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- Warsaw, Indiana
I find it interesting and frustrating how many different experiences we see with oils and additives. After all of this gets said, who knows what is actually right for their application(s). I can say one constant here is that our 'friends' at EPA have removed all zinc from oils so for flat tappet motors we need to add zinc in whatever form we choose. We religiously add STP and Lucas oil extender when we change oil in any of our motors and have never experienced any of the horror stories others have here. I also use both in gear boxes other than limited slip types. I will say however that I never change oil in a cold motor or take long enough to do it that the motor is cold when I pour in the oil, especially working on it outside in winter. The VW incident might have been that the motor was cold enough that the STP went down to the pickup screen and the pump could not pull it through because it was too cold. It will become thinner in a warm motor, especially motors where it has to run down over the warm heads before getting to the pan and not cause the problem. In colder weather my oil and STP is kept inside, then the STP poured into a gallon of oil and mixed before being put in the motor. We are building a Dodge 413 racing/street motor. We are treating all of the parts such as cam and lifters with an additive called Extreme per instructions before assembly. We have at this time not used it enough to testify completely about it but it gets very good reviews. We had a Dodge 400 that used a lot of oil. We kept adding a high percentage of Lucas oil extender for several changes and it has now stopped using oil down to a very reasonable level. This was a motor I would not have expected to have stuck rings, very clean inside, cylinders looked good when we removed the heads before installing it, so I am not sure what happened to cure it. We have friends that have had the same experience. A friend had us build a Dodge 440 for him. Since his company sells Amsoil he immediately put it in the rebuilt motor. In less than 2,000 miles the full groove mains had cut into the crank beyond it being able to be reground. We also rebuilt a Deere diesel for the same friend and told him if he put that Amsoil in it right off to not call us if he had problems like his 440. He used regular oil with additives and it still runs fine. Best I can surmise is that the multitude of different circumstances present with each motor and application are so many that it is impossible to assign a one method fits all for everyone. When the Shell oil business I buy oil from for the farm was selling it, the then current owner told the new owner to never never try to change any farmer's mind about what he uses. One does have to consider progress though. Then there is our unwelcome but faithful companion looking over our shoulder---Murphy!!!!
