SNAKE OIL

ProbablyBroke

ProbablyBroke

does not torque to spec
Joined
Nov 7, 2012
Location
Reidsville
I'm curious about other people's experiences/uses/opinions on "snake oil" type products.

I once had a 94 ford ranger that I bought with 49,000 original miles (2011). At 98,000 miles the transmission started slipping bad. I changed the fluid and added Lucas Transmission Fix and the truck drove like new. Kind of blew my mind.
 
Similar to OP.

Several years back (like 2004 or 2005) I bought an S-10 blazer from a friend who needed some cash in a bind.
It had around 80,000 miles and the trans was hanging hard between gears. Fluid looked bright red and fresh which seemed to validate his claim to recently servicing it to no avail. Verified TV cable adjustment and was headed towards a rebuild.

Transmission man I had used for a while told me since it had less than 100K to get some Slick 50 Transmission treatment. It was like $35, but had a guarantee that if you put it in before 100k if the trans EVER went out they would pay for the rebuild. What did I have to lose, right?

So I did and then drove it as instructed. Over about 30 minutes it totally shocked me as the trans began to shift smooth as butter.

I sold the blazer to a friend who proceeded to drive it for years as a second vehicle. I gave him all the paperwork with the Slick 50 guarantee at the time. ABout 2 years ago we got some snow and ice and he proceeded to go out and act the fool cutting donuts and assorted other ass-hatery. He burned the ATS up. Had to get it towed home.

He had kept that stupid paperwork all the years and decided "why the hell not". So he contacted them and they initially advised that the warranty program had been discontinued but if he had paperwork showing when he bought it they would still honor it. Long story short, it took a month and a few hoops to jump through. (They sent him a sample bottle for a fluid sample and he had to send in some service records, etc) They finally contacted him and said they would pay to have the vehicle towed to and transmission rebuilt at the closest national chain transmission shop. Or they would pay him $2,000 via check as the fair market replacement value of the vehicle. He took the $2k....great deal since I sold it to him for $1,500 a decade ago.
 
I had a 98 Tahoe in which the transmission would act like the torque convertor was slipping/shuddering/not locking up (slight rise in rpm's) while driving down the road at constant speed in OD. A good mechanic I know told me to dump a bottle of GM rear end anti- slip additive in the transmission. I bought two bottles and dumped them in there. The slipping stopped. I drove the Hoe for another few years then sold it.
 
UTfball68 said:
No kidding...I thought I was doing pretty well getting $7 back on a battery that was 3 months from going out of warranty.
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here is a battery trick. When you buy a new battery take the receipt and put in in a ziplock back. Then another. Then duct tape that bitch the the fender side of the battery. Whenever the battery needs replacing extract your duct tape contra band receipt and viola.
 
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Or just put them in the glovebox/console with the registration and other paperwork? Has worked fine for me for years.
 
They do...along with every other receipt I plan on keeping. Go looking for something else in the glove box, the rest gets tossed to the floor, gets trampled and eventually thrown away.
 
Had the trans. in the 98 S10 rebuilt @ 160k+ after it began to bark the tires shifting from 1st thru 3rd w any amount of throttle. 2 years later it began to shudder bad around 50mph in overdrive, gas/downshift or touching the brake stopped it.The re-builder told me the TC was probly defective and had a lifetime warranty and told me to try some Dr. Trannys Shudder Stop. One tube fixed it as soon as I left the driveway. It took 1.5 years for the shudder to return.2 more tubes cured it again for 6 months. I spanked this truck daily for years before and after the rebuild and towed a boat/trailer that weighs about 1800lbs many times. $5 for a year or more vs a rebuild/R&R on a trans is a no brainer even if it don't fix a thing!
 
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jeepinmatt said:
Or just put them in the glovebox/console with the registration and other paperwork? Has worked fine for me for years.
Click to expand...

I'm bad about swapping batteries around between vehicles.
 
@rockcity

Meanwhile Dexter Lawrence was the #1 or #2 high school player in the county last year. He grew up in Wake Forest and a NCSU fan. He is currently tearing it up for Clemson. He is a 3 year and NFL guy, no doubt.

Why not go to NCSU if he grew up a fan?
He went on a recruiting visit last fall (like his 10th to campus ) and CDD called him Demetrius. Not once or twice but all day.
 
He definetly made the right choice! Clemson is a top notch program!


That whole program needs a makeover. Duke did it, NCSU can do it. They have some decent talent but the staff is killin it for the players.
 
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Different kind of snake oil but this still blows me away.

Had a Tellico trip planned for thursday. It was tuesday night. My buddy slid rings and bearings on a worn-out 327 Chevy in his K5 (No machine work) and of course, it smoked. Had great oil pressure, but smoked like hell. An old timer we worked with told him to rust the cylinders on purpose with saltwater, and the rings would leave the rust filled into the wall scratches, and it oly puffed a little when taking off afterwards. Dude always drove it there, wheeled it like a champ, drove it home. Dude could fix anything.
 
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Brake fluid in transmission with shift problems (no shift, seals faulty) worked for 6 months in my aw4 that had no reverse cold, two weeks later after adding half cup dot 3, went in reverse cold, shifted mint. Not recommended unless rebuild or replace is imminently necessary. And don't ever think about changing the fluid if you do that, it'll be shot, even if you add dot3 with fill.

Lucas to limp marginal bottom end for an extra few k miles.

Lucas trans didn't work so well, go for the thinner stuff, it'll probably smell like mineral spirits and brake fluid but works on internal seals.

I've not seen any product work on head gaskets, or external seals. Radiators, yes, alumaseal will do it as long as it's not in the gasket or plastic. 9 months no leaks fins to side aluminum tank after treatment, that is until the fan went into the rad.

Thick 85w140 will hush some axles up for a bit.

Anybody got any snake oil for Honda bottom ends? Had one go from vvt code to knocking rods at 2-3k rpm in fifty miles. Smh. Still can't figure out the how out on that one. Of notable mention, two other same year accord, engine, same problem. Planned obsolescence?
 
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