Engine Oil Additives

Hi Dolly3900,

If it is your intention to drain all the oil from your sump and then drive your car around, then indeed these additives might make sense.

If, like most people, you intend to maintain oil levels in your sump then do not go anywhere near them. Most, if not all, are rubbish. The PTFE is often in "platelet" form and blocks filters. Apart form that the PTFE, if it does coat your bearings or journals, is in fact a disadvantage as it prevents (reduces) the formation of an oil wedge.

There are some very good speciality oil companies out there, but few sell these additives. There are no major oil companies selling this sh*te, because if it was any good they would be putting it the oil in the first place. _{Step off soapbox}

Agreed, I don't anything about these specific products, but while the test described might sound impressive, it may or may not (probably doesn't) say anything about what happens in normal operation, when you don't run out of oil.

Cheers........Codey

Thanks both,

I did wonder if they were so good, why the likes of Castrol, etc. did not include them as a matter of course.

Was not planning on running on empty, just thinking of future proofing the insides and looks like regular service and maintenance are the best option.

Cheers

Mike]

From: Snake Oil! - Is That Additive Really A Negative? .: Articles

The Infamous "No Oil" Demo

At at least three major motorcycle rallies this past year, we have witnessed live demonstrations put on to demonstrate the effectiveness of certain oil additives. The demonstrators would have a bench- mounted engine which they would fill with oil and a prescribed dose of their "miracle additive." After running the engine for a while they would stop it, drain out the oil and start it up again. Instant magic! The engine would run perfectly well for hours on end, seemingly proving the effectiveness of the additive which had supposedly "coated" the inside of the engine so well it didn't even need the oil to run. In one case, we saw this done with an actual motorcycle, which would be rid den around the parking lot after having its oil drained. A pretty convincing demonstration - until you know the facts.

Since some of these demonstrations were conducted using Briggs and Stratton engines, the Briggs and Stratton Company itself decided to run a similar, but somewhat more scientific, experiment. Taking two brand-new, identical engines straight off their assembly line, they set them up for bench-testing. The only difference was that one had the special additive included with its oil and the other did not. Both were operated for 20 hours before being shut down and having the oil drained from them. Then both were started up again and allowed to run for another 20 straight hours. Neither engine seemed to have any problem performing this "minor miracle."

After the second 20-hour run, both engines were completely torn down and inspected by the company's engineers. What they found was that both engines suffered from scored crankpin bearings, but the engine treated with the additive also suffered from heavy cylinder bore damage that was not evident on the untreated engine.

This points out once again the inherent problem with particulate oil additives: They can cause oil starvation. This is particularly true in the area of piston rings, where there is a critical need for adequate oil flow. In practically all of the reports and studies on oil additives, and particularly those involving suspended solids like PTFE, this has been reported as a major area of engine damage.

This is very interesting!!!!!!!!!

As stated clearly above, leave the miracle additives alone...

The very best you can do for your engine is to keep the correctly specified oil and filter changed regularly, you may even elect do this more often than required in your manual. There is absolutly no substitute for clean oil and filter.

Arg! This stuff never dies.

Look, if they really were any good the oil companies would already put them into their oil.

Continue running the same oil you have been using. It got you this far.

http://www.skepdic.com/slick50.html

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&rls=com.microsoft:en-gb:IE-SearchBox&rlz=1I7DKUK_en-GB&q=engine+oil+additives&revid=1904305957&ei=AXz-S8vEKJ2R4gbPq-HqDQ&sa=X&oi=revisions_inline&resnum=0&ct=broad-revision&cd=1&ved=0CFsQ1QIoAA

and the answer is NO !!!!!!

Another clue is to look at what municipalities do. Large cities spend millions keeping their fleet of vehicles operational and are always looking for way to reduce costs.

Do those municipalities use additives? No, they don't.

AH, I would not necessarily use what a large municipality does with it's fleet as an indication as the best course of action. Houston is a prime case where the fleet management is abysmal. Much of that is due to politicians insisting that the fleet dept buy and use "green" equipment which is unreliable at best, and expensive to own and operate to boot.

