A couple of weeks ago we decided to give Restore Engine Treatment a shot in our tired 273 Dodge. Today we found a noticeable difference. Here's how it went.
My 1988 chevy c1500 has 605,000 miles....started running a little rough and burning a little oil at about 500,000 miles...tried Restore, immediately noticed improvement. Been using it for the past 150,000..truck runs perfect. Not burning any oil....I am convinced I will make it to a million miles...by the way..my truck is all original, no rebuilds..change all fluids regularly..oil at 2000 miles. Trans once a year, radiator once a year, rear end every 2 years, power steering and brake fluid once a year..
This stuff is amazing, maybe not for a big muscle car. My Wrangler used to have low compression, and had a lot of blow by and blue smoke from exhaust. 500 miles after first can, no smoke and no longer have to top off the oil every gas fill up. Only use about half quart in 5k miles, as opposed to 3-4 before. It definitely gives a breath of life in tired engines like my jeep with 280k miles
Question for you, as to what product and how much you think I should use. I have a 1995 Subaru 1.8L 4-CYL boxer Impreza, 177,000 miles. I have 76 and 78 PSI dry compression in #2 and 4 of one head (driver side). This started a few days ago, we noticed while on a highway trip the power was weak and I can hear it missing as the RPMs drop from driving to idle. I don't have overheating, excessive oil consumption (drippy seals, I add a quart about every 900 miles), smoking, or fluids cross contamination. I'm waiting to have a leak down and another dry/wet compression test at a different shop. The first shop only did dry compression and wasn't too bright or helpful. If I end up having a head gasket leak between those two cylinders, what products would I possibly try to mend it? It must not be too bad of a leak, whatever it is, for the compression to build to 78psi dry. The other two good cylinders are 130ish psi. If it ends up being a valve leak, what products and strength could I try to get them clean? After cleaning, I will have valve clearances checked, as it's probably never been done. Thanks!
It sounds like detonating because it probably is, and that means the Restore is working. You probably advanced the timing in response to the low compression, so when you restore the compression, you also need to either restore the timing or use high octane fuel or water injection to avoid detonation. So try backing off on the timing unless you want to use super gas or install water injection.
@@Transient901 in any case I tested it in an engine it either worked or it just burned it up, and done nothing for the engine. because it was beyond help i've never had it make it worse, and it just burned it up and did nothing the engine just burned it and it did nothing for it if your engine is that severely worn you cannot turn around and blame the product I think he thinks it made it worse ive used it a lot of times never had it make anything worse as I stated your engine is just so worn out it cannot help it
@@Transient901 the restore didnt make it worse he's blaming restore for making it worse that's his bald assertion because ive never seen it make it worse as I said it wither worked or it burned it up and did nothing for the engine
I used restore 1 time, in a SBF, and a couple months later, on the way to the hospital with my wife for the birth of my 2nd daughter, it lost oil pressure and seized. On tear down it had clogged the oil galleys. I had put it in a thoroughly warmed up engine after warming the Restore in hot water on the stove and drove it 25 miles to mix it well. I have not used any oil additives for over 30 years.
@Jesse Meza Getting upset about something like this is weak minded. It's clearly a joke about geographical location, not culture or people. So you can take your social justice rage and shove it up your asshole.
Seafoam works pretty good. I added it to my 318's oil once and within 500 miles it ate all the gunk out of the inside of the engine. Unfortunately for me that gunk was the only thing keeping me from leaking lol
Uncle Tony, try 15W-40 diesel oil. Trust me, it works well on engines with "moderately" worn rings, providing better ring to cylinder wall sealing. It helped reduce oil consumption from
I used the restore in an old worn out 305 that was down in power and used oil. It definatly helped by using way less oil and i could feel a slight increase in power
In my experience Restore engine treatment is good for wear caused by poor maintenance, mainly extended periods between oil changes. It works to fill in cylinder wall and piston scoring from dirty oil and contaminated or missing air filters . It has little effect on worn rings and taper in cylinder walls.
