Silicone as an oil additive?
 

So the throttle on my holley sticks open yet again and I finally bring the car back home, roaring all the way. I go to spray the throttle linkage with carb cleaner and find I have none, but I do have a can of wd-40. I proceed to spray all the linkages with it and thought...oh what the heck and sprayed down into the carb (what was I thinking?). The engine really really wanted to die but somehow didnt. Afterwards, though, my goodness! It has never idled so smooth ever. Ever. The throttle response was frightening. It was like there was no friction at all in the engine.

So here's a question: why not go further with this and pour some into the oilpan (mixed with oil, of course). I know it's really thin and it would probably go out the tailpipe, but would it damage anything inside the engine? If this is what a few puffs down the bore does, then imagine if this was all over the mechanical parts of the engine!

Put the crack pipe down and leave the engine oil alone....

LOL mach 1................:p spraying the holley with wd40 will not hurt the carb,it probably had dirty air bleeds they are on the top nere the venturi boosters, it's good to keep them clean they can cause idle problems alot of racers that run methonal spray wd40 down the carbs because the fuel is so dry they want it on the valves and pistons too so they are not starting it dry for the next week.;) ya and don't put it in the oil!!!!

Actually, the car barely ran the remainder of the day, running super lean and having fuel problems, so I think the wd-40 gummed up something.

Dont they mix in teflon on some of the higher end oils? I thought they did. I'll just go scrape some off the frying pan and drop it in =P

teflon is the **** they put in slick50 and other oil additives that you do not need and should not use.

Just put some good synthetic oil in there and get on with your life aleady.,...lol

Id kinda like to see what WD-40 would do...:D :D :D :D

Well, since then, I've done a lot of reading on oil additives, especially slick50 and all reports say the following: The car will run much better up to the point where you clog up the oil passages. I guess a lot of this stuff cooks onto the hot parts of the metal inside the block and all this causes problems. Hell, I might still try this for 1 oil change and see what happens. Can always flush afterward.

The transmission, on the other hand...those synchros could use a little wd-40'ing

Restore works great in my car. Then again, It probably should with 165K.

WD-40 is not a lubricant it is a solvent. Just so you know.

I was under the impression that wd40 was a light lubricating oil mixed with a solvent.

Actually WD40 was developed as a moisture dispersent by NASA ... it stands for W-ater D-ispersal formula 40 (40th formula they tried) ... its main function was to disperse water from electrical connections.
By the way the stuff thats in slick 50 is PTFE (Teflon) it was developed and is sold by Dupont and they do not recommend that it be used in internal combustion engines.
and if you drain your oil and fill the crankcase with WD40, your bearings and crank journals will last maybe 2 or 3 minutes before they're a pile of iron shavings in the bottom of your WD40 pan lol

If thats accurate or not, i dont know, but it does nothing to address my point about the basic ingredients in wd40, if it is indeed simply a light oil and solvent mix?

Actually, I was thinking of tire silicone =P (seriously) and more along the lines of a shotglass's worth into an already full oil pan. My humble experience had been that silicone is a gift from the heavens. I use black magic like armor-all on the vinyl inside and the back of the seats and the dashboard, it lubes the hinges and acts as a fantastic water proofing for the underside and really gets into those hard to reach places. When tree sap land on my car, I spray it with tire silicone and the solvents dissolve it and leave a nice shiny spot, so I silicone the entire car afterward. It GLEAMS. I also spray the windows so the wipers just glide across the glass. Now I did try it out on some dispossessed bearings I had laying around and oil seems to have a viscosity that gives it a resistence. The silicone bearing almost free spun.

Seriously, how about a shotglass's worth in the transmission? I already have redline in there and a little extra lube shouldn't hurt it, right?

go for it. ****, just drain all your fluids and replace them with silicone, including your radiator.

It was also for a short time marketed as mosquito repelant.

Some old Cuban guys that I used to work with put it in their cuts. Beats the hell out of me!!! Im talkinn about WD-40.

thier cuts??

Ive used it to spray on fishing worms. :D Not anymore though.

I read at one time they tried spraying the entire space shuttle in it before one of the atmosphere test glides. never understood if it was to keep moisture out or to help with friction.

i always thought it was just light oil also so now i know.

Dude ... leave the lubricant formulations to the guys at Mobil Oil and Union and Standard.... they have big laboratories, and whole buildings full of chemists and engineers and research scientists. If they thought for a second a shot full of whatever would work wonders in there, then it would already be in there !! :)