Vehicle maintenance

Gearbox
Grinding sound means gears are out of alignment.

Engine
Nothing, no smoke must come out of exhaust. Any smoke means that the rings aren't scraping oil off from the piston chamber. Start the engine and pull out the oil indicator, place tissue paper over dipstick tube. If any oil or gas comes out then the rings are worn down. The problem will get progressively worse. Finally do a compression test(video), http://www.dummies.com/home-garden/car-repair/fuel-system/how-to-check-an-engines-cylinder-compression/ When the combustion gases burn, they form acids which are highly corrosive when their vapours condense. These acids collect in the upper cylinder areas where their temperature is raised above their dew point. The acids condense and etch the cylinder walls and piston rings. In reality, this accounts for over 85% of engine wear, the other 15% being down to abrasion. So the adverts are nearly right - most of the engine wear does happen at startup, and it is because of a lack of oil, but it isn't because the oil isn't coating moving parts - it's because it's not transporting these acidic gases away. Having said that, if you start the engine and let it idle for 15 seconds or so before moving off, you can probably add another 100,000 miles to your engine's life without one bottle of additive.This warms the oil up a tad and makes sure it's in all the most vital areas before you start putting a strain on the engine. Most handbooks tell you not to let the engine warm up before driving off (they're referring to the acid corrosion mentioned above), but they mean don't let it reach working temperature. If, however, you insist on starting up and belting off down the road, think of this next time: it takes an average engine around 3 minutes of average driving for the exhaust manifold to reach 300°C. If you blast off and run around at full throttle, right from the word go, that process takes a little under a minute. Think about it - from outside air temperature to 300°C in a minute - what exactly is that doing to the metal in your manifold? Ask anyone who's ever owned an original Audi Quattro - they'll tell you exactly what happens.
 * Test the oil from sump that it isn't SAE90 gear oil when purchasing a used vehicle.
 * Certain brands of Isuzu bakkies use SAE30 in their gearbox, while all other pickups use SAE90 for all makes of vehicles.

Radiator
Replace electric fan motor and water pump on engine every 50,000km. You do not want these items to break at 2am in the middle of the Karoo

Engine additives
Only SAE40 oil has been approved by the mechanical engineering society ASME, nothing else must be used. http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/auto-parts-prolong-super-lubric-prolong-engine-killer-1581.
 * http://prolong.com/about_tech "...This process is so stable that it is responsible for achieving the highest possible “1a” rating in independent laboratory testing designed to determine the anti-corrosive characteristics of lubricants...." They removed this page, here is an archive from 2016 https://web.archive.org/web/20160715145235/http://prolong.com/about_tech

Which lab of the https://www.asme.org/ tested it? What is this "1a" rating, standardized by which mechanical engineering society where. The prolong website states their product "bonds" to the metal. In what ASME test was it shown that this doesn't m ake the sleeve brittle?


 * "....Metal surfaces feel smooth, but under a microscope, they have tiny valleys and peaks on the surface. The peaks can catch or snag as metal surfaces push and slide against one another, causing particles of metal to break away, leaving the metal surface to become damaged and vulnerable. When these metal particles or shavings are found in drained oil, it is a sign of metal fatigue and damage. The metal particles can also cause additional harm as they circulate through the oil, rubbing against metal parts and impairing the efficiency of filters...."

This is true, which is why the ASME society's tests have shown that the only product which reduces such metal particles and fatigue, preserving the frictional balance between rings and sleeve is SAE40 motor oil. If the Prolong product does this better than SAE40, then why does the ASME have no lab tests for this?


 * http://prolong.com/new-prolong-15w-40-diesel-engine-motor-oil/ Prolong Super Lubricants, a brand of GoldenWest Lubricants, Inc., produces a wide range of chemicals and car care products, including engine, fuel and transmission additives; motor oils; chassis and wheel lubricants; vinyl and leather protectants. Its Anti-Friction Metal Treatment™ (AFMT) advanced technology treats and modifies the surface of metal at the molecular level to reduce metal wear, heat and friction. For more information, contact Prolong at 1937 Mount Vernon Ave., Pomona, Calif., 91768; phone: 800.540.LUBE (5823); fax: 800.966.LUBE (5823). archive.org copy

AFMT as certified by which lab of the ASME? In this entire page you don't specify specifically whether it complies with the SAE40 specification.


 * Formulated with a blend of high-quality synthetic base oils and additives, Prolong’s 15W-40 Diesel Motor Oil is designed to exceed API Service Classifications CJ-4/SN/SM

The http://www.api.org references CJ-4, but you don't seem to be a member under http://www.api.org/membership/members#P. Is there any type of academic journal papers you reference that confirms your claim to exceed CJ-4 from ASME journal papers on engine wear