Word: oils
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...plans to press for legislation to force the companies to post actual octane ratings on the pumps so that motorists will not have to buy higher octane than their cars need. Now the battle ground has expanded to another area of mystification: the rich and growing market for oil additives...
Ever since the first auto engine coughed to life, chemists have been trying to improve its lubricating oil. By now, a can of top-quality motor oil is only 80% to 85% petroleum; the rest is a complex blend of chemicals that are added to keep it from thinning out, prevent engine deposits and neutralize the acids that are byproducts of combustion. The big oil companies - such as Gulf, Mobil and Texaco - work close ly with auto producers to devise formulas that will meet the specific needs of each engine, depending upon its horsepower and the climate in which...
Another successful manufacturer is Wynn Oil Co., which promotes three oil additives, including "Charge!" The company was founded in 1939 by Ches-tien Wynn, a lawyer who mixed a homebrew "friction proofing" in a 55-gal. drum and sold bottles of it to local garages. Sales last year were $14 million. The Bardahl Mfg. Corp. markets 18 products in 82 countries. Its private owners do not disclose sales figures, but the company is probably third in size, behind STP and Wynn...
Secret Formulas. The formula for each additive is closely guarded, and manufacturers discuss the ingredients only in vague terms. One major ingredient is usually polyisobutylene, which is made by combining molecules of certain chemicals with a butane derivative of crude oil. It produces approximately the same results as far costlier additives in improving the viscosity, or thickness, of oil-and can be bought at the rate of 920 a gallon...
Detroit automakers have found that regular use of the polyisobutylene compounds can occasionally clog small oil passages and cause engine damage. Ray Potter, retired supervisor of fuels and lubricant research at Ford, says: "No one has ever presented any scientific data to prove that additives do anything good." The auto manufacturers do not recommend the use of additives except to deal with some "special problems." The trouble is that the ordinary driver cannot really diagnose those problems...