FE, "friction modifiers", and additives.

[DracoFelis]

Originally Posted by Ted Hart

"Work in"? Isn't this what the snake oil folks have been saying? "Soaks in"? Works in"? I did not realize the metals involved in your engine were porous!

I'm sorry if my phrasing wasn't technical enough for you. What phrasing would you have liked?

By "works in", I was talking about the process of getting the additive where it needs to be in the engine, vs the initial condition of the additive just sitting in the oil pan (along with the oil you added it to). For example, Moly will plate itself to the surface of metal, in the presence of heat and pressure. Both of these forces are present in an engine (and as long as the Moly is suspended in the oil, it will eventually get to the moving parts with those forces present), but the process takes a little time to complete (i.e. it takes a while to "work in").

BTW: You WANT the Moly to plate to the moving engine parts, as Moly (when it does plate to the metal) will be a much smoother/slick surface than most existing engine surfaces. Hence the lower friction!

And FWIW the surface of most engine metals is (on a microscopic level) very rough/porous. Which is why coating/plating the surface with something (such as Moly) that "fills in the gaps" can be "a good thing"...

NOTE: Teflon based car additives have also claimed this plating effect. However, in the case of Teflon, the plating process requires more heat than a car engine usually produces (so dumping Teflon into your engine, is likely to not help much, as it won't go where it's needed). And (worse yet) while the heat in a car engine isn't enough to cause Teflon to "plate" to the parts, it is enough to cause small Teflon particles to grow many times their original size (thereby making it very likely that many initially small Teflon particles will grow to a size large enough to cause engine problems due to their size). Which is why many people say Teflon is usually "a bad thing" in an engine. However, Moly has neither the problem with requiring too high of a heat (the heat/pressure in an engine is fine for causing the plating effect with Moly), nor does it have problems with "growing" (and thereby plugging up oil filters, or worse) when heated. So (unlike Teflon) Moly (in moderation) can be "a good thing" in an engine...

BTW: For those who don't know, Moly (a metal) is a "solid lubricant" (a lube that you use in its solid, not liquid, state). It's not overly cheap, but it is very effective (being very slick, having a tendency to "plate" to metal surfaces, and handling extreme pressure without problems). Teflon (aka PTFE, a plastic) is also a highly slick solid lubricant (and I think is noticeably cheaper than Moly). However, the problems with using Teflon as an oil additive are well documented. While Teflon (aka PTFE) might have some use as a plating on manufactured car parts (where you can effectively do what is needed to bond the Teflon to the part when making it), it has no place as an oil additive. OTOH Moly (when properly suspended in the oil) can effectively do it's work (as a solid lube with plating tendencies), without the (well documented) down-sides of Teflon.