Both Pennzoil and Fram offer products in this category. Fram offers oil filters with the stuff precharged in it, while Slik50 is sold by Pennzoil. STP (also owned by Pennzoil if memory serves) offers a similar (probably identical) product as well. so the Oil companies ARE selling it, but at a premium cost.

Are they useful products? probably not for the reasons outlined above. That said, tje concept came about during WWII. The German Luftwaffe took to putting a double handful of powdered Moly Disulfide into the sumps of their engines as a last gasp solid lubricant in the event that the engine sump or oil cooler got shot up and the oil was lost. But the goal was to have the engine keep turning until the pilot could get on the ground, not to make them last forever.

I am of the opinion that a good synthetic oil is the best product available and have used nothing but synthetics in my vehicles for over two decades. I have yet to have experienced any issues as a result of lubrication failures. The dealer pulled the pan on my 2004 corolla a couple years ago when I hit 120K miles looking for an odd noise (that eventually turned out to be a harmonic balancer problem) and the mechanic was impressed with how little wear he saw. You could use some really expensive stuff like Royal Purple, but I've found that Pennzoil, Castrol, or Mobil 1 Full Synthetic (whichever one Wally World has cheaper that day) works fine for a lot less.

That is an interesting fact about the WWII aircraft engines.

Today's auto engines are good for hundreds of thousands of miles. All you need to do is follow the manufactures' recommendations (which usually is a synthetic) for oil, weight, and change intervals. Do that and the engine will outlast your stewardship.

The other thing is that pumping exotic chemical additives into your engine is simply a waste of money and no one will pay you extra money for doing it when you sell your car. For that matter, many that know this may choose to skip your car in favor for one that has not been treated.

GA

I would also recommend synthetic oil, longer times between changes if the manufacturer has not given you exact details for synth oil, at least twice the mileage for normal oil is a good starting point, unless you live in a desert or similar......

After an oil change, disable ignition and turn engine over on the starter for a few seconds to get oil circulating.

Do not rev engine when starting, give oil time to get everywhere first, putting on your seatbelt after starting and before driving away for example.

Let engine warm up for at least a minute when driving before using your 100LB. lead foot!!!

Original manufacturer filters, never third party. (same goes for brake parts)

Never add additives ever, a complete waste of money at best......at worst, who can say.....

Yes, I always use Mobil One, OEM filters, and no additives.

Additives could void the manufacture's warranty if they perform an oil analysis and determine you are not following the rules.

I don't cold crank the engine before a start. I can't see the sense. The engine is off for no more than an hour before it is refilled and the bearings and pump are no drier than as if it sat overnight before an oil change.

It does pay to preload your oil filter with oil before inserting it if the canister holds oil when it is removed.

I always pre-fill the filter and bump the starter to bring the oil pressure up before I allow it to crank. The reason is that in your overnight scenario, the oil pump still was full of oil because of the check valve in the oil filter, so the oil pressure comes up virtually immediately. But in the case of a complete drain and refill, the oil pump is empty too so it takes several seconds for the pump to bring the oil pressure up. yes the bearings have a thin coating of oil, but not enough to form a good hydrodynamic oil film. the con rod bearings were designed to be hydrostatic, supported on the pumped oil stream from the oil pump, without the pump supply, you are stuck with the small amount of hydrodynamic lift that you get from shear in the oil.

Next time you change your oil, time how long it takes for the idiot light to go out, you'll find it takes at least 3-4 seconds or more.

Not on my car. The filter is a paper element at the top of the engine. My engine is also a dry sump engine, which operates differently than a typical engine.

Starter yields about 400 rpms and my idle is under 1,000 rpms, which is not much difference for that few seconds and their is still a film on the bearings, so starvation is not really an issue.

The first commandment of motor oil is: keep it FULL of something. Don't run you car low on oil.

