Whats the deal with this stuff? I have my opinion of this crap ,huh fine product, What do you guys think about it,and others like STP,DURALUBE,PROLONG,SLICK50 and so on! My main question IS will it or anything else help break down carbon deposits inside of a engine? I do know about Marvel Mystery oil, Love it and use it for lots of different things............... ................................THAT BEING SAID......................... I have to replace the engine in my old PICK-UP ,I have a replacement ,but after I pulled the valve covers theirs more gunk in their than I would like,so I'm sure theirs some deposits on the valves, Just wondering out loud for the most part and I'm sure I'll get a ear full from the HAMBers
Marvel Mystery Oil will PREVENT carbon build up. I don't know about REMOVING built up carbon. Did you hear / have your replacement engine running? If so,flush her out, fill with fresh oil and go for it.
As you clicked submit Carol Shelby was on Speed Just now mouthing off about this stuff. I think lots of this stuff is Snake Oil. I do think the Lucas line of products are great JMO
Not ZMAX, but I know that the manufacturer of teflon (PTFE?) says that it should NOT be used at the temperatures found in a car engine (so, no SLICK50 for sure).
Z-Max is the snakiest of all the snake oils .I worked at a dealership that pushed the stuff..thought it was about worthless and to add insult to injury the stuff is expensive .Let a carboned up part soak in it for about a month..there was absolutely no effect.The local paper researched the product and said it was basically mineral oil.The best thing that could be said is that it probably wouldn't hurt your engine. Steve(V7)
I thought they quit making shit 50, isn't prolong the stuff that smiling bob guy sells? no wait never mind, only thing i ever use is the seafoam, not sure on carbon,but it sure will clean up your fuel system.
If you think its sludged up a little kersosene in the oil does wonders. Mix about a pint in your oil and run it for about 15 minutes (don't rev the snot out of it) then change the oil and the filter. You'd be amazed at the crap that comes out when you drain it. If its carbon on the valves water works good. Fire it up speed the throttle to about fast idle and drizzle water down the carb throat. Breaks the carbon loose real well.
porknbeaner Thanks to you SIR and everyone alse, The kerosene is the trick that I was trying to remember from my Dad back in the day. I have also heard about the water and I'll do that after I get it cranked back up.. With any luck it will be Sunday afternoon.........
I can tell you from experience, working at a Ford dealer {especially on the FE 360's} in the 70s either take the intake & valve covers off ,clean the sludge out and then take the pan off & clean it or leave it alone. All that kerosene does is break it loose and run it thru the engine. First thing you know all the hydraulic lifters will be clattering. If you did half the job 99% of the time it would be back and you would be putting free lifters in it for nothing even if you changed the oil & filter afterward
+1 on the seafoam - I've used that before with great effect -- because it came highly recommended by a 'real' mechanic friend of mine - real means he actually works on cars, doesn't just R&R items that the computer says are bad He also likes the kerosene trick - exactly as described above.
anyone remember this one? what was the trick with trans fluid for??????? remove a vacuum line and rev the engine allowing the vacuum to suck the trans fluid into the intake manifold and down to the valves then let it sit for awhile then take it out for a good run???????
Dudes .....................I ran a qt of transmission fluid in a gunked up 1969 429 Mercury Police Car Engine, and then (change the oil filter twice, and the next time I pulled the valve coveres and Intake, it looked like brand new.
Oil gets into the combustin chamber before rings are well seated, but I don't think it accumulates that much. It just doesn't accumulate in the ring lands at that point, not usually enough buildup to sieze the rings. A tear-down, soon after an overhaul, for whatever the reason will show no tendency for the rings to be stuck, I have had a few of those cases over the years, on various types of motors, aircraft and automobile. Then, when the rings are seated, the threat diminishes for a long, long, long time. Appropriate oil changes are the answer to prevent carbon buildup. New oil washes the cylinder walls and keeps rings free. AFTER rings/piston lands are worn and excess oil starts creeping into the combustion, burning and excess carbon is forced down into the worn ring lands. At that point adding MMO might help(a lot of people swear by it) prevent the accumulation and subsequent sticking of rings. But More important, I think, is increase the frequency of the oil change at this point to prevent rings from sticking. After they are stuck, it's my opinion that there isn't much you can do except replace the pistons. Of course, oil gets into the combustion chamber by way of worn valve guides and/or bad valve seals also. When it gets to the point that the carbon buildup in the combustion chamber causes hot spots and(in higher compression motors), to cause run-on or pre-ignition, then teardown is my remedy. A lot of people tell me that MMO works in helping this situation also. I tried ATF once, didn't hurt anything, but didn't seem to help, maybe I just wan't patient enough. On Nash Hot Rod, I used the MMO treatment for my first time. It sn't a show car, just a fun jalopy for the moment. Someday I might even finish the body work and paint it. I am currently running a tired motor, with intention of upgrading that the next time it goes up on jack stands for upgrades after the bugs are all out of the build. The motor was in a school bus and removed for high oil consumption. I cranked it and it smoked to high heaven, but at that point I was more interested in chassis fabrication. Being of mosest means, I prefer to drive a car whilst finishing it. Anyhow, the first thing I did in the first 20 miles of driving was to change the oil again. I poured MMO in the cylinders thru the spark plugs and let it sit for a few days. Then, along with about 5 oil changes over the next 4 months, it is now purring quite nicely and hardly smokes! Oil consumption is still measurable, but there's improvement. I am still going to do the overhaul sometime this year, but the MMO, and the oil changes have kept it on the road, I presume.
