Oh man, I have bought a LOT of oil additives in my life believing they would do something--I started driving in 1970 and drove old English sports cars, had muscle cars like 426 Hemi Mopars, couple Corvettes, etc.

In the old days of carbs, a can of Gumout really could help a gunked up fuel system, and even now I will run the occasional bottle of Techron (recommended by Honda and BMW) thru a fuel system if I think the injectors need a little extra detergent. But I usually just try to use Top Tier fuels, which have the best additive packages. (Our local Costco advertises that they use 5 times the minimum government requirement of detergents; Shell and Mobil in the Detroit area are Top Tier.)

I have used a LOT of Rotella in my life; the OEM recommendation for my BMW was 15W40, and Rotella is great oil. My bimmer's engine is very healthy and happy.

But motor oils are so sophisticated these days that they have all the additives they need. Man, I used to use Rislone in the winter (to thin oil), STP in the summer (to thicken it), Marvel Mystery Oil because the ad claims seemed good, and bought into all kinds of hype. (I think Rislone was naphtha and light lubricating oil, and Seafoam is naphtha, alcohol, and diesel fuel, so there is nothing too new under the sun except what color label they use on their high-markup snake oil blends.) I always wanted to believe all of that crap helped, but modern oils are so good, they really don't need additives and most mfrs recommend against them. ZMax's primary ingredient is lamp oil. Guessing I could do more research and figure out what other crap there might be in it, but it's just a light oil/solvent mix like Rislone used to be.

Again, Carroll Shelby proudly stating that ZMax soaks into metal as if the metal was a sponge was complete nonsense and I was embarrassed by how low he was stooping--but I'm guessing his medical bills were considerable. Lubricants don't soak into metal unless there is a crack in metal, and any company that makes such a nonsense claim is one that I will never buy anything from.

Sorry for the thread drift from spark plugs, but I think I posted a real answer pretty early on about van plugs, and new I'm just yakking about the history of "miracle" products that come and go...with the main effect being to lighten our wallets.

Happy New Year,
George

 

Well thats nice..... I love Carol Shelby..... a True Pioneer ....... but I did feel the difference...Like turning up the carbs on my Triple 2 Stroke Kawis...Stand on the gas and shift at Red line if you have the *****.......Do you understand the HUEI system ?

 

I still have my old drag racing trophies so I've made a few shifts at redline No knowledge of HUEI--no work with diesels.

Happy New Year once more,
George

 

you were right ONE Piece pluge. I did them last monday and it took 3 hours start to finish. I even took a break to make kids Pancakes for breakfast. no too bad just had one COP boot really stick in the hole but I was able to save it. the best advise I would give is to replace all the boots when changing the Plugs. next time I'm bored I may just change out the boots.

 

Agree 100% on replacing the boots, at least every other plug change. I did mine about 1,000 miles ago, didn't change every boot and now have what I think is a bit of a misfire. It could be caused by anything (don't really recall it being there before the new MotorCraft SP-479's) but next warm spell I'll recheck everything. Plug torque, COP connectors and at the same time replace any older boots. NAPA sells a nice Belden #702418 ($4.29ea) that I'll use.

We seem to learn as we go along with these motors---never less than exciting and fun!