What was funny about the Slick 50 engine treatment additive is that it was a product of Quaker State, which manufactured motor oils. So, if the Slick 50 additive was so good why didn't Quaker State add whatever was in the Slick 50 additive into their motor oils?

The Federal Trade Commission sued Quaker State for false and misleading advertising.

Other additives are just as worthless - Prolong, Zmax, Archoil, Lubegard, Rislone, Liqui-Moly, Best Line Engine Treatment, zMax 51-212, BG MOA, Redline Break-In, Archoil AR9100 Friction Modifier, Rev-X Fix, Marvel Mystery MM13R, Lucas 10131 Stabilizer, Nano Diamond Oil, STP Oil Treatment, Bardahl Oil Treatment, Everglide Oil Treatment, etc., etc.

 

You didn't list Seafoam... so I guess this one really does work. LOL

 

None of those type products are needed unless the engine has very high mileage and has been mistreated (by not being serviced properly) - then it might be helpful, but it often comes at an unexpected cost. When you remove carbon and sludge that was allowed to coat and buildup in a high mileage engine that was not serviced properly, removing this carbon and sludge (without tearing down the engine to do so) using products such as Seafoam will almost certainly put this damaging grit and debris in the lubrication flow which in-turn destroys the crank and rod bearings, and piston rings and cylinder walls. You simply cannot 'properly' clean out a high mileage, mistreated, dirty engine with products from a can. That said, there is no need to ever use such a product in an engine that has been serviced properly. It's just not needed...and if anything ,will do more harm than good.

Engine oil and Tier 1 gasoline has a detergent additive that keeps the engine clean. Change the engine oil and filter on schedule and you'll maintain a clean engine void of sludge that something like Seafoam is advertised to remove when properly taking care of an engine has been ignored.

 

Absolutely, I'd never do an engine flush with an oil change for this reason. Every bit of crap it's dislodging won't come out the drain plug singing a jaunty show tune. Who knows where it finds itself. The same can be said for flushing other systems.

 

I can't remember the last time I heard of someone keeping their car long enough, while doing regular oil changes, and then they are driving down the road, and bang, the engine seizes up. Other things may go like a radiator leak, transmission slippage, or other non-engine related problems. I used to drive a 1976 Buick Regal V8 for over 3 years with the engine oil low pressure light on. What killed it was the carb float would drop and flood the engine if I went over a big bump. Cars last folks. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Change the fluids, rotate the tires if you want, that's it.

 

Fair enough about sea foam. I maintain my car very well, but I plan on keeping it until the wheels fall off or until Lexus releases a new GS whichever comes first

 

I thought I would add just a little fuel for thought here. Firstly, I agree that snake oils are just gimmicks and do nothing but possibly harm an engine. I can however comment on a few individual products.

I have owned many Cadillacs. Older Northstar engines suffered from carbon buildup. Cadillac used Techron additives to cure this problem on engines with abundant amounts of sludge. On Cadillacforums.com, a senior member used techron fuel additive in a Northstar engine and did a complete teardown of the motor with pics. This was about 9 years ago. The before and after pictures were indeed very conclusive. On the 4.6 liter Northstar teardown, the engine was indeed cleaner after the treatment and driving a few thousand miles. Almost all of the sludge was gone and the pistons were much cleaner. The tread was at least 75 pages long. At the very least, it was a fun read.

In regards to Seafoam, I have watched many videos on youtube about seafoam, including tear downs of engines and using tiny cameras to insert inside cylinder chambers to see before and after pics. The stuff does clean your engine fairly well. I base my comment solely on the youtube videos I have seen. They are pretty interesting to watch.

The original Slick50 stuff worked very well at reducing internal friction. They were sued and shamed once someone else purchased the company and changed the formula to basically being just mineral oil. You can find videos online of a gentleman using older discontinued Slick50 stuff in lawn mowers, then running them without oil. The lawn mower engines ran much cooler and lasted much longer than conventional oil engines before locking up while being run bone dry. That video was also very interesting to watch. Very easy to find online. The guy tests alot of products.