I had a 79 Ford f 150 with a 400 cid engine. I used it CONSISTENTLY at every oil change for over 3 years . After 6 months I noticed a considerable improvement . After 3 years I tore the engine down for a complete rebuild : HOT ROD FASHION , new 10 to 1 slugs , lumpy cam,headers, etc ..even put in a custom ( Redneck style - interior - power seats from a Lincoln town car - the SPL it bench seat in the Town car fit perfect as a set of bucket seats in the F-150 heated power cushy comfy seats install the cruise control system and now I have a redneck riding in style
Engine Restorer works well when used in normal driving conditions, and does increase the compression on older engines. But if an old engine is badly worn out and needs a total rebuild.... it won't help much . When an engine gets that bad.... it needs to go to the machine shop.
My 2cents , High mile engines - use heavier weigh oil for 1000km ( 600 ml ) drain and only use heavy w oil from then at the usual replacement . Was a tip from an retired aged mechanic and it worked wonders for my straight 6 jeep .
I’ve never had Restore actually make a marked improvement in an older engine. I have seen old engines with glazed cylinders get better ring seal by putting a small amount of Bon-ami powdered cleanser directly into each cylinder. Sounds crazy but it does work. JD
Yup, old circle track racers trick. Back in the 50's my dads buddy was running #96 at raceway park, Shakoppe Mn remember him tellin my dad cyl walls were glazed. Put in Bon-ami, then to work it hard, they pulled tow truck a block with race car. Bon-Ami (has a picture of little chic standing in freshly cracked open egg ) "Ain't scratched yet" is tag line.
I'm interested to see how the oil looks after the oil change. Some times that stuff works for engines, other times it doesn't. This is what the experiment is all about. It tickles my curiosity but I'm not getting disappointed with the result. It'll make us a bit wiser in the end. Keep up the good work! 👍
Many moons ago, I used that stuff to get an other 20,000 miles out of a 76 Firebird with a 355. we weren't running it hard, but we did get her up to some good speeds. The CSL is supposed to be copper, silver and lead(be aware) particles, basically, the idea was to dump it in the engine, and combustion chamber heat would melt the particles into solder and fill the scratches in the cylinder wall. It's no replacement for a rebuild.
I had an old 292 in my Ford years ago and used this stuff. It seemed to stabilize the motor and gave me a little more power.. I wasn't racing it at all. But when I changed the oil it got alot worse without it immediately. I noticed a substantial power loss and bought another can for the fresh oil. I give RESTORER a 👍
Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, just like a chebby! Lol! It worked in the 302 I had in my one ton but I went through about 14L of oil and 1500 miles of towing for it to seal the motor up. Front of trailer was dripping in oil from the duals, but after reaching my destination I noticed it seemed to be revving cleaner and it went from 1L per 300 km's to 1/2 L in 5000km's. (1/2 L between oil changes) ran the motor 3 more years.
Thanks for the follow up video and your lack of bias with the product. I've a 940 wagon with 255k miles on it and while it doesn't smoke, I considered using it depending on how it went for you. Not going to..engine still runs strong and doesn't smoke..ain't broke don't fix it sorta thing.
My guess is that the compression did come up. Exasperating other isuues such as ignition timing needing to be changed or carb tune. If the compression came up im thinking it altered the tune it needed completely
snake oil was actually a real product that actually worked. Then the traveling salesman ruined it with whatever they were pushing, usually booze and weird stuff.
I use low doses of Marvel in the oil and gas tank as a long-term maintenance dose to lube the top end and and to keep rings from sticking. I won't use anything else and Marvel Mystery Oil has brought a few cars back from the dead for me over the years.
It cured a ticking lifter in my 1973 Buick Gran Sport low compression 350 that later on became the quickest Buick 350 powered car... after I sold it, that is, and about 20K later
You got to realize the rings, Top is compression, middle is compression and oil control, and the bottom rails are oil control, you got power, not using a lot of oil, the rings rotate in the direction of the hone job, but the block is worn th top inch of the cylinder. I like to build Poor boy race motors, it could be any but for me its 20R or 22R Toyota's, I usually spin a bearing in them at 100,000 miles, you can cut the ring groove out and hone them and using stock replacement rings it creates a low tension rings Loose race motor using stamdard rings. New rings, turn the crank 10/30 and run premium and 100 octaine aviation fuel! Fun motors! An old V8 with 200-300,000 thousand miles the top inch is worn so much you can't clean it up with a hone. The cylinders an inchto an 1-1/2 inch down thew cylinder is sealing like a new engine, your oil consuption/lack of compression is in the top of the stroke. You never say what oil you run but any motor I run with over 50,000 or 80,000 I run 40 weight oil in. I am a big fan of 40 weight, not 10w-40, straight 40 weight. Fountain Powerboats did a test using all kinds of oils and Castrol 40w had a 8hp advantage over ALL oils, (in their new race boat engines) next was Castrol 10-40 with 5 hp advantage, and the rest all baselined about the same. ANyway my point is your rings are still doing their job, the block is worn causing the compression leak/oil consomption. Once the rings get stuck in the pistons you'll start getting fouled plugs and have to use the anti foulers from back when we were kids. one cylinder start oiling they would put an anti fouler between the plug and head, I had a '64 Doddge 400 with a 318 zig zag motor, it had a push button auto trans, they had a front and rear pump, you could pull it 40 mph and mash the "d" button, it would pull start it! Probably the only auto trans you could do that with!
