addo wrote:By what mechanism
can it achieve miracles? Have Lubegard tested their water dispersant spray on the Red Sea?
Healthy scepticism is good guys, but so is an open mind and thinking outside the box.
We're not talking about a run of the mill easy to diagnose and fix problem here as the length of the thread shows, I think many of you would have been tearing your hair out in the same situation and probably have given up long ago...
There have been other faults too... faulty plug leads for sure, at one point I had fouled plugs, and my new coil pack went and failed on me last month. I'm just talking about the remaining symptoms after those have been resolved, eg the ongoing intermittent hesitation, throttle lag and low power at low rpm.
What could it do ? How about removal of varnish and sludge ? The fact that the tappets are silent on start up now should make it obvious that it has done
something. Will it last ? I don't know. If it does last what has it done exactly ? No way to be sure. I'm not a chemical engineer...
You can help the motor by idling for just a few minutes prior to driving off. Loading it up when stone cold is one way to increase the combustion waste in your oil. Only have to wait until the temperature gauge is on the lowest notch. By then I usually find the mirrors and rear glass are starting to clear.
I always used to let my Citroen