

JMO but If I were you I would use a good oil (Rotella) and a bottle of ZDDP.  The new oils do not have enough ZDDP because of the EPA wanting catalytic converters to last past 125000 miles.

[tomslik]

if it's a roller cammed 351 (late model stuff), i wouldn't worry about it, just drive it.
if not, something with zddp wouldn't be a bad idea but probably not nessassary if it's got oem springs....

[junkyardjeff]

A friend told me STP had zddp so I looked at the gallon in the garage and yes it does so I am going to try a little and see how it does.