Recently I was at Auto Zone and I picked up a slick 50 package that contained a fuel system cleaner (1 treatment cleans the entire fuel system, or so they say). It came with a bottle of slick 50 oil treatment.

I was thinking of putting it into my 190e engine. I have 120k miles on the car and thought it can't hurt. What do you guys think? Any of you bless or debless that treatment? Supposed to replace 1 quart of Castrol 20w50 with this, which is a 10x30 grade oil.

Advice, comments welcome!

-=>Raja.

__________________
1983 MB 190E, bought from Germany and shipped to the US in 1986.

Do what you want but:
The Federal Trade Commission has filed a formal complaint on June 6th 1996, accusing Slick 50 of lying when the company claimed that engines need Slick 50 during or after startup; or to prevent premature engine failure; or to reduce engine wear; or that it coats engine parts with PTFE; or that it increases horsepower or fuel efficiency, or lowers engine temperatures or emissions; or that it meets military specs or is used in government vehicles. Which is basically everything that Slick 50 claims in their advertising.
Eventually Slick 50 elected to settle with the FTC. This settlement bars Slick 50 from making any of the above claims about the product and required Slick 50 to distribute at least $10 million in rebates.

What fascinates me is that Slick 50 is no longer allowed to claim a single benefit from using their product. Yet it still sells. People will buy anything. Don't be one of them!

JackD

"Slick 50, would you use it? "




NO
Plenty of reasons in the archives.

__________________
The Golden Rule

1984 300SD (bought new, sold it in 1988, bought it back 13 yrs. later)

Forget about it. It's just another snake oil product.

I think that it's use might void certain car manufacturer's warrantys (BMW, VW, etc.). Mercedes say not to add any additives to the motor oil they recommend.

BTW, the conglomorate that owns Slick 50 also now own Quaker State and have sold all their refineries. They buy oil from other companies and repackage it.

A few years ago in Flying magazine I read an abstract of an FAA accident investigation involving an in flight engine failure on a single engine general aviation aircraft.

Analysis indicated that a bearing seized. Further investigation showed that the intersection of two drilled oil passages were partially blocked with PFTE - the active ingredient in Slick 50. The conclusion was that the engine failed as a result of a siezed bearing due to oil starvation because the main oil gallery was blocked.

There's a reason why ALL automotive OEMs specifically recommend AGAINST the use of additives and only recommend motor oils that meet the API service specification and viscosity range for the expected ambient temperature range, which is clearly stated in all owner's manuals as is the recommendation NOT to use addtives.

It's also noteworthy that duPont, the manufacturer of PFTE does not endorse the use of PFTE in engines, and I believe they even refused to sell PFTE to the manufacturer of Slick 50 at one point, but the Slick 50 manfacturer went to court and was able to FORCE duPont to sell them PFTE.

Duke

In addition to the $10million Slick 50 had to pay following the FTC ruling, they (slick) settled a class action by agreeing to pay another $20Million for false advertizing and deceiving claims.
Other "Miracle-in-a-bottle" snake oil marketers fined by FTC include: (partial list)
Castrol Syntex Power System
Dura Lube Engine treatment
Motor-up
Prolong
Shell Vektron 3000
Valvoline TM8 Engine Treatment
ZMAX Power system
Split Fire spark Plugs.
STP.
JackD

Would you trust anything with a name like SLICK ?

__________________
2007 C 230 Sport.

NEVER, NEVER, NEVER USE SLICK 50 IN YOUR CRANKCASE

I am done shouting.

__________________
Ali Al-Chalabi

2001 CLK55
1999 Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins Diesel
2002 Harley-Davidson Fatboy
Merlin Extralight w/ Campy Record

If I were Slick and 50 I might use it on my hair.I don't think you need to add any magic product to the wonderful mercedes engines.........

William Rogers..........

Wow, I didn't know there was so much against it! I already threw away my receipt, so I guess I will have to go back to the store and say "Uh, I lost my receipt, can I return this thing?"

Thanks for the input, and I'm glad I didn't already put it in there!

-=>Raja.

__________________
1983 MB 190E, bought from Germany and shipped to the US in 1986.

This is no endorsement, just an experience.
I had a 1972 Honda SL350 motorcycle that used a pint of oil every 300 miles.
I put in some oil w/teflon additive in the crank.
It stopped using oil.
I asked the vendor how this was possible.
He said I must have had a stuck oil ring on a piston that the teflon broke loose.
It also, made my wet clutch slip.

__________________
Steve Danville
what i did myself.
CPS
rear shocks
MAS x 3.
SparkPlugs (twice)
Fuel pump & Filter
Window switch
replaced both failed horns with Honda horns.
Cleaned ERG Tube
Oil changes
Oil consumption Fix
Brake Pads
A/C Recharge
Anti-Freeze change X 2.
Front Shocks. Monroe. $90
Mercedes Warrenty Work:
Harmonic balancer,power steering clamp. Cat converters.Drive Shaft Bearing.s
Replaced Outer Lower Tie Rods and front lower ball joints at 156,000 miles

If Mercedes, BMW, Volkswagen, Audi, etc. are all telling us what to do and what not to do then (with all due respect), how is it that we keep wanting to listen to shade tree mechanics rather than the world's finest automotive engineers?

Of course, Americans bought an awful lot of Ford Explorers and followed the advice of that company when they said to under inflate their crappy tires by 9 pounds so it wouldn't roll over.

Then there is Honda who should know better telling us to use 5W-20 oil in their new cars so that it'll help them with their CAFE averages. Ford does it too but that's the kind of thing you'd expect from Ford.

Then there are Lexus dealers offering 30 weight Mobil 1 which is no longer a true synthetic and banned by Mercedes-Benz.

Frankly, it's hard to know what to believe anymore. However, I've got my wife trained to listen to only what I tell her

I liked your post , but....
Mobil One #30 is not a synthetic ?
---------------------------------------------

__________________
Steve Danville
what i did myself.
CPS
rear shocks
MAS x 3.
SparkPlugs (twice)
Fuel pump & Filter
Window switch
replaced both failed horns with Honda horns.
Cleaned ERG Tube
Oil changes
Oil consumption Fix
Brake Pads
A/C Recharge
Anti-Freeze change X 2.
Front Shocks. Monroe. $90
Mercedes Warrenty Work:
Harmonic balancer,power steering clamp. Cat converters.Drive Shaft Bearing.s
Replaced Outer Lower Tie Rods and front lower ball joints at 156,000 miles

0W-30, 5W-30 and 10W-30 Mobil 1 are now made with a petroleum base. It's a long story but they did it to compete with Castrol who have got the courts and the Petroleum Institute to agree that they can call it synthetic even if it doesn't have a Type 4 or Type 5 base.

If you could compare the pour points of the old 10W-30 Mobil 1 with the currrent 10W-30, you would see that the pour point now more closely matches a petroleum oil than a true synthetic.

If you are going to use Mobil 1, use 0W-40 or 15W-50. They are true synthetics.

I would imagine that the same effect could be had by adding mud, Dr. Scholl's Foot Powder, or mustard.