Has anyone used the Microlon treatment as an alternative to a top overhaul?

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Has anyone used homeopathic treatment as an alternative to a top
overhaul?  Take one drop of oil from a sick engine, put it into a quart
of Mobil 1, add one drop of Microlon.  To realize the full benefit of the
Microlon treatment, add the ashes of two fresh $100 bills.  Mix well,
put only one drop in the crankcase as a curative, and drink the rest.  
This has every bit as much engineering and metallurgical basis as the
full Microlon course of treatment, but it takes effect instantly.  One's
engine problems seem to disappear as this power laxative kicks in.
- Rod Farlee

hahahahahahaha, Rod, you kill me!  Best possible response to the snake
oil group....

I used microlon in my mazda RX7 (car) when it had a few thousand miles on
it, about 9 years ago.  I now have 175,000 cars on the rotary.  Microlon
said it would instantly increase the rpm and do all kinds of good things for
my car and me.

Well the rpm did go up about 100rpm at idle instantly.  I was amazed.  Two
oil changes later I put is some light weight oil just before the oil change
and that too increased the rpm at idle by about 100 rpm.

I don't think it did anything for my car. and it did take some of my time
and money.  I don't think it harmed the car because most rotarys don't make
it past 150,000 miles without some work.

Would I ever put it in my airplane - no way -  While I don't think it harmed
the rx7 I would not put it anywhere near my airplane.

but the advertising is good.

Hate to admit it, but I bought it. I have a plane that had not flown
for 10 years with about 550 SMOH. There was serious blowby so everyone
told me that if it worked, it would only cost $140.00.
It didn't work, of course, and I will still have to put out whatever
it will cost for the top overhaul.
I did what the directions said to do, find top dead center ont the
cylinder and pour the stuff in. Then a person jiggles the prop 1/4
inch for 5 minutes and lets it sit for 20, doing that for 2 hours. So
I not only wasted $140.00, but I wasted 2 hours of my life. The stuff
simply flowed past the rings into the crankcase. I used the entire
supply plus another 8 oz. sent by the seller. I also was told that I
was the only person who had ever had a problem.
I kinda like what another poster posted, Rod Farlee, he hit the nail
on the head.
It was also irritating when I read in Light Plane Maint that a person
could get the same result using WD-40. Wouldn't saved me about $200.00
a gallon, according to them.

What about "Prolong" and other additives? Are they worth the powder to blow the
to hell?

AAM

Rod's example, while perhaps a bit more colorful than I would have put it, is
most accurate!

A couple of years ago John Deakin did a carefully monitored test series using
N1BE, his Bonanza which at the time had a high time engine.  The engine ran
fine, but was most definitely showing signs of getting "long in the tooth."  
Should have been a prime candidate for a Microlon "treatment."

With a whole group of highly qualified folks observing, John did a series of
"before" flights, added the Microlon in accordance with the instructions, then
did a carefully monitored series of "after" flights.

The results:  Absolutely no measurable difference.

Microlon's response:  They *must* have not done it right.

                                                                jmk

In article <6vkage$fp...@winter.news.erols.com>,
  "Mark Norris" <mbnor...@erols.com> wrote:

Thanks alot to those responding that have actually used the product.

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rodfar...@aol.com (Rod Farlee)
shared these priceless pearls of wisdom:

->
->>Has anyone used the Microlon treatment as an alternative to a top
overhaul?
->
->Has anyone used homeopathic treatment as an alternative to a top
->overhaul?]

No, and you can call it a snake oil treatment if you like, but...

there is a time honored and personally witnessed treatment that DOES work,
no matter whether you like the name of the product or not.  

Drill out a spark plug so that you have a cavity into the top of the
cylinder.  Fit this spark plug with hoses and such to go into the drain of
a clear glass jug.  Put the cylinder in question into the compression
stroke (both valves closed, top dead center) and fill the jug with Marvel
Oil.  For the first half hour, rock the prop back and forth five or ten
degrees each side of tdc.  Then let it sit for 24 hours.  Check the jug
every so often to make sure it is still full of oil and thus the top of the
cylinder is filled with oil.  Rock the prop when you check the jug.

