Product Review “Engine Restorer”

There are many so called “miracle” oil additives on the market that claim to do everything from clean your motor to increase performance, decrease emissions and increase gas mileage. I am here to tell you most of them are just Snake Oil. However we have been hearing glowing reports from people who have tried Engine Restorer by Restore Automotive Products. The claims were quite astounding; increased compression, reduced oil consumption, increased power and better fuel mileage.

EXPLAINING AWAY THE CLAIMS These same claims have been made before by other products. However it was easy to explain away how the products did it. Some oil additives reduce oil consumption because they thicken the oil. And thick oil is less likely to slip past the piston rings if the seal with the cylinder wall is less than perfect. Other oil additives claim to increase performance by increasing compression by removing any varnish buildup in the the piston’s ring lands, the grooves the rings ride in on the piston. This would allow a stuck ring to move freely again and seal harder against the cylinder wall. However if there are scores or scratches in the cylinder wall, the rings will still leak compression.

“ENGINE RESTORER” CLAIMS
During normal engine operation, the piston rings slowly wear into the surface of the cylinder wall, creating tiny imperfections. These gouges or scratches then create a channel for pressurized combustion gasses to slip past the rings down into the crankcase. This does three things, first the available compression is lessened as the gasses pass downward into the crankcase. Two, this “blowby” contaminates the engine’s lubricating oil with combustion gases containing acidic compounds. And three, crankcase lubricating oil is drawn upward through the same scratch channels into the combustion chamber to be burnt. This is where your oil goes in most cases if an engine is burning it (the exception would be a worn valve guide and seal).
Restore Engine Restorer claims to fill these scratches and improves the seal between the piston rings and the cylinder walls. This means higher compression and a more balanced compression across all cylinders. Since power output and engine efficiently are tied to engine compression, an increase here would naturally raise power output and increase engine efficiency thus raising fuel mileage while lowering oil consumption. The company claims that independent road tests prove “Engine Restorer” brings back power to near original levels.

“ENGINE RESTORER” IS NOT AN OIL ADDITIVE According to the company each can of Engine Restorer contains billions of CSL micro-particles in suspension in a neutral motor oil of high quality. Each CSL micro-particle contains Lead (40%) dispersed uniformly throughout a Copper (60%) matrix with Silver.
Engine Restorer is added to the motor oil but it is not an oil additive. An oil additive, by definition, is a product which is added to automotive oil in the crankcase with the intended purpose of modifying the oil characteristics such as viscosity, detergency, or foaming. Engine Restorer is not an oil additive in this sense. It is rather an engine additive because it acts on the engine itself playing a double role. The CSL particles fill scratches, grooves and other worn out areas between the piston and the cylinder wall in the engine. The CSL particles provide maximum natural lubrication due to their percentage of lead, even under very high temperature.
The action of RESTORE reduces friction and rebuilds metal surfaces, which restores lost power and reduces oil & fuel consumption. It works effectively wherever friction and wear cut scratches in metal surfaces, such as cylinder walls, crankshafts and bearings. Ya, Right! And I have a bridge for sale too!

THE PROOF IS IN THE PUDDING
One of our chief ATV haulers is a Ford Ranger, 3.0L, 5-speed, 4×4. At about 75,000 miles the motor started to use a quart per 3000 miles. By 140,000 miles the motor was using a quart every 1000 miles and power was noticeably down in top gear. There was no visible blue smoke or fouled sparkplugs, just the motor was using oil. We had read the hype and seen the testimonials, so we figurred it couldn’t hurt to give it a try, ‘cause we would only be out if nothing happened. We added a 6 cylinder can of Restore Engine Restorer to the Ranger and within 500 miles we noticed an increase in power and the oil consumption decreased to a quart every 2000 miles during the normal 3000 mile oil change interval. Not bad! At the next 3000 mile oil change, we added another can of Engine Restorer and proceeded to rack off the full 3000 miles without needing any more oil. Not bad at all! Oil consumption had been reduced to the level of a new motor!

THE DOWNSIDES
Restore Engine Restorer is not to be used in wet-clutch motors where the engine oil lubes the clutch plates. Apparently the CDL’s lead content would seal the friction plates of the clutch and make them slippery, causing the clutch to slip. Can’t be having that! Also it can’t be used in 2-cycle engines where the oil is mixed with the fuel and is burnt in the combustion process. All that bad lead being released into the air! So while Restore Engine Restorer can’t be used in your ATV’s, it would be perfect for your truck which hauls your machine out to “God’s Country”.
Restore Engine Restorer comes in 4 cylinder, 6 cylinder and 8 cylinder size cans, depending on what size your motor is. We have been purchasing the 6 cylinder size for about a can at discount auto stores. We consider it cheap considering what it actually does, and from now on, all our high mileage vehicles get “Restored”!