Marvel Mystery Oil

dmccormack

dmccormack

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Dan Mc
I'm buying a Chief so have signed up to an Aeronca web board.

Lo and behold the folks there seem sold on adding Marvel Mystery Oil to fuel (4 oz/ gal of 100LL).

I read the same thing in the Bonanza Society magazine.

What's going on?

Is MMO really the dirty little secret in aviation? Anyone else using it or encounter owner groups that promote its use?
 
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Well it is not a dirty little secret. The stuff has been used for decades. I used it in my Jeep Cherokee that had 175,000 miles on it and it sure helped with keeping the valve form sounding awful. I use it on my gas powered cars in the fuel in the winter time instead of adding Heat and it works great there too.
 
dmccormack said:
I'm buying a Chief so have signed up to an Aeronca web board.

Lo and behold the folks there seem sold on adding Marvel Mystery Oil to fuel (4 oz/ gal of 100LL).

I read the same thing in the Bonanza Society magazine.

What's going on?

Is MMO really the dirty little secret in aviation? Anyone else using it or encounter owner groups that promote its use?
Click to expand...

With any luck, it won't do any harm.
 
smigaldi said:
Well it is not a dirty little secret. The stuff has been used for decades. I used it in my Jeep Cherokee that had 175,000 miles on it and it sure helped with keeping the valve form sounding awful. I use it on my gas powered cars in the fuel in the winter time instead of adding Heat and it works great there too.
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Interesting --It's news to me (I must be sheltered). :frown3:

What about use in airplanes?
 
dmccormack said:
What about use in airplanes?
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Yes. In WW2 the stuff was used a lot. I learned about it from my dad who had become a believer in it during the war. I still know people who use it in their airplanes. When added to 100LL it turns it a pretty purple.
 
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smigaldi said:
Yes. In WW2 the stuff was used a lot. I learned about it from my dad who had become a believer in it during the war. I still know people who use it in their airplanes. When added to 100LL it turns it a pretty purple.
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Well, they also believed in "getting on the step," then, too.

Perhaps the MMO provides the same lubricating property oil does in a 2-stroke?
 
dmccormack said:
Well, they also believed in "getting on the step," then, too.

Perhaps the MMO provides the same lubricating property oil does in a 2-stroke?
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You'll probably find as many opinions about this as people you can ask.

Since the small low compression engines were originally designed for 80/87, some people say that 100LL has way too much lead, and causes valves to stick and plugs to foul. Then there are others that say mogas, with no lead at all causes problems since there's no lead to help lubricate the valves. Then there's a group that says lead doesn't lubricate valves anyway so it doesn't matter. Then there's a group that says 100LL is fine and you won't have lead deposit problems if you lean properly. Then there's a group that says use 3 tanks of mogas, then one of 100LL...


Trapper John
 
Trapper John said:
You'll probably find as many opinions about this as people you can ask.

Since the small low compression engines were originally designed for 80/87, some people say that 100LL has way too much lead, and causes valves to stick and plugs to foul. Then there are others that say mogas, with no lead at all causes problems since there's no lead to help lubricate the valves. Then there's a group that says lead doesn't lubricate valves anyway so it doesn't matter. Then there's a group that says 100LL is fine and you won't have lead deposit problems if you lean properly. Then there's a group that says use 3 tanks of mogas, then one of 100LL...


Trapper John
Click to expand...


You just summarized the Aeronca Aviators board discussion on this topic.
 
dmccormack said:
Is MMO really the dirty little secret in aviation? Anyone else using it or encounter owner groups that promote its use?
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Why buy - make your own! Won't really hurt anything, pretty much just regular petroleum base lube oil cut with mineral spirits and dichlorobenzene. MSDS is attached.

Take a container and add 70-80% of Phillips X/C (CAS #64742-52-5, MSDS Attached) add another 20-30% mineral spirits (Lowes, Home Depot, etc).

Plus 0.25% dichlorobenzene, a dash of Wintergreen oil for the aroma and you have it!