The second commandment of motor oil is: Keep it clean.
I have tried most all of that additive stuff and the only thing that makes a difference, and it is not oil or an oil additive but the Frantz oil filter. It is an add on oil filter system that filters out particles in the oil as small as cigarette smoke. This setup is so good that you just change the filter every 3 to 5 thousand miles and add a quart of oil. I have had several vehicles with these on and they really work. They arrest engine wear.

I also firmly believe in your way of thinking (mostly)... But engine oil does in fact need to be drained and replaced periodically.

The acids that form and the TBN (Total Base Number) can not be taken care of by filter changes alone.

But yes FULL OF PROPER GRADE OIL AND CLEAN

The only additive I ever use is anti-rust-freeze in the cooling system. Use the viscosity oil as recomended by the manufacturer. I use William Penn; drain oil and replace the oil filter every 6 months or 5000km and only fill the sump up to the lower mark on the dipstick...never to the upper mark!. Even if the oil was as expensive as golddust it still gets dirty and the additives in the oil gets lost. If my vehicle is used for short trips, I put about a cup of oil or about 500ml Diesel in a full tank of petrol. My exhaust systems last five times longer and my old '92 Nissan had NO measureable wear in the cylinders, bearings etc when I stripped it after 225000km when it blew a gasket {water pipe burst} The rings was not even bedded in and the ring gap normal....so I must be doing something right! I never let a cold engine idle but drive it as if it was new before the it reaches normal operating temp. Thus no revving or hard accelleration. I drive the Nissan at 130 to 140km/h if there is no traffic police in sight...that is the old car's "sweet spot".

Hi there,

Your engine is designed to use a specific lubricant; this designation maybe found embossed on the oil filler cap or listed in the owners manual. However if by additive you were refering to synthetic lubricants by all means drain and then add the full measure of synthetic to the full mark.

The motoroil that is put into the car has got additives of its own. But the "extra" additives can increase the proformence of the motoroil. If the car keeps running after the oil is removed then there are additives put in that lay a film base ont the metal parts that come in contact with each other. The film layer can be formed by products containing chloride or another additive with the same working. When the engine creates friction and heat, these particals will react with the steal parts.

The PTFE/Teflon that is in a product will prevent that the iron parts will come in contact. It prevents the "las effect" (this is how we call it in Dutch), i do not know the English word for it but translated it is something of weld effect. Instead off PTFE there can also be used caramic parts for it.

The PTFE can have different greades and forms. There are companys that just use screap (waste).

There are tests preformed that shows that there are products that can reduce the energie loss to vibration, friction and erosion. Especially the energie loss caused by the vibration is reduced. There are cases were the additives give a 20% energie saving.

But there are still products in the market that are not working as well as the say and these products can, due to a campain, be verry trusted. If you want to use a additive in your car then the best place to look for information must be on forums were there are users. If the recomand a product then you can test it your self. Just put the discribed amount in the oilresover (there has to be oil in it as well) and take a ride. If you have droven for 10 to 15 minutes then the additive is mixed with the oil.

After this you (espacially with older cars) can notice that the vibration is less and that the car starts better and also runs better with a cold engine.

Hi dolly3900,

I note that you have a Rover 75 derivative- I have one also, a 2003 75CDT with 60000 miles on the clock. In my experiance you are worrying about the wrong thing. The BMW Engine will go on for years and more than 200000 miles with only a regular oil change at the reccomended intervals. What you shoulld be worrying about are the bits made by Rover.

In the next 20000miles approx you will need a new Clutch costing of the order £1000.

Also, at round about the same mileage you will need to replace both Fuel Pumps at a cost of £750 if you get a Rover Agent to do it.

If you havnt already experianced it you wiill find the Cental Locking System will fail in cold weather. Also your Reversing Sensers will fail due to the very poor harness insulation inside the rear bumper.

Despite having experianced most of the above I still quite like the car and appreciate its 40+ mpg I would suggest however that you stop worrying about the engine and save your pennies for the other problems that are heading your way.