I do recall on the first video where Uncle was running the gps timer and the cat was smoking quite a bit. The Restore fixed my 2.0 4 cylinder and has been running like a champ for 2 years
Would that cause the loss in performance? Or maybe the can didn't do anything and that quarter mile run really beat up what was left of the ring and and that's why it's slower? I saw project farm test some in an old diesel tractor and he was happy with the results. I bought a can and now I don't know if I should use it.
I've used it with moderate success, though not on a drag strip. I wonder if the Restore could have cleaned out soot that was helping seal the rings? in which case the engine should NOT come back with the oil change. I also like Yale Overhaul Pellets and wish they were still made.
@@modelnutty6503 at work, sometimes we gotta mess with small engines along with the normal ones. I've had happen quite a bit where a compression check gives good numbers , and a leakdown shows like 40% so I'm not much of a fan of a compression gauge anymore.
MrHillfolk If what you’re talking about is 2 strokes, for me with chainsaws they often feel like they have good compression but they’re scored and have the ring seized on the exhaust port side- due to the direction they rotate the rod thrusts the piston against that side of the cylinder during the compression stroke so the compression feels perfect. The only way I could ever tell is that the engine seems to spin with more drag since it doesn’t rebound fully off the compression
@@ghettobikelife8833 Nah ,the small stuff we have to mess with is usually stuff like Briggs v twins and stuff. They like popping head gaskets and leaking the compression to the crankcase and overwhelming the breather. Let it go and it'll oil up the air filter. A quick check on them is to run em and hook a vacuum gauge to the oil filler. They should pull vacuum and not blow oil out at ya. Do a leakdown and hear the hiss from the oil filler or breather , might as well lift the head. There's a oil drain passage that is near the cylinder and the gaskets always blow at that spot.
Now that you had it in for a bit and drove it. Drain the oil, put a good quality oil in with one quart of dura lube ( which is a compound similar to aviation oil additive) and a pint of high tack. Run it again and watch what happens with the time and performance. You will get an immediate compression increase following the initial restore treatment after about 50 to a hundred miles, but it will not completely stop oil bypass entirely. If the restore is left in and you do hard performance runs on an engine with excessive wear? The byproducts in the engine restore which are meant to fill micro abrasion in the cylinder walls will mix and burn with the fuel in the cylinders under heavy load causing detonation changes that rob power and hinder its performance. You can use the restore, but if your going to make performance runs on a tired engine, get it out. Otherwise for everyday driving it's fine to leave in.
Uncle Tony, I have used Engine Restore it in my 2014 Cadillac ATS, 2.0 Turbo. I have used ER since 50,000 miles. I now have 162,000 miles on the car now. I drove to Las Vegas and got 3 .mpg. My engine runs better then when I got it with 42,000 miles. I'm sorry you had bad luck with your truck. I SWEAR BY THIS PRODUCT !! Just FYI...I use the Fram Ultra Synthetic filter, and Mobil-1 high mileage oil, 5W-30, and one can of Engine Restore, ( 6-cylinder formula). And...compression....the car goes well over 100 mph without much effort. Thank you Uncle Tony for your video.
My 7.3 diesel ambulance with about a million hours of run time used to blow the oil cap about 8 feet when loosened while running. After using CSR in it every oil change, the cap barely dances on the fill spout, and it's been going solid for over 8 years of abuse towing 14k+ pounds of tools and trailers up the passes like a trooper. I don't think I've ever seen it get less than 18mpg while doing it either. You can say it's crap all you want, but it's worked wonders on ALL the engines I've used it in.
