Oil additives

[Raido]

Can you use an oil additive like Wynns on a 1900 petrol DG engine?

[cobblers]

The best thing an oil additive could be is just some plain base oil!
Motor oil already has dozens of additives in it.

When doing my last degree, I nocked around with some chemists who worked for major oil manufacturers and asked them about this - They spend tens of millions formulating and testing their own "additive packs" which are added to the base oils to extend it's life and improve performance. Everything is a trade off, eg adding a slight bit extra of one chemical that aims to stop foaming will negatively affect acidity, and so on. They have dozens of test engines in the labs running all kinds of drive cycles 24/7 - some running flat out, some doing "school runs", some in arctic conditions etc.

Blindly adding a dose of whatever is in these oil additives has much more chance of doing harm rather than good, unless it's just a viscous plain base oil which would just slightly improve oil pressure.

Don't waste your money. Just change the oil more often. You don't need a fancy oil in these engines, with normal use.


That said, Wynnes "Hydraulic lifter treatment" does work on these engines, if you have a sticky tappet.

[Raido]

Many thanks for your prompt reply. That Wynns product was exactly what I had in mind as I seem to have a noisy tappet on one side and wondered if that product was worth trying?
I have used an engine flush and given it an oil change etc.

[cobblers]

The tappets will usually quieten down in normal use once the oil warms up, but a dose of wynnes lifter treatment and a ten mile run will often unstick a persistent one.
Make sure to change the oil after!