At the end of the 24 hour period, drain the Marvel oil out of the cylinder.
Check the sump level to make sure that the Marvel oil that seeped by the
rings didn't overfill the sump; if it did, drain oil from the sump until it
is no longer over-filled.

Go run that engine as near to 75% power as you can for an hour.  Just go
like the hammers of hell.  

Repeat the treatment for each of the other cylinders.  You MAY go through
$20 worth of Marvel oil in this process, and you MAY not get results.
OTOH, most of us with A&P tickets with grease on them will at least not
snicker at the process -- especially as a lot of us have saved engines this
way.

Just for grins, check the supply list of every major airline that was
running piston aircraft in the '50s and early '60s.  If you can find ONE of
them that didn't list Marvel Oil in the 55 gallon drum, I'll be most
surprised.  Approvals?  We didn't need no steenking approvals.  Besides,
back in dem daze the FAA wouldn't hire an inspector without years of flight
line maintenance experience, and they all knew the wisdom of the process.

Jim
Jim Weir (A&P, CFI, and other good alphabet soup)
VP Engineering, RST
Web address:  www.rst-engr.com

snip
Been there, seen it done..

snip

Don't ferget to change the oil and filter/clean the screen somewhere
along the way, also.

Aviation, you gotta love it.  If it doesn't work, but is approved,
you're ok, but if it does work, and is not approved.............
I got a good one for you, my current Pt. 135 principal airworthiness
inspector used to be the equivalent to the recip DOM at slightly shaky
check hauler.  Now he gets paid by The Federal Gov to look over my
shoulder and step on my DOM dick.  It's simply amazing how his outlook
has changed since jumping over the fence.

Great post Jim, just remind your fair readers that 10,000 gals of MMO
ain't gonna build back up worn out guides and hammered valves or heal
scarred cylinder walls.  But it will indeed free up
stuck/nasty/corroded rings, some of the time.

Mark
Mark McDougle
ma...@bright.net
http://www.bright.net/~markm/

No argument with that.  MMO might loosen a stuck ring, and for sure
it won't hurt.  Besides, it smells nice!

Microlon is another kettle of fish.

It's putative "active" (actually totally inert) ingredient is powdered PTFE
(Teflon, poly(tetrafluoro ethylene)).  When that stuff is dumped into the
sump, the dispersants in AD oils cannot hold it in suspension.  (PTFE
is much denser than oil, and it has no sites for chelation on its surface.)

It will settle out in every tiny corner of the engine where the oil velocity
is low.  Inside the hydraulic valve lifters, the prop governor, lines and hub,
the front of the crank, and the bottom of the sump.

It'll be centrifuged out in the starter pinion bearing, and maybe in the
accessory or oil pump gear housings.

It might block oil passages.  And it cannot help, as purported.  DuPont,
the manufacturers of PTFE powder, refused to sell it for use in engines,
because it cannot adhere at all to steel, and cannot possibly have any
benefit.  But PTFE a commodity product, and they cannot bar it's resale,
even for scams, under our "Fair" Trade laws.  All they can (and have)
done is refuse to license their "Teflon" trademark and sue them if they
print it on the bottle.

So Microlon, unlike MMO, is something that cannot help and might
cause damage that will show up 100+ hours later.  If it was only sewing
machine oil for $100/pint, at least then it'd be harmless.  Only if the
stuff has only a "homeopathic" tiny trace of PTFE, far too little to be
of any good even IF it were possible to help (which it isn't) would it be
safe to use.  That's a Catch 22.  But then, homeopathic remedies often
work by having a vanishingly small trace of a poison in them, right?  So
the allusion was too fit to let pass.

Hope springs eternal.  It's just sad that such a scam would find a market
niche in a largely rational group of consumers.  
- Rod Farlee

Hi Jim,
Do you know just WHAT it IS about Marvel Mystery Oil that makes it work?
I know its been around a long time and I have used alot of it for a lot of
different things and it worked everytime.
Not only in gas engines, but in other machinery as well, it solved problems
that only dissassembly and/or overhaul would have cured, mostly from items that
had been setting unused for a while and became gummed up.
Just wondering if you might know just WHAT this stuff is???

