Restore engine treatment?

Dave from central MN · Oct 15, 2014

I know there are tons of snake oils out there and gimmicks, BUT, I have had a few guys say this stuff actually works good, but takes some time to do its job they way it is advertised to. Issue of compression, helping with some of the scoring. Any testemonials pro or con?

RMinVa · Oct 15, 2014

I used it in a 1980 chevy pickup. Truck wouldn't run over 35 mph and was getting ready to scrap it.Was in Walmart and bought a can for V8. Changed oil and put one container of restore in and filled with oil to full mark. Drove it about 15 miles one way. Couldn't get over 35 but when I came back it started picking up speed. Was hitting about 65 by the time I got back home. Ran that truck for 7 more years and sold it. This was an old beater truck used on the farm. Lots of rust holes in it too.

Got a 1987 F-250 6.9 diesel. At about 250,000 miles it was getting weaker. Used restore and it sure helped get some power back. Not like it was but got stronger. Still running that truck. Use it to pull a 12 ft. dump trailer loaded with logs. Last year I pulled in 22 loads from ten miles away. Uses a lot of fuel but still has power enough to do the job. Just another wore out truck but still a keeper for now.

My son tried it in a 94 Jeep 4.0. Did not help at all. Must have been rings or valves. This one was just shy of 300,000 when he tried it.

So under the right conditions it worked for us. I only tried it on engines on their way out. Not worth spending $$$$ on.

mite-help · Oct 15, 2014

I had good luck with it on a '72 chev 350 that had an annoying plug fouling problem on the same couple of cyls. after stopping the fouling, seems like the engine was slowly able to gain back the ring seal.

Chuck MA · Oct 15, 2014

I used in a 99 dodge pu with a 318 with a lot of miles on it (225000) was getting 9.4mpg now it gets 11.4 and feels a lot more responsive with acceleration, well worth it for me.
Chuck

Super-H-Mike · Oct 15, 2014

At one shop I worked at we put it to the test on the parts chaser car. We took compression readings both wet and dry, added Restore , and checked again in couple hundred miles. The compression WAS higher by about 10%, we planned on checking it again after 6 months or so but never did so...

Texasmark1 · Oct 15, 2014

From where did you obtain the sarcastic phrase " snake oil"? I have 3 guesses and the first two don't count.

Mark

showcrop · Oct 15, 2014

(quoted from post at 14:38:56 10/15/14) From where did you obtain the sarcastic phrase " snake oil"? I have 3 guesses and the first two don't count.

Mark

I first heard the description "snake oil" maybe forty years before I ever came on YT.

buickanddeere · Oct 15, 2014

You could blend the same stuff with some kerosene, Coleman lantern fuel and some motor oil.

http://s7d9.scene7.com/is/content/GenuinePartsCompany/1662111pdf?$PDF$

Composition / Information on Ingredients
____________________________________________________________
_______________________________
A complex combination of hydrocarbons obtained by treating a petroleum fraction with hydrogen in the presence of a catalyst.
It consists of hydrocarbons having carbon numbers predominantly in the range of C20 through C50 b
lended with proprietary additives
and other petroleum distillates.
Ingredient Name
CAS Number % vol
Severely Hydrot
reated Heavy Naphthenic Distillate 064742
-
52
-
5 70
-
95
Refined Petroleum Blend
999999
-
88
-
8
5
-
15
Proprietary Additives
000000
-
00
-
8 <10
OSHA PEL
ACGIH TLV
NIOSH REL NIOSH
Ingredient TWA STEL TWA STEL TWA STEL
IDLH
Severely Hydrotreated 5 mg/m3 none estab. 5 mg/m3
10 mg/m3
none estab
.
none estab
.
none estab.
Heavy Naphthenic (oil mist) (oil mist) (oil mist)
Petrol
eum Oil
________________

wilson ind · Oct 15, 2014

Would you have non sense data on Ristone and
others possibly Lucas products? Not being
judgemental it's just that you seem to always deal
in facts. If you ever get down to visit our
mutual friend John T country lawyer I would like
to meet you.I did have an apparently plugged oil
screen that ristone cleaned up.

