Teflon - Slick50 - Synlube + Oils & Additives

[Jay2TheRescue]

I have no idea. I haven't used the product in about 15 years, and I really haven't paid any attention to it since I've switched all my vehicles to synthetic oil.

[Ford Man]

Originally Posted by trollbait

Just don't use those pans in a home with pet birds.

Does Slick 50 still use teflon? Last I looked at it, the package was going on about a new formulation.

Still contains teflon.

[doug victor]

So much has been said about oil additives that it makes the head spin. All I hear here is "that's why it's called snake oil" and "I used it and it worked OK." Reasonable enough opinions. But lubrication as a subject can't be ignored in the quest for good FE.

Thinking back to my first cars on to now with a modern vehicle (FI), additives and oil changes made more of an impact then. My air cooled VWs were rough and good oil in the right amount smoothed them out. Transmissions and shifting got easier, seemingly overnight.

Now modern oils are so good, those additives are felt less, and for me only careful tracking of FE and occasional teardowns (5.0 liter V8) keep me using additives. Tufoil has never failed to prove it's claim to being the "slipperiest substance in the world." They keep their customers for life because their products work. I was glad to see them mentioned here without undue derision.

Now that I have a baseline for the VX I recently bought, it's going in the crankcase and tranny for a FE test. Will report the results after a few hundred miles.

[GasSavers_JoeBob]

Originally Posted by trollbait

Just don't use those pans in a home with pet birds.

Does Slick 50 still use teflon? Last I looked at it, the package was going on about a new formulation.

Why would that be a problem? When I was growing up, we had teflon pans, and a parrot. They seemed to coexist just fine...

[trollbait]

What I've heard while working in a pet store. The Teflon coating gives off fumes which can kill birds. It might only effect certain species. Coworker had a gas leak that killed his canary but not the parakeets. The fumes may only be a problem when cooking at high heat, which I know some non-stick pan labels warn not to do.

Or it might just be bunk. I personally wish to move away from non-stick pans. The coating will eventually fail, and probably will start doing so before you notice. I don't think we know everything going on with aging plastic in contact with food. The bisphenol a wasn't thought to be a problem before.

As to oil additives, there isn't any Teflon in any of them. DuPont doesn't allow the use of the brand name in conjunction with the additives. If it's CYA, why did they feel it was a risk?

[JanGeo]

I heard that is produces a gas that give humans flu like symptions when heated to over 450 degrees F. Is supposed to kill pet birds if anywhere near the heated pan and I sit a friends house with a large parrot and cook on teflon pan and watch the heat like a hawk. It is also in scotch guard products on carpets and can be absorbed through the skin i.e. by babies crawling on the carpet etc. By now most of us have high levels of the "chemical" in our bloodstream. The President/CEO of Dupont interviewed on a news program (20/20 I think) knew that the chemical is in humans in high levels and didn't think it was harmful. But then it is also safe to drill holes in the bottom of the ocean to get oil . . . right?

ANYWAY get Synlube - and return it to them to have it recycled so nothing gets burned.

[bobc455]

"Teflon" is a group of polymers. PTFE and PCTFE are the only grades I remember offhand (I think PC3TFE is another), but the "C" is for a chlorine component and I think that grade can degrade into hydrochloric acid (fumes) under extreme conditions. but this should not be an issue when used as intended. Each grade has its own temperature and usage characteristics. (However if you left an empty pan on a hot stove, for example, you might burn the teflon off the pan and that could cause some nasty fumes)

-BC

[trollbait]

Which is supposedly why the oil additives can't use the brand name. Ground up and put in the oil of a car isn't an intended usage of the product from Dupont's point of view.

[Ford Man]

Somebody better tell my 507K mile Escort this stuff is snake oil. As I've said before I don't know whether it has helped or not, but it surely hasn't hurt anything.

[bobc455]

Originally Posted by trollbait

Ground up and put in the oil of a car isn't an intended usage of the product from Dupont's point of view.

Is it just ground up? My understanding is that the Teflon will actually be bonded to the surface (although the details of the chemistry are somewhat beyond me).

One of my college chemistry prof's developed the way to bond Teflon to cooking appliances, and I know that it was far beyond my freshman understanding of chemistry - I presume the chemistry involved in these oil additives is equally as complex...

-BC