Marvelous Mystery Oil

O

oconaill

Member
I have a '51 that was just brought out of a 15 year slumber and the lifters are pretty noisy. I changed the oil prior to starting the engine and have run the engine for about twenty miles and now I'm going to change it again. What do you guys think about adding Marvelous Mystery Oil to the oil and run it for a short while to try to quiet the lifters and give the internals a good cleaning and lube?
 
Marvel Mystery Oil has been around since the 1920s, and has been successfull in many cases of noisy lifters. Read the can, it has several uses. I use it for lead replacement in today's gasoline in my 47 Super. As it burns with the gasoline it leaves a lubricating film similar to that left by lead in fuel.
In the forties a pint was added to the crankcase, and another pint to the fuel in the family Roadmaster. It travelled over 100,000 miles and was still showing 150 lbs compression in all eight cylinders. That's a pretty good record.
There are many cases of lifters being quieted due to hydraulics, or just plaint sticky valves. :thumbsup:
 
Straight Eight said:
Marvel Mystery Oil has been around since the 1920s, and has been successfull in many cases of quieting noisy lifters. Read the can, it has several uses.
I use it for lead replacement in today's gasoline in my 47 Super. As it burns with the gasoline it leaves a lubricating film similar to that left by lead in fuel.
In the forties a pint was added to the crankcase, and another pint to the fuel in the family Roadmaster. It travelled over 100,000 miles and was still showing 150 lbs compression in all eight cylinders. That's a pretty good record.
There are many cases of lifters being quieted due to hydraulics, or just plain old sticky valves when added to the crankcase, and gas tank too. :thumbsup:
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You didn't mention if you have solid or hydraulic lifters.
 
Straight Eight refers to lead replacement in a '47 and I certainly don't know anything about stuff that old, but when it comes to 50's and 60's engines -- lead additives won't really hurt anything, they also aren't all that important.

Lead was added to gasoline purely to improve the octane number (resistance to premature combustion due to compression) and it was only much later that anyone figured out that it helped reduce valve seat wear -- and then it only mattered in hard-running heavy-use engines (think: towing or racing), which I doubt is how any of us here treat our cars.

Valve seats wear because of tiny imbalances in the valve train which cause the valve to rub off microscopic layers from the face of the seat. At high temperatures the lead coats the seat and lubricates the contact area. But the nailhead's tiny, lightweight valves and Chevy's well-known tradition of high nickel content in their iron means the seats aren't prone to excessive wear even under hard use.

It's more important in stuff like the loose-tolerance air-cooled motorcycle engines of the 60s and 70s (where material strength is balanced against weight), but basically thanks to aircraft engine experience coming out of WWII the big auto manufacturers had learned a lot about engine design and metallurgy, and it simply shouldn't be an issue.
 
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For its cleansing properties, it is supurb, it removes carbon, and combustion residue, preserves oil and gasoline in storage as shown here.

Born in Chicago in 1923, Marvel Mystery Oil was developed to combat deposits on carburetors caused by poorly refined gasoline of the age. Marvels popularity soared as word spread of its effectiveness in treating all types of engine ailments and was used extensively in WWII on everything from airplanes to battleships to tanks. Today, Marvel Mystery Oil provides vehicle owners the ability to solve scores of automotive ailments with one product that can be added to both oil and fuel.

Marvel Mystery Oil provides a lubrication only by leaving a lubricating ash as it burns. It was originally developed as a valve lubricant, as valves sticking and burning were a real problem even before lead.
 
All Dynaflows has hydraulic, sticks had solids...this was from, I believe, '49 onward. Anyway, I've used Rislone on sticky lifters with very good results...very recently too.
 
I was talking to my brother earlier this week, and it's funny. He said his wiper motor on his 48 Roadmaster was not acting right. He said he had to turn the knob on the dash almost all the way open, and the wipers would just move slowly. He put a few squirts of the mystery oil in the vacum line right at the motor. A few minutes later, he said the wipers worked just fine. This oil has the perfect name, mystery oil!!!!
 
Marvel Mystery Oil

If you have not decided to use the Marvel Mystery Oil yet, let me add my two cents worth. I have a 54' Raodmaster. I had noisy lifters on the front of the right bank. I added Mystery Oi,l and they quieted down almost immediately. I have used it several times in the past, in various engines, with the same result. I swear by it.......It never caused any damage by using it...:shield: Phil
 
mysterious oil !!

