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a mechanic friend has recomended "redex" to me,to me it looks like ordinary two stroke oil.is it beneficial or just a waste of money?
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Hard to tell, really, as you'll only know after another 100,000 miles or so. I happen to think it does some good - anything that keeps injectors and upper cylinder areas clean and slightly lubricated is worthwhile, IMHO.
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HJ recommends Miller's additive for diesels as it contains lubrication agents which make up for the lack of lubrication, for the diesel pump, in low sulphur fuel. It is quite expensive but a lot cheaper than a new pump!
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Certainly benefited SWMBO's Civic, which had started to pink because of a life of short stop-start journeys where it was spending too much time on rich mixture. Engine had lost its edge and economy was poor, and garage reckoned sooty deposits were the likely cuplprit.
They dosed it with Redex and the problem cleared up very quickly. Economy has improved, so has performance and smoothness. So well worth a try, I'd say.
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Ah Redex!
Remember my dad pouring this into the carb of his Morris Minors. Masses of blue smoke poured out the back. Certainly looked dramatic, not sure if it ever did any good.
In my hooligan days one of the guys had a beat-up old 105E Anglia van. The exhaust had fallen off after the small box, so it terminated about halfway down the car. Being inventive he emptied the washer bottle, diverted the fluid line from the nozzles to a position strapped into the air filter box leading dierctly to the carb.
He never lost a dice after that (Well there wasn't much else to do North of Liverpool in the sixties. Well there was, but that's not for here) since as long as he could get in front a few strategic plunges of the washer knob (No electrics then) would flood the mixture with Redex and vast clouds of blue smoke would issue from the rear wheelarches, effectively destroying all the visibility for the following car (s)
Where do you put the Redex now that carbs are extinct?
Rob
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Complete waste of money.
Modern cars are designed to run for 200,000 miles. Pity the manufacturer whose vehicle doesn't last. Modern communications systems soon allow people to report duffers.
Why waste your money adding something when the engine is designed to last perfectly well without it?
Yes, you can add lubricity enhancer to diesel fuel. The best one is a pint of veg cooking oil in 10 gallons of fuel, but again, why bother?
ULSD diesel has allegedly lower lubricity than old diesel. So where are all the dozens, hundreds of people with knackered rotary diesel pumps? There aren't any.
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Not nearly as straightforward as you think, Sean.
Modern engines may well be designed to last 200,000 miles, but whether and how they do all depends on what those 200,00o miles contain.
I'd hazard that SWMBO's 1998 Civic is more likely than many to last the course. But look at what happened to it when we treated it to a life of short, stop/start journeys (see above).
Redex would appear to have cured it.
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Perhaps you remember my post a couple of weeks ago dealing with me pouring in redex to my Carb on my nissan Primera 1.6 carb. I messed it up and the car stalled and it took a mechanic to get it fixed.
Initially i decided to use it as there was a huge plume of grey smoke coming from the exhaust when I pressed on the loud pedal. I suspect the the previous owner was unaware of the good old italian tune! Anyway, there was also a very prominent hesitation (very jerky, felt like a stall!) when leaving off the accelerator and quickly putting it back on.
After the treatment and starting it it ran an awful lot better with no smoke and smoother with a much reduced jerk.
Also got an extra bit of fuel economy too.
I would say that it worked.
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Redex has been around for decades. The old days of "four and four shots please" when you pulled up for a refill are long gone and it is quite possible that modern oils and engine design negate the need for a UCL on a regular basis.
What Redex is good for is for cleaning out an engine with sticky valves or one which has been only used on short, cold runs and has got sluggish as a result.
Don't discount the old remedies. They're cheap and they work.
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Are we saying (a)Redex in the tank as a routine additive? (say 50ml per tankful). Or (b) In the carb every now and again? Or (c) Direct in to the bores via the plug 'ole?
KB.
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I have always lifted the air filter and dribbled it down the carb with the engine running. Sort of an in situ decoke. Redex' original M.O. was as an additive every time you filled up.
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Sean
ULSD diesel has allegedly lower lubricity than old diesel. So where are all the dozens, hundreds of people with knackered rotary diesel pumps? There aren't any.
Yes there are. I had one. Cit BX with only 70k on the clock, run almost exclusively on supermarket ULSD diesel. Pump not re-conditionable, £500 to replace.
Terry
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What Redex actually does is to make the burn hotter. In the days of old fashioned petrol engines, putting redex (or any combustable oil) through the carb would make the burn hot enough to remove any carbon deposits. If you tried to use it at this level for any length of time at high revs it would burn the valves.
A modern engine with modern fuel does not require a de-coke as carbon deposits do not build to the same extent as they used to.
Use it with caution if you must!
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"..carbon deposits do not build to the same extent as they used to"
Probably true before catalysers, but as they require a richer mixture, the problem remains. 'Modern' fuels do not burn as clean as, say, the Cleveland Discol of 35 years ago, although fuel management has improved. My experience with Redex is entirely favourable, and the slight reduction in fuel consumption means it doesn't even cost anything...
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>> \"..carbon deposits do not build to the same extent as they >> used to\" Probably true before catalysers, but as they require a richer mixture, the problem remains. \'Modern\' fuels do not burn as clean as, say, the Cleveland Discol of 35 years ago, although fuel management has improved. My experience with Redex is entirely favourable, and the slight reduction in fuel consumption means it doesn\'t even cost anything...
so ill take that as favourable lads?
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What did happen to Cleveland Discol? My early motor trade days indoctrinated me that it was the finest available.
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As someone has pointed out before, Redex is just 95% parafin with 5% ATF for lubrication and to give it a nice red colour.
I think it probably does work, or does no harm, in special situations like gummed valves or injectors, but is totally unnecessary as a routine additive. I suspect it works by the placebo effect, like a red pill.
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