The mere mentioning of snake oils on this forum is like questioning global warming, one would be severely condemned. What the heck, I will comment on this anyway.
There are tons of snake oils, in various forms and shapes, just like all the cosmetics in a duty free shop, promising to keep you or your significant others young and pretty. Of course, if these claims are true, there would be no aging Hollywood stars.
OK, I will share my experience below, good and bad and ugly.
1. Engine oil stop leak. I tried many, none of them really worked. For my Volvo 240, 1993, which I sold, the main seal was leaking so badly. The main seal stop leak did absolutely nothing. Tried Liquid Molly's oil saver, not much effect either. Also tried Bar's stop leak, which is about $3 to $4 a bottle at Walmart. It seems to slow down my oil into coolant problem a bit, not entirely but less. This stuff typically softens and expands the hardened rubber seal. However, I doubt the hardening of rubber seal is reversible.
2. Fuel injector cleaners. Tried a few times such as ATP and Seaform once. Could not tell if they really help at all. I do burn premium gasoline every 3 tanks or so. Typically, I use 89, which is a mix of 87 and 93 at BP.
3. Engine oil treatment. The only I tried and have faith is Liquid Molly's MOS2. This is a form of solid lubricant in nanoparticle sizes. It stays on the cylinder wall over night and helps to reduce wear at the first start in the morning. I trust this one.
There are many truly snake oils in this category, such as slick 50, with teflon. Totally waste of money in my opinion. Liquid Molly also produce something called ceramic coating. I don't believe it would work. To achieve the bonding of any coating to cylinder wall within the engine oil is impossible in my opinion.
Never tried any other products which claim to reduce oil burning and increase engine power.
4. Transmission fluid treatment. Tried something which claimed to reduce shuddering of the transmission, such as those from Lucas and Lube Gard. Not sure if any of them worked. Now, I don't try any of those things. I simply replace transmission fluid with Dexron VI and be happy.
Never tried any transmission stop leak.
5. Head gasket repair. This is the most controversial of all and most expensive, such as $60 from BlueDevil or $12 from Prestone, and many others with prices in between.
Tried a few bottles of these head gasket repair thing, costing about $25 a bottle, four years back when I started to battle my "blown" head gasket problem with oil into the coolant. None of them worked. Most of them are liquid glass with some particles. Never tried BlueDevil's expensive stuff but in its Q&A, it specifically stated that it cannot cure oil into coolant problem. I can see why. Every time when oil is involved, the bonding is suspicious.
Now fast forward four years, my engine head gasket is developing new symptoms with coolant now leaking into the combustion chamber to cause mysterious coolant leak and poor idling. I was fully resigned to the fact that my engine has run out of its borrowed time. Then, I decided to give those head gasket repair another try because oil is not involved in this case.
At Walmart, they sell something fancy with nanoparticles for $27 a bottle and this $12.00 bottle from Prestone. I read the labels and the one from Prestone contains kevlar fibers, liquid silica (glass), and some hardeners. Therefore, I will take the risk of wasting $12 and I like the kevlar fibers. Well, it worked beyond my imagination. Within two minutes after I poured the stuff in, the engine quieted down and the leak stopped. Now, 100 miles later, the engine is still quiet and tight and no more coolant leak. Just like magic. I am fully aware that this fix could be a Monster drink fix, giving you a temporary high and the crash is just around the corner. I don't care because it buys me time to find a good car as my DD replacement. I will do a full head gasket replacement once I find one.
In my opinion, the reason it works, at least for now, is the kevlar fibers. This is similar to Slime used in tire repair. The Slime thing contains fibers and some fluids. At the leaking spot, it blocks the passage, forming a temporary plug. It would continue to leak out and block, providing temporary fix until you can get the tire fixed properly, if it is fixable.
6. Last but not the least, AC stop leak. I actually used this thing at least twice and both times it worked. It is called SuperSeal which you can buy in any autoparts store or Walmart. This thing stays liquid but hardens once it encounters moisture. The principle is that at the leaking spot of the AC system, the throttling effect will cause a local cooling and condensation, or sweating. This SuperSeal stuff when comes out will forms a bond to block the leakage. I used it on two of my E320, for which one was sold and one's AC still going strong after four years. One downside is that you must remove the moisture inside your AC first or you could run the risk of blocking the orifice or destroying the compressor. It happened to my cars after the treatment but it is still better than the cost and labor to replace the evaporator.
7. Radiator stop leak. Tried a bottle when I was desperate with water streaming down at the bottom of the radiator. A $9 bottle from Bar's got me home over 80 miles. I then replaced the radiator as PROPER repair.
