STP?

[TWINKLE_TOES]

Bird, STP has it's uses. I had a 49 chev, the rods knocked so loud you couldn't hear yourself think. The junkyard would pay 25$ if you could drive the car in and $50 dollars if it sounded good and didn't have much blow by. We poured enough STP in the thing to quiet the rods, cranked up the engine idle to keep it going and got $50 bucks for it.
Al

 

[scruffy]

Don't you wish you had that 49 today? Get a lot more than $50 for it! /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

 

[Bird]

Al, I thought you were supposed to use 90 weight gear oil for that./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

 

[TWINKLE_TOES]

Scruffy, Not that 49 chev. It had more than knocking rods, more like a rolling bucket of dents and rust. The car that I would really like to have back was my 47 Plymouth, suicide doors, flat head six, jet black....spent more on the upholstery than the car.
Al

 

[jdkid]

Hi ya Bird
yep i have never added anything to my oils and i'd be safe in saying my gear gets hammered harder than most on this net .ok fuel there was a write up in a contractor mag over here about it .the guy said clean storage,right grade (summer/winter)and good filters no probs.adding brand xxxxx snake oil to ya fuel will not do any harm
catch ya
JD Kid

 

[MChalkley]

I second the comments about using Fuel Conditioner, particularly the anti-gelling varieties, and especially in cold weather.

I've spent hours on the side of the Interstate in really cold weather repeatedly bleeding the injectors in my pickup because of the fuel gelling when I didn't have treatment in the fuel, but I've never had a problem with treated fuel. I call that cheap insurance.

MarkC

 

[cp1969]

My advice, to which some will undoubtedly disagree, is to:

1. During winter, don't buy more fuel than you'll use over a month period (and that may be too long). The formulation (i.e., blending of #1 with #2) changes throughout the winter. The fuel you bought is September is wholly unsuited to a mid-January cold spell. Add additives if you wish; they probably won't do any harm, but as long as you are using newly bought fuel, IMHO you probably are wasting your money.

2. As long as you stick with an API CH-4 rated oil of the recommended viscosity, you will not have oil related problems. There are many, many good brands of oil, both dino and synthetic, including Mobil, Exxon, Texaco, Shell, Amsoil, and Redline, just to name a very few. I would even extend this to 'house' brands, such as Walmart. If it says CH4 and has the API seal on it, it's good. Walmart doesn't make oil; they buy from someone who repackages for them. For example, Caterpillar's synthetic is reported to be Mobil Delvac1.

 

[MChalkley]

cp1969 - A caveat I'd like to see added to your point #1 is fuel recently purchased from a location that sells a lot of fuel. This sort of goes without saying, I suppose, but some places have partial tanks for long periods of time, and it's easy to get non-winterized fuel or, even worse, fuel contaminated with water from such places.

As for your point #2, I would tend to agree with you, even though I use synthetics exclusively. Why? Because of your use of the term "oil related problems". I think what you said is probably true. But, not having problems with something doesn't eliminate the possibility of there being advantages to other approaches... /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

MarkC

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Re: STP?-Oil & Gas Additives

<font color=blue>.... I would even extend this to 'house' brands, such as Wal-Mart. If it says CH4 and has the API seal on it, it's good. Wal-Mart doesn't make oil; they buy from someone who repackages for them...</font color=blue>

I've been told by two sources Wal-Mart private label has been Pennzoil/Quaker State...{I personally don't know that to be a fact} {Major stores have contracts that change suppliers from time to time}

I do know for a fact that K-Mart private brand oil filters are manufactured by Wix, who also does NAPA private label.

The latest diesel engine oil rating is "CH4"...When I change diesel engine oils, in my area, whoever is currently on sale is installed,...the last few years it has been Shell Rotella and Pennzoil Long Life...

Even for a difference of a few cents more per quart I tend to buy a major brand, 1)Because I know what I'm getting, 2)The larger companies have more money for R&D and tends to stay on top of industry changes, 3)They have a proven track record...

On diesel fuel additives, I use God's brand "kerosene" for cutting{winterizing} and freshing up suspected "stale" fuel, etc. I've gelled about 2 or 3 times the last 30 years only because I waited until the last minute{and didn't cut the fuel} and we had overnight/sudden temp drops...

The only gas fuel additive I use is Sta-bil for my boat & portable gas engine devices for long term storage.

The last couple years most all fuel additives containing "MTBE" have caused a health concern...similar to a number of food additives that have great claims on day one, but years down the road end up causing cancer and other mysterious/unexplained illnesses.../w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

So "basic" in most cases is better.../w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[Bird]

I'll agree with you, with MChalkley's caveat. Of course, I buy my diesel by the 55 gallon barrel, so there are times I may have some on hand 6 months, therefore, I add a pint of Power Service to each barrel.

I also think you're right about the oil, and doubt that John Miller's method hurts a thing, but being an old timer who grew up in the service station and auto parts business in the days when different brands sometimes had different additives or detergents, I'm still pretty much a stickler for picking a brand and staying with it; never mixing brands and not changing brands unless there's a real reason to do so, and then I stay with the new one if I ever do have to change. In my case, I'm running Chevron's Delo 400 and that's probably the only oil that will ever go in my tractor.