Heard the kerosene trick myself but had an old timer tell me to use diesel fuel instead something about it having oil in it, where as kerosene doesn't to keep it from smoking up you house....old fella said kerosene and diesel fuel were pretty much the same.....dont know never tried it but figured I'd pass it on. Oh and Seafoam works amazing but be prepared to see smoke for about 10 miles or so.
I had an old chevy corsica with the 2.8 that the oil light came on one night on the way home. Stopped and checked the level, it was full so I limped it home. I took a quart of oil out and added a quart of kerosene then let it fast idle about 10-15 minutes. I changed the oil and drove that thing several more months until it got traded in with no problems. My dad did the water down the carb bit but was always told hot water and only a cup full at a trickel.
+1 for marvel mystery oil and trans fluid. My Dad and my Uncle who has been a "real" mechanic for 50 years taught me to put a little marvel in the oil and a splash in the gas when I fill up. Also when you do an oil change add a bit of trans fluid, run it till it warms up then drain. According to him the marvel helps prevent and the trans fluid flushes it out.
3x2rocket According to him the marvel helps prevent and the trans fluid flushes it out. I never heard about this method before (Trans fluid flushes it out),anybody else up on this process ? I 've heard about trans fluid through the carburetor Will be firing it up in a couple more days now,finished up alot day ,I'll be glad when this thing is finished and can get back on the fun stuff, Thanks to everyone for the help...........<!-- / message -->
+1 more for the tranny fluid, had a ticking lifter in a '76 Buick 350. Dad added a 1/2 quart of ATF ran for a while, changed fluids and she was good for 2 year's before I decided I just had to have a SBC. Should have kept the Buick at least it's different, and she pulled so good.
Crap maybe, but fast for the times, and damn fun to take and out run most of it's contemporaries that didn't even see it coming because it was the typical four door Volkswagen look alike crapobox. And thanks to the torque steer, it sometimes made you feel like George of the Jungle (LOOK OUT FOR THAT TREE!!!).
Do an oil change and use synthetic, and install a Wix, and ONLY a Wix filter on it. The synthetic will break down the sludge/carbon inside the negine in short order, and the Wix will offer maximum protection while the deposits get disolved away. The trick with tranny fluid was a good one... Before about 1976, tranny fluid was whale oil... Yep, that's right, Moby Dick "Nantucket" stuff. It was made up of very short carbon chain molecules, so it was basically a penetrating oil, and was capable of eating away carbon. When they stoped using blubber oil and went to petro-oil based trans fluids, they started having a lot of problems with coking, so they added detergents to the ATF a couple years later. The detergents in modern ATF are really no different than the detergents found in modern engine oil. The ATF molecule is a lot smaller than the long chain molecules of motor oil, so it does work a little, but overall it's just not worth the effort. Seafoam works great, because it's a blend of eithers and penetrating oils with detergents added. Diesel fuel is no longer "safe" since they removed the sulphers [low sulpher diesel]. It will still work, but no better than kerosene. The sulphers are what gave diesel it's lubricating properties... If your gonna use diesel or kero, just park it and let it run a fast idle for a short time, and drain it out. Just my personal observations and opinions... YMMV... Debate away.
Won a Bunch of Pro Rally's with a pair of OMNI GLH (Goes Like Hell) Shelbys in the mid 80's that I fielded out of my race shop. might have been pedestrian looking but went like stink!
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