Hank ABAB · Oct 15, 2014

Me too.
That term is nothing new.

Mike Aylward · Oct 15, 2014

Don't know about this product but most similar products in the past were pretty much ATF with some lighter petroleum parts in them. An old trick to de-carbon an engine was to run ATF down the intake manifold until the engine started to smoke and hammer. Usually, once this was done the engine would run better due to the rings coming unstuck. The inevitable usually happened, though, as engines like these are usually on their last legs anyway. It's a band-aid at best. Mike

ShadetreeRet · Oct 15, 2014

Dang, B&D, couldn't you spread that out over another foot or two of screen space?

pete 23 · Oct 15, 2014

I remember the adds for a gas tank additive years ago. It was in the form of pellets. I think it was old Tom McCahill from popular Mechanics magazine who said that you could put them in the tank and years later they were still there as they never dissolved. It was supposed to rebuild the engine and you drove.

Bob · Oct 15, 2014

SSSSSHHHH!!! you guys... you're gonna tick the Lucas guys off!

BTW, whatever happened to "STP"? In my younger days that nasty syrupy stuff was the "Restore" or "Lucas" of the day.

Probably did slow down oil consumption a bit, but sure was NASTY when you eventually had to get into the engine.

buickanddeere · Oct 15, 2014

Dealing in facts doesn't seem to work with many people.
Women folk in particular tend to spend all day saying one thing but mean something else?

Ultradog MN · Oct 15, 2014

Sometimes B&D you surprise me with your wisdom.

Bret4207 · Oct 16, 2014

I've had good luck with Lucas products. Some of the other "snake oils" work too. Most of them involve solvents. If it works, fine, good for me. If it didn't, I'm not out much, am I? Why people get so worked up about this is puzzling, but it's like a religion to some folks.

A lot of what is said about the "snake oils" has been said about everything from synthetic oils to paints to medicine to aftershave. Fer some it works, for some it don't.

Dan Richardson · Oct 16, 2014

Lucas, my old tractors love it. The OTR guys use it in transmittions and differentials. They swear by it and a lot cheaper than a transmittion overhaul.

mkirsch · Oct 16, 2014

I'm with you Bret.

You've got nothing to lose except a few dollars, and everything to gain. If you can nurse that old engine a few more miles down the road and avoid a costly overhaul or replacement for even a little while, isn't it worth a shot? We're not all made of money like some people here apparently are.

WHO CARES if it isn't a "real fix?"

You guys have no problems with any duct-tape-and-baling-wire fix in the name of "Git-R-Done." Why does this get your knickers in a wad?

Texasmark1 · Oct 16, 2014

Ok how about Dr. Tichner's "snake oil".

I bought a bottle of J.R Watkins Pain Relieving Liniment from Dr. Leonard's health care catalog, or one of the 2 or 3 others, same catalog, different name. The stuff has been around for 100 years. Made from Camphor, Capsicum, and Spruce Oil.

I had been using Absorbine Jr. for lower back and hip joint aches but this stuff is just as good.

Every time I look at the bottle I think of the roving salesman in his horse and buggy standing in the rear of it, drawing a crowd in a small town of the old west and making his speech trying sell his "snake oil". Considering the limited medications of the time, anybody smart enough to give him a dollar for a bottle found they spent their money wisely. It's $14 in today's catalog.

Mark

Texasmark1 · Oct 16, 2014

Geez. Rather than running around all over trying to find all this
stuff and getting the right mix, having containers sitting around
and all, why not just spend a few bucks and buy the product. Who
cares what's in it if it works. All my "snake oils" work and I don't
care what's in them. They prove themselves.

