Slick 50: For or Against?

[SimonR]

I've was talking to my Rover-owning boss about my new Maesty and he suggested that I use Slick 50 in my next oil change to prevent engine wear and make it smoother-running.

What do you lot think? Is it a good or bad idea? - He reckoned that at 47k the engine is worn in enough to benefit.

[Mat_C]

Peronally, I would stick to regular oil & filter changes and use at least semi-synthetic.

Personally, I've lost faith in all oil additives. 47k - not even bedded in :laugh:

[Wonko_The_Sane]

Agreed on the "better to change oil frequently" advice. I used Molyslip in mine...and by christ, it sounds like the cam is dying a death now. I assume it blocked a passageway, as additives can do.

Either way..new filter, new 10/40 oil...it may be too late to have a quiet engine, but it's a LOT happier..:)

There was quite a debate online about Slick50, and additives in general..look it up..it's quite interesting to see the scientific data...:)

No more oil additives for me, ever. The most I'd go for is Magnatec..and that'd have to be in a new, NEW engine. Otherwise, 10/40, or 15/40,15/50 or similar. Cheap enough to change a lot.

[MGTurbo]

Forget it, modern oils are just too good at what they do to justify an additive.

[Dave]

I've had a brand new 1300 A-Series running ONLY on Castrol GTX (for basic engines) for 40,000 miles now - oil/filter changed every 3000miles. It still runs silently, smoothly and is just as strong as it was when new.
I cant see how any addative could help, which leads me to the same conclusion as MGTurbo.

Dave.

[e692wtt]

I've used Molyslip in the past in Monty, and yes, the engine was smoother, but if it was that simple the Oil Companies would do it.

Oils are complicated and made to a standard so it's best not to mess, I would say, and just use a decent oil and filter changed regularly (at every 3000 miles, the engine will last for ever - but honesty dictates that I must admit to an annual oil and filter change which equates to approx 7000 miles using Duckhams Q 20w/50 in an 'S'-series with 134,000 on the clock).

[E_T_V]

For gods sake no.. don't use slick 50. it should be named sick 50. it doesn't work depite what is says on the tin and I believe in the states they are being sued left right and centre.

Stay away from oil additives, they do more harm than good.. There is a more complete explanation from me about it on the old forum somewhere.

[Ricky]

I have read somewhere that they do work quite well in the gearbox though, but I have recently spotted said brands marketing an additive especially for gearboxes, don't know if it is exactly the same thing mind you.....
I also read (same place i'm sure!) about how your oil filter is designed to filter out particles bigger than so much (can't remember off hand!) and that most of the additives contain mostly particles bigger than this size, therefore just clogging up your filter!
I'll be putting some strange Valvoline concotion (10/40) that is apparently meant for "higher mileage engines", and at a touch over 100,000 i figure the R series has definitely attained that status!

[E_T_V]

I'll try to explain my reasons for not using any additives in my oil. You may not agree but here they are for what they are worth. I'll also explain that I'm a materials engineer/scientist so I do have some idea what I'm on about.

1. Sick... er sorry slick 50 and a number of oil additives have PTFE as one of their ingredients. These are lumps of a very slippery polymer (used in non-stick pans). The effect of sticking these lumps of polymer in is that your oil filter does indeed filter most of them out thus blocking it up reducing oil pressure etc. Any that do pass through and get to where oil film thickness is low (e.g. bearings etc) muck up the oil film and lead to lubrication loss at these points leading to rapid wear.

2. Also on the list of ingredients are various things to loosen carbon and gum deposits. Whilst this sounds like a great idea at first you should realise that chucking these ingredients into an old engine that is worn in (or out depending on your view point) they can lead to lump of crap being loosened off (from where they were causing no harm) and these lumps may cause harm elsewhere by blocking oilways etc. Also these deposits could well have been stopping oil leaks, and it isn't unknown for an old car treated with a wonder additive to suddenly spring a host of oil leaks. Also some of the oil seals (particularly on older cars) may be attacked by some of the addtives.

3. Oil manufacturers put in all the addtives that are really useful (although some put in more than others)

If anyone can think of any reasons that I should change my mind please let me know

[e692wtt]

I believe that changing to a Synthetic Oil in a 'worn in' or 'worn out' (as appropriate) engine for the first time has a similar effect in that the accumulated 'muck' is flushed out and can cause all sorts of nasty blockages, oil leaks, oil burning etc. I also believe there are risks of this happening with a change to Semi-Synthetic Oil, but not definite?

Does Molyslip have the same effects as Slick 50 as above? It only quietened Monty's engine down and made it smoother.

I believe regular changes of Oil and Filter with quality items are better though... Note To Self: must do it every 6 months and not annually...:laugh:

[E_T_V]

Synthetic and semisynthetic oils are another whole can of worms as most are still mineral oil based. However yes they can cause the same problems of loosening crud but they usually aren't as bad.

