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I dumped a can of SeaFoam TransTune into my transmission and my car shifted twice as well within a few miles. Three weeks later and the shifts get better every day. Now the shifting is almost like new.
Here's the thing: I *know* it was the TransTune that worked because there are no other possibilities. Nothing else has ever been added. The transmission fluid has been changed regularly, but hadn't been changed for many months. The slow and hard shifts were constant, not intermittent. The shifting improved immediately, and dramatically and has stayed better. There are just no other variables that changed.
So what other snake oils am I missing out on that people know, more-or-less scientifically, work? (So, no mixing of snake oils. No tiny improvements. No "I changed the fluid and added X, therefore X works" confounding variables.)
That isn't really Snake Oil. What you had was check valves that were a little dirty, making them open & close slowly. Now they're clean. It doesn't often work that way, but I'm glad it did for you!
I'll ask a buddy. According to him every additive he's tried for 30 years has been an improvement. Put together they've worked so well that he can get the front wheels of his cube van off of the ground. In reverse.
I've used Marvel Mystery Oil in cars obtained from local municipalities which were police cruisers and detective cars which had in excesses of 150,000 miles on them which were smoking out of the tailpipe, missing/fouling spark plugs and the stuff seems to work to correct those problems. I've also used this on old fleet cars that had lifters ticking and it's cleaning attributes are fantastic, which after using MMO lifters quieted down.
On occasion, I have also added MMO to the gas in fleet cars after failing emissions tests, with great results.
I found this video on youtube, it is not mine, but this person had similar results.
I've also used Lucas additives in stick shift transmissions where the synchronizers were worn and had difficulty shifting from one gear to the next, which produced positive results.
On occasion I drop in a bottle of STP Fuel Injection Treatment. Became a fan with a previous used car. Felt sluggish in acceleration. Began using the stuff and literally felt it when the injectors cleared out. I now use top tier gasoline only. It's rare that I use off brand gas. They don't have the cleaners top tier gas offers. My 11 year old Chevy still runs fine (knock on wood or KOW).
Ive always considered Seafoam to be something Ive always wanted to try but too afraid to actually do it.
Same here lol I was always concerned about screwing up sensors that had gotten used to being dirty, or knocking off all the oil, gunked up grease and oil that were undoubtedly keeping most of the oil in my Jeep's 4.0. lol I had a can of it sitting around for nearly a year, but then not long ago I finally did it.
You should have seen the smoke show. Runs like an even better top now. Alot of the ticking and knocking is gone.
this is really an old topic here ... there's been lots of C-D pages about the use of additives in the automotive industry, which included anecdotal tales of success & failure, analysis from the viewpoint of oil industry chemists, and a whole host of other perspectives ...
including the assertion that a shop selling this stuff to a customer was ripping them off because the petroleum industry knows what's best in the fluids that they supply for the various purposes.
In my experience, there's a lot of benefits to be had from oil additives. We've been using them for years in customer's cars that are routinely serviced in our shop, and ... just to cite one example ... the overhead camshaft and follower failures that were commonplace in several series of cars we saw through the shop, even when using top line oils, stopped happening. And that was on 'benz'es, cars reknown for top drawer design, materials, and durability. Only they weren't, in the real world. And yes, the cars were documented with a full set of service stamps from the dealers, so they weren't ignored for all the routine factory maintenance. Folks get pretty anal about having that full set of stamps in the books because it shows they've protected their investment in the cars to the best possible level. Yet I saw years worth of used cars in the secondary market come through with worn cam lobes/follwers ... gas and diesel engines. We had some customers who didn't routinely use my shop and declined to have the additives put into the oil; it wasn't uncommon to see those cars show up again in another dealer lot a few years later with a blown camshaft.
While I think it's a regional issue based upon the gasoline formulations dictated by climate/EPA, in our area it is essential to run a fuel injection cleaner from time to time. On the cars that I work on which still include mechanical fuel injection systems (Bosch, Kugelfisher), the tight tolerances in these units must be kept clean. I've had many cars come through the shop which had driveability issues or couldn't pass emissions testing, yet after running through a tank or so of fuel with the additive (used to use BG44K, then switched to Lucas after BG changed their formula, also have used L-M cleaner), the tailpipe emissions verified by my exhaust gas analyzer passed the tests. As well, I've had some of those cars that would not adjust to pass and after the additive use, would adjust normally to pass the e-test. I note that I've had this situation with gas and diesel vehicles, and the owners were running the appropriate fuels of good quality ... they were buying name brand fuel from stations with high turn-over.
Additionally, I've mentioned the situation in aviation where additives are required because of documented engine failures using the manufacturers specified oils. C'mon, this is aviation where all these details get documented and you can't go out and buy cheapie aviation oil that isn't formulated to the best standards. Lycoming has an AD (airworthiness directive, a mandatory requirement for operation or your plane is illegal to fly) for the use of an additive in a certain engine series that was having engine failures. At the time the AD came out, the additive was only available off the shelf and had to be added to the oil when changing as well as when making up oil between changes. Now that some years have gone by with documented success with the additive, some of the major aviation oil suppliers are now adding it to their oil so if you use their oil in your engine, you're in compliance with the AD. But those oils were perfectly satisfactory in most of the piston aviation fleet without that additive for many years.
As well, I've seen significant reductions is operating temps in gearboxes, diff's, and engine cooling systems with the use of additives in the normal spec'd fluids. I'm not going to get on a soapbox here for specific additives ... because the benefits seem to vary according to the specific application. Some transmissions react better to one additive than another, for example. I think it's the result of how a given additive pack performs in a given situation. Having raced AlfaRomeo's for awhile, I know that some fluids/additive combinations are the ticket to keeping their diff's in one piece and their transmissions shifting better at lower operating temps ... but it's all a matter of anecdotal experience and what works for one guy may not be as good as something else for their car.
Hence, some of the additives may be called "snake oil" because they didn't do the job for somebody. And sometimes, the additive may not be able to make up for the wear/goo or whatever the problem is that it was called upon to correct, or it may cause other problems that become bigger issues than what they were supposed to fix. Many stop leak products for cooling systems certainly fall into this category ... and yet, I've got some stop leak products in a few customer's cars that has cured minor seeps without any adverse side effects for years.
Certainly, some products seem to do what they claim. Fuel stabilizers, for example, are a real help in equipment or cars that will sit idle for awhile.
For the modest cost of some of the additives, if your expectations are reasonable and the situation is appropriate for the product, they may be worth a try. In other cases, they aren't worth using ... for example, I've had excellent long term performance in light/mid/and heavy duty diesel engines with the top tier dino oils in the marketplace. I had to replace some glow plugs in my '95 Powerstroke awhile ago (at over 250,000 miles), and there wasn't even a dirt film to wipe off the inside of the valve covers ... the engine has excellent compression, doesn't use any more oil than when it had 10,000 miles on it, and runs like a top. But it's sure a happy camper when I add some Lucas FI cleaner to it now and then, and I can tell the difference within a few miles of using it that the engine sounds better and delivers better fuel economy. Same thing with my Cummins T-diesel in the '96 Dodge 4x4 ... no need for an oil additive, but the fuel system sure is happier with an additive.
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