So I was thinking…
With our late model, high mileage cars; would they benefit from a treatment of liqui moly?
https://www.liqui-moly.com/en/us/pro...r-vehicle.html
The engine? The diff? Our german transmissions?
Has anyone done this? Looking forward to your comments and experience.

 

Guy, from discussions with other owners of higher mileage jags, you can open up a can of worms with this. You start adding different fluids, you can at a minimum create new leaks. Most synthetic oils/fluids have a smaller molecule than its dino equivolent. This means that the synthetic molecule can make it to more locations "hence why it lubricates better". But ,this also means that a small crack too big for a dino molecule to get out, may not be small enough to stop the synthetic molecule. Also, making the switch will cause the engine parts to shift (we are talking on the thousandths of an inch scale). This will cause the bearings to possibly wear a little bit different which can lead to new noises and stuff like that. Is it going to be a sudden catastrophic failure? Not likely unless you make a drastic change with the fluids.

 

I have found all miracle cures to not work. Just plain old maintenance is the key. With a high mileage car service records are vital. If the car has been taken care of and repaired when things go wrong you will have a much better chance of it lasting. DO NOT do what most people do and let the little things keep building up until something major is now needed. It's much easier to keep on top of things.
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Liqui Moly is not a miracle cure but a patented lubrication system. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liqui_Moly
So I was wondering if there was a benefit of this "coating" on our wearing engines. Militaries all over the world still believe in it.
Thanks @Thermo . That is what I was thinking about. Though no empirical data but, it does make sense.
Many make their decisions based on marketing... AMSoil and K&N are examples of great marketing.

 

Be aware that something that is patented is very different from something that does what the advertising says it does. It does NOT have to work to get a patent!
If this is so good why are the manufactures not putting this in at the factory?
Finally read the article you posted. It was written by the people who make the product!! That's why there is a big highlighted box at the beginning of the article stating the problems with what's in that article.

As it states;
This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages) A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject. (May 2017) This article may rely excessively on sources too closely associated with the subject, potentially preventing the article from being verifiable and neutral. (May 2017) This article needs additional citations for verification. (August 2008)

Yes Moly was discovered around WWII and used in aircraft that is far different from claiming that the military currently uses it.
Just keep up with the maintenance of your car. Regular fluid changes. Repairing things as they break.
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guy, Liquid Moly is simply a concentrated synthetic oil that has one overriding effect which is to soak itself into the metal to becomes "part of the surface". You take any surface, it is not going to be perfectly smooth (not even glass). There are small bumps and dips and all sorts of stuff in he surface. There is a measurement for this which is called RHR. Glass has an RHR of around 1 where a mirror finish on metal is an RHR of around 10 and normal machined parts are around 60-125 RHR. What Liquid Moly does is it essentially sticks a hook in these small imperfections and the liquid then traps itself in these low spots to help reduce the RHR and therefore make it easier for 2 objects to pass over one another. The liquid that gets trapped between the two surfaces and pushes them apart is known as a wedge. How thick a wedge can get is a function of a bunch of things, but the biggest being the thickness of the oil. Because the Liquid Moly gets trapped by the surface, it helps whatever is used to form a wedge as it now doesn't have to build up as big of a wedge to get the 2 surfaces to pass over one another. Keep in mind that most wedges are in the 0.001 to 0.003" thickness. That is all that keeps your motor from seizing. Some of the new oils are getting squished down to around 0.0005" and this is where this exceptional pressure can breakdown the oil and full synthetics have a stronger molecular bond and therefore do not break down (ie, get ripped apart) as easy.

