The Litany against Slick 50

[William T Wilson <fluffy@xxxx>]

On Sun, 2 Jul 2000, Sean Spurlock wrote:

> anyone put in an oil additive into their cars. I am changing the oil
> in the engine and dope in the transmission and want to put in a
> cleaner prior to the change, and then an additive? Anything better
> than slick 50? I would appreciate the help. Thanks

I think it would be safe to say that anything is better than Slick 50. :}

There are special "flushing oils" that you can get that can clean some of
the debris out of the engine. These are usually 0 weight oils, almost
like water. You run the engine (no load) for about 20 minutes with this
stuff, and drain the oil out; a considerable amount of goop will come out
with it. This will help increase the flow of oil for better lubrication. 
These aren't really necessary most of the time, but they are out there.
And sometimes you get unlucky, and that goop was plugging up a leak. :}

Oil additives, as a rule, are just not so great. They come in varying
degrees of not-so-greatness, but Slick 50 (or anything containing PTFE) is
about as bad as you can get. Slick 50 contains small pieces of PTFE. They
don't call it Teflon because DuPont won't let them; DuPont, who invented
it, says that PTFE should not be used as an engine lubricant. PTFE is a
particle, so it is in suspension in the oil. It doesn't dissolve. The
oil filter is designed to remove particles from oil, so most of the stuff
ends up plugging up the oil filter. Engines disassembled after many miles
with Slick 50 show greater wear especially on bearings than those without.

Not all oil additives use PTFE. On the other hand, it's difficult for an
additive to improve on the performance of an oil. Most oil companies have
R&D budgets larger than the *entire* budget of a typical additive maker.
The oil companies put lots of effort into getting their oil formulated
properly - and each oil is different. It's going to be very difficult for
an additive maker to make any change to oil composition that is going to
result in an overall improvement. It's also interesting to note that
there are no oil companies or vehicle manufacturers that recommend the use
of any type of oil additive.

If you want to improve lubrication, the best thing you can do is use a
synthetic oil. These oils have better lubrication, flow better when cold,
and are quite resistant to heat. They also are resistant to
contamination. Because of this, you don't have to change the oil quite as
often with a synthetic; this makes up for the considerably increased cost.