How good is oil addictive

I own Ford truck. A firend told me using oil addicitve protects the engine. I wish to know how effective is it for improving engine efficiency? Do they damage the engine in the long run? I heard that it is good for the durability of the engine. Never heard of any side effects. But, I wish to know your opinions

 

Welcome to the forums! Generally "additives" aren't necessary in normal driving. As the engine ages, sludge and valve sediments will form, requiring some sort of "tune up" in a can. Additives such as Sea Foam or Lucas I have found help in both areas as they can be used in either the crankcase or in the fuel system. No harm will come to the engine by using them. A regular dose is not needed, however. If your engine is smoking or has other obvious problems, no additive will fix it as it may need to be rebuilt.

 

As Larry said, normally oil additives aren't needed. I've never heard of any reputable additive harming the engine. There is a difference in motor oils. Using major brands is usually best although the main thing is too change the oil and filter as needed and use the correct weight oil for the engine.

 

Only do what the manufacture recommends. Never has an auto manufacturer recommended an additive for their products. I wonder why? If using an additive you may very well void any warranty. An old car that burns oil may benefit using a thicker oil or an additive but it will not FIX any problems. I do believe and all synthetic oil of the right viscosity will prolong oil change intervals.

 

oh, thanks a lot.
My truck is not very old but it has run over 18000 miles. My engine is not smoking or anything. Just that, I read in the description of a brand, Archoil , their oil will form a layer over the metal surface, thus reducing friction and prevents cracks and tears inside the engine. My friend uses it too. His truck is older, maybe , that's the reason he uses that.

 

There are products out there that claim to be PTFE based and coat the inside of the cylinder walls with Teflon. I've never seen the validity of that claim. 18000 miles is almost break in mileage, so I wouldn't worry too much about additives.

On another note, however, the government reduced the amount of sulphur in diesel from 200 ppm to 17 ppm, stating it is good for all diesel engines. NOT. Older diesel engines will destroy themselves without the lubricity provided by the 200 ppm. So adding 1 ounce of 2 cycle motor oil per gallon of fuel to your tank, the engine will have the lubrication to operate properly. My Cummins has 468,000 miles on it but I use no additives except an occasional treatment of Sea Foam to help keep it clean.

 

Never has an auto manufacturer recommended an additive for their products. I wonder why?

Because most of their revenue is coming not from sales but from actually parts and servicing. Why in sain mind will they shoot themselves into foot and suggest anything that cuts their profit?

 

Your reasoning is flawed. Today's engines are designed to within ten thousands of an inch tolerances and they hold up very well. Today's oil are designed to function with those engines. As the oil industry makes advances to the oil the engines manufactures can take advantage of these strides and produce engines that can outlast a car by many hundred of thousand miles.
Most car are junked not because the engines die but because the rest of the car falls apart. It has been documented (no I don't have the documentation) that any engine built by today's typical manufactures (including GM, Ford, Honda, Cummins, and all the others) require only what the engineers specify. And operated within the design parameters. The auto manufactures are not making money by selling engine parts. They make money by selling cars that run. Dealers and garages may make money on engine repaired, but I'll bet almost every engine repair can be traced back to some kind of mistake or poor operating conditions or abuse by the operator. Not by the design of the engine. Are there exceptions? Of course. Bad castings, bad steel, bad assembly, poor maintenance. But not poor design.

 

Speaking of oil, we were on a trip this past weekend and when we got gas I checked the oil and other fluids as normal. The car is a 2013 Honda CRV and the fluids were normal, BUT I noted on the oil cap the viscosity of oil required.......not 10w-30, or 15w-40, but 0w-30 weight???? Never heard of it. More research, I guess.

 

Larry, the newer cars are going to lighter oil and if I understand correctly the main reason is it will produce slightly better gas mileage. A friend of my son's just bought a brand new toyota truck and I think he said it takes 0w20. We discussed using a 5w20 like my jeep uses but he said the new truck comes with 2 yrs [?] of free oil changes by the dealer.

 

I'll bet the dealer will offer those free oil changes over 2 years and will make sure they are at the manufacture's recommended time intervals. However, if you had to pay for those I'll bet they would have you come in every 4000 mi. Check what the recommended intervals are. Most likely 6000 to 10000 mi.

My dealer expects me to come in every 4000 mi. The manufacturer says 10000 intervals with normal driving conditions. And there is an oil minder light based on time and mileage. I wonder why the dealer wants 4000 mi and the manufacturer doesn't care and will warrant the vehicle for 10000 mile oil changes? Hmm...

And yes, today's oil and engines are much better and are able to handle the newer gasoline chemistry. With an engine that uses a 0w20 or 30 weight oil, I wonder what damage might occur if one to add an oil additive?

BTW... the Seafoam or Sta-Bil stuff is OK and although I don't use it in the car I always use it in the garden engines.