Gary

Edit: Forgot the red dye! Maybe you could make yours blue! We could then call it McCormack Mystery Oil (McCMO!)
 

Attachments

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  • Phillips 66 XC MSDS.pdf
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OK, now I'm having serious nostalgia. My grandfather (born 1889) told me stories of adding mothballs (for the ether) to gasoline for racing boats in the 1920's and 1930's. They raced in lakes and canals in central Florida - more like road racing than typical powerboat racing today.

Also, he taught me his formula for gas for the 2-cycle 35 HP Johnson outboard on his boat: 5 gallons of Amoco premium "white gas", 3 quarts kerosene, 1 quart amoco 2-cycle oil and one can (about 3 oz) of a top oil which I remember as "PowerOil". Now I'm wondering if it was Marvel Mystery Oil as I can't find any references to "PowerOil".

All this talk of mixing this and that for gasoline brought back some memories...

And, to keep this aviation related - he worked for Curtis making tailplanes for Jennys during the first world war.

John
 
dmccormack said:
Uh oh..

I am sheltered.. what about cow magnets?
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They are magnets that are fed to cows to collect bits of metal junk that the cows eat to help it pass through (at least that's the story I heard).:dunno:

And, if you strap them to your fuel line your fuel economy will improve 30% to 50% (at least according to the people that sell them).:rofl:

You can guess my opinion...
 
jsstevens said:
OK, now I'm having serious nostalgia. My grandfather (born 1889) told me stories of adding mothballs (for the ether) to gasoline for racing boats in the 1920's and 1930's. They raced in lakes and canals in central Florida - more like road racing than typical powerboat racing today.

Also, he taught me his formula for gas for the 2-cycle 35 HP Johnson outboard on his boat: 5 gallons of Amoco premium "white gas", 3 quarts kerosene, 1 quart amoco 2-cycle oil and one can (about 3 oz) of a top oil which I remember as "PowerOil". Now I'm wondering if it was Marvel Mystery Oil as I can't find any references to "PowerOil".

All this talk of mixing this and that for gasoline brought back some memories...

And, to keep this aviation related - he worked for Curtis making tailplanes for Jennys during the first world war.

John
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Well one thing to keep in mind about mothballs is that the current crop of them is NOT the same as the old ones your gradnfather would have been using. In the old days they were made of naphtha, now they are made with some of the same stuff in MMO, dichlorobenzene
 
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
They are magnets that are fed to cows to collect bits of metal junk that the cows eat to help it pass through (at least that's the story I heard).:dunno:

And, if you strap them to your fuel line your fuel economy will improve 30% to 50% (at least according to the people that sell them).:rofl:

You can guess my opinion...
Click to expand...

I did not know that...

carson1.jpg
 
Trapper John said:
How many mothballs per quart would that be? :D


Trapper John
Click to expand...

Gary said:
Why buy - make your own! Won't really hurt anything, pretty much just regular petroleum base lube oil cut with mineral spirits and dichlorobenzene. MSDS is attached.

Take a container and add 70-80% of Phillips X/C (CAS #64742-52-5, MSDS Attached) add another 20-30% mineral spirits (Lowes, Home Depot, etc).

Plus 0.25% dichlorobenzene, a dash of Wintergreen oil for the aroma and you have it!

Gary

Edit: Forgot the red dye! Maybe you could make yours blue! We could then call it McCormack Mystery Oil (McCMO!)
Click to expand...

smigaldi said:
Well one thing to keep in mind about mothballs is that the current crop of them is NOT the same as the old ones your gradnfather would have been using. In the old days they were made of naphtha, now they are made with some of the same stuff in MMO, dichlorobenzene
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and/or camphor
 
dmccormack said:
I did not know that...

carson1.jpg
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http://www.magnetsource.com/Solutions_Pages/cowmags.html

Cow magnets are popular with dairy farmers and veterinarians to help prevent Hardware Disease in cattle. While grazing, cows eat everything from grass and dirt to nails, staples and bits of bailing wire (referred to as tramp iron). Tramp iron tends to lodge in the honeycombed walls of the reticulum, threatening the surrounding vital organs and causing irritation and inflammation, known as Hardware Disease. The cow loses her appetite and decreases milk output (dairy cows), or her ability to gain weight (feeder stock). Cow magnets help prevent this disease by attracting stray metal from the folds and crevices of the rumen and reticulum. One magnet works for the life of the cow!
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I doubt the fuel economy improvements.
 