Thanks,

Dave
Pober Pixie Builder:
"A fine little plane...'cept for maybe, the name".

In article <19981013063420.10534.00000...@ng99.aol.com>,

MMO is primarily a mild solvent, a little less so than mineral oil.  The
rest of it is coloring and fragrance.

It pretty much works as do all solvents.

greg
--
gregory travis     |"If you're going to kill someone there isn't much reason
g...@littlebear.com|to get angry.  You just pull the trigger.  We need to smile
                   |with Novell when we pull the trigger."  MSFT's Jim Allchin

MMO is just a bunch of light oils that has some benefit
for disolving some accumulated gunk.  In addition it
has a cute purple color and wintergreen oil for a
nice minty-fresh scent.  Used in moderation, it proabaly
does no harm, unlike dumping TEFLON in.

I'm always amused by the stuff.  My grandmother always
swore by "Mystery Oil" in her car.  We never knew what
she was talking about (she also used to talk about the
importance of getting a lot of hydrocarbons in our
diet).  Anyhow after I inheritted that car, I was poking
around in the local auto parts emporium and found MMO.
Geez, this stuff really exists.  I figured it couldn't
hurt a 20 year old Ford LTD so I bought some.  Oddly
enough it did seem to help.

dreid...@aol.com (Dreidjax)
shared these priceless pearls of wisdom:

->Do you know just WHAT it IS about Marvel Mystery Oil that makes it work?

->Just wondering if you might know just WHAT this stuff is???

Not a clue.  An organic chemist I ain't.  Some people say it is kerosene
with red dye and stink lotion in it.  Some say the top of the refinery
barrel.  Some say snake oil.  I don't know.

Jim
Jim Weir (A&P, CFI, and other good alphabet soup)
VP Engineering, RST
Web address:  www.rst-engr.com

Aviation Consumer had it analyzed, and reported:
"Marvel Mystery Oil is a light viscosity naphthenic oil (roughly
equivalent to an SAE 3W), with about 20 percent solvent (probably
mineral spirits), dye, wintergreen for smell, and 790 ppm of
phosphorous additive...
MMO contains no dispersant to hold dirt in suspension... therefore
dilutes the dispersant in the oil.  MMO dilutes the viscosity index
of a multi-viscosity oil, thereby making it less resistant to
temperature [changes]...

"Mystery History.
"Marvel Mystery Oil was formulated shortly after World War I by
an automotive engineer named Burt Pierce, the man who invented
the Marvel carburetor, the standard automobile carburetor of its
time...  GM bought up the rights to the carb and hired Pierce as a
consultant.
"The Marvel carbs were susceptible to clogging by lead and contam-
inants, so Pierce cooked up a mixture of light oil and various
chemicals to clean out the carbs...  In 1923, Pierce went out on
his own and incorporated as Marvel Oil.  He began selling his
'mystery oil'... claimed to be a universal lubricant and cleaner,
'one for all, and all for one.'"
Joe Howard (v-p, Marvel Oil) is quoted "'The basic formula hasn't
changed since 1917.'
"Marvel has never done any real engineering tests to document
Mystery Oil's claimed benefits...
"...the stuff is illegal in certificated production aircraft [but]
we see no evidence that it can do any harm if used as directed."
- Dave Noland, Aviation Consumer "1989 Pilot's Buying Guide", p. 9.

I'm late into this thread, but would like to add that MMO used in gasoline
according to the instructions on the can, has been known to help older low
compression engines which were originally certified on 80 Oct (or lower),
overcome some of the effects of 100LL.

100LL contains 4X the amount of lead as 80/87. Some engines suffer from valve
stem errosion and/or sticking in the guide due to the high lead content of
100LL.  MMO affords a little upper cylinder lube which in some cases may afford
 longterm protection.

Other than the sticking ring treatment Jim discussed, I would not suggest using
MMO in the engine oil.

DISCLAIMER:  Of course I don't use MMO myself; however, I think some gremlins
may be playing a trick on me.  Sometimes I when I go to the hangar I find red
critter tracks around my fuel cap which smell strangely like wintergreen.  May
be the same ones that turn on the master switch after I leave the hangar and
run the battery down...