A straight synthetic is my number one choice...

Mine too.

I can also simply demonstrate to anyone the difference between Synthetic & normal oil and it is a real eye opener!!!

Perhaps Capt. Moosie can ask his brother but there is an oil that Castrol is selling that is a full synthetic that is supposedly rated for 15K miles or 1 year, whichever comes first. I'm leery of leaving the corrosive combustion products in the system that long. Thoughts?

The 15K mile, 1 year interval is more for the satisfaction of the owner. In my mind it is not a good interval, but it depends...

Oil changes should be done on a schedule that depends on the service duty of the car, environment (i.e., temperature extremes, dust, dirt, etc.), and running conditions.

If the car undergoes severe duty, then change it more frequently (i.e., twice a year or more). If it is seeing regular duty of mostly highway driving, then it can be changed less frequently.

Note, that stop and go driving in the city is considered severe duty. Also, short drives where the oil temperature may not get to normal running temperature for 20 minutes or longer at a time is considered severe duty.

And of course summer in SE Texas or Florida counts as "severe duty" as well....

Yes, indeed. My driving is probably 90% in town, but in town speed limits here are typically 40 to 45 mph and police are generous here and don't bother people going +10 mph of those limits if you drive in a way that doesn't look aggressive or reckless.

I can say this: my dad used to work for a pipeline company as a senior mechanic (he worked on virtually EVERYTHING) until he retired in the early 80's and the huge stationary engines that ran the NG/LP gas pipeline compressor stations ALL used synthetic oil (with PCB's added to prevent fires... but that is another story..). When they were serviced, they generally just changed the filter and topped off the sump. Changing that much oil was a relatively rare thing. They also ran off of the NG/LP that was in the pipeline and they ran constantly at the same speed.

I am guessing that there are far, far less combustion products from natural gas and propane.

Gasoline and diesel produce combustion products that contain acids and some slip into the engine oil. The correct way to determine engine oil replacement is by oil analysis and that is how municipalities do it to insure that they only change the oil when needed and early detection of failures to bearings, etc.

Gas (Propane/methane) has other problems, it burns much hotter and if the engine was not specifically designed for Gas (not petrol!), then the engine runs much hotter....

This may not be a problem for the US/UK, but here where you can drive for several hours above 100MPH on a good day, this can cause engine (head) failures....

Also, all the gas installers tell their customers NOT to tow using gas, only with petrol.....

Natural gas/Methane is about 10% lower energy than LP gas so you get less power.

They also have much less lubricity and they tend to cause more valve guide wear.

The City of Houston bought a number of CNG trucks for their fleet, and they spend their entire lives in the shop.

A good quality synthetic oil is all you ever need.

We owned a 1987 Cougar with a 302 V8. Always ran a synthetic oil and changed it and the filter at 3000 to 5000 miles of service. At ten years of age and 105,000 miles on the odo, my son decided to tear the 302 down to re-build for some "weekend warrior" type drag racing. (definitely not professional type - speed was not of the essence here, just reliability) After taking measurements on wear on the bearings, rings, and cylinder bore, we realized we should have left it together. Not enough wear to warrent a re-build. Since it was already down, we did the bearings and rings, but at stock dimensions. No machining was done. The body of the car left us, but that engine is still going in his hot rod 1950 Ford. Synthetics are for real, and as originally advertised in the early 1970's, it is not necessary to change them at 3000 miles of service. I easily got 100,000 plus on a 2001 ranger 3.0L engine with changes at 7,000 to 10,000 miles of service. Not recommended, but it does work.

My VW Touran oil computer used to tell me to change the oil (Long Life III Synthetic) at around 33 - 35,000 KMs, or around 20,000 miles.

No problems whatsoever....

My Mitsubishi has exactly the same engine (and oil!!) but no oil computer and I change the oil at around 20,000KMs (12,500 miles or so), probably FAR too soon....they want it done at 15,000KMs, a waste of good oil......

