stp oil treatment

[postjeeprcr]

Originally Posted By: addyguy
Originally Posted By: Topo
My brother Dodge Avenger 2008 with 3.5 Liter burns oil like it's going out of style. He has used any oil he could get his hands on to add to it, since it burned a quart every 400 to 1000 miles. He added STP to his oil and could push 1000 to 1500 miles without adding. I told him to quit mixing oils and go with one oil to test if any one oil would help. He switched to Mobil 5000 and STP and now his consumption is at 3500 miles and a quart. So STP might be helping him or the Mobil 1 oil..


What's wrong with it??? Abused?


I would guess abused.

 

[demarpaint]

I'd love to hear from someone who brought their Chrysler vehicle in for the "Free 5 Year Check up" to keep the warranty in effect. I'd love to see the suggested service list and hard sell to keep the warranty intact. Or be proven wrong, and actually hear from someone that had the inspection and it went well, with no pressure or up sell. A bit OT, but sound off. Or maybe one of these days when my flame suit gets repaired I'll start a fresh thread.

 

[SpeedyMan]

Reading about low-SAPS oils on many forums, i came to STP Oil Treatment. How can one calculate the proportion adding STP Oil Treatment to low-SAPS oil, so it can obtain 1200 -1300 ppm of ZDDP in it?
Same question for mid-SAPS..

 

[skyship]

Originally Posted By: grease_monkey
I have never used stp before,but I have heard that it contains a 50 weight oil and a ton of zinc. So here's my queston. Does this stuff contain detergents or solvents that break down or remove sludge?


All it does is thicken the oil and thick oil causes sludge and big cold start problems.

 

[ahoier]

And i tuought the 4 cylijder red bottle was disfontinued? Thats good to know its stilll around...i would tuink stp would he better than using a full quart of LOS....

 

[bigjl]

Very good, put it in at auction just before your car goes onto the block.

 

[SS1970chrysler]

The thing to watch with using STP is that the ZDDP accumulates over a few changes. There's a UOA from a '78 Ford LTD that I posted on here that shows a good example of that.Perhaps use a full bottle on one change, then 1/2 bottle per change thereafter.

Originally Posted By: SpeedyMan
Reading about low-SAPS oils on many forums, i came to STP Oil Treatment. How can one calculate the proportion adding STP Oil Treatment to low-SAPS oil, so it can obtain 1200 -1300 ppm of ZDDP in it?
Same question for mid-SAPS..

 

[ueberooo]

If I remember correctly, I recall being surprised at reading through a VOA of STP and finding out that it has less Zinc than a decent ZDDP rich oil. This means that adding STP will not significantly affect Zn concentration in your oil; it may even lower it by a miniscule amount. No wonder they keep the ZDDP concentration numbers as "proprietary" information.

My rec'd: use Lucas 1.6 oz of TB ZDDP plus break in additive; that's one tenth of a one pint bottle, to boost the Zn concentration by about 200 to 300 ppm or so; don't exactly remember the numbers.

Originally Posted By: river_rat
Oh, hey, thanks Gary! you da man.

Here's the only info I got directly from STP:

"July 13, 2009

Thank you for contacting us about your STP Oil Treatment. We always appreciate hearing from our consumers.

We sold our filter division many years ago to Champion Laboratories. You may contact them for technical information at 1-800-882-0890.

Unfortunately, the amount of ZDDP in both of our oil treatments is proprietary. However, what I can tell you is that the amount in both the red bottle and blue bottle are similar. If you add either product to four or five quarts of oil, it will provide you with the same protection the older motor oils once provided. I hope this helps you.

Again, thank you for contacting us.

Sincerely,
Patti Copper
Consumer Response Representative
Consumer Services"

 

[skyship]

Try to claim on the warranty, but get the paperwork and pictures in order as they will ask for proof the engine was serviced correctly and that it is using too much oil. That means receipts and pictures of the mileometer and your brother adding oil, they won't be too interested in what you say, it's what you have in cold hard evidence that matters.
If you have no luck just move up a grade and use a major brand HM oil to help clean and reduce the oil consumption. Leave the snake oils on the shelf.

 

[ueberooo]

If the Mobil + stp seem to work fine, I wouldn't bother with the paperwork headache; but that's just me. However, I suspect that in addition to the stp working to slow the oil burn, that the cooler temperatures also likely helped a substantial amount.

In fact, I've noticed, cold temps, esp with short trips = very very slow oil burn, plus fuel dilution and potentially a little condensation and moisture in the oil to a point where you could actually get a negative burn rate in some cars. I'll often run winter oil quite a bit shorter, 4000 to 4500 mi, rather than 5k+-ish.

Also, I disagree with calling it a snake oil. IMO it's a lousy oil additive that does a good job for a very limited number of specific jobs (oil burners); from what I hear, just about only a Viscosity Index improver, plus possibly detergents and buffers; very little in effective EP and anti-wear additives.

 

[skyship]

Originally Posted By: ueberooo
If the Mobil + stp seem to work fine, I wouldn't bother with the paperwork headache; but that's just me. However, I suspect that in addition to the stp working to slow the oil burn, that the cooler temperatures also likely helped a substantial amount.

In fact, I've noticed, cold temps, esp with short trips = very very slow oil burn, plus fuel dilution and potentially a little condensation and moisture in the oil to a point where you could actually get a negative burn rate in some cars. I'll often run winter oil quite a bit shorter, 4000 to 4500 mi, rather than 5k+-ish.

Also, I disagree with calling it a snake oil. IMO it's a lousy oil additive that does a good job for a very limited number of specific jobs (oil burners); from what I hear, just about only a Viscosity Index improver, plus possibly detergents and buffers; very little in effective EP and anti-wear additives.


If you need a thicker oil just buy thicker oil, if you use additives they wreck the very fine chemical balance of a good full synthetics add pack. If you check Castrol or Mobil they both make some real heavy HM oils that are much better.
Using a thickner causes cold start trouble because it increases both the cold and hot viscosity ratings, it is much better to use a 5/50 or 10/60 HM oil as the alternative snake oil will be a 15W/55 roughly with one can and if you add 2 cans in winter it probably won't start.

 

[TuBon_gRips]

He's finally breaking out the science! Well... without any real numbers to back it up, but at least he's showing his thought process now.

Maybe he'll calm down now and provide some useful information?

 

[ueberooo]

5w30 or 5w20 is all they offer in many oil change garages. sure, you could do it yourself, but one might not want to. One might also want to change the viscosity midway during a seasonal change, such as in late spring. Those are some of the few cases I can think of when stp might have some use. still, going 5w40 over 5w30 might do well for the OP.