Opinion> Marvel Mystery Oil?

[glwilson]

Okay... I haven't had any experience with this product but have heard of it for most of my life.

In reading about bikes and other motor-toys... I keep hearing good things about this product. I swear... I believe some even drink the stuff.

I have always been a bit skeptical about additives and other such products making claims about how great they are. For this product... I have heard about it through the years almost entirely from individuals who swear by it.

http://www.marvelmysteryoil.com/index.php/site/videos/

So... does anyone know anything about it?

Please tell...

[kudzufarmer]

i used some in my gear box before my last oil change....did seem to be a little less noise in the motor....went back in with Rotella5W 40 w/o marvel mystery oil.......a little more noise but does seem to shift better with the Rotella.......other than that i don't have much experience with the marvel oil and would be interested to see what everyone has to say.

[Yellow Jacket]

Considering that Marvel will not reveal any of the additives they put in their Mystery Oil there is no way I will put it in my bike.

Personally, I believe that if all these wonderous products that will improve your oil, anti-freeze, gasoline, etc. actually worked then the oil companies, etc. would also add them to their products. I think it's a bunch of hooey. Just my opinion, your's may differ.

[ringadingh]

Ive never used but have heard and read about it. Everything Ive heard is that it seems to be a well liked product by a lot of people, and its been around forever. I would guess that its similar to Seafoam, by all the claims about it.

[Yellow Jacket]

Here's an interesting article from Road Rider Magazine:

http://www.math.uwaterloo.ca/~rblander/snake_oil.txt

[AlabamaNomadRider]

I don't like the taste of it very much. It has an oily taste and I just can't seem to digest it properly.

Seriously, I have used it in my cars and really couldn't tell any difference one way or the other.

[glwilson]

Originally Posted by Yellow Jacket

Here's an interesting article from Road Rider Magazine:

http://www.math.uwaterloo.ca/~rblander/snake_oil.txt

Thanks Bob. That link pretty-much settles it for me... very convincing evidence that all of these are a waste of money.

Some quotes from the link include:

Avco Lycoming, a major manufacturer of aircraft engines, states, "We have tried every additive we could find on the market, and they are all worthless."

Briggs and Stratton, renowned builders of some of the most durable engines in the world, says in their report on engine oil additives, "They do not appear to offer any benefits."

North Dakota State University conducted tests on oil additives and said in their report, "The theory sounds good- the only problem is that the products simply don't work."

And finally, Ed Hackett, chemist at the University of Nevada Desert Research Center, says, "Oil additives should not be used. The oil companies have gone to great lengths to develop an additive pack age that meets the vehicle's requirements. If you add anything to this oil you may upset the balance and prevent the oil from performing to specification."

In addition:

The major oil companies are some of the richest, most powerful and aggressive corporations in world. They own multi- million dollar research facilities manned by some of the best chemical engineers money can hire. It is probably safe to say that any one of them has the capabilities and resources at hand in marketing, distribution, advertising, research and product development equal to 20 times that of any of the independent additive companies.

It therefore stands to reason that if any of these additive products were actually capable of improving the capabilities of engine lubricants, the major oil companies would have been able to determine that and to find some way to cash in on it.

Yet of all the oil additives we found, none carried the name or
endorsement of any of the major oil producers.

[rickyboy]

As I was reading your posted article from R.R. mag. Bob, I was reminded about a product that was big back when I was a lot younger. It was called "Slick 50". It made the claim that it actually bonded to the walls of the cylinders of what ever motor they put it in. I remember an actual demonstration at the Pacific National Ex. back in the late 60's, early 70's, where "they" dumped the oil out of a "treated engine" and ran it without any oil. I bought a can of the S%#T on the spot and poured it into my '58 Vauxhall before I drove it home that day. I was always running out of oil it seems and thought why not. Man !!! All I can say is that "it must have been the drugs".

[cactusjack]

Originally Posted by AlabamaNomadRider

I don't like the taste of it very much. It has an oily taste and I just can't seem to digest it properly.

Seriously, I have used it in my cars and really couldn't tell any difference one way or the other.

It gives me the runs. ::) I used it in my old 1975 Vega years ago. I won't use it in my Nomad because I don't know what it will do to the clutch.

[fish]

AHH the vega, 30,000 mile car I liked the cam-back version
The oil, never used it but an old timer at work swore by it. but times have changed.

[macmac]

MM kinda depends on what the use is. It makes a very nice air tool lube, where the tool says oil daily, and into the chuck inlet.

In a Nomad it might have a place in winter storage, or if a oil change was passed by accident, and or if the lifters were clacking after an over heat. In that case it would be a last ditch cleaning the lifters gets due to MM being mixed in with new oil.

Not likely to happen to any guys here.

My main use on the Nomad would be in the fuel from time to time and a more or less measured 2 shots, per tank on occasions, mainel;y to lube the upper valve stems, and flus some varnish from them, as they must coke up.

More for than MM I tend to use Seafoam which has been around a long time too and was made for 2 stoke outboard motors.

gettting back to MM any time I ever used it on a varnished part tha part became cleaner with less effort. I suspect a good part is mineral oil and K-1.

On a nomad it would make a nice lube for lever pivots, side stands, and is plenty thin for throttle cables, and etc, so it has a place.

i doubt I would use it in the engine oil and or the gear box. I do use a little Lucas hypoid mixed in with the rear end oil. Maybe 1 oz and the rest syn gear oil.

I am no bottle baby either, but like the bridging effect Lucas can do on seals.

I have no use what so ever of B&G which is a can of sulfer oil basicly.

If anyone runs across PQ and some number as water proofing BUY me a can.

I lost track of that stuff and want more. last I know the can was covered in orange paint, maybe paper, and all I recall is that PQ which could be wrong. It is for wires and will dry them by displacing water, and then it sticks around a good long time.