I'll just leave this here. I'm a huge skeptic of any additive. I trust proven things like gas line anti freeze; its just alcohol that mixes with the water. Makes sense.
Restore. Says its supposed to fill in the scratches that lead to compression loss.
Yesterday I pulled my new (old) El Camino in the garage to change several fluids. It does burn a little oil and idle has a teeny tiny rough miss. As soon as you rev, the miss goes away. I did an oil change and then fired it up to top off the tranny fluid after its new filter. I took it for a drive up the road and back. Still missing at idle.
Then I looked over and saw a bottle of Restore that I had bought on sale. I dumped it in while running. Instantly... not 10 seconds later, not after 300 miles... instantly. Halfway through dumping the bottle in, it smoothed out like flipping a switch.
I'm really kicking myself for not doing a before and after compression test, but it at least piqued my interest enough that I will try it again.
Anyone else think this stuff might not be snake oil?
I've documented compression improvements using it, but I think it depends on what the problem is with the engine, so I'd never tell anyone it was absolutely going to work for them. I think if an engine does have scratches that are big enough to cause leakage but small enough that they can be filled, this stuff works. But for just about every other kind of compression leakage, it's not likely going to do anything. Glad to hear it worked for you.
Its full of metal particles that fill in voids in the cylinder walls, and also clog the filter and eat the bearings.
Try some real oil a grade higher than whatever you were using, same effect, but wont further damage anything.
I keep thinking it could have been a lifter that suddenly freed up, or the metering rod plunger in the Qjet freed up... which it could be. Could be coincidence, but it made me want to try it again.
I've never had any problems using it. I ran it in my Civic from about 100k up to 225k miles with no problems.
I've used it in my old junk... back when I got to play with old junk. I've never heard of it damaging anything.
Speaking of Bardahl..
I saw Miss Bardahl this past weekend.
Yes that is a supercharged spitfire engine.
i had a mustang with a 2.3L carbed 4 cylinder in high school. absolutely would not run without a bottle of this in the crank case. plain and simple, if you changed the oil, and put in 5 Qts of the spec 10-30, it would run for about a day. then the smoking would start. then it wouldn't start at all. drop in a bottle of that restore stuff, crank it till the battery dies, and it would fire up, run like hell for an hour, then smooth out and run fine.
i always assumed the oil control rings were shot, so the slinging oil would eventually foul the plugs, and this stuff stopped the oil from getting passed the rings.
-J0N
The MSDS sheet for this stuff isn't real clear on what all is in there. It definitely is not "full of metal".
pres589 wrote:
The MSDS sheet for this stuff isn't real clear on what all is in there. It definitely is not "full of metal".
Magikal Faerie Dust. Works better than unicorn pee
pres589 wrote:
The MSDS sheet for this stuff isn't real clear on what all is in there. It definitely is not "full of metal".
I tried to read Lucas Oil Stabilizers once and found the same thing.
chandlerGTi wrote:
pres589 wrote:
The MSDS sheet for this stuff isn't real clear on what all is in there. It definitely is not "full of metal".
I tried to read Lucas Oil Stabilizers once and found the same thing.
Lucas is cheap heavy weight oil and not much else. Wanna see something cool? Next time you see the whole oil climbing gears demo try cranking it as fast as you can, which is still slower than say, a cam drive gear spins at idle, not how it turns to foam.
Kenny_McCormic wrote:
chandlerGTi wrote:
pres589 wrote:
The MSDS sheet for this stuff isn't real clear on what all is in there. It definitely is not "full of metal".
I tried to read Lucas Oil Stabilizers once and found the same thing.
Lucas is cheap heavy weight oil and not much else. Wanna see something cool? Next time you see the whole oil climbing gears demo try cranking it as fast as you can, which is still slower than say, a cam drive gear spins at idle, not how it turns to foam.
i was told by a guy who works with oil at a testing facility that it only foams like that because its cold. heat it to 230* and it doesn't do that.
now, that's not to say it isn't just cheap heavy oil, just that it likely doesn't foam in your engine.
Edit - i will also add that any additive with zinc (ZDDP) is good for older engines, and engines with flat tappet cams (non roller), as most of the oils on the shelf have been stripped of it. the zinc does something chemically to the surface of the metal, the details of which are far beyond my expertise.
-J0N