I personally use a semi synthetic grade in my cars and bikes and have never had a problem. (even after forgeting to change my bike oil for 12k miles when it is supposed to be done every 3k).

The regularity of oil changes depends on what sort of driving you do. If you nip to the shops and back you'll need to change your oil more often than if you drive 50 miles down a motorway every morning. For example trucks which never really get cold often in the US have oil that is drained every 1,000,000 miles. Yes that is right 1 million miles. Where as gran who only nips to the shops and back twice a week will need it changine every 6k or maybe less.

Possible giveaways that an oil additive product contains PTFE are either it lists it on the ingredients as PTFE or Polytetrafluoroethylene or, (because the PTFE granules settle in time), the instructions for the product tell you to shake it vigourously so that there isn't big lumps left at the bottom of the can!

I'm not sure what molyslip contains, nor other gearbox additives but I doubt they are much good, as if manufacturers can no claim that it never needs changing on some cars why do we need additives

[H48HPE]

i can recomend duckhams semisynthetic 10w40, I use it in my 1.3 which has just turned 90,000. its really good stuff and doesnt emulsify in the breather pipes.

I can't recomend castrol GTX 15W40 I tried this in my second oil change and it filled my breathers with emulsified oil which lead to my timing cover oil seal becoming leaky (although it might have just been a coincidence, but the pressure must have done it i think)

I never bother with aditives cos i think theyre a waste of money.

andy

[e692wtt]

I use Duckhams Q 20w/50 changed every 6000 miles/annually, and have no 'mayonnaise' problems either. Used Castrol GTX (was a 15w/50 in the late 90s) once and the breather pipes all blocked and Monty wasn't happy (you can tell these things...). At 135,000 it works for Monty... I think it's a case of 'better the devil he knows' at this stage, but it's a Good Call about semi-synthetcs and synthetics giving one a 'safety margin' for delaying oil changes.

If I was buying a 'new' (to me) car I'd go for an ex-sales-rep car with 100k miles and 3 years old, knowing it had only done one cold start a day and was effectively a low mileage engine... my stepson's dad purchased an M-reg Astra with 40k on the clock for £1k this year, and I was *expected* to admire its 'low mileage'... mind you, he ran several Nissan Stanza engines out of oil and finished off a 10 year old Cortina in the same sort of style...

Funny how people will pay five times more to have their 'new car's mileometer reading the other way, ie 13,579 at 2 or 3 years...:laugh:

Fools and their money... :eek:

[Landcrab1800]

Now my 10p worth.

1 Additives: I ALWAYS use Slick 50 in my newly aquired cars, if you look at my profile you will see that they are older on average. On is a 62 B series engined 1500 with twice round the clock. It was running a little rough (noisy) and burning oil. Valve regrind and slick 50 sorted it. I have no problem with using additives as long as the engine has high milage. It just helps until I rebuild them and then I do not use them (most additives can not be added before 50,000 miles)

2 Oils: i would always recommend that you use the oil stated. Older cars will not, in general, benifit from modern oils especially if you uase a thinner one. It is possible to use a slightly thicker oil in a worn engine to allow for the extra working gaps. Modern oils are designed to work with modern engines. These have closer tolerances and need the higher performing oils. In older cars its a waste of money.

Basically, the decision is yours and there is alot of information available. It will not harm your engine to try additives for 1 period of use.

Just do not use flushing oils on old engines that have not been flushed before.

Good fun this, you learn more so you can make a more acurate decision.

Gordon:rolleyes:

[MGTurbo]

We found Castrol GTX to be more prone to causing 'mayo' in the oil filler/breather tube on our B reg MG Maestro EFi. This is going back at least 10 years ago, i do clearly remember using Duckhams instead which cured the problem. This doesn't mean Castrol is a poor oil, just not best suited to the O and S series engine's (although probably not so much late post 1989 spec, as the oil breather's were moved to the back of the engine on the O, and on the S oil filling was thru the cap on the cam cover)

On my Maestro, i've used fully synthetic oil from day one, and the engine's internals are A1. It offer's everything a additive 'claims' to do, and it's fairly cheap for me to get hold of. An additive may be of benefit if you like to use cheap supermarket mineral oil, but if that's changed every 3k, why bother? In anything non-Turbocharged, fully synthetic is overkill, and anything that's on the market is ample, Comma, Duckham's, Miller's etc are all good if the correct grade is chosen.

Gareth

[Landcrab1800]

A friend of mine (yep I got one) worked for a company that manufactured oil and the problem with castrol was that it was prome to mayo plus if you overfilled your system sufficiently the properties would break down under the excess pressure. This was in the early 90's and I do believe it has been cured.