My personal opinion is that ALL additives are snake oil.
I can't scientifically prove that none of them might work (or have some effect). However, you have to ask yourself why you would even need an additive in the first place if you're performing scheduled maintenance and oil changes on your engine?
Seriously... Change the fluids at their specified intervals, do the required maintenance when it's due and you'll have an engine that should never need an additive, ever.
An additive in my mind is simply a band-aid. In other words, it doesn't actually fix the underlying problem.
I guess all that depends on your experiences. I bought an 04 TJ Unlimited with 200,000 miles on it. At any cold start, it had a lifter tick that was a knock. It was loud enough that you thought a rod was going. I did all the normal stuff and then changed the oil and added the BG products engine magic crap. I don't recall which one but I know who I got it from and after about 5 cold starts, the lifter knock has departed and not returned. Had it not done so, I would have tossed in some MMO at the next oil change.
I did find it. Gunk in the lifters wasn't letting them fully pump up immediately when the engine started. Other than pulling them, cleaning them out manually and reinstalling them, there isn't much other way to do it.If it were me I would have tried to figure out what was causing the knock and fixed it. The additives, even if they do work would just be a band-aid covering up the actual issue.
That product is known to cause lubricants to foam, it's the very last additive I'd ever add.I use half bottle Lucas Synthetic oil stabilizer at oil change,
I was having a chat a few weeks ago with someone who at the time was a staunch K&N supporter and user. I related to him all the experiences we'd had with their crappy filtering over the years and at times I got the impression he considered me a complete and total moron. Visited me a few days ago and he said he had done as I suggested and pulled the air intake tube loose to check it for dirt. He immediately tossed the K&N and purchased a dry filter and put that in it's place.That product is known to cause lubricants to foam, it's the very last additive I'd ever add.
Check out this article... http://web.archive.org/web/20080408023428/http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/images/lucas/lucas.htm. That article was on Bob is the OIl Guy's forum until Lucas became a sponsor and forced it to be removed. Fortunately it was saved and archived elsewhere.
All I can say for certain is I certaintly won't ever be wasting any of my money on any additives.
What if Currie introduced an oil additive?
One of my Currie MML's broke at the weld years ago. Besides, its bushings were polyurethane which I didn't like so I replaced both Currie MMLs with M.O.R.E. rubber bushing MMLs.Actually I don't like everything Currie makes. I really dislike their MML spacers.
Stuff like that will get you moved from my guys I don't mind helping list over to the FOAD list in a heartbeat. That shit is old and busted and never should have happened to begin with. There is a reason folks like Currie stuff and there are reasons not to. Neither side should be fanatical about it. The biggest reason for you being on the list is I don't interact well with shit stirrers.
And I've had a set of those MORE mounts that I removed from Kat's rig and given away 3 times and they keep coming back. Next time they do, they're going in the trash.One of my Currie MML's broke at the weld years ago. Besides, its bushings were polyurethane which I didn't like so I replaced both Currie MMLs with M.O.R.E. rubber bushing MMLs.