Ha ha amazing to see the comments about my fav fix it oil! When I used to kibbitz with ol Charley, at the Red Star Garage waybak in 55, he introduced me to Marvel Mystery Oil. That and the Frantz oil filter. When he told me that it would solve most my cars ills, and showed me that old tyme can, I said "yeh sure"! He used it for almost everything that used oil and mostly it worked! I still use it today.
 
Marvel Mystery Oil is a great detergent. However if your car has alot of sludge in the engine DONT USE IT. If you pull off the valve covers and theres a decent amount of sludge in the heads, or if when you pull the dipstick out to check the oil theres little black chunks in the oil it, Dont USE IT. I had a 75 Cadillac Coupe Deville with the 500 engine as we all know its a very reliable, very strong engine. Mine had an original 70k on it, but it had a lifter tap that was driving me nuts. The old owner wasnt exactly the best with maintinance. So I changed the oil used a delco oil filter, and put in the one quart of Marvel Mystery Oil like the bottle said I drove it for a week. I noticed the motor when first started would tap longer, I figured the Marvel just needed time. I used to let the car warm up for 10 mins every morning before driving it, I came outside and my oil pressure light was on and the lifters were louder then ever. It had lossened up all the sludge in the motor and it plugged up my oil pump pickup. I took the engine out and dropped the oil pan thinking it was wasted. THe pick up was filled with sludge and pieces of the cadillacs valve seals, the pump gears had worn the bottom of the oil pump housing out, and it had scored all the bearings. SO yes its a good idea on a car and works fantastic I actually just used it on my dads 93 Caviller with 145k on it and the lifters cleaned right up after a day of driving and then I changed the oil with fresh Penzoil and its been perfect since. I dont recommend keeping it in there long term. Get it out once things are fixed, and get some fresh oil in it. If you really want to get the engine clean change the oil every 500 miles for about 6k the engine becomes squeeky clean. I do this to every used car I buy and i usually get 200k out of them at a bare minimum. Also if you pull the spark plugs out and pour about a table spoon of it down into each cylinder, put the spark plugs back in, then, let it sit for a day or 2 and it decarbons your piston rings fairly well.
 
straight 8

Here's another 2 cents worth. I spent tha last 15 years before I retired making ice cream. The machine that made the ice cream bars had a very complicated air system that I call a pneumatic computer. It had many slave and pilot valves on it and made thousands of cycles every day. If any one of these valves was not in perfect time with the others it was total chaos. every time the machine would stop, hundreds of bars would go down the drain literally. The entire system had oilers in the air lines, and using mineral oil or pneumatic oil made any moisture in the system to turn to white goo and stick a valve on a fairly regular basis. I started using Marvel Mystery Oil when I started running the plant, and the mystery oil did not form any sludge and would not mix with the moisture. END OF PROBLEM. This is not the same as a lifter, but I would not hesitate to use it in any engine or trans. Just another 2 cents worth. Doug:hurray:
 
I agree Ive used it in just about everything air powered, the stuff is an awesome lubricant. If you ever have a bolt that's sticking or a bearing in something squealing spray a mix of 75% Marvel Mystery Oil and 25% WD40 on it and it will never bother you again. Sorry If I confused anyone, I'm not blaming the Marvel Mystery Oil for creating the sludge. I'm just saying its such a good detergent that it actually broke up every ounce of sludge, dirt, and build up, that had been caked up inside the motor for decades. Which is great but all that loose stuff floating around has to go somewhere, it ended up plugging up the pick up on my oil pump. My boss at the garage used to tell me never to run any kind of flushing solvent because of that reason. Now add in the fact that oil technology wasn't that great 50 years ago, (lack of anti wear additives, detergents, ETC.) there's probably some nasty stuff that's built up in there over years. Who knows what will happen over the period of an oil change it maybe fine it may end up like my Caddy who knows. That's why I am saying run it around for a day, that should clean up the lifters and everything else then change it to get what ever came loose out of your oil so it doesn't hurt anything. Im not knocking Marvel by any means its a great product and does exactly what its supposed to. Its just some times it can do some nasty things.
 
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