Oil additive experience

VocalVirgo · Nov 28, 2021

I have a new Promaster and like the rest of you, I need it to last. The recommended oil is 0W20, 5W20, or 5W30, non-synthetic, depending on climate and availability. The same 3.6 is found in, and calls for 5W30 in many other Ram and Dodge, Chrysler, and Jeep vehicles.
I’m wondering if anyone here has experience with using Hy-per Lube or ProLong? Hey-Per Lube is very thick (the manufacturer emailed me and said it’s like a 90W, I’m not sure how accurate that statement is). ProLong is probably a 30W. I used Hy-Per Lube with the first oil change and an AC filter at about 3,700 miles with 5qts of Penzoil Ultra Platinum Fully Sythetic 5W20 and 1qt of Hy-Per Lube. I changed the oil again at 11,800 miles, so roughly 8,100 miles. I was shocked to see that when I was pouring the old oil into a waste container, it was still sticky, sticking to the oil and fanning out with a film like in the adverts. The used oil was not heavy or thick. It was probably the equivalent of a 30W or lower. I did the math, if it really is as thick as they say it is, it would put the warm oil viscosity at about 31W, which is fine. I’m not even worried about cold starts, which is the whole purpose of this stuff, because it always just starts right up and is smooth (aside from a tiny millisecond rattle). And going up steep grades, even at 3,500 RPM sounded just smooth and was drama-free. Well, I decided to use ProLong for this oil change but haven’t driven at all yet. I hear amazing things from a few drivers who swear by one or the other. Is there anyone else out there who has been using either of these products, and what is your opinion on them? I’m hearing these 3.6 engines are getting to 300,000 hard miles from some folks who are using Hy-Per Lube. I’d love to know how often that happens.
Or am I just better off sticking to 6 quarts of the really good oil…

PS, I’m always between 8,000 lbs to 8300 lbs. (GVWR is 9,300).

Thanks you guys/gals! I appreciate any input.

FlyingVan · Nov 28, 2021

I personally swear by plain good oil approved by the manufacturer for the particular engine. My sprinter sits at 800k miles, retired, but still running.

Sent from my moto g(7) using Tapatalk

Turtle · Nov 28, 2021

FlyingVan said:
I personally swear by plain good oil approved by the manufacturer for the particular engine.

Same here, as well as the legit oil experts at
Bob is the Oil Guy

It's a web forum, so it's full of goobers like all web forums, but they also have the actual engineers who design and build these engines and spec the oil, and the engineers and scientists who make the oil. They all say the same things, that any oil additive that's worth using is already added into the oil when you buy it, and there is a lot of additives in oil. It's why vehicle manufacturers have a list of approved oils. If you use an approved oil, and change the oil and filter at the recommended intervals, you can't do any better than that.

Mr. Loyalty. · Dec 1, 2021

I swear by Motorkote. It bonds to the metal parts in the engine, rather than float in the oil. Been using it since 97. My freind sold me on it by putting his coffee cup on my steer tire with the Cummins engine idling. He poured the Motorcote in. Within 5 minutes that coffee went to a gentle ripple instead of a uncontrolled ripple. I put in everything. Even the lawnmowers and snowblower, as well as the generator. It is about $100.00 a gallon.

roadeyes · Dec 2, 2021

You need to be careful about putting additives in an engine that will thicken the overall viscosity.
In the old days, most engines were built with more clearance between the cylinder wall and piston rings and wider channeling for oil to move through the engine which provided lots of "wiggle room" for thicker oils. Back in the day, I had a chevy 350 with almost 500k on it and it was starting to smoke from blowby in the cylinders so all I would do is keep upping the thickness of the oil until it didn't smoke as much. By the end of it's life I was putting 75w90 gear oil in the crankcase, LoL!

The point is, you can't do that with todays modern engines. In pursuit of greater efficiency and more hp from smaller and smaller engines, you must not use a thicker oil than what is recommended. You may think you are protecting the engine by doing so however you will most likely end up doing the exact opposite.

Case in point....The first gen pentastar (2011-2013) 3.6L had cylinder head lubrication problems which lead to premature failure.
In the second gen version they dropped the viscosity rating on the required oil from 5w30 to 5w20, so that should tell you right there that it's not advisable to thicken the viscosity in your engine oil, especially with crap like Lucas and some of the others. The only thing I would consider adding (and only in small amounts) might be a little bit of marvel mystery oil, but that would be about it.

I wonder why they reccommend non-synthetic oil for your Promaster?

Mr. Loyalty. · Dec 2, 2021

roadeyes said:
You need to be careful about putting additives in an engine that will thicken the overall viscosity.
In the old days, most engines were built with more clearance between the cylinder wall and piston rings and wider channeling for oil to move through the engine which provided lots of "wiggle room" for thicker oils. Back in the day, I had a chevy 350 with almost 500k on it and it was starting to smoke from blowby in the cylinders so all I would do is keep upping the thickness of the oil until it didn't smoke as much. By the end of it's life I was putting 75w90 gear oil in the crankcase, LoL!

The point is, you can't do that with todays modern engines. In pursuit of greater efficiency and more hp from smaller and smaller engines, you must not use a thicker oil than what is recommended. You may think you are protecting the engine by doing so however you will most likely end up doing the exact opposite.

Case in point....The first gen pentastar (2011-2013) 3.6L had cylinder head lubrication problems which lead to premature failure.
In the second gen version they dropped the viscosity rating on the required oil from 5w30 to 5w20, so that should tell you right there that it's not advisable to thicken the viscosity in your engine oil, especially with crap like Lucas and some of the others. The only thing I would consider adding (and only in small amounts) might be a little bit of marvel mystery oil, but that would be about it.

I wonder why they reccommend non-synthetic oil for your Promaster?

Motorkote is not any thicker than the 5w20 Mobil 1 that I run in my Ford engine. Lucas, however, is like syrup.