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(I tried searching around for something similar, but didn't find. If I'm repeating, my apologies.)
This MDX (which, is still 5 months off) will be my first new car. I'm more of a used car guy (actually, I was in college all those years, so I was more of a 'really broke and had no money' guy).
Those used cars ran and ran though, because I did my best to keep them glued together. One thing I swore by was teflon supplementation to my oil (Slick-50 or Tufoil). I thought the world of them back then.
Does anyone add anything above and beyond the normal maintenance to their MDX in hopes of preserving it longer? |
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I would run Mobil 1 synthetic in your MDX at the first scheduled oil change and every 5,000 miles thereafter. I swear by this schedule and have never had any oil related problems with any of my vehicles.
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I should've mentioned that I always use synthetic - although I've never been able to substantiate anything else, my time in college as an HVAC repair flunkie taught me the values of synthetic oil.
I wonder though - would there be any issue behind changing it at the first oil change, or afterwards, due to the break in period? |
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On the other hand, there are people like me who use standard oil, change it according to the manufacturer's schedule, and never have a problem, either. Just doing my part to keep the Earth a little cleaner...
Just be sure not to do the first engine oil change too early. There has been plenty of discussion about this, search for "oil break-in". Likewise, be sure to change the VTM fluid at the first recommended interval. Ditto. |
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Unofficially, I swear by Duralube. We did the "drain all the oil out of a lawnmower engine test", and it ran through 5 tankfuls of gas before we just got tired of hearing it run at full throttle. It saved the engine of the '58 Edsel I drove in college that somehow ran out of oil (on an Edsel...go figure).
I don't know how well it does in an MDX, but it's in everything I own. I once used some in a taxi I drove years back, and it went 452,000 before the motor finally got pooped. |
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| I would stay away from both for now and use it at a later time. Since our cars are still in the break-in stage I would wait until you get to at least 15,000 miles to switch to Synthetic and additives to make sure that the valves get seated properly. That's what I have always done since I got this advised from a mechanic friend of mine who used to be a weekend racer also. I have used Duralube and also liked this product but I'm thinking of using The Max, I think that's what is was called. It's a complete engine and fuel delivery sytem additive. I will try this on the Civic because it is older and should yield a more noticeable improvement if the product does what is advertises. I should be using it next month on the next oil change on the Civic. |
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We're a pretty worldly and educated crowd here; am I the only one who regards these types of products as "snake oil"?
The old "run the engine without oil" trick has been debunked more than once. If no one backs me up on this, I'll do a little homework to substantiate it.
I accidentally ran my 1970 Opel Kadette about 20 miles without oil, with no ill effect. ...and there were no "special" additives in the oil. |
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Disagree on the snake oil argument there Crem... From my experience (too many years in engineering school and some exposure to the grueling world of NYC taxi maintenance), oil additives *can* help.
How much they help is a different story. I agree with you - engines running without oil is like a person jumping out of a plane without a parachute. The descents might be different, but the end result is the same - splat!
The FTC's results on Slick-50 indicate that nobody should make a claim like 'just throw some of our Hatchi Matchi oil in your engine, and drive like a jackass for 50k miles, and you'll be just fine!'.
Some people just swear by certain things - I always used teflon based oil in lubricating things here and there (garage door, etc). I wonder about car engines - my 88 Chevy Blazer (which as a rule didn't have the greatest reliability record) has 190k of some pretty nasty mileage on it, and the engine still purrs like a cat. I used Tufoil there.
You get into so many theories - some people think all additives are bunk. Others think that if they had any merit, the big car companies would use them. And then there's the conspiracy theory - that the big car companies are keeping them a secret, to preserve the lucrative repair industry.
I'll just remember Chris Rock - 'NASA can build a shuttle that goes around the moon and back repeatedly, but Cadillac can't make a car whose bumper doesn't fall off.'.... hmmm.. |
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I have always been religous about following the manufactures maintenance. I use regular oil. I have never had a lubricant problem even on my piece of crap Ford Tempo, even after 100k mi. Everything else broke though.
I also treat my cars nice. No hot-rodding, etc. |
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To each their own....I think it's a wonderful product personally. All of the vehicles in my household have well over 100K, and while I can't necessarily attribute their longevity solely to Duralube or Slick 50, it definitely hasn't hurt them any. I'll certainly continue to use it in my vehicles.
Bad example, Crem. Not exactly surprising that a '93 Hyundai would have oil blow-by, under any circumstances, and ANY dealer that knowingly starts and moves a vehicle with no oil in the engine should be put out of business.
I do think, however, that putting any oil additive in an MDX is not a good idea, simply for the fact that the engine is so new. My rule of thumb is 60K or over for Duralube personally. |
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Having forgotten the spelling, let me say, "foe pa" on me!
Admittedly, I just threw out some anti-Duralube propaganda to show that there might be two sides to every story.
Eeeesh! Hyundai! Those things smoke two blocks from the showroom. Bad example. Good laugh.
My personal recollection of additives was the Slick50 fiasco, where they were ultimately proven to *damage* engines (was it that they were clogging oil journals with teflon, or something?). Just a guess, but does Duralube contain molybdenum disulfide? Not really bad stuff.
I guess that I'm the type of guy that would call any additive snake-oil until I saw it hawked on the cover of Consumer Reports. |
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