"Restore" additive?
 

is it ok to put those "high milage" additives in diesel engines?

as many will tell u, dont bother!
if ur going to anything good for ur engine just add a a diesel fuel stabilizer like power service, this will help lubricate ur fuel, wich in turn lubricates ur injection pump, it will also keep ur injectors clean

Voodoo in a can. I doubt all of those claims. Most of them claim they fill scratches and grooves in worn engines. Some grooves are required (lifters and such). Other claims include viscosity and lubricity enhancement, cooler temps and stops leaks. Correct maintenence takes care of those issues before they happen.

Worn engines are just that.

Make sure to sacrifice a few chickens before you do it!:D

As long as you're purchasing clean fuel from a high traffic fuel source, you don't need fuel stabilizers either.

I wouldn't do it on a turbo, beacuse of the jets that spay oil on the botton of the piston.

I once added a can of Sea Foam to a near 400k mile 1984 300CD, it almost ran away.

Do not use any oil additives.

I once had a knocking sound and added some Lucas oil additive and it went away. Is that a coincidence or did it really help. It is a thick oil lubricant. Are you advising not to use something like it again. Ray M

Additional additives can have a negative affect on the oil's own included additive package.

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/images/lucas/lucas.htm

If you want the oil to be thicker, run a heavier weight oil.

the only engine oil additive ive had success with it Rislone. I had a very loud and annoying lifter tick and was already running ELF 5w40 synthetic oil. So at the next oil change i used mobil 1 5w40, now most say it takes a good amount of miles to clear up the lifter tick with synthetic oil. So i poured in some rislone and in a matter of minutes the lifter tick disapeared!

Now i have amsoil 15w40 with no additives and the lifter ticks havent returned since.

Restore does work to increase compression......
 

When Restore was a new product, a 292 cu.in. ford Y-block with many miles as a test pig. Record compression. Change oil and add Restore as per directions--netted an increase in compression on all cylinders but what was most noticible was that the really low pressure cylinders were pulled back up to almost normal compression. Now IF diesel engines react the same as gassers, and IF the Restore product is still the same, THEN the above results may be valid for our beloved Mercedes diesels. An increase in compression in our diesel engines can't really be a bad thing:P

Regards

RUN-EM
1983 300SD--aka--SPARKY THE DIESEL :silly:

I find it hard to believe that an additive, can increase the compression on a Diesel motor... on a gasser the compression was probably down around 60 psi and it bumped it up to what, 80, 85? below 270psi it is nearly impossible to start a Diesel... what additive can help at those pressures reliably? most Diesels lose compression due to valve wear, or ring slop, not grooves in the soft pistons, or cylinders. I think the best that can be done with out overhaul is fresh clean oil... and frequent oil changes.
John

This write-up actually confuses me, I always thought that synthetic oil is a superior oil compared to dino. This week I am going to be adding new gear oil and already purchased Mobile 1 75w-90. Would 75w-90 full synthetic gear oil act the same way as the 80w-140 full synthetic? I don't like the idea of it not climbing at low speeds.

Per the write-up and pictures it seems that 80w-90 synthetic blend is the best way to go.

This bob guy has some great energy and apparently good intentions, but his methods don't IMO duplicate real-world application of the product.

It would be nice to have good independent testing, but whether oil foams or climbs small fine-tooth gears at hight speeds on an electric-motor drive has little to do with large ring and pinion gears, with how well it is actually lubricating or dissipating shock and heat. Ditto for the air-filter test where he compares colors of a small piece of filter media on a stovetop.

Thanks for the effort Bob, but I'd really like to see proper testing for my decisions.

As far as products that will raise the compression, it is possible. It is also possible that the buildup of these same products will go further than raising compression, to building up in the ring groove and making rings stick, greatly increasing engine wear. Such is the case for products including Teflon / PTFE in my opinion, as it can't sustain the heat of combustion, and can create ring fouling/sticking.