Mark

HenryO · Oct 16, 2014

Been using Lucas products for years and swear by it. Bought two Farmall smokers one having set 20 or more years. After an oil change and treated with Lucas they now are "smoke free". Also use a can of Seafoam in each as soon as possible. Both "snake oils" have a purpose as far as I am concerned.

buickanddeere · Oct 16, 2014

(quoted from post at 09:12:18 10/16/14) I'm with you Bret.

You've got nothing to lose except a few dollars, and everything to gain. If you can nurse that old engine a few more miles down the road and avoid a costly overhaul or replacement for even a little while, isn't it worth a shot? We're not all made of money like some people here apparently are.

WHO CARES if it isn't a "real fix?"

You guys have no problems with any duct-tape-and-baling-wire fix in the name of "Git-R-Done." Why does this get your knickers in a wad?

It's when the emergency patch it up temporary fix becomes the standard model of maintenance.

My Grand father never had time to put new hinges on the barnyard gate, he would just wrap on a few more baler twine. The time he lost chasing cattle and picking up that gate was more than it would have took to properly rehang the gate.

If you look around somebody's place. if everything is hap hazard patched together odds are they are poor planners about broke.
If everything is neat, tidy and properly repaired they are likely doing ok.
Note there was no mention of everything being brand new in the yard of somebody who was doing ok.

buickanddeere · Oct 16, 2014

A solvent and a seal sweller may unstick some components and slow down some leaks.

As far as "cleaning up" an engine. If Uncle Putz just idled his old worn tractor around. Of course it going to collect internal deposits. The result would as good or better to change the oil to detergent in Uncle Putz's tractor and add some gasoline antifreeze. Put the tractor on the dyno and work it to the max rpm and load while spraying some water down the intake. The expanding action of the steam and the solvent action of hot water will loosen all manner of 40+ year old debris.

Snake oil will not repair, rebuild, replace, restore broken or worn parts.

The Dukester · Oct 16, 2014

Several years ago(as in 1962) my boss at work bought a used '58 Ford Fairlane 500 convertible. It was a pretty nice car except it blue smoked a lot and burned a quart of oil every 2 tanks of gas. (and in that Ford with a big engine that wasn't very far).
I'd read a little about angines with troubles so based on what I'd read I suggested he try some Alemite CD-2 for low milage cars in the Ford and drive it pretty hard for about 500 miles and see what happened. The car had around 55,000 miles on it at the time. He did that and changed the oil out and put in multi-grade 10-30 Quaker State after and that car quit smoking and never burned more than a quart of oil every 2000 miles or so until he traded it for a Buick Wildcat in late 1965. It had almost 100,000 miles on it then. Apparently the rings were stuck and the hard driving with the CD-2 loosened them up.......

dej(Jed) · Oct 16, 2014

(quoted from post at 08:10:41 10/15/14) I know there are tons of snake oils out there and gimmicks, BUT, I have had a few guys say this stuff actually works good, but takes some time to do its job they way it is advertised to. Issue of compression, helping with some of the scoring. Any testemonials pro or con?

I don't know what to even add to all of this wisdom. Why would you even consider adding solvents to a crankcase?
Engine dillution from cold starts on both gasoline and diesel engines should create the same effect. So why buy an additive, just prolong the oil change intervals. When it gets good and dilluted it will flush away the carbon and the oil filter should catch it. Right? LOL

IndianaRed · Oct 16, 2014

I put 625,000 miles on a 4.8 Chevy in a 3/4 ton
van, worked it harder than you can imagine.
Original drivetrain, less two sets of u-joints,
when I sold it for $2,500. Ran like it did the
day I bought it, never did use oil.

Lucas in the Oil, conventional changed every 4-
5,000, in the rear end, in the tranny, and in the
fuel. Not really set up for towing, but did 90%
of the time, and never had a problem with the
tranny. 25+ trips over the mountains and through
the dessert to California, and local courier work,
at least 175k city miles.

Either Chevy motors, tranny's, and rear ends are
completely bulletproof, and/or Lucas works.

Restore engine treatment?

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