Oil additives good or bad

[Vultch]

This additive thing has really got me wondering... I Found this other article

http://www.fordscorpio.co.uk/snakeoil.htm

[Bogus]

In my opinion oil additivies are a waste of time, money, and are essentially a big con. While most of them probably dont do any harm, they will do little good either. Oil companies invest massive amounts of money on R&D. ( ive seen the ESSO research lab at Abingdon in Oxford) Dont forget they operate billions of pounds worth of machinery themselves and need that machinery to be well lubricated and long lasting. The oil which you buy already contains additives such as anti foam agents, surfactants and other stuff. It doesnt need you to lob anything else in. Ive read the article in the link and I DONT beleive that any oil companies are throwing additivies into their expensively developed lubricants and if there is one doing that it will be a TINY independent somewhere in the US and not a REAL oil company

Use the best quality oil you can and change it at least as often as you are supposed to and forget wasting your money on " snake oil" additives. If that is the only maintenance you ever do, you have already prolonged your engine life

[MattF]

Don't. The second link has a visual representation of what can happen.

http://www.carbibles.com/engineoil_bible.html
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/images/lucas/lucas.htm

[charvell]

Don't. The second link has a visual representation of what can happen.

http://www.carbibles.com/engineoil_bible.html
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/images/lucas/lucas.htm

I agree with Matt, dont do it, just get into the routine of changing the oil at regular intervals,

[Mike Fraser]

I'd probably agree with Bogus that virtually all of them are a waste of money with one exception. Running a few classic cars as I do, I'm a great believer in Molyslip. I've found 'Moly' to really improve the smooth running of older engines & by older, I mean pre 1980's. Engines from this period tended to have much greater tolererances than modern ones & tend to get noisey the older they get. They also generally require a thicker oil than more modern motors. Although I'm a firm 'Moly' fan, I don't bother using it in any of my 'new' (post '90) vehicles as the engines tend to be so well built (by comparison) and most modern oil, provideded it's changed regularly is more than adequate.