There are additives that I will use, but they are typically more of the same thing that premium oils already have. If you're not very familiar with the chemicals in the additive product, the effects of those chemicals in a diesel engine, and the result of the breakdown of those chemicals I'd stick to just using premium diesel oils.

I don't know If I'd use it (Restore) in a diesel, but I know that the stuff brings oil consumption on our old Ford 4000 tractor (almost 6000 hours... :eek: ) down considerably..... That old tractor can go through a quart of 10w30 in about 3 hours of hard work....... Restore brings it down below a cup...... Until the Restore gets burned up, the oil consumption starts crawling back up again......

So, YES, it DOES work in gasoline engines.............

Ive put "Restore" in our Fiero for the last 2 oil changes, its doing weird stuff now, the oil was still clear (a tint of blue due to the restore" after 3000 miles, it still has normal oil pressure so i dont know whats going on, or if the restore has anything to do with it.

turbo lube
 

My main concern for not using the stuff (Restore) in my 300sd and 300cd is turbo oil suply cloging. You know, when the turbo jumps out from under the bonnet and dances in wooden shoes.:eek:

In my real world expirience, Lucas saved an 84 Subaru with 200,000 on it. Basically, went from overheating and bogging down on the grade to pulling it and staying cool at 60mph. Besides, but Lucas Oil stabilizer DOES NOT mix with Synthetic, they have a separate product for that.

It doesnt even mix with dino, look below on the bobistheoilguy link and youll see the stuff still foams up with delo 400 and Schaeffers Supreme 7000 dino oils.

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/images/lucas/lucas.htm

Thanks for that post. I think I'll change my oil soon to get it out of my car. Ray

There's some misinformation here. Lucas doesn't foam in an engine. Maybe it does in a differential, but I used to use it and I tried in 5 different engines and it never foamed. And it mixes with any oil just fine. Whether it offers any benefit is another story. I don't think it does, unless the engine is extremely worn and needs extra oil viscosity to cushion things. But in that case, a thicker oil might do the same trick.

As far as the Restore additive goes, I tried it once in an 82 300D but I can't say that it did anything. Generally I don't believe in using any oil additives and most people will tell you the same thing because oils already contain a finely-balance package of additives and you don't wanna mess with it. Right now I'm trying Royal Purple oil which claims similar things as the Restore additive, but at least the whole thing is an oil and a reputable one it seems, and not just an additive.

Let's see the video of the camera you stuck into the dip stick tube while the engine was running to verify this claim. That would verify that the oil was not foaming in the oil pan only BTW.

Let's see the video from the camera that "bobistheoilguy" stuck in a real engine or differential.

Again, good intentions or not, this bob guy is running a high-rpm electric motor driving small straight-cut gears with no load. It has absolutely NOTHING to do with how an oil and its additives will act in an engine, differential, or transmission. The viscosity does not scale down, it is not a valid test.

The point is that if Bob's test carried any validity in the real world, the oil in my pan would turn milky white from all the aeration and it would stay that way long enough for me to see it on the dipstick. Real engines and those electric gears that Bob used have even less in common than apples and oranges do.

If you drain your engine warm, you would see if there was foam. I HAVE NEVER SEEN FOAM from Luacas. I'm no scientist, but i have yet to see it foam. It's in my rear end of my 1980 300SD. This weekend i will drain that HOT just to see. I would rather know for myself. If it is foamy, you will all know. If not, than, you will all know.

I am NOT trying to promote this stuff, just sharing my expiriences. I figure, if it's all foamy, i'll be real happy to find out. If not, I'll still be happy to have fresh clean stuff in my differential!

If it doesn't meet some standard set by a reputable automotive engineering standards organization, don't waste your money or your time.

For example, products like diesel purge are a waste of your time and money.

Stand by for anecdotal testimonials to refute this statement.

From what I have seen DP is a waste.