Andy, remember that the environment in Germany is a bit more forgiving than the one here in SE Texas. It's supposed to be 94 degrees F today (as it has been for over two weeks) and it isn't even officially summer yet. Of course here in Houston, we really only have two seasons, Summer and everything else.

LOL

I am sure (which is why I mentioned deserts) that you need to replace oil more often than I do.

The question is how more often.....if the engine was designed right originally, the water, oil and engine temps should be the same.......if not the rad(s) are not big enough....

But sand and dust may be another problem.....I have no idea about that....which is why I mentioned deserts

Mike, Before you start experimenting with oil additives go to the AMSOIL website and look around. I am sure you will find the answers to your questions there. Takoma

I have been using SLICK 50 in gasoline engines since 2000 and have not seen any harmful effect. Hence I would say: Go for It.

Read what you wrote carefully, did it make sense?

I think its still not a good idea as you could desist using it and have the same effects that you describe:-

.......and have not seen any harmful effect.

and your wallet will be a bit better off at the same time!...

Not seeing "harmful effects" and having "good positive effects" are miles apart from each other.......

Could you in some way distinguish between two identical cars, one with and one without the additive? If the effects are not instantly visible in some way, there is probably nothing positive happening....

Some of these additives to petrol have been shown to cause buildup of extra carbon on the valve stems I do remember in a magazine test here many years ago that claimed this.

The best product in this area at the time was demonstrated to have slightly "cleaned" the injectors (difficult to measure as the effect was minimal if i remember correctly and was the only positive effect seen from all tests), but caused large extra deposits on the inlet valves......it also reduced the Octane rating of the petrol somewhat...... But as it was a large petrol company that did the actual tests with the magazine together it may have not been an as accurate test as one might hope to get......

End result was that they claimed that you were better off without it.......I actually believe that is true of all additives......

Though many years ago, I do admit that in my (gullible ) youth, I had a car where the oil pressure was a little bit low and I used STP to keep it running, basically thicker oil.......I was selling the car anyway....I believed that it helped.....as to whether it actually did or not, no idea.....

Today I simply use Synthetic oil and the engines run, and run and run.......as one has not broken since I have used the oil, I cannot say exactly in what state the engines are/were, but some ran to almost 400,000 KMs before being sold!! And NO engines were showing any wear (extra oil usage) either!

.....but each to his own....have a great day.

Hey Andy,

What I meant was that there is no harmful effect of using SLICK 50 engine treatment in my vehicle and I have used it for over 10 years.

Am i clear now

Hello headers,

Twenty five years ago I was a slick 50 distributor and we had some fun with it. Slick 50 was formulated for use in gearboxes not engines because the teflon will burn-off of the upper cylinder surfaces about 750°F.

We also sold another more advanced slick 50 product called Pro-Tech 10 which was formulated for use in engines and the upper cylinder temps were not an issue.

Since Detroit and other manufacturers retooled in the early and late 1990's the design clearances/finishes of mating parts within engines are far better and straight synthetic lubricant is my recommendation.

But we had good results in racing in the earlier engines and gear trains

Since Detroit and other manufacturers retooled in the early and late 1990's the design clearances/finishes of mating parts within engines are far better and straight synthetic lubricant is my recommendation.

But we had good results in racing in the earlier engines and gear trains

So are you suggesting that we do NOT use additives in newer engines?

Thanks a ton mates!

But why is synthetic oil better than mineral oil?

I'll just make one point; mineral oil if kept at or above 250°F for twenty minutes loses about 75% of it's lubricity.

Oil Degradation: http://www.cjc.dk/fileadmin/user_upload/pdf/CJC_Brochures/Oil_Degradation_Varnish.pdf

Addition of synthetic components to petroleum-based engine oils will do little to improve the flash point. Full synthetic engine oils usually exhibit the best flash point properties.

