Oil Additives?

[Spaceentity]

I wonder what most of you guys out there think about some of the oil additives out there that claim to extend engine life (Prolong - DuraLube - Slick 50 - Z Max - Motor Up ...ect), by reducing friction on moving parts.

I used to see them advertised everywhere, but don't see much from them anymore.

I know that some swear by them while others say there are worthless.

With the use of newer synthetic lubes out there, these are probably not needed anymore.

I just want to get your opinions and wonder if any of you are using them?

[N_Jay]

Originally posted by Spaceentity
I know that some swear by them while others say there are worthless.

I have never seen an non-advertising information that says they are worth anything.

Originally posted by Spaceentity

With the use of newer synthetic lubes out there, these are probably not needed anymore.

Heck, you don't even need the synthetic lubes!

[August West]

Go to www.bobistheoilguy.com, and read the forum on oil additives. You will get plenty of very knowledgeable advice on the different oil additives.

[h3xme]

N_Jay

Agree with you that synthetic oil isn't necessary. It's like filling your gas tank with premium fuel when your engine doesn't require it. Regular oil/filter changes will suffice.

Then again, if I had the opportunity to race my Pilot with the big boys in the Indy 500 I'd go with the synthetic.

[RipRocK]

Spaceentity, with all the marketing hype and not so honest advertising these days, it's hard to trust what you see in the ads. What I think lends much more credence and merit are actual user testimonials outside those ads and marketing campaigns, such as www.bobistheoilguy.com, like AW mentioned.

There, you get real life testimonials from everyday joes like you and me who praise certain products without any endorsement fees or with any ulterior motives about how some products perform.

Do a search for the products you mentioned and you'll quickly see that not too many people, most of whom seem to have very astute knowledge about cars, having high opinions about them.

Then you do a search for other things in the "Additives, Fuel,Oil, Cleaners" section and you'll find mostly good testimonials about certain products. Bottomline is, if many people have used a certain product and are impressed by it and are saying so without any financial gains for saying so, I think it's hard to argue the quality of the product.

I plan to order some Auto-RX for my Pilot pretty soon. I still get pinging from my engine and I suspect that that's a result of having driven this car for such a long time with a faulty EGR valve. When I had a chance to look at the engine with the intake manifold off, the EGR port was very, very dirty, same with the intake manifold cover, so I'd imagine that the cylinders, valves and perhaps even the pistons as well are gunked up pretty good, thus the continued pinging despite an EGR valve replacement, albeit the pinging sound has subsided somewhat since.

It's unfortunate that I have to resort to something like this with a Honda, but I have no choice. I don't wanna drive my Pilot any longer than I have to with all that pinging going on. But from what I read, pinging is really, really bad for your engine. I'd like to be able to step on the pedal, like when I'm entering the freeway without cringing because of the all the pinging from the engine.

From having read thread after thread at bobistheoilguy.com, Auto-RX seems like something that might be able to help me out. So, dive into that site and read and read. You'll be able to decide for yourself what's good and what's not.

[ETSmith176]

I've been using Tufoil in my cars for 15 years after reading an article in Popular Mechanics on the stuff. Don't know if it really does extend life of an engine, but my results over the years have been great (all lasting over 140k w/ no oil burn).

See http://www.tufoil.com/consintr.html

[N_Jay]

Originally posted by ETSmith176
I've been using Tufoil in my cars for 15 years after reading an article in Popular Mechanics on the stuff. Don't know if it really does extend life of an engine, but my results over the years have been great (all lasting over 140k w/ no oil burn).

See http://www.tufoil.com/consintr.html

I have had 5 cars in the last 20 years that had had between 100,000 and 150,000 miles on the engies when I sold them.

None have had oil aditives,
none have had continuous mainenance at or even close to the severe recommendations,
none had had synthetic oil.
All have been driven hard (some even autocrossed).

None have had an oil related failure or wre burning a quart between changes at the time I sold them.

[ncelk]

I always have just used a good quality oil, most of the time synthetic and keep it changed on a regular basis.

My thought is keeping good clean oil in the vehicle and maintaining it properly is better than using oil additives.

[rockman19762001]

With modern motor oils, if you change your oil and filter on any regular basis, engine failures are very rare any more. Also, some of these oil additives can possible do more harm then good. I personally know two individuals that used a Teflon based oil additive and it clogged up their oil filter after a few hundred miles.