Restore Oil Additive seems to work

[alamantia]

A few months ago I picked up a clean 2002 Saturn SL1 that I have been using for errands and such to try and keep mileage down on my Tahoe. The Saturn now has 155k miles on it and had a noticeable rough idle. I never really take it for lengthy trips but last weekend I decided to take it to Philly and back (about a 200 mile round trip) seeing as how I have only been using it for short trips, before I went I figured I would check the oil and found it low about a quart. I just changed the oil about 2 months ago and only put about 1000 miles on it in that time. I also noticed that one of the plug wires looked a little burnt. So I went to the local parts store to pick up a quart of oil, spark plugs and a set of wires. Ive always seen those silver "RESTORE" cans but never bought one. I am pretty skeptical of all those snake oil products. But I remember once reading an article on how that stuff really works by increasing piston ring seal thus restoring lost compression and reducing oil consumption. So I threw a can of restore in the oil and changed the plugs. Since the plugs were out anyway my curiosity got the best of me and I did a quick compression test on the cylinders and all (4) were around 150psi dry. The can says to drive for 500 miles to see results. I drove to Philly and back (200 miles) I dont know if it was psychological but on the way home it seemed to have a touch more pep. So Monday morning I checked the compression to find that all (4) cylinders were at about 170psi dry. Needless to say, i was pretty surprised to see it works.

[maroman88]

i love that stuff, i use it in all my cars when i do their oil changes

[Mark B]

I agree. I feel a bit like an idiot at checkout when I buy it, but the stuff works.

[sweetbmxrider]

That is pretty cool to see how much compression you picked up.

[alamantia]

I wonder if that seafoam stuff does anything becides make smoke and youtube videos

[maroman88]

Originally Posted by alamantia

I wonder if that seafoam stuff does anything becides make smoke and youtube videos

LOL

I use it too... on a clean engine it makes no smoke, I tried. On an older one it makes a TON, so one would assume something is being burnt off and deff makes for a smother idle

[wretched73]

I put that restore in my old s10, it sounded like a sewing machine before and after the restore but after it sounded CONSIDERABLY better. And i also felt like it picked up a little bit of pep

[Slow Z]

My question is what does that stuff really do to give the results you guys are saying? I would assume for every positive it also produces a negative effect some where.

On a somewhat related note, my dad swears by Trans-X. He had a 93 dodge shadow thats transmission slipped so badly it was undriveable. He put a bottle of Trans-X in there and it'd work flawlessly for about 3,000 miles. He would siphon fluid out the dipstick tube, add new fluid, and a bottle of transx at every oil change and it's been working for over a decade.

[WildBillyT]

Originally Posted by Slow Z

My question is what does that stuff really do to give the results you guys are saying? I would assume for every positive it also produces a negative effect some where.

On a somewhat related note, my dad swears by Trans-X. He had a 93 dodge shadow thats transmission slipped so badly it was undriveable. He put a bottle of Trans-X in there and it'd work flawlessly for about 3,000 miles. He would siphon fluid out the dipstick tube, add new fluid, and a bottle of transx at every oil change and it's been working for over a decade.

I am sure it's not permanent. Maybe something that can stand combustion and gets on the cyl walls?

[BonzoHansen]

Originally Posted by Slow Z

On a somewhat related note, my dad swears by Trans-X. He had a 93 dodge shadow thats transmission slipped so badly it was undriveable. He put a bottle of Trans-X in there and it'd work flawlessly for about 3,000 miles. He would siphon fluid out the dipstick tube, add new fluid, and a bottle of transx at every oil change and it's been working for over a decade.

that's awesome!

[jam01]

it made my car faster.

[Featherburner]

It make old cars run like new. New cars run like a NASCAR and NASCARs run like Indy cars!

[z28camaro94]

Originally Posted by maroman88

LOL

I use it too... on a clean engine it makes no smoke, I tried. On an older one it makes a TON, so one would assume something is being burnt off and deff makes for a smother idle

when sucked in through a vacuum line on the intake, the seafoam seeps down into the carbon built up on the valves, after letting sit for a couple mins and fire back up the smoke u see is the carbon from the valves being burt off in the combustion chamber

[Mark B]

I wonder if anyone has looked into the effect of that carbon smoke on the catalytic converters?

[z28camaro94]

it says on the can that it is catalytic converter safe...but thats prob the chemical not the chunks of carbon trying to go through

[91chevywt]

I used a can of this stuff also in my old truck and it definitely made a difference, it was noticeable. Then I started wondering what it may do to gaskets and such so I stopped using it. Wouldn't want it building up in oil passageways. The engine ran fine before, during, and after so it didn't really need the stuff. On an old engine that is worn out and burning oil? Sure, I'd use Restore, probably right after running seafoam through the vacuum line as well.

On a side note. My '94 GMC Jimmy, I ran Seafoam through the vacuum line, oil, and fuel tank, and it put on a big smoke show. Shortly after, I pulled the top end apart. Partly because I was bored and partly because I wanted to hop up the 4.3 a bit and clean it up. I'm not sure if it was the seafoam doing it's job, but the top end was CLEAN and required almost no cleaning inside. Zero sludge, and the ports/intake valves had almost NO buildup.

[1320B4U]

I used to run that stuff in my cherokee religiously...now, most of my cars are under 100k so i do w/out...just mobil 1 in everything. Always used it for piece of mind..that and 3-4k oil changes and your golden.