Marvel Mystery Oil

[204 Escape]

Am considering using it, to "clean out" a car engine. DOes it work as advertised ?

Pros/Cons??

Thanx

 

[AviatorJim]

Re: Marvel Mystery Oil

If the engine needs to be cleaned out, MMO won't do it.

Pro - It is cheap, will thin the oil, and may get more crud and sediment to drain out with the next oil change.

Con - it might get a big chunck to come free and block an oil passage.

You didn't say what the engine is, or how critical it is. As much work, but less cost, and will get you some power back, as long as the bottom of your engine isn't in need of bearings or rings/pistons; add a half gallon of diesel fuel to your oil, run at idle for 15 minutes. Pull the cylinder head, and have a valve job done. Pull the distributor, get an oil pump drive adapter, and replace the oil with diesel, and start circulating through the oil system for an hour or two. Then remove the oil pan, clean it, and put it back on. Also the distributor, and head.

The oil will stay clean, and you were likely loosing most of your power to the rusted valves and valve seats, and worn guides.

But it you are going through all that, you are only a little bit of machine work away from a rebuild.

--Jim

 

[204 Escape]

Re: Marvel Mystery Oil

O.K. makes sense. The car is a 1995, 3.1 V-6 Chevrolet, in a Monte Carlo. The car wasn't (in my opinion), well maintained. It is my sons car. I was just thinking of cleaning it up some. It runs fine, but there is no record of maintenance/history for us to go by.

 

[puddle jumper]

Re: Marvel Mystery Oil

In my opinion. Put 1 litter of atf in just before doing the oil change it will work just as well as any engine cleaner. The risk with doing any engine clean is you may loosen some carbon from the rings and create an oil burner on a poorly maintained engine.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Marvel Mystery Oil

O.K. makes sense. The car is a 1995, 3.1 V-6 Chevrolet, in a Monte Carlo. The car wasn't (in my opinion), well maintained. It is my sons car. I was just thinking of cleaning it up some. It runs fine, but there is no record of maintenance/history for us to go by.

Hmmmmmmmmmm...... those V-6 blocks have notoriously small oil passages (although somewhat improved from earlier generations).

I would go with a diesel bath (or two) but also as mentioned above and my biggest fear is blocking the oil pick up screen with crap.

 

[robert graham]

Re: Marvel Mystery Oil

A 16 year old poorly maintained motor probably has a good bit of sludge inside and any strong solvent can break it loose and plug an oil circulation line, a lifter, oil pump intake screen, etc. If it's "running fine", maybe better just put in fresh oil and filter, forget the solvent idea, and let a "sleeping dog lie"....It'll probably run for many more years with it's sludge firmly stuck to the insides of the motor where it may cause you less trouble than if you break it loose. Good Luck!

 

[rivermouse]

Re: Marvel Mystery Oil

I would change the oil and then add a can of seafoam to the oil an another can to a full tank of gas.

 

[Fleetwin]

Re: Marvel Mystery Oil

Just keep changing the oil at accelerated intervals Use OEM, in your case A/C Delco filters, and go on.

I don't use anything but OEM filters/products. I've never had a failure.

 

[Fishing Dude too]

Re: Marvel Mystery Oil

Tell yo0u like I was told, Next time your hungry for a steak, rub it on your belly. You could break somthing loose that keeps the oil presure up doing anything but an oil change. If that worried about it change oil every 500 miles for 2 times. Then at 1000 for 2 times then resume normal oil changes.

 

[204 Escape]

Re: Marvel Mystery Oil

I'm going to go with the "changing the oil more frequently" idea !!! I thought that I would change the oil filter after 1500 miles and "strain the oil out of the filter", and see what I find in the oil.

I don't want to break anything loose in the engine and cause a un-needed problem !!

Thanx, for the input !!!

 

[dolluper]

Re: Marvel Mystery Oil

replacing one litre of ATF for one of oil { only one on a complete oil change} will probably help the engine alot as the lanolin in ATF will soften the seals and clean the rest....its a gentle clean if worried put half litre in...we used to do it thru the carb before CATS came along..did they smoke...did it outside of coarse ,very old tech

 

[bigdee]

Re: Marvel Mystery Oil

replacing one litre of ATF for one of oil { only one on a complete oil change} will probably help the engine alot as the lanolin in ATF will soften the seals and clean the rest....its a gentle clean if worried put half litre in...we used to do it thru the carb before CATS came along..did they smoke...did it outside of coarse ,very old tech

A+ on the ATF method. How sure are you that the engine is sludged up? The sludge idea is a carry-over from the old days when cars did not have sealed crankcases and positive ventilation. Engines also ran at lower temperatures which contributed to the sludge issue. Sludge is more of a myth than fact.