OK, I said it. Let the fun begin.
jftu105
There are tons of snake oils, in various forms and shapes, just like all the cosmetics in a duty free shop, promising to keep you or your significant others young and pretty. Of course, if these claims are true, there would be no aging Hollywood stars.
OK, I will share my experience below, good and bad and ugly.
1. Engine oil stop leak. I tried many, none of them really worked. For my Volvo 240, 1993, which I sold, the main seal was leaking so badly. The main seal stop leak did absolutely nothing. Tried Liquid Molly's oil saver, not much effect either. Also tried Bar's stop leak, which is about $3 to $4 a bottle at Walmart. It seems to slow down my oil into coolant problem a bit, not entirely but less. This stuff typically softens and expands the hardened rubber seal. However, I doubt the hardening of rubber seal is reversible.
2. Fuel injector cleaners. Tried a few times such as ATP and Seaform once. Could not tell if they really help at all. I do burn premium gasoline every 3 tanks or so. Typically, I use 89, which is a mix of 87 and 93 at BP.
3. Engine oil treatment. The only I tried and have faith is Liquid Molly's MOS2. This is a form of solid lubricant in nanoparticle sizes. It stays on the cylinder wall over night and helps to reduce wear at the first start in the morning. I trust this one.
There are many truly snake oils in this category, such as slick 50, with teflon. Totally waste of money in my opinion. Liquid Molly also produce something called ceramic coating. I don't believe it would work. To achieve the bonding of any coating to cylinder wall within the engine oil is impossible in my opinion.
Never tried any other products which claim to reduce oil burning and increase engine power.
4. Transmission fluid treatment. Tried something which claimed to reduce shuddering of the transmission, such as those from Lucas and Lube Gard. Not sure if any of them worked. Now, I don't try any of those things. I simply replace transmission fluid with Dexron VI and be happy.
Never tried any transmission stop leak.
5. Head gasket repair. This is the most controversial of all and most expensive, such as $60 from BlueDevil or $12 from Prestone, and many others with prices in between.
Tried a few bottles of these head gasket repair thing, costing about $25 a bottle, four years back when I started to battle my "blown" head gasket problem with oil into the coolant. None of them worked. Most of them are liquid glass with some particles. Never tried BlueDevil's expensive stuff but in its Q&A, it specifically stated that it cannot cure oil into coolant problem. I can see why. Every time when oil is involved, the bonding is suspicious.
Now fast forward four years, my engine head gasket is developing new symptoms with coolant now leaking into the combustion chamber to cause mysterious coolant leak and poor idling. I was fully resigned to the fact that my engine has run out of its borrowed time. Then, I decided to give those head gasket repair another try because oil is not involved in this case.
At Walmart, they sell something fancy with nanoparticles for $27 a bottle and this $12.00 bottle from Prestone. I read the labels and the one from Prestone contains kevlar fibers, liquid silica (glass), and some hardeners. Therefore, I will take the risk of wasting $12 and I like the kevlar fibers. Well, it worked beyond my imagination. Within two minutes after I poured the stuff in, the engine quieted down and the leak stopped. Now, 100 miles later, the engine is still quiet and tight and no more coolant leak. Just like magic. I am fully aware that this fix could be a Monster drink fix, giving you a temporary high and the crash is just around the corner. I don't care because it buys me time to find a good car as my DD replacement. I will do a full head gasket replacement once I find one.
In my opinion, the reason it works, at least for now, is the kevlar fibers. This is similar to Slime used in tire repair. The Slime thing contains fibers and some fluids. At the leaking spot, it blocks the passage, forming a temporary plug. It would continue to leak out and block, providing temporary fix until you can get the tire fixed properly, if it is fixable.
6. Last but not the least, AC stop leak. I actually used this thing at least twice and both times it worked. It is called SuperSeal which you can buy in any autoparts store or Walmart. This thing stays liquid but hardens once it encounters moisture. The principle is that at the leaking spot of the AC system, the throttling effect will cause a local cooling and condensation, or sweating. This SuperSeal stuff when comes out will forms a bond to block the leakage. I used it on two of my E320, for which one was sold and one's AC still going strong after four years. One downside is that you must remove the moisture inside your AC first or you could run the risk of blocking the orifice or destroying the compressor. It happened to my cars after the treatment but it is still better than the cost and labor to replace the evaporator.
7. Radiator stop leak. Tried a bottle when I was desperate with water streaming down at the bottom of the radiator. A $9 bottle from Bar's got me home over 80 miles. I then replaced the radiator as PROPER repair.
OK, I said it. Let the fun begin.
jftu105