Additives - Snake Oils – Magic Liquid Treatment in a Bottle – Miracles?

As title says, there’s so much Magic you can buy in a bottle, but does it actually work?

Would like a place where we can find some answers, they seems to be here, but not in one place,
AND to stop the waste of money there must be with all these doubtful Miracles in a tin/bottle.

Tried a few: (Mostly to avoid changing tappets & cam right now) edit: Had one tappet suddenly gone noisy - cam wear unknown but told it should be changed with any tappet change

For the auto gear box:
Lucas Transmission Stop Slip, basically made slightly flaring auto gearbox work perfectly – Like that one – it works. (Especially with ATF fluid/filter change)

Engine:
Ametech tappet additive, did nothing regarding tappets but engine runs very smooth and stopped using oil. (Did 500 miles with a liter of the stuff in) Works, sort of, just not for tappets but wow makes engine run smooth.

STP engine oil additive did nothing I noticed.

Liqui Moly tappet additive did nothing I noticed.

Extralube ZX1, sorted noisy tappet for now, in the long run needs new cam/tappets – Like that one – it works. (Even the neighbours cat has fallen in love with the spin)

That was 4 engine oil changes in quick succession (1 K) – wish Extralube was added first or changed the offending parts.

Engine flushed every time and very clean now, amazing how it can turn near new oil into black gunk. (Don’t think I need anymore flushing just change oils regularly.)

Then there’s the coolant and other ones, haven’t needed any – yet.

Best prevention to many issues – change fluids regularly… Must be 2p worth by now

My friend uses slick 50 he swears by it . We changed the head in his mondeo and I did notice the cam and bearings were very slippery wet seeing it had sat there for almost a year but iv always been a bit sceptical about these products .in saying that I do use a diesel treatment, whatever I can get hold of at the time .

If you have heavy cam wear, delaying it is just damaging the rest of the engine - swarf will find its way into all the soft bearing surfaces, also the area between the rockers and rocker shaft will start to pick up swarf and need replacing too - false economy I'm afraid.

I agree

Lucas Transmission fix-top stuff.
ZX1 extralube, Added as a treament rather than a cure for a problem.

Then another (this time after research) fuel additive BG44k - sorted an uneven idle after added to a full tank. Does contain chemicals that strip carbon deposites out off cylinders/valves.

I am about to get some of this stuff and stick it through my bandit, its been running rich so this should clean carbon deposites out of cylinders!

Most of the mentioned additives work. It just depends what YOU expect of them. STP is an excellent engine re build medium as is Wynn's. If you have a sticky tappet, that is one thing that most will sort. If you have a camshaft with round lobes, you need the Chinese putting on additive. It deposits new metal on them and grinds them to the correct profile. If you put two bottles in it re grinds the crankshaft and fits new shells. Come on lads get real, additives do work, but they will not do a complete strip down and re build, as some would like to think.

wammers said:

Most of the mentioned additives work. It just depends what YOU expect of them. STP is an excellent engine re build medium as is Wynn's. If you have a sticky tappet, that is one thing that most will sort. If you have a camshaft with round lobes, you need the Chinese putting on additive. It deposits new metal on them and grinds them to the correct profile. If you put two bottles in it re grinds the crankshaft and fits new shells. Come on lads get real, additives do work, but they will not do a complete strip down and re build, as some would like to think.

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Your not a believer of the slick 50 Teflon coating then I take it ?

defender300td1 said:

Your not a believer of the slick 50 Teflon coating then I take it ?

Click to expand...

If you put stuff in a new engine or even a good condition used engine, you will get benefits. But for someone to stick two cans of STP into a knackered engine, then expect it to stop the crank rumbling and the worn out piston rings to suddenly get a new lease of life, is a little naive. If it had been there from the start maybe the engine would still be sweet. If you find an additive you like and it does the job for you, use it. But don't expect a miracle resurrection, that's all i am saying.

Can I have your feedback on this : Lucas Transmission Stop Slip

The previous owner did not really take care of the GB (Changing oil) I had some kind of kick from 1 to 2 and 2 to 3. I since change the Oil and filter the GB is MUCH smoother but will give me some "kick" at low RPM 1500 for example while above 2000 RPM it will be just smooth.

Do you think that : Lucas Transmission Stop Slip will help to "erase" the kick (not totally) but help me to delay the GB rebuilt?

Thanks

redex cetane improver stoped 3/4 of the smoke from my series and made it easier to start.Wynns stop smoke did nothing.

The only additive that I use is old style two stroke oil in the tank. I don't believe the oil manufacturers but I thought I'd believe BMW and the German army.

I've tried the Lucas gearbox stuff in a slightly flaring box after Datatek's success but no luck in my case.

Apart from that it's new engine oil and filter every 5k (along with a level check of the boxes & diffs and a squirt of grease in the UJs) and a good flush through and new coolant every second winter.

We have used Slick 50 in old taxis in the past, one with 2.5 BMC/Leyland diesel engine and the other with2.5 Land Rover diesel engine and in both cases they ran smoother and quieter. We were well pleased with the effect.