Anyone old enough to remember the JC Whitney catalogs probably remembers their "Liquid engine rebuild" where you dropped pellets into each cylinder, added some potion and VIOLA! New engine!lol! Same crap, easier to use....
Seeing before and after compression tests would be interesting. The idea behind this stuff is that it contains I think copper and lead and is supposed to fill in the wear in the cylinders or something along those lines. I’ve seen both sides where it’s raised compression on an engine 30-40% and I’ve seen this kind of thing as well. Hell I tried it my wore out 5.9 magnum just to see if it did anything and I saw no difference in drivability, power, oil burn and compression didn’t change at all. It might as well have been plain oil for me. I had more luck with a high mileage oil which leads me to believe most of my issues are valve seal related though I’m sure the rings aren’t great either.
I DON'T (yet) have experience with a "worn" engine (but I'm about to - LOL). I've heard testimonies of HUGE improvements using XcelPlus (current trademark for the original "Slick 50" formula). My only experience was on a new (I waited till it was well and truly run-in) 1992 Subaru Brumby. BRILLIANT stuff. (One slight drawback, the reduction in friction was so extreme, on a COLD winter morning I'd have to run it AT LEAST 10 mins to get enough heat in to START to defrost the windscreen - negating any of the alleged fuel savings). When I finally sold the car, the engine had already done 150% of the typical engine rebuild mileage (had never had a failure of any kind), still ran fine and did not burn oil. I have no doubt XcelPlus MASSIVELY boosted the engine life. I now have a neglected 2006 Holden VZ, it's showing signs of timing chain stretch, reduced power, and burns around 2 quarts per 1,000 miles. I'm going to try a de-sludge protocol, then treat it with XcelPlus and see if I can get another lease of life out of it (an engine rebuild is not in my budget due to unemployment).
We did a similar experiment 35 years ago on a city bound daily runner which had varying compression over all six cylinders with the worst at least 20psi on the others. Dropped the oil and refilled with a high detergent diesel oil and ran it for a couple on months.Hey presto, the compressions all raised to within 5 ponds of each other. Obviously the diesel oil had ungummed the rings and let them gain a bit more tension, but could've gone the other way and lost psi if the rings were broken and only sealing with carbon etc. The engine replacement held off to a later date. :)
Added to my 01 Corolla and she stalled after a couple of blocks. My mechanic had switched to 20W50 because she was burning too much 10W30. After the change in oil, she would belch heavy smoke but adding the ER, she didn’t smoke as much. I traded her in for a 04 WJ and put some in last night. Fingers crossed all goes well, but we’ll see. Cheers 🥃
I've had good luck in my 68 HP H Code 383 using the Restorer. Engine has 120K miles with original rings/bearings, etc. Lots of blowby fume would come out of the PCV grommet when the valve was removed during idle. After restorer fume was nil coming out of the grommet. Didnt do a compression check before/after...but the car definitely has more power and the engine is much more responsive off idle when the throttle is flicked. As Uncle Tony says, I think it depends of the vehicle/engine and what the wear level of components are.
I had an old Pontiac 400 in a 79 firebird.I bought a wrecked 77 T/A my and swapped it.It had untold miles. I drove it back and forth from Tampa to Chattanooga many times. I used this stuff every other oil change. It was still running when I sold it seven years later. It improved oil pressure and I guess it helped it live longer.
EXPERT, Amatuer mech-CAN-ic here guys. Had the super rare, now COVETED 1982 chevy camaro. Berlinetta with what would appear to be a two stroke iron Duke four pot. The way it smoked....using the 8 cyl formula would hamper, by a useful amount the smoke and its generous external oiling. Don't use it in something you care about. Good stuff as always Uncle Tony. Mighty fine fogger you got there!
Guessing that whatever this 'magic can' has in it probably packs behind/around the rings and keeps them from fluttering, without being strong enough to wipe bearings or thick enough to clog passages. So it'll work if you baby the engine afterwards, but the first time you really crank on it you'll undo everything and probably even worse because it'll take some carbon or goo with it.