 

[Fishing Dude too]

Re: Marvel Mystery Oil

replacing one litre of ATF for one of oil { only one on a complete oil change} will probably help the engine alot as the lanolin in ATF will soften the seals and clean the rest....its a gentle clean if worried put half litre in...we used to do it thru the carb before CATS came along..did they smoke...did it outside of coarse ,very old tech

Seal material must be compatable with fluid used.

Nitriles- oil
polyacrylic- Ep additives
Silicones- non petrol fluids
Fluoroelastomers- chemicals
PTEFE -all fluids

This is just a rough outline. You might want t get ahold of a tribologist for what is happening within your engine.

 

[dolluper]

Re: Marvel Mystery Oil

Don't see your point I diffently know my engines

 

[Fishing Dude too]

Re: Marvel Mystery Oil

This was my point......The seals may not take the additives in the trans fluid, or the fluids themselves. Trans fluid has EP additives. You as far as I know can be a master machanic, and are. But there is many parts to an engine that may fail due to things you do to the engine. Hey but what do I know I was giving him choices, and opinion. If it was mine I would just change oil more often for several cycles.

 

[Fishing Dude too]

Re: Marvel Mystery Oil

As far as the tribologist he can tell you if the hydrocarbons are contamiating the oil at a higher than normal rate, which would indicate a bad set of rings, high amount of metal in oil which would indicate a main or rod bearing going out.

 

[204 Escape]

Re: Marvel Mystery Oil

I don't know that the engine is slugged up. But upon purchase, the oil DEFINATELY need changing. I may have just pushed the panic button. Like I said, I am just going to change the oil more often for a couple of times. AND, I am going to change the oil filter half way in between oil changes. I'm figuring that if there is any nasty stuff, floating around, it will get caught in the filter, and clean it up, and I can get rid of the filter, and the nasty stuff in the middle of a oil change cycle.

 

[gss036]

Re: Marvel Mystery Oil

Put it in, it will not hurt your engine. That stuff has been around forever. Also suck a can of Seafoam in through brake vacuum line, let it sit for about 1/2 hour then fire it up. Don't think you've done anything wrong as the engine will smoke like crazy for a few minutes and then go away. Maybe drive it down a street or road without much traffic.

 

[bigdee]

Re: Marvel Mystery Oil

Put it in, it will not hurt your engine. That stuff has been around forever. Also suck a can of Seafoam in through brake vacuum line, let it sit for about 1/2 hour then fire it up. Don't think you've done anything wrong as the engine will smoke like crazy for a few minutes and then go away. Maybe drive it down a street or road without much traffic.

Agree. It won't hurt but it probably won't correct any issues either. I have never found a "mechanic in a can" All these additives are from an era when engines were low tech and seldom lasted over 100k miles. Sludge was an issue in the old days because crankcases were not sealed and used outside air to "breath", that is why oil had to be changed every 2000 miles. I have never seen a modern engine sludge-up to the degree of the older engines. Usually the first indication of a sludge problem is a stuck (ticking) hydraulic lifter...in which case Marvel mystery or ATF MAY or may not correct it.

 

[RogersJetboat454]

Re: Marvel Mystery Oil

+ another for ATF...

If we had a car at the dealership with singing HLA's A.K.A. a sludge motor, we would usually change the oil/filter and replace 1 quart of engine oil with Dextron III. Take it on a nice beat run down the highway to get the oil good an hot, then change the oil again using all engine oil. Would usually quiet HLA's right down and clean some of the sludge out. Then came the sit down with the customer about the importance of regular oil changes...

Don't think the ATF is going to hurt any of the seals, especially if you leave it in for a short period of time. Older ATF's like Ford Type F may do some damage, but Dextron III/Mercon seems pretty gentle on a majority of the seals out there. In reality the seals used for the engine are probably not much different in composition than what are used in the automatics that run that fluid.

To the O.P. If you are unsure whether this is a sludge motor, or just had dirty oil, pull the oil cap off and look down inside the valve cover. This is usually one of the top areas that sludge collects in an engine. Another thing you want to check out on your 3.1 is the lower intake gaskets. At some point the general switched to using plastic lower intake gaskets impregnated with silicone. After many heat cycles the plastic usually breaks around the coolant passages, and allow coolant to drip outside or INSIDE the engine . Your engines vintage may be a little older than the plastic gaskets (did allot of these gaskets on late 90's to early 2000's 3.1/3.4 engines), but still may be worth looking at. The telltale sign is coolant oozing out of the lower intake at the back of the engine where it meets the tranny. If you find a leak, I would use Felpro gaskets as they are metal with silicone, and won't crack like the O.E. pieces.