Microlon Engine and Oil treatment as a super lubricant

[GOFAST GUY]

I first came into contact with Microlon while working in a gun shop. They had a product called gun juice which, they said, would increase the velocity of bullets (150fps), decrease friction and extend the life of the barrels once treated. Reluctantly we tried it thinking it was just another snake oil and we were incredibly impressed. I looked at the rest of their line of engine treatments and treated my E36 M3 with a complete kit to treat my 6 cylinder through fuel treatment, oil treatment and rear diff fluid. The common question asked is, did you notice a difference?? To be honest, not really, but I've seen what happens when the barrels are treated with this solution and over time and use, the steel took on a clear coat finish look and accuracy and consistency of velocity was definitely impressive. Also, cleaning was so easy also because nothing stuck to the treated surface.

I'm not sure if anyone else has tried this stuff in their vehicles but I'm going to order a kit to treat all of the fluids in my X5.

[GOFAST GUY]

I forgot to mention, a friend of mine's father was a dealer of it in Saskatchewan for years and years and they had a small block chevy engine that ran completely without oil after being treated with it. People thought it was bullshit till they shawn a light into the hole where the oil plug use to be.

[JCL]

No comment on how it works on guns, I think you know more about that subject than I ever will.

I can comment on using it in modern engines. It is a Teflon (PTFE) based additive. Essentially a motor oil with solid particles of Teflon held in suspension. When you put it in an engine the Teflon knows to bond with the wear surfaces, while not clogging up the oil filter or any small passages (how it knows that, I don't know). Then it stays on those wear surfaces even when the oil is changed. Smart stuff.

Dupont, the makers of Teflon, have publicly said that their product has no benefit inside an engine, and tried to halt sales of these products. The trouble is, there are about 50 different PTFE oil additive products available, although those brands are produced by a much smaller number of blenders, and they just buy their PTFE offshore.

I lump all of the PTFE additives together, I don't think there is any difference between them. NASA tested them and found no benefit, but some negatives. The US Military tested them and decided that it was not acceptable in any of their engines.

I wouldn't let it anywhere near my engine, but that is just me.

[GOFAST GUY]

that's really good information for me because it's not cheap and to know it doesn't make any difference is definitely worth knowing. Thanks

[JCL]

Happy to help.

I was thinking last night about whether there are any similarities between a bullet travelling throught the bore of a gun, and a piston travelling through the bore of a cylinder.

The first thing that came to mind was piston speed. 150 fps was your number for a bullet. Compared to a piston, which has a mean piston speed, that is very high. Maybe I am stating the obvious. For medium duty diesels, we used to consider piston speed as an indicator of engine durability, due to their long strokes and high maximum piston speed. Out of interest, I worked mean piston speed out for your 4.6. With an 85 mm stroke, to achieve 150 fps, you would need an engine speed of 16,200 rpm. Said another way, at 2000 rpm, you would have a mean piston speed of 18.6 fps. That is almost an order of magnitude less than the gun example. My conclusion is that if the product works on a gun, and it anecdotally does, that doesn't necessarily carry over to it working in an engine, just based on the speed alone.

Next up was whether it would stay in there, and continue to protect the metal. In a gun, it is wiped on, and then a round is fired. OK, maybe lots of rounds. I equated the bullet in the gun barrel to a piston in a cylinder bore again. However, at 2000 rpm, the engine piston goes through the bore 240,000 times per hour (2000 x 60 x 2, as it travels up and down). So, if you drove for four hours, that would be the same as firing almost a million rounds. My question to myself is, if you wipe down a gun bore with this product, and put an imaginary one million rounds through it, would we expect the residue from the wiping oil to still be lubricating the bore? That is because the product is advertised as a one-time application, it apparently doesn't need to be continually reapplied. My conclusion, just using reason, is that after one million rounds the original lubricant is not likely to still be there.

I don't know how the manufacturer made the leap from having developed a gun oil, and concluding that it would be a good oil additive in a modern engine, but it doesn't appear to hold up to scrutiny.

Comments and corrections welcome.

[GOFAST GUY]

I should also clarify too. Microlon advertises 150fps increase in velocity over the regular velocity which can range from a handgun at 1500-1700fps to a high velocity round doing 4000fps. Your average mid caliber round probably travels at 2800-3000fps though.
As for the one time treatment; they recommend, from a clean bore, run a patch and shoot 1 round, run another new wet patch and shoot 1 round. Repeat that process 10 times and your barrel should be treated. They also recommend treating friction parts like the slide, bolt race ways etc.
I've had SWAT guys treat their handguns and assault rifles (MP5s) with the alcohol based gun treatment which looks exactly like what they provide to dump into your fuel as an additive and the guns just don't gum up like they did prior to treating them. I definitely noticed a difference in how easy it was to clean the parts that get dirty due to burnt powder. We tell all of our clients that even though the instructions say one time treatment, the only thing that's forever is death and taxes unfortunately so we actually suggest using it as an alcohol based cleaner/re-applicator to ensure the teflon works it's way into the micro pores in the steel. To speed up the process of treating the steel parts we commend using a hair dryer to evaporate the alcohol. Microlon also offers a blue grease and an oiler you have to shake up before use and that stuff doesn't go away. I find very little difference between the evaporated treated to the oil or grease though.

[JCL]

Thanks. Shows how little I know about firearms. So the velocity difference between a round and a piston is not an order of magnitude, 10x, it is up to 200 times. Even more reason that a friction treatment result with one item wouldn't be applicable to the other.

I think the number of cycles, with the significant difference between a round and a piston, is probably more telling in terms of whether the treatment would have any lasting effect inside an engine, though.

[GOFAST GUY]

Also too, when a bullet takes off through the barrel, it gets cut by the riflings which can have sharp edges which creat friction where as a piston in a cylinder would be incredibly smooth and really not need the reduction in friction like a bullet would.

[JCL]

You don't really want cylinder walls to be incredibly smooth, that would be described as glazed (polished). The ideal surface is a cross-hatch, produced by honing in a certain manner, so that the surface can hold oil to lubricate the rings.

That isn't the same extent as rifling, however.

[GOFAST GUY]

Interesting. I've only been part of one engine rebuild and that was a very long time ago.