Slick 50

Has anybody tried using either Slick 50 in the engine or transmission?

Previously I used it in a Discovery Tdi engine and transmission which covered 150,000 without a hitch before I sold it, and in a Triumph GT6 which also covered 160,000 miles before being sold. I used it in the GT6 at about 90,000 miles and it seemed to make a noticeable improvement in performance (acceleration). I am also using it in an old Merc with 225,000 on the clock to try and prolong its life a far as possible (if that wasn't long enough) and the engine seems to rev better at the top end. I also used in a Renault 5 GT Turbo after the engine was fully run in (15,000 miles), and I thought an improvement in acceleration was noticeable.

The Scooby four wheel drive transmission obviously absorbs a great deal of power and if friction can therefore be reduced by using Slick 50 a performance improvement might be noticeable, and it might reduce wear.

For example petrol Cortinas and Vauxhall Cavaliers used to blow the piston rings very earlier on, the solution (I'm told) by Ford and Vauxhall in later derivatives of those engines was to precoat the rings with Slick 50 (or equivalent) which tripled the life of the components (this is not an example of the claims on the box).

My questions are:

Q. Will it invalidate the warranty?
Q. Will it bugger up the limited slip rear differential?
Q. Will it make my car go faster (key point)?
Q. Is it just a marketing con?

Any thoughts appreciated.

Steve

 

Steve,

Someone recently asked the same question, so I've re-posted my answer to that question 'cos I'm to lazy to re-type it all. With respect to transmission/diffs, I think this would be an even worse idea.

Cheers,

Alex

I definately wouldn't advise the use of any PTFE based oil additives. Have a look at the engine oil bible to see why you shouldn't go there. The main problem with PTFE additives is that you are using a solid which is in suspension in the engine oil. This means that at best, it will be removed by the engine oil filter, and at worst will block oil gallaries and the filter itself. PTFE also expands when heated, so it is likely to get trapped somewhere it shouldn't, like your piston ring gaps. Many people have reported poor ring sealing after using a PTFE additive.

I think the best argument against using them is that if it really was the miracle lubricant its manufacturers claim, wouldn't every major oil company be falling over themselves to put it in their premium performance oils?. DuPont, the inventors of PTFE, went on the record to specifically state that it shouldn't be used as an internal combustion engine fricition reducer. Also note that none of the claims of the additive manfacturers have ever been verified by an independant lab. All of the test results quoted were supplied by in-house or manufacturer sponsored research groups, and haven't been reproduced during independant tests.

If you really want the best for your engine, use a good quality synthetic oil, and change every 3500 miles. An interesting point is that the wear figure quoted for cold starts isn't as a result of a lack of oil lubrication, but is caused by the acidity of the combustion byproducts produced while the engine is cold and running on choke (condensation of combustion byproducts in the cylinders). That is why manufacturers advise you to drive off straight away rather than letting the engine idle until it is warmed up. The more quickly the motor gets up to temperature the better.

Anyway, the engine oil bible is at:

 

Call me cynical, but I think that car manufacturers would "encourage" oil makers not to produce oil which greatly prolonged the life of engines and therefore cars.

Paul

 

Cynic!

Car manufacturers are very much interested in shifting their metal, but they won't be able to do that if their cars have a reputation for wearing out after 50000 miles.

In fact, you could attribute many of the performance and reliability improvements of modern cars to improvements in lubrication.
It wasn't that long ago that your car could have been expected to have been rebored and de-coked a couple of times before they were knackered by 60000 miles.

If car manufacturers didn't want their products to last I don't think they would have spend billions over the past thirty years making them better and longer lasting.

Slick 50 and other vendors would love you to believe conspiracy theories, but at the end of the day, no independant tests have ever actually proved that their products worked as advertised. If you really want your car to live forever, change the oil every 3000 miles - no magic potions required!.

Cheers,

Alex

 

My 2-penneth..

(a few years ago) whilst at a famous a-series engine tuners I asked about slick50.

these tuners took 2 identical engines and put them on a dyno, measured the output etc.

They then put slick50 into one of them.

Both engines were run for 2 days !! continuous..both used the same amount of fuel and when dynoe'd produced the same power as previously.

They wrote to slick50 who replied with the stance "your tests are all wrong etc etc publish and we'll sue"...as a small tuner they kept quiet.

cant comment on the authenticity of the story but I believe what I was told.

the one thing the tuner did say (in defence of slick50) was that it "may" have an affect on older, sludged up engines.

pays yer money...

 

I think the weight of evidence for or against the product is inclusive.

If the product has been sold to millions of users you would expect millions of complaints if it were that problematical, but this does not seem to be the case if you search the Internet.

There seem to be a few cases highlighted (where any number of factors could influence a result) and a few articles proclaiming the nasties of the product but that's about it. You know what the Americans are like about suing, misrepresentation etc and I am not surprised that claims by Slick 50 and others have been challenged.

I find it hard to believe that a purported engine coating of a few microns could cause any more of a blockage than sludge or partials of engine debris circulating the system, and indeed would be anymore likely to block the filter. My experience in a Triumph GT6 engine was that I found that it stopped the bottom end knocking on startup before the oil had reached pressure.

Steve

 

Hi chaps ,Im about to give 2 pennies worth

10 years ago i was a van driver for a stationary firm ,
the company in order to improve its fleet bought 6 new transit luton vans (v.ugly)
anyway one of the drivers put in molyslip to the engine oil of his van .The vehicles were continually swapped between drivers/ routes for a few weeks, then were allocated to the original driver.
About 2 years later the van that burned less oil and ran better was the one that had the molyslip put in every oil change.
In fact when i was relief driver i did not use as much fuel(diesel)in that particular van than for another van on the same route.

MIKE F.

PS. NO.......i didnt drive slow ...

[This message has been edited by Mike F (edited 25-10-1999).]