There is another gentleman on youtube who raised the compression considerably in his old Civic by using "Engine Restorer". It is also a fun video to watch. Last I checked, his latest update was 6 months in and his compression was still elevated to normal levels after using the product.

Once again, these are just a few videos I have seen online. I am in no way endorsing any product. I can only say for sure that Techron cleaned the sludge out of older 4.6 liter Northstar V8 engines. The only product I personally use is Seafoam. Its the first thing I did to my car when I purchased it last month.

 

What made you think your newly purchased car needed the results that a product like Seafoam provided?

Do you think a Lexus GS 350 engine or its fuel injector system would not last as long or would have reduced performance compared to one that received Techron or Seafoam treatment?

 

Buyer beware

The decision to use aftermarket additives is ultimately yours to make, but be wary of performance claims. Some additive manufacturers have been charged by the FTC with making false claims in the past.

For the record, AMSOIL recommends against using aftermarket additives. AMSOIL synthetic motor oils are fully formulated to provide superior protection and performance; use of aftermarket additives will detract from their performance and possibly lead to engine failure.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

While the above statements are from AMSOIL, Inc., their statements should reflect what all makers of motor oil advocate...

 

No not really. This is my first Lexus and I have heard nothing but AMAZING stories of longevity throughout the brand. I fully expect my car to be phenomenally reliable, especially if the Lexus consensus of superb reliability are true.

My car is a 2013 but only has 20K miles on it. I added Seafoam just to clean out the fuel system, as the car has obviously not been driven much at all every year. It has a fantastic dealer history, but like I said, It has not been driven much prior to my purchase. I commute to work 70 miles a day and I just seafoamed the car as a fuel system cleanse. I have had great experience with seafoam in my race car.

 

I would have suggested that you [first] drive the car a week or so with your 70 mile daily commute to see if you detected anything that might have made you think the fuel injector system needed to be cleaned. It's highly doubtful, regardless of mileage, that it needed to be cleaned. The detergent additive that U.S. companies put in their gasoline does an excellent job without the help of bottle additives. The additive companies cater to people just like you for their sales...

 

I see your sentiments, but they don’t cater to “people like me”. I use products that have worked for me in the past and that I have seen work with my very own eyes. I trust my own eyes over anything else. In my race car, when I put seafoam in my combustion chambers and let it sit on top of my pistons for a few minutes, upon starting the car all the black carbon is blown out my exhaust and my pistons are shiny and clean. Sea foam makes my racecars pistons go from black, to shiny metal colored again. They usually stay clean for over a year before I treat them again. Because I have seen this with my own eyes, I use Seafoam in my personal vehicles as well.

With my Lexus, I did not run a scope in the cylinders to look at the pistons to see if they were clean or black. It wasn’t that serious to me, as the car has such low miles. But I didn’t know if the previous owner used 87 octane in it all the time or what. I know a senior citizen owned the car before me. So I purchased the car and ran a bottle of sea foam thru it. In fact, I did it twice. Why? Just because I guess. It works great cleaning pistons in my racecar so I used it in my Lexus. Maybe my GS pistons were shiny as gold beforehand. Who knows? I didn’t check. I just seafoamed it. I figured it would not hurt anything and at the very least, it would clean things out, as it does on my other car.

I know people have their own opinions about additives. I respect that. But as I have said before, I only use a product that has proven to work for me in front of my very own eyes.

Did my car need Seafoam? Probably not.
Are my pistons cleaner after using it? Probably.
Did it hurt the car? Absolutely not.

 

As I said; the additive companies cater to people just like you for their sales... And that's okay!

 

At this point, I will no longer feed this troll, in order to keep respect within this thread. Even in Lexus forums, Trolls hide under bridges. And that’s okay!

 

I never feed trolls and I don't read spam,
Installed a T1 line in my house:
Always at my PC, double-clickin' on my mizouse!

-'Weird' Al Yankovich. "It's All About the Pentiums". 1999.

As true today as when it was written. Except for the T1 part.