slick50 oil additive

Used to use slick 50 in all my vehicles when it came out in the late 70s, now use Penrite seems to do a similar job. Always noticed the engine ran better (idled faster) and got a marginal but noticable increase in fuel economy. With the original slick 50 I thought there were some issues for some motors Im not sure if it was a glazing issue or something (put a teflon coating on all wear areas) maybe somebody else can remember what it was - but the product has improved since then, I never had a problem. Not aware of any problems now (25 years later - must be OK)

Kes

I have spent a lot of time investigating the advantages of Slick 50 and other oil additives it would appear that the advantages of any additives are at best are questionable.
I have operated Toyata Diesels for over 15 Years many have reached 400,000km
With Slick 50 and without. Made no difference for me.
Maybe slick 50 does make a difference after 400,000Km But I never found out.
If you want your engine to last longer (especially Diesels) Change your Oil and Filter regularly. After 400,000Km my engines still did not burn oil and still had good compression
Use a good quality diesel Oil, that has a fair bit of detergent in it. I have found Castrol GTV Diesel to be excellent. If your toyota diesel starts burning oil its normally caused by the fact you are using crap oil which is gumming up the engine.
Or your injectors are dirty and they are washing the oil off the Cylinder wall.
Regular Oil Changes (probably every 5000Km on the 100 Series) will make your engine last a lot longer than slick 50. A bit of injector cleaner and 10,000Km of decent oil will often get rid of oil consumption problems and reduce wear incredibly in the 4.2 Diesel.
Good Luck

I would question any claims of benefits from using oil additives unless they were scientifically conducted tests. Anecdotal reports such as the engine idling faster or improved fuel economy just don't stand up for me. Just consider the power produced by an engine and the forces needed to propel a vehicle. Then consider how little effect a slightly thicker/thinner/more slippery lubricant would have - not measurable in my view. I was once told that removing the fan blades on my HQ Holden would give an extra 4mpg. Tested it carefully - same conditions with and without blades - no difference!!

I tried slick-50, 20 years ago and will not go near the bleep ever again. It cost me an engine, and of course, they said it was not their fault either.

Thanks for all your replies guys,there doesn't seem any advantage in using slick50.
Regards Jaksun.

Oils additives, such as Slick 50, are a load of crap. Do a web search, there's some good stuff out there. Particularly amusing is the study by Briggs and Stratton to debunk the "this engine was treated with XXXX and now runs without oil" demo you often see at shows.

Cheers

http://www.xs4all.nl/~chris/slick50.html
check that one out

one oil additive (can be used for motors, gearboxes, diffs, swivel housings etc) which may have benefit is oil stabiliser (e.g. Moreys) which improves the adherence and viscosity characterstics of the oil...or at least it's supposed to... Any comment?

its good shi... try it keeps the metal bits slippery. then use a good quality oil

Jakson (anyone else) Read On

PTFE the active ingredient in Slick 50 and otherwise known as Teflon which is a Dupont trademark is a solid which is added to engine oil and coats the moving parts of the engine.

However, such solids seem even more inclined to coat non-moving parts, like oil passages and filters. After all, if it can build up under the pressures and friction exerted on a cylinder wall, then it stands to reason it should build up even better in places with low pressures and virtually no friction.

This conclusion seems to be borne out by tests on oil additives containing PTFE conducted by the NASA Lewis Research Center, which said in their report, "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).

In defense of Slick 50, tests done on a Chevy 6 cylinder engine by the University of Utah Engineering Experiment Station found that after treatment with the PTFE additive the test engine's friction was reduced by 13.1 percent, the output horsepower increased from 5.3 percent to 8.1 percent, and fuel economy improved as well. Unfortunately, the same tests concluded that "There was a pressure drop across the oil filter resulting from possible clogging of small passageways." Oil analysis showed that iron contamination doubled after the treatment, indicating that engine wear increased (Rau).

You makes your chises. But I recommend you stick to a good oil and regular oil changes. Don't be a sucker for oil additives and fuel savers.