Stp?
 

Thought about STP Oil Treatment this morning for no reason - who still uses this stuff?

About a hundred years ago when I was younger I used it for all the cars I had with crappy rings and loose everything in the motors, used in a few times for assembly lube, and sometimes just cause I listened to the ads.

My worst offense with it - although pretty clever I thought at the time - was when I was buying, selling, and swapping cars a lot. I traded for a '64 Dodge hippie van with a straight 6 that turned out to get about 4 miles to a quart of oil. I was commuting to Cal State Long Beach for college and could barely get to class without taking a case of oil with me!

I switched to 4-1/2 quarts of STP and 1/2 quart of oil! That got rid of the giant cloud of smoke out the back (but not the one coming out of the inside of the van :smoke: with a bunch of classic rock pouring out of the 8 track and giant box speakers) and held it together long enough for me to trade it to a guy for a '66 Nova.

Just curious if there's a good use anymore? It is sticky and slippery as hell so why not? ;)

Re: Stp?
 

I tried some recently on some noisy ls lifters, it didn't help so I ended up swapping them out anyway. But well worth a try.

Re: Stp?
 

My personal opinion.;)
I firmly believed in it 30 years ago.

I think it is been changed from what it used to be (Maybe just me).

Not trying to start any debate or endorse any product here.

I use Lucas Oil Treatment in it's place now.
I drove a truck 2 years with a rod knocking.
It would use 3 quarts of oil in a month.
I would add STP rod still knocked.
Added Lucas and it would stop knocking.

Just my experience :chevy:









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Re: Stp?
 

I've never been into the gimmicks. That being said: Had a porsche 911 with a lifter tick and check engine light. The variable cam thing with them is a lifter with a rod in the middle that sticks up to activate the 2nd lobe on the cam, like VTEC on hondas. So our shop says its the lifters, need to replace at like $2000. A another porsche shop tells us to try some hydro lifter additive from liquid moly, then run the piss out of it. I'll be dammed if on day 2 it stopped having any issues, reset the emissions components and went threw emissions fine. That was almost a year ago and as far as I know the car is still good to go.

Re: Stp?
 

When I rebuilt a 292 in 1977, my buddies were down on ever using it, as they considered that the additives just gunk up your engine and make cleaning it for rebuilding that much harder.
Until a few years ago, when I was concerned about the level of ZDDP in common motor oil, I started using STP for the zinc. When I found out Valvoline Racing had the right amounts of ZDDP, I went to VR1 SAE 30 exclusively.

Re: Stp?
 

I used it in the late 70's because I wanted to believe the hype. Never could tell that it made a bit of difference and would rate it about a notch above mashed banana peels. Still not sure what it actually does other than raise the viscosity, but here's a link to a guy who tests all sorts of products in his garage. He did an old Vs new STP test about a week ago. Wouldn't want it anywhere near a motor in cold weather.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqiUFklL_XI

Re: Stp?
 

I heard of a kid who got a job at a local garage. He was asked to add in a can of stp and where did he put it but in the radiator. I guess they had quite a time cleaning it out.

Re: Stp?
 

I have seen it work with a well worn engine. Same with Lucas. Beware though if there are not anti foaming agents in this stuff you will have other problems.

Regular Oil has anti foaming agents to prevent the oil pump from sucking foam.

Re: Stp?
 

I know there used to be a product called Motor Honey that was a similar thickener. The idea is to make the oil thick enough that it doesn't go past the rings or valve seals, but I've always thought that if oil is too thick to go past rings and seals, it's probably also too thick to go to places it needs to go.

Re: Stp?
 

I kind of like the products that fill in the scoring in the cylinders!

Re: Stp?
 

I tried that ProLong stuff before I rebuild the top end of the motor. I can say this it has not hurt anything.

Re: Stp?
 

40 years ago I used it to quiet down the rockers on a '66 Ford F100 with the I-240.
It worked for a short time. Now I understand that the viscosity additive was just shearing down.

Also, all of the race cars that advertised it, if they were honest at all, were probably just using it for assembly lube. And now there are better moly assembly lubes anyway.

Make your engine healthy first, if only with a simple de-ridge and ball hone and new rings and bearings. Then do regular oil changes. That's your best bet.

Still, an STP sticker on your car makes it go faster. Everyone knows that. ;-)

Re: Stp?
 

I could not have said that better:metal:








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Re: Stp?
 

And lets you drive like Richard Petty...

Re: Stp?
 

The STP in the blue cans is a good "cheap" source for zinc! I used it (and still do) for years in my 4-stroke Z1 racing motors. It's great stuff for flat tappet motors, the downside of STP oil additive is the "thickening" agent used in it a cellulose paraffin matrix that has tendency to gather or bind together in slack areas such as the top of the heads and corners of the crank case. A racing motor that gets opened up and cleaned regularly it posses no problem. But in daily drivers that run for years of hot and cold running intervals it will collect and cause sludge. Ever pop a valve cover off to find 2" inches of black tar build up around the moving parts? It will clog an oil filter and cause the bypass to open allowing the build up on the heads as well as slack areas in the crank case. Regular oil changes are a must if you use the stuff and before the oil change a can of SeaFoam or Rislone oil additive added to the crank case a few miles before draining the oil helped clean that sludge out...Zinc phosphate (ZDDP) only works when it gets to the moving parts while suspended in the oil...

Re: Stp?
 

I used a quart of Shell X-100 Oil Stabilizer along with 5 quarts of Valvoline VR1 SAE 30 on my most recent oil change on the 292. [292 is a 6 qt system with a long oil filter.] I usually try for 2500 mile intervals, but I had neglected it and gone almost 5000. Also I used a Wix 51061 oil filter -- the anti-drainback kind. Since the oil filter is high on the right side of the L6, and can drain back. On the V8 I use the 51060, since the oil filter is on the bottom of an SBC anyway.
With the X-100 the engine is a lot smoother and quieter on the freeway.