For liquid lubricants, oil viscosity decreases as temperature increases. Lubricants subjected to a wide range of operating and ambient temperatures require a lubricant that exhibits the lower change on its viscosity with variations in temperature. According to the definition in ASTM D2270, the Viscosity Index is an arbitrary number used to characterize the variation of kinematic viscosity of a petroleum product with temperature. For oils with similar kinematic viscosity, the higher the VI, the smaller the effect of temperature on its viscosity.

To better understand VI, we need to review how it was developed by Dean and Davis in the 1920s:

VI is a means of classifying the viscosity vs. temperature behavior of oils, on the basics of two reference oils selected to represent two extremes of behavior:

The reference oil for high (H) VI was assigned a VI of 100. The oil used was a paraffinic base oil from Pennsylvania crudes, which at that time were considered to display the best viscosity vs. temperature characteristics.

The reference oil for Low (L) VI was assigned a VI of 0 and was a naphthenic base oil from the coastal region of Gulf of Mexico, which shows a very poor viscosity vs. temperature relationship.

Using this simple approach, lubricants that exhibit less change in viscosity (with respect to temperature) than the reference oil H, will have a VI greater than 100. Lubricants having viscosity change (with respect to temperature) greater than the reference oil L, will have a negative VI. This means that a lubricant with a -15 VI will exhibit change in viscosity with respect to temperature more so than the naphthenic reference oil.

I looked around on the web and came up with several good links like this one:-

http://www.unitedoil.com.au/synthetic.htm - sorry, link no longer available

That gave me this info:-

For the ultimate in high temperature protection, durability and all-round performance, synthetic oil is the way to go. Unfortunately, synthetic motor oil costs more than ordinary petroleum-based oils. They cost more because synthetic oil requires much more processing and refining but ultimately improve the oil's performance in virtually every aspect. Synthetic oil is used in every commercial and military jet engine in the world, as well as in all spacecrafts. That's because synthetic oil outperforms petroleum oil at high temperature extremes, low temperature extremes, and everywhere in between. Today experts agree, synthetic oil excels in all applications !

Synthetic oil has superior temperature resistance. Synthetic oil can safely handle higher operating temperatures without oxidizing (burning) or breaking down. The upper limit for most mineral based oils is about 100 to 120 degrees C. Synthetic oil can easily handle temperatures in excess of 170 degrees C. This makes synthetic oil well suited for turbocharged and supercharged applications as well as high rpm and high output engine applications.

Synthetic oil has better low temperature performance. Superior fluidity means Synthetic oil flows freely in a wider range of temperatures (including sub zero and hot desert conditions), pouring easily in temperatures below freezing where ordinary oils turn to molasses. This makes for easier cold starts and provides faster upper valve train lubrication during the first critical moments when most engine wear occurs.

Synthetic oil ultimately improves engine performance. Synthetic oils tend to be more slippery than conventional motor oil. This improves fuel economy, cuts frictional horsepower losses and helps the engine run cooler. Synthetic oils will certainly make a noticeable improvement.

It makes sense to assume that Synthetic oil will allow longer oil change intervals helping alleviate the added cost. Because synthetic oil resists oxidation and viscosity breakdown better than conventional motor oil and does not break down or sludge up as fast as conventional motor oil. Some suppliers of synthetic motor oils say that oil change intervals can be safely extended to over 20,000 km's, but this would only be applicable in optimum driving conditions. In today's environment it may be more applicable to talk about hours of operation instead of kilometers traveled.

But also here:-

http://www.machinerylubrication.com/Read/23715/conventional-vs-synthetic-oil

I found the following in a very interesting discussion on Synthetic versus Mineral oil:-

Conventional and Synthetic Oil Case
A northern Canadian diesel truck fleet was experiencing cold starting difficulties at temperatures that were consistently below -25°C (-13°F). Another critical problem was that once started, it took a minimum of 1:45 (one minute, forty-five seconds) for the petroleum base SAE 15W/40 oil to provide full flow lubrication and fully 3:15 (three minutes, fifteen seconds) for a petroleum base SAE 30 oil to fully lubricate the rocker arms of the engines.

