Additive Comparison

[Mark]

Eh, to each their own.

I did have the thought the other night though, is there even an engine additive product other than engine flush products that are marketed as cleaners? I know lucas has the oil stabilizer. I did find it funny that I found at Walmart mmo has had " a new improved formula"! lol
I thought it was alright as-is. Makes me wonder if it was just a change of the label to remove 'MYSTERY OIL' across the front. Seems to be the biggest thing people make fun of. heh

I don't really use additives much myself, except I'll add STA-BIL fuel stabilizer to anything that's going to sit for months.

I've never even heard of Marvel Mystery Oil before this thread, but I tend to overlook these type of products. I have heard people speak highly of Sea Foam. I bought a can a couple years ago, but I never bothered to use it. Lately, some on this forum have spoken highly of Techron.

Just curious - Has anyone tried all three products over the years & drawn any conclusions? They aren't exactly competitive products, but there seems to be some overlap in what they claim to do.

Marvel Mystery Oil
Chevron Techron Concentrate Plus
Sea Foam Motor Treatment

I am more interested in hearing from members who have used these products. I realize not everyone believes in them, but some of these products have been around for decades. If you were talking to someone on the fence about these products, what would you tell them?

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I moved this discucssion from the marvel mystery oil thread to it's own thread. Eggman

[Pryme]

I've used seafoam in old carbed vehicles. It works extremely well. You pour it right into the carb until it stalls the engine and let it sit about 15min. If it was really carboned up it will smoke so much white smoke you will not believe it lol. Both my old 22r toyotas were nearly impossible to stall out with seafoam though. So I just ran and turned them off. They would run what seemed like a firing revolution every second it was insane. They are brutes though, most vehicles stalled out much quicker

[Mark]

I've used seafoam in old carbed vehicles. It works extremely well. You pour it right into the carb until it stalls the engine and let it sit about 15min. If it was really carboned up it will smoke so much white smoke you will not believe it lol. Both my old 22r toyotas were nearly impossible to stall out with seafoam though. So I just ran and turned them off. They would run what seemed like a firing revolution every second it was insane. They are brutes though, most vehicles stalled out much quicker

The first time I heard of Sea Foam was in reference to ATV/UTV engines (older ones with carburetors). The gentleman was really sold on the stuff!

[Kungpaoshizi]

I have used sea foam, can't speak about techron.
Seafoam in the gas I can't say I've noticed as much improvement as mmo in the gas.
Seafoam definitely cleans the heck out of intakes though if you spray it. (It comes in liquid and aerosolized form)

[Eggman]

Moved these posts to a new thread.

It's a good question that deserves some space of it's own, and should help make future searches for this info easier.

[Cobrajet]

I ran some Seafoam in the crankcase of a 1996 Saturn I bought. These cars were known for sticking oil rings, causing them to huff blue smoke and use more oil than a bikini-wrestling promoter.

I changed the oil, put in the Seafoam, and drove it normally for 500 miles. After 500 miles, the oil I drained looked like black paint. I was so impressed that I did it again for another 500 miles. The oil didn't look quite so bad after the second time, but was still way nastier than 500 mile oil should be. The car went from using a quart every 800 miles to using about a quarter quart every 3,000 miles.

That was proof enough for me. Rumor has it the secret ingredient in Seafoam is...turpentine.

[A-Aron]

Mark, and others,,
this is my own personal take on all 3,,, yes i have used all three and find all 3 having good attributes,,
i would not dis-wade anyone from using any of them..
i find products like these getting negative wraps for things that are not there faults..

example.....
"my friend Steve used fuel injector cleaner and then had to replace two fuel injectors.....
dont use fuel injector cleaner it ruins injectors!!!!!!!
So why did Steve use the injector cleaner....
Well his car was running like crap,, couldn't idle ,, misfiring all the time,,, so he added injector cleaner...
So the cleaner made his already leaking injectors leak ????????? this is the cleaners fault...
but its the last thing he added... right.... lol


techtron,,, works good as a fuel injector cleaner and was utilized to protect something in sending units when companys started adding ethanol to fuel..... how ... why ... not 100% sure...
but just using as a fuel injector cleaner improved mileage in several of my previous vehicles...

MMO... would call this a lubricant... added to fuel in several old tractors and in one of my previous trucks... seemed to just make run smoother... if i had problems with stuck valves or rings would probably try adding to gas and oil... can't say much more but was added to every tank of two of my vehicles running cheep reservation gas for several hundred thousand miles and kept them running smooth.. also this is used as a ultra light lubricant for several precision pieces of equipment... optical compares older cmms..

Sea foam,,,, gotta say this stuff works,, or at least for me... on most of my older vehicles would do periodic carbon removal with this through intake to remove carbon.. probably only store carbon remover i trust.. would run bottle in gas as periodic maintenance after just to keep fuel/ intake system clean after... have used to decarbon bikes,, cars ,, lawn equipment...
have never added to oil, personally,, but have had good results on lots of vehicles over many years
lol glad they put some in spray cans now days, as was always sketchy dumping it in the brake booster hose from the can with a funnel .. lol
not recommended unless you know what your doing... dont want to hydrolic your motor:0!!!!

mmo was the only product i used every tank.. others were more run at oil changes as periodic maintenance or when purchased as a used vehicle...

please remember this is only my take on the three products,, hope some of this helps

[Kungpaoshizi]

I ran some Seafoam in the crankcase of a 1996 Saturn I bought. These cars were known for sticking oil rings, causing them to huff blue smoke and use more oil than a bikini-wrestling promoter.

I changed the oil, put in the Seafoam, and drove it normally for 500 miles. After 500 miles, the oil I drained looked like black paint. I was so impressed that I did it again for another 500 miles. The oil didn't look quite so bad after the second time, but was still way nastier than 500 mile oil should be. The car went from using a quart every 800 miles to using about a quarter quart every 3,000 miles.

That was proof enough for me. Rumor has it the secret ingredient in Seafoam is...turpentine.

How much did you use in the oil? I guess I've never noticed it can be used in oil?

[Cobrajet]

How much did you use in the oil? I guess I've never noticed it can be used in oil?

About 1/2 a can on each oil change, IIRC.

[Mark]

Scotty Kilmer sort of comes across as nut case, but he makes good points sometimes. You only have to watch the first 1.5 minutes of this youtube.com clip to get his points.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6pHSn8lLAQ&t=140s

If you don't watch the clip, this what I got from it. SeaFoam came out in the 1940's (1942). It was created to help clean out 2-stroke outboard boat motors primarily. I don't think fuel injectors were very popular during World War II.

A second point comes out in his discussion. Fuel injectors do benefit from a nitrogen based cleaner & Techron is a nitrogen based cleaner.

I came away with this. My chainsaws may really benefit from using some Sea Foam in the gas. My Mirage might like a shot of Techron from time to time.