Slick 50?

158,000 miles on my '94 SL2...

Any thoughts on using an oil additive, or one of those "high mileage" oils
to help prevent oil burnoff? How about slick 50 or DuPont's Greased
Lightning?

I'm using twice as much oil as I was when this car was brand new...2 quarts
between oil changes instead of just 1. But I know some of it's just
leaking. The bottom half of my engine is coated with oily grime. I haven't
looked to see where it's coming from, but I suspect an oil pan gasket and
others...

Saturn recommended against Slick 50 when the car was new. Just wondering
what you gear heads thought about it now.

I'm still getting 37 mpg (highway) with this car...ten years and still
screaming down the highway!

Regards,

Barry in C'ville.

--

 

I do not use Slick 50 or any other "Teflon" additives. I have used
Valvoline's higher mileage vehicle oil in my son's 1996 120K Saturn SL1. To
be completely honest, I have not noticed any difference and the engine still
uses a little over a quart between 3K mile changes. As far as additives go,
I try to stay away from most, but use STP during the summer on another high
mileage vehicle that has low oil pressure. My theory here is that the STP
increases the high temperature viscosity of the regular 10W-30 that I use
during the summer and helps increase the pressure.

As to your 2 quart per change oil consumption, this is a bit on the high
side, but from what I've read here from others, about "normal" for the
Saturn engine. If you google search the archive, you will find a procedure
for putting a special cleaner/oil through the spark plug holes and soaking
(overnight) the combustion chamber to free sticking piston rings. People
who have performed this procedure said that it produced noticeable reduction
of oil consumption.

As to your leaking on the underside of the engine, this could indeed be the
oil pan gasket, but is more likely worn seals which are much more expensive
to address. I'm not sure what viscosity oil you are using, but you could
try increasing this to see if this helps reduce seepage.

Good luck

Bob

 

While you'll find a few arguments in favor of oil additives, generally
speaking, they have been found in practice to be useless and occasionaly
more harmful than good. The FTC was forced to file suit a few years ago
for deceptive advertising practices against Duralube, et al.

http://search.ftc.gov/query.html?qt=duralube&col=hsr&col=news&col=full

There was a bit of a discussion about them in this group a couple of
months ago. You might check groups.google.com under this group for more
about how the additives interact (or don't) with Saturns.

In my limited experience, Saturns tend to burn more oil than they leak.
Perhaps the leak is fixable by changing a seal or gasket? Or maybe it
isn't worth the effort, depending on which gasket it is.

-rj
98SL2

 

Don't use slick 50. It does nothing useful for your motor, and clogs
your filter up.

The 'high mileage' oils contain additives that swell the seals up. How
well this works is debateable.

If you're leaking, check the front seal by the pulley, and check in back
by the tranny. The pan, etc are RTV'd on at the factory quite nicely.
In any case, the best way would be to really clean/degrease the bottom
of the car and the engine, then see where the 'fresh' leaks form.

 

I wouldn't use any of those oil additives. A lot of them contain Teflon
which simply doesn't belong in an engine. Also, oil manufacturers recommend
against using additives. "High mileage" oils may help some with oil leakage,
but I don't think they're likely to do a whole lot for an engine that's
burning oil.

Saturn 1.9s often seem to start using oil because of carbon buildup on the
rings causing sticking - the commonly advised MMO or Top Engine Cleaner soak
of the combustion chambers may help with this.

 

YES! Clean and degrease! God I hate it when I'm asked to find leaks and
the entire compartment is coated with oil and crud! I find spraying down
the crud with engine degreaser then driving around and spraying it again
the next day while its cool then hitting it with the garden hose knocks
that crud right off.

 

I hate a dirty motor, period. Maybe it'sthe Harley owner in me, but, I
HATE looking at dirty motors.

Esp when great degreasers are avilable everywhere.

 

I dont just hate looking at them, its having to work on them as well.
If I have to do something like a intake job I got to do more work just
to keep clumps of dirt from falling into the lifter valley. I'm a auto
tech, not a damn car wash.
I had to do this one damn 3/4 ton pick up once. The wheel well shroud
was missing on one side so the area's that you shim were loaded up with
dirt grease and rocks. The job never got done right, mostly because
9/10ths of the work was spent scraping that crap off.
If anyone out there thats not a mechanic is reading this please take
note. CLEAN off the areas that you are going to have serviced on your
car! Who ever works on your car should be more appreciative and the
quality of the repair should more than suit you.

 

So I go to Autozone and buy a spray can of engine degreaser, now what?
Are there things I shouldn't spray it on? After I spray on the
degreaser, can I use a garden hose or the hand-sprayer thing at the
carwash under the hood to wash off the excess dirt and grime? I've seen
at carwashes where they have "Degreaser" and a little icon of an engine
next to it ... are you really supposed to open up your hood and spray?

I want to keep my engine clean for the sake of keeping it clean, but I
also am afraid to damage anything or get water into the engine somehow.

-rj
98SL2

 

I have used Gunk Brand Citrus engine degreaser with some success. I've also
used "Simple Green". I generally use a brush to get at some of the more
difficult to reach locations. For small/tight areas, an old toothbrush does
wonders. I've never had a problem starting the vehicle after cleaning the
engine compartment, but take care with the air intake, ignition coil/pack,
and the electronic (computer) connectors.

What I will warn about here though, is to exercise care with the degreaser
products since they can (and have from my personal experience) damaged the
clear coating on my intake manifold. If there is the slightest bit of
doubt, try the cleaner on a inconspicuous location on areas that you feel
might flake or peel.

I have always been amazed at how clean you can get things under the hood
with just a little effort. In addition to making it easier to work on the
engine and find problems, it can't hurt the resale value either!

Bob

 

Cold engine, Simple Green and old paint brush to get out the crud in the
nooks and crannies. I let it sit on stubborn places, spray some more and
brush some more. Then with low pressure, cold water from the hose I rinse
it off into the lawn (which seems to love it too). The black hoses may get
some white scaling - I use a little Armor All on them, the composite valve
cover and anything else that looks dull...

 

Search the web for FTC rulings about Slick 50 claims that were false
and then search for Dupont's comments that teflon (PTFE) does not
belong in the engine.

 

Just go to full synthetic. I started using it in a 98 SL2 at about 90,000
and by the time I traded it in at 120,000 miles, it was using less oil!!

Charles

 

Any thoughts on using an oil additive, or one of those "high mileage" oils

The results obtained can vary widely depending on the quality/performance of
the synthetic oil in question. Some, "synthetic", oils these days are not
really, "synthetic", per se, but simply more refined petroleum oils.

Synthetic oils are no more the same than all vehicles are the same.

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