The solution was the use of a partially (50%) synthetic lubricant with an SAE 0W/30 viscosity and an API service classification of SF/CD. Cold starting is no longer difficult, full pressure lubrication is achieved within .20 (twenty) seconds, and at operating temperatures, the oil viscosity behaves much like an SAE 30 grade lubricant.

I understand you fully, but if your best comment is "no harmfully effect", thats pretty sad.

Remember, to make it worth spending money, such things must bring a "positive" effect as well.......as I and several others have mentioned, the ONLY way we have seen positive effects in the oil for example, is by going to Synthetic (as long as the engine is not terribly worn already of course)........

In all the years that I have read such claims on additives etc., when tested by a reputable magazine or similar, the results are always negative or zero, none of them is ever positive.

I get the magazine from the German ADAC (free with membership) (equivalent to the AAA in the USA) and from time to time, they test such claims on such products, never seen a positive result yet!!! Par for the course.

If you want to spend your money in this way, and feel that its good for your engine, please continue, its a free world!! Someone has to buy it or the company and all its shareholders will go bust!!!

So you are doing charity work as a sideline!! Well done!!

It's your car.

Slick 50 has done its own studies to prove up to 50% less engine wear. NASA has also done some research and their results were a little different:

"In the types of bearing surface contact we have looked at, we have seen no benefit. In some cases we have seen detrimental effect. The solids in the oil tend to accumulate at inlets and act as a dam, which simply blocks the oil from entering. Instead of helping, it is actually depriving parts of lubricant" (Rau).

Now, NASA, as we all know, is extremely biased and their record on scientific research probably can't match the scientists at Slick 50.

Let's not forget your own study for over 10 years. I know that it is just one data point, but you yourself have seen no harmful effect, so their must be a benefit, no?

Okay, I may be a little harsh, but my point is that all of these additives are just snake oil (PTFE) to one degree or another. If your lucky the worst thing you have to endure is throwing a few bucks away.

However, I do commend you for wanting to take care of your car. That's more than a lot of owners do.

Out of curiosity do you recall the application NASA was testing the lube on or any specifics of clearances, rpm, driven forces etc.?

Back in the 1970s, I ran a full service Gas/Service station. We tried to do things well, and kept our crew trained.

One day I had the factory Sales Manager for STP, the super oil additive in my office. Trying to make sure I was fully informed, I asked, "What does STP really do?"

"IT SELLS, THAT'S ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW."

My Step father had a 69 Dodge P/U with a 318 2 bbl 3 speed on the tree. He sold the truck with close to 250,000 miles on it. Not ONCE did he ever drain the oil from the pan, BUT the first day of the month he pulled the old filter off put on a new one didn't matter if the engine had 5 miles or 5000 and added one quart of new motor oil (Castrol 10W30). I am not saying what he did was right but his logic was "Keep the stuff clean and it will last forever". Hard to argue with him when the engine had over 200K on it. Other than normal maintenance items the motor was never torn apart. He would have kept it but he had medical problems and couldn't drive the manual steering, clutch, no power brakes anymore. He bought a new Dodge in 1978 Automatic Power everything and a 360cid engine. He died in 1980 and the new Dodge was sold with about 45k miles on it. It too had never had the plug pulled. I thought about keeping it but couldn't do the oil the way he did and thought with my luck the engine would go south when I pulled the plug.

When I changed the oil & filter I also added Slick 50 to my Air cooled VW camper. The effects were instant, the engine ran smoother, faster and quieter. it took me around europe with no problems at all. Having said that I, after reading many negative comments about oil additives I would not add any to a modern engine. I also threw a can of Thick gluey additive/friction reducer into my old jeep once as it was using a lot of oil it had no effect on oil consumption or anything else.

The Briggs & stratton test was floored. To carry out reliable testing they needed to repeat it a dozen or more times.

Read the Label and look for the one that is used on service vehicles,It does make a difference