Marvels Mystery Oil

[rocket66]

G'day Lads,

years ago we used to play with a beech 18 that ofcourse ran R- 985's. At one stage we started running the mystery oil through them on long legs and found that the stuff worked quite well by lowering CHTs and fuel consumption consideribly.

Does anyone know where your able to buy it these days. The kiddies working at supercheap had no idea but hadn't tried repco or anyother auto place yet. Iam wondering if there is a supplier somewhere in Brisbane?

Rocket

[chimbu warrior]

Available at Aviall a couple of years ago, but rather expensive.

Mind you, still a lot cheaper than stuck valves!

[rocket66]

Bloody oath it is. Anything that reduces fuel consumption these days is also a plus. Do they have a store in Bn chimbu or are they an online store?

[VH-XXX]

Sounds a little like Flash-Lube based on blurb on the Marvels website. You can buy it at Supercheap. It's around $16.50 per 600-700 mls and you use 1ml per litre.

Flashlube lowers CHT in piston engines on Avgas, such as Rotax, Jabiru, etc (and I assume others) and was designed to use on engines running on unleaded fuel but are designed for leaded. It's actually an upper cylinder lubricant.

[SawThe Light]

A colleague from the past also reckoned it was the absolute ducks guts for warding off stalls and fixing down-winds. Or was that Bundy?

[chimbu warrior]

AFAIK Aviall still have a store at Archerfield, but have not been there for a while.

[CHAIRMAN]

Aviall is still the go for MMO - their min is $200 over the counter for cash sales -
At about a shot glass per tank in the tiger its not expensive.
The mystery is whether it works or not.:confused:

[onetrack]

The Americans on the tractor forums swear by it. I've never seen MMO in Australia, and I had to query what they were actually talking about, when the subject of MMO was brought up.
I have a sneaking suspicion that there's little difference between Redex upper-cylinder lubricant, and MMO.
Then again, automatic-transmission fluid looks very similar, too, and is reputed to work wonders in old diesels, when a quart of ATF is added to the diesel tank.
It's supposed to very effectively clean out gums and varnishes, unstick stuck injection pump plungers, and generally act as a complete diesel fuel system coditioner.

[c100driver]

Of course MMO is a certified additive to aviation fuels!!:ugh:

[baron_beeza]

While I am not against the use of additives in engines i think I should point out that guys with Certified engines may think we are talking about adding the stuff to avgas.

Just a word of caution I guess, certified engines are subject to all sorts of rules and regulations. Liability, warranties etc all come into it.

MMO may be fine in engines that are not Type Certified, I think the legal choice of additives is very limited otherwise.

Lycoming and Continental will have bulletins outlining their thoughts.

The Cessna forum link continues the conversation and may cover the topic pretty well.
Maintenance (http://www.cessnaowner.org/forums/topic.html?id=13196)

[T28D]

The addition of any good quality upper cylinder lubricant is GOOD FOR THE ENGINE if it is blended with the fuel at the manufacturers recommended concentration.

Personally in a big round engine I use 1/500 Sae 50 engine oil, compression is good, valves like it engine runs cooler, so what is the big deal, the do gooder knockers who don't understand how to conserve the top end of piston engines will cry foul.

But I really don't care what they may say, adding Aviation approved oil to aviation approved fuel IS PERFECTLY Legal Folks.

And your engine will like you for the care and attention.

[rocket66]

T28D, perhaps you might know. When radials were first developed we know they were designed to run on fuel with a high lead content for upper cylinder lubrication. You can still get brand new radials these days and I'm wondering if these engines are either able to run on newer fuels or if they have bee subtly re-engineered to use today's lower lead fuels?

I had thought of running some through my car but err on the side of caution considering the engine in it was designed to run on LL fuel. I suppose it would however clear out any carbon deposits and glazing of cylinder walls.


Rocket

[baron_beeza]

T28D, I am not disagreeing with what you are saying one bit. Whatever is good for the engine sounds good.

The problem is many guys here probably don't own the aircraft they fly.... the owner may wish to do what he pleases to his machine, he may be very unhappy if others take the liberty.

I can't recall seeing anything about the use of engine oil as an upper cylinder lubricant in any modern type Lycoming or Continental engine.

Avblend is a commonly mentioned additive and Lycoming have their own that they recommend. The newer Aeroshell multigrade oil has the same spec additive blended in.

The engineers will be assuming the engine is running on the fuels and oils that the owner or operator has relayed to them. As they are certify the engines on a regular basis they will need to be informed of any peculiarities or anything out of the ordinary.

I think we are juggling what the engine would like against the feelings of the authorities, the owner, the engineer and possibly even the pilot.

I like the idea of oil additives and top lube... I won't touch the older Aeroshell oils and I use a fuel additive. I operate a Lycoming and have seen many worn cams, I do all I can to help prevent premature wear there.
If you have an engine that is known to have a sticking valve issue then by all means I reckon you should be proactive and into the preventative aspects.

But... I would be very upset if a pilot took it upon himself to experiment with my engine. I believe it is up to the owner, in conjunction with the engineer, to decide what is the best oil, additive etc to use.

[T28D]

Baron Breeza, I have no argument with your position, the owner should be the deciding party provided what is proposed is legally sound and good engineering practice.