You want to see this in action, get a small piece of glass and attach a string to it such that the string is on the back side and the side it is going to slide against has nothing on it. Now get another piece of glass, a piece metal shined to a mirror finish, a nicely finished machined surface, one that isn't so nicely machined and some say 600 grit sandpaper. You put glass on glass and add a drop of water, The glass with a string on it will pull very easy. You do the mirror finish, it will still pull fairly easy, but you should feel more drag than glass on glass. As you move up in the products I stated, you will feel more and more drag. Now to prove the Liquid Moly bit, you can take some grease and put it on the nicely machined surface (apply it fairly thin). Now, when you add the water, you will notice that it pulls easier (maybe not as easy as the glass on glass, but easier than just using water). You can repeat this with the rougher surfaces and you should feel a difference. It isn't the fact that you are using a grease, it is the fact that the grease is filling in the low spots that the water can't form a large enough wedge in to float the glass.

As for how much Liquid Moly may help a motor I think really depends on when the motor was made. Something from the 70's using 70's machining standards, Liquid Moly probably is a "miracle liquid". Modern day cars have much more precise machining (hence the need for a thinner lubricant) and the RHR of a lot of surfaces is much less (closer to that of glass than sandpaper). So, the benefit of the Liquid Moly is going to be much less. Will it help? I'm sure atleast a little bit. But, also keep in mind that when the wedge is created, it is pushing on the Liquid Moly just like it is the oil and over time, the Liquid Moly is going to be worn away. So, pretty much, you are going to be renewing the Liquid Moly with each oil change. This is just one more cost to your oil change.

 

I'm late to the party on this topic, but it relates to my situation and searched for a Liquid Moly topic. I bought my XJ40 nearly five years ago but am unaware of the oil that was used. When I took ownership, I had been using Castrol GTX High Mileage with the appropriate weight for all my changes. Indeed, the owner's manual recommends Castrol. The local garage would do the work, but I supplied the oil as it wasn't something that they used. After he retired, I have been using another shop that is reliable, and when I was there with another vehicle, I learned that they use Liquid Moly. I had specified Castrol during oil changes, but the service consultant was praising Liquid Moly. I am seeing that it is used in various German cars as it is a German product (and much older than I was aware as I had only heard of it recently). If they have been using Liquid Moly, would it be best to return to Castrol on the next oil change, and stick with that?

 

eksjaysix, the question I would ask is whether you have new leaks or if things are still tight? If no leaks, keep using. The change you did is not a big deal in older engines as there were not a lot of requirements needed for the oil other than being able to withstand a temperature and be able to form a wedge in all parts of the engine. So, if you are happy with how the engine is running, keep running the Moly.

Newer cars, this change is not quite as easy. I will take my car (2016 XJ with the 3.0L supercharged engine). The VVT (variable valve timing) circuit uses some very small metal parts to move components and this is all done under high temperatures and with great stress. So, the oil needs to have very specific properties to prevent getting crud and buildup into these fine metal pieces and causing them to bind and not allow the engine to work as it should. So, in my case, the use of Castrol GTX high mileage is not recommended, PERIOD!!!!!! Moly would be a better suit, but you need to watch what version of Moly you are using as not all of them are created equal. THis is where getting fluids that meet the spec called out by your manual is important.

 

Thank you for the input and clarification regarding my situation, Thermo. I did have a couple coolant leaks, but I believe they occurred before the use of Liquid Moly. I'd attribute the leaks to age of hoses, etc, (mine is a '93) rather than the switch in oil. My garage has competent mechanics, so I feel relieved by your commentary on this. Much appreciated!

Incidentally, your XJ is a magnificent car; in terms of design, I love how Ian McCallum was able to move way from the retro styling and into something timelessly modern. I see these cars around, and greatly appreciate the original design rather than something that is excessively conservative and has a "derivative" luxury car appearance.

 

this will be crazy to you guys because my 2005 Jaguar x-type has 252,173 miles on it, and i use the cheapest oil i can find. And religiously change it at 5000 miles and im on the oem engine,oem transfer case oem transmission and runs smooth were going on a 676,000 mile trip next week, ill be using Dollar general oil ,
try not to hate it works for me

 

That's funny because we had another member who did just about the same thing?
Bigg Will had a very early XFR. He only used Walmart synthetic oil and changed it every 2000-3000 miles!
He sold the car at around 110K miles with all the original timing gear.

So maintenance is the key for sure!
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