I’m in the Pontiac vibe club, which has the infamous 2.4 L Toyota oil burner. Various products are used here in there, however, the good mechanics Allstate, that it simply puts off the inevitable, engine swap or rebuilt
Well this is as good a review as one could possibly get and the proof seems there - it didn't work on this engine that probably needed it and actually made it worse. Tony, I didn't hear you say you did a before and after compression test. Rings are all about compression (power), so if this product is supposed to improve ring sealing then there should be a noticeable rise in compression across the board. I think that would have been a worthwhile thing to do (bit late now though I suppose , if it's already been added).
Hey Uncle Tony. Glad to see that your firewall is just as dirty as mine, lol! Meant to clean mine up when I threw in the V8 but... Oh well. Anyways, feels good to be early.
Back in the sixties and seventies, JC Whitney sold an engine overhaul kit. I consisted of an oil additive and "pills that were dropped into the spark plug holes. One kit or two for "large V8 engines" like Cadillac, Chrysler, and Lincoln. I gave my brother a kit to "rebuild" his International pickup. He passed on it. Re-gifted it....
I use to use that years ago figuring what can it hurt. Every now and then i cut the oil filter open. I did that once after using that, it looked like it was all trapped in the filter.
My pops has 2-92' Dodge caravans 3.3 liters.1 he found in an estate sale and got this garage kept 92' with just under 48,000 miles has just over 50k now then he has a 92' with over 200k miles.He uses a combination of 10w30/40 Shell Rotella T,1qaurt Amsoil 20w50 and Lucas engine treatment"which is like glue" and this van runs just as good as the one with low mileage running the Shell Rotella T only in it.This thing never smokes still has comparable power to the 50k van as well.Hes been doing oil tests since the 80's between all the drag cars, motors built and the street cars.He even got crazy not to long ago and bought about 10 oil filters hell maybe more and started cutting them in half to compare filter elements to the ones hes been using.
I dunno, I've had success with Engine Restore. Had a 403 Olds that had massive blow by to the point where you had to wipe out the puddle of oil in the air cleaner. Engine Restore actually stopped the blowby nearly completely. Of course, it only lasted about a month and then the blow by came back. I'm in the camp that you didn't leave it in long enough or put enough miles on it. You'll think it's not doing anything and was a waste, in then right about 500 miles the midrange comes back and associated throttle response improves.
This restore works a heck of a lot better in diesels... I’ve got a 300,000 mile TDI and it brought her right round. Needs a few oil changes and heat cycles to properly build up compression.
It's possible that the chemical cure also cleaned 50+ years of carbon and sludge out of the ring lands and out of the oil control rings resulting in what you experienced. Similar circumstances used to happen back in the day with old scummy engines and a lifetime of paraffin-based motor oil use when someone would switch to naphtha-based oil, whether intentional or inadvertently, the result was the same. Increased oil usage and smoke under acceleration and decreased power, the same things you experienced.
It works primarily on the valve guides and seals to prevent plug fouling and related oil loss not practical for worn out bores or rings. Just for engines that have been sitting for a long time and not worn out but sticky leaky etc this stuff will help that kind of condition.
Slick 50 my friend. Installed junk yard 318,smoked bad,good valve guides and seals. Changed oil at 500mi. after 1st change with additive,again after1500mi. and again after 3000mi. which was a long turnpike cruise from fl.to ny.and back. Coming back only used 1qt.oil and clean exhaust and pipe. Dad swore by Marvel Mystery oil and added 1/2 guart to oil and the rest in the tank in every new Plymouth and dodge he bought!!! Didn't try it with this swap.
Probably just loosened the varnish around the rings allowing more oil to seep by on the intake stroke and the compression to drop a bit. Now if that was can of liquid chrome molly and some how adhered itself to the rings under heat & pressure......
Dudes motor is toast. Restore works as long as your engines not toast. I also think he may not have given it enough miles. I've used it on high mileage cars for years and within 500 miles you'll notice the car runs better, smoother quieter..
I use restore it has always worked for me. My uncle has a Toyota truck modified 350 4 bolt main decked out with NOS. He uses it due to the abuse of the NOS system. He uses it every oil change to keep his compression up. It works . nano lead in the oil goes into the Nicks and scratches if your rings are toast the product won't fix cracked rings or pistons. Sounds like your oiling rings on the bottom of pistons are plugged up and pushing oil into the cylinders sir. Try berrymans b12 chemtool to clean out the sludge in the motor then change oil . run it for 20 minutes at 2000 rpm and change oil right away.