I've always wanted to do some testing on some, get an STC for my own brand, and sell it for an obscene profit. Like Piper does with the Gates belts they sell.
 
Well, now that this thread had been on several tangents, the magnets section reminded me of the very large house I saw recently but didn't take any aerial shots of it -- but I will.
It's a house up on a steep bank and overlooks the ocean, and is about 4 miles -- as the crow flies -- from my house(but I'm not that close to the ocean).

The house looks very long, with residential towers on the ends. But surprise! The man who had it built wanted to have a lengthy view of the ocean below, so he had it built long. It's just not, architecturally, as deep from front to back as one would imagine. BUT VERY NICE!

Magnets? The original owner was the guy who professed that wearing a "Magnet Bracelet" would cure certain ills and/or ailments. He suckered(?????) a lot of people and home business individuals into wearing/selling them; and he produced and sold millions of them -- and built this big pad in Coastal Maine. After a while he tired of it and it now has a different owner. Aviation related? Well, I saw it when I was flying, so I guess there's a tie-in.

HR
 
smigaldi said:
Well it is not a dirty little secret. The stuff has been used for decades. I used it in my Jeep Cherokee that had 175,000 miles on it and it sure helped with keeping the valve form sounding awful. I use it on my gas powered cars in the fuel in the winter time instead of adding Heat and it works great there too.
Click to expand...

Maybe I should have tried that, my Jeep has been make valve noises since about 75,000 miles. On the other hand it just went over 250,000 miles. So maybe I shouldn't change anything.

Brian
 
The boys always claimed it was top-end-lubrication. Kept it hidden, like it was forbidden or illegal or something.
 
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
They are magnets that are fed to cows to collect bits of metal junk that the cows eat to help it pass through (at least that's the story I heard).:dunno:

And, if you strap them to your fuel line your fuel economy will improve 30% to 50% (at least according to the people that sell them).:rofl:

You can guess my opinion...
Click to expand...

And if you strap them to your fuel line they will gather rust particles at that spot and plug the line.

I have a 1951 International truck. It sat for years before I restored it, and the tank got pretty rusty inside. No matter how many times I cleaned it, it still shed enough rust to plug the fuel filter in about 200 miles. So I taped one of those supermagnets to the side of a plastic inline filter, and the rust gathered against the filter wall and stopped plugging the filter.

Magnets are being sold to cure everything from arthritis to cancer. The people who buy those likely buy the fuel-line magnets, too.

Dan
 
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
They are magnets that are fed to cows to collect bits of metal junk that the cows eat to help it pass through (at least that's the story I heard).:dunno:

And, if you strap them to your fuel line your fuel economy will improve 30% to 50% (at least according to the people that sell them).:rofl:

You can guess my opinion...
Click to expand...

Yes I think I can guess that. And it likely matches mine, cow magnets may be good for cows but won't help gas mileage. It always surprises me that they can advertise such blatant falsehoods in national magazines. I guess those "truth in advertising" regulations aren't very effective.
 
For the record, I know of many owners of the older aircraft that were designed to run 80/87 that run 100LL and MMO, and are not having the problems that the skeptics are having. why? who cares? they know it works.

I run 100LL in my Warner, and MMO, I removed the plugs and saw NO lead build up in them after 10 hours. I wouldn't expect to see much, but some, these had none.

Cow magnets, are a great to place on your oil sump/filter to hold steel particles.

Gass line? no I never heard of that, till now.
 
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