Motor Silk? Oil additive

[Bill Merchant]

I was at The Better Living Show in Portland last weekend and talked with a local distributor of Motor Silk. He said his "tech guy" drives a Prius and got 70 MPG on a 40 mile highway trip recently. I haven't talked to his "tech guy" yet, but I though I would ask here if anyone has used this product or other boron based additives. The description of the boron crystal lattice structure seems plausible. They claim testing by Argonne National Lab.

[gman11377]

Very interesting, boron coating of metal can be done in a solution, as they claim, and they seem to have plausible/reasonable goals that their additive achieves over a reasonable amount of time. Will definately have to look into this further...Might even have to try it. Have watched all of the informercials for the different products come and go, although it was fun watching them drive a car without oil, shoot it with a laser, and grind on it with an angle-grinder, all of that amounted to nothing when it comes to what the product could actually do. Heck, Z-max even turned out to be not much more than tinted mineral oil. Gonna look into this some more.

[Winston]

Boron is an additive that is good at reducing wear, but I don't think it does that much to reduce friction. It is so good that many modern oils contain Boron. You don't need to buy Motor Silk to get Boron in your oil.

The 70mpg comment due to the use of Motor Silk is hogwash.

Check out my analysis of Motorcraft oil in my Prius;

http://priuschat.com/forums/attachme...lysis-uoa3.pdf

[xsmatt81]

that's very interesting. dont most prius owners advise against oil/fuel additives though? I used to run slick 50 in my oil in regular car and it did improve MPG ever so slightly. Keep us posted!

from the site it seems 12.8 oz. would be more then enough for our small engines..

[joeszabo]

I have been using a certain synthetic metal conditioner product called Militech-1 over the last 15 years or so now and while I can't be 100% sure (maybe just a placebo effect), I suspect it has always improved the engine performance of my vehicle's by conditioning the metal in the engine to reduce friction. This said, my main reason to using this was to extend engine life, and I have never had any engine wear issues. I saw a (dramatic) trade show demo of this product, where they would apply pressure to a bearing treated with various oil additives (one at a time) and then measured the torque required to stop the bearing. Most products like Slick 50 and others would allow lower levels of friction to stop the bearing, while this product made it very difficult to (about 15-25 times the force) stop the bearing.

When I added this product to my '08 Prius, it's shown almost an immediate improvement in mpg (2-3 mpg / I drive 180 miles daily) on the first two tanks of gas with it on my oil change. The downside of this product is that it calls to be added at each oil change at about 2 ounces per quart (7 ounces for 3 1/2 quarts) and it cost about $55 for two 16 ounce bottles. Since I intend to change my (0-20 synthetic) oil at a longer intervals, 10,000 miles (or every 3 months with my current commute) this may easily pay for itself on my ’08 Prius.

Militech’s web-site (warning- it’s a bit hokey so I don’t want to provide a link – you can google it if you like and find it) does have some state MTA testing data to support the reduced engine wear claims and better mpg, but surprisingly the product is primarily intended to be used for firearms lubrication and friction reduction.

[jayman]

The EPA has tested these claims, and unless you believe there is a Conspiracy going on, most have been debunked. The ones that did work had minor improvement

The way you drive will have the biggest impact on your fuel economy. SLowing down from 75 to 55 mph will provide the most improvement

As far as massive doses of boron or other chemicals/compounds, what effect will they have on the o2 sensor or catalytic converter?

[Bill Merchant]

Why would boron in the oil have any effect on the O2 sensor or catalytic converter? I don't understand.

[Winston]

In general, if there was a significant effect on mpg with some additive, the mfg's would put it in the oil. The reality is, over the past 20 years they have found things that reduce friction and decrease wear in engines. Today's oil is quite a bit different than it was 20 years ago. If you purchase a name brand oil, it will have all the latest additives included already. They will be added at proper amounts to be optimally effective too.

That 3-ball wear test that they did at the state fair, does not relate to the way that motor oil lubricates your engine. Good 3-ball wear test does not equal good motor oil.

[seasalsa]

I haven't tried it and probably won't.

With the cost of their $77 treatment package, I can drive my Prius a couple of months.

I find it interesting that their EAC-3&4 packages include "Gear Treatment for Manuel Transmissions". Must be for Mexican transmissions!

[diamondlarry]

I'm curious if the auto trans product is compatible with the Prius CVT.