I think the instructions on the bottle say it takes about 1000 miles for the stuff to fully integrate and work. That said, nothing in a can will ever be able to replace a rebuild of an engine. It may postpone the date of the rebuild a little, but only a little.
I put a can of Restore in my '96 Grand Cherokee 4.0 with my last oil change, and I noticed a drop in oil pressure. Keeping the pressure relief valve from closing, maybe? A pint of Marvel oil and the oil pressure started coming back. To be sure neither my '88 MJ 4.0, nor my '80 Mirada 225, is going to see any of that gak.
I use it in my mower transaxle, because it's overdriven about 5x more then stock(30mph) and it works great for that. But I'd keep that shit out of an engine other than assembly lube purposes.
I put some of that stuff in my last oil change. I didn't have any smoke but the truck had been sitting for a while so I Figured it couldn't hurt. I don't think it did much. I prefer Marvel Mystery, because it's good on everything. Chicken.. Pork... Beef..
This product works by filling in scratches and other wear imperfections in the cylinder walls to help the rings seal better, but it can only do so much. The rings are probably too far gone for it to be effective. I had an old S10 Blazer about 15 years ago with a high mileage tired engine and trans. I used this product at every oil change, and it really made a difference. For the trans I used Lucas transmission fix (I believe that was the name). I drove that truck a couple of years, sold it to a friend, and he drove it a couple of more years. Compression was good, and the trans shifted great. Without those two products I'd have probably junked the truck.
Had a Bronco - was probably 80's had that second transfer case - sealed that big long crack in it with RTV then used Trans-X on trans and before getting out of the big box lot that thing was pulling like crazy new. Towed the stock car no problem after that - sold it and it still towed so hard they cracked the frame pulling with it. LOL
In my 50+ years of messing with cars I learned to fix what is broken and not mess with canned shit which is what usually comes in a can of false promises. What restores anything--fresh parts.
Is it just that its a worn engine and these high RPM hard runs just pushed it to hard and it would of done the same thing with or without the unicorn piss?
I've been mechanicing for about twenty years (and certainly don't have the breadth of knowledge you do). I've had some old muscle from the 60's, and I've noticed that more modern products like Engine Restore usually doesn't produce the results that are advertised. I used that stuff in my 1990 Iron Duke and saw some Improvement, albeit marginal. Great vid, love your channel.
There wasn’t a mosquito for 6 miles around after that run 🤣 I tend to avoid any of these additives that are supposed to fix any problem, only thing I’ve ever run is a seafoam fuel system cleaner/stabilizer when I parked my truck for last winter, it ran so much better in the spring
Tony you should show us how to change the oil stem seals on those heads. While it wont fully remedy the problem I think it will help keep the smoke down a little.
@@ronaldcolman6211 And in the past I also blamed the rings on one of my motors but after fully rebuilding the head all the smoking went away. I think Tony should phycially replace the 1$ a piece seals for piece of mind and at the same time teaching others how its done in car. We are here to learn arent we???
My guess is carbon buildup in the ring grooves and rings. I doubt any product can reverse carbon buildup. When cleaning pistons manually I tried Brake cleaner, carb cleaner, liquid wrench penetrating oil and acetone then I tried paint and varnish remover(slimy gel type) which lifted most of the carbon but still required some scraping. I cleaned up my pistons and rings and went from burning 1qt per tank to no loss on my 07 subaru.
So I changed oil in an engine once and blew it up. Actually twice, one Ford, one Dodge, used cars serviced before I started driving them. The cleaners in the new oil loosened all the carbon buildup in the engine and clogged pickup and galleys. Sounds like the stuff you put in “cleaned” your rings, took away any carbon helping them seal. Sometimes wear is wear. The products you find for rebuild in a can work under certain circumstances, it can’t replace a thrown rod or add material to components past their limit. Was worth a shot though. May work in low mileage vehicles that don’t see many highway miles and build a lot of carbon in the rings.
I remember some stuff in the 80's that you had to pour into the cylinder at TDC and let it sit for a few hours (repeat for each cylinder so it took some time)...I didn't work either.
GM still uses a version of that stuff to fix excessive oil consumption in their displacement on demand ls v8 engines, guess what it doesn't work either.
