Additives,like ,motor up,slick 50,dura lube,and the rest of them,do you think they work or not?Ive tried some and dont feel any difference except for maybe slick 50,my engine seemed to smooth out a little.What do ya think?

 

If you have any results, it`s all in your head. And Slick Fifty is probably the worst.

 

You probably should use the GM differential additive.

 

They're a waste of money.

 

Snake oil

 

At least one tech I know of that has done a long term test of Slick 50, including tearing the engine down afterwards, swears by the stuff. I've never used it, but have no reason to doubt his opinion.

One of the best mechanics I've ever known has always sweared by Wynn's Friction Proofing, though I don't know if it's still on the market.

My Dad swore by Marvel Mystery Oil.

These are all anecdotal evidence and not scientific and under controlled tests. I still remember the old STP commercials with Andy Granatelli taking two screwdrivers, dipping one into regular motor oil and one into STP...the one into regular oil could easily be grabbed and held by your fingers and the one in STP couldn't and constantly slipped out. Again...not scientific evidence but effective advertising.

The only additive I've ever seen do what it says is a good gas line anti-freeze that absorbs water in the tank.

But again...what I say is only anecdotal as well.

 

Waste of money!

 

Back in the early eighties DuPont corp. (who invented and hold the patents for Teflon) released a technical paper that indicated that they would not be held liable for problems arising from using this product in particulate form as an additive to be used in pressure oiling systems.
Slick 50 and all its many cousins presently being marketed to the public contain ground-up Teflon particles and as such would to varying degrees (depending on the engine you put it in and its particular idiosycrasies) have the same effect as cholesterol does on our arteries. They DO reduce friction, and therefore they DO provide marginal increases in power and mileage but if used over a long enogh period of time they can very well clog one of your engine's oil passages causing catastrophic engine failure (seizure). I use a small quantity of a product called "Tufoil" (a Teflon-based additive) in my Vette's Muncie 4-speed and my Mustang's toploader and locker rearend with GOOD results but I wouldn't dare use it in a limited-slip rearend OR an engine. As long as you don't use them in a pressure oiling system that is susceptible to clogging they can be benificial-I do know one guy that put Tufoil (which is very similar to Slick 50) in his Honda CBX sportbike and it.....clogged his oil passages and seized the engine.
As far as good old Marvel Mystery Oil, STP, and the others, they may or may not work but they're certainly not as dangerous as all those previously mentioned Teflon additives.

 

Slick 50 was taken to court by the FTC for false advertising. That should pretty much tell you all you need to know about their claims...

 

i GUESS IF YOU JUST KEEP UP WITH YOUR OIL CHANGES EVERY TWO TO THREE THOUSAND MILES ,YOULL BE ALRIGHT.i JUST THOUGHT THERE MIGHT BE SOMETHING OUT THERE THAT WORKS,AND IS PROVEN.hAS ANYBODY HAD A BAD EXPERIENCE WITH ONE OF THESE PRODUCTS?

 

These things are part-in-parcel with all things' effect that cannot be measured except by the strength and severity of the heart-swoon ....and their associated multiple anectdotal reports. No matter how many times you try to pound the concept of data, statistics, rigorous scientific method, etc....into some people's heads, their steadfast delusion about the product persists. And this is the whole point. This is what these companies understand--the human mind, and its fallibility.

You couldn't convince me to put an additive in any oil, anytime, anywhere. For some reason (and call me stupid), I tend to trust the engineers---at least of the product I've chosen to use after a few hundred pages of reading.

Think about taking ^&*% like STP oil treatment, and throwing it in 5 quarts of an oil with an engineered and well-thought-out base stock and additive package??

A more concrete example might be trying to blend your own fuel. Say you need more 'light' ends and octane (rating). So you decide (in your infinite wisdom) to add enough MTBE (methyl-tert-butyl-ether) to bring your 10% point down a bit. You've seen enough recipes, or what have you---but what you end up with is a totally screwed distillation curve, **** poor throttle response and detonation (despite the octane effect of the MTBE, the distillation characteristic has now made the mixture 'effectively' lean at certain temperatures).

You see how this works, and how, despite our inherent need to feel like we've made earth-shattering, perhaps previously unexplored moves by uncorking a bottle of the gooy stuff, we may have just screwed it all up. Keep in mind that there is no regulation of this type of industry. These things are not a pharmaceutical, and as such, these guys might be taking dumps in these bottles and selling it to you.

That being said, I use Royal Purple. This stuff, folks, makes it very, very easy.