When I used Diesel Purge, it started off essentially clear and turned increasingly black as it cycled through the system. Was it actually cleaning something or is it engineered to turn black as part of the hoax?

I had what would seem to be luck with restore in a mazda 323 with 250+m on it. really quieted down the engine, and seat of the pants was better. FWIW, the car lasted at least 30k after that. I added it every 2-3 dino oil changes. sold the car after about 15k, and the guy I sold it to drove it for 1 1/2 yrs, and sold it. still running fine.

so, on that engine, it did not hurt it, it seems.

Of course, I did not film any engine sumps, or do any tests on it at all. but it did seem to help, increased power, hill climbing. it seemed.

I ended up taking a second look at the Restore additive and I may have been wrong about it the first time, though only time will tell. According to the various write-ups about this product, it's not an oil additive because it's not meant to modify the oil's properties. Instead, it's supposed to be an engine additive because it acts directly on the engine, supposedly filling in groves in the cylinder walls, thereby increasing compression and/or reducing oil consumption. Both of my current Benzes have some engine noise issues so I gave the product another try.

So far I only drove my '96 E300 to work and back once with the additive and the engine already seems noticeably quieter at idle when the engine isn't fully warmed up yet. It's supposed to take 500 miles or so for the additive to really do its magic so I'll keep listening. On my 240D it's had no effect so far, but I've only driven it half the distance compared to my '96. It's also possible that the 240D's noise issues have nothing to do with compression and maybe it's a rod/bearing noise + some combustion knock from leaking valve seals. Just a guess. Of course if that's the case, then this additive will do nothing about it.

Last time I also failed to mention that when I first tried this additive several years ago in my ex-82 300D (my very first diesel), I later had my compression tested and the readings were higher than new engine specs! Unfortunately that was the only compression test I ever did, so I don't know if the additive had any contribution to the results. But the engine did seem to run smoother at the time than it ever did before or after.

Needless to say, this additive would be quite useless in a new engine or one that's in perfect condition. But it may be of some benefit in older engines that don't have really good compression. I'll let you guys know what I find out as I test this additive further in my semi-worn MB diesels.

I forgot the name of it but i went ahead and put some other kind of Diesel engine oil additive in that i got from autozone. so far 400 miles and its still the same.

Yeah, that doesn't tell us much... Which car did you add it to and what were you hoping to improve?

I'm surprised you put it in a 606, at 120kish miles you should have zero blow by, zero oil consumption and close to new compression numbers.:confused:

I have zero oil consumption and what seems to be no blowby, but I question the compression because of the cold engine noise that no routine maintenance cured. Also I have very limited maintenance records from the first owner who owned the car until 3 years ago. I don't even know if he or she did regular oil changes.

81 240D with unknown milage it smokes real bad.

What have you done to the car so far? Trying an additive, at least one that is added to the engine oil, should be done only as a last resort. Have you checked your valve clearances, timing chain and injectors?

Big rigs!!
 

Just stop around a maintenance facility that does maintenance on fleets of big rigs and just do as they do and not much more and that will end all the arguments about what is what and what is necessary. Enough said.:D
Bud

Don't bet on it.

money is the problem so far. next weekend im planning on doing the vavle adjustment. next i plan on getting a compression test and then have the injectors looked at.

OK, I'm done with the "Restore" experiment. I ran the additive for about 250 miles in both engines with no significant results. My OM606 did initially seem a bit quieter on it when cold, but it wasn't consistent and I think it had more to do with ambient temperature and the duration of afterglow. I still wouldn't dismiss the additive as useless and I think it's quite possible that it does raise compression to some extent, but I guess my compression was already pretty good.

250 miles isn't much of a test.....

Based on the various testimonials, I should've felt something by then if my compression was low. I figured since my compression seemed OK those little metal particles floating around could only do harm so I did an oil change. It was time to do so anyway.

Try some "Restore" in an old piston type air compressor and see if it builds to charge faster.


Btw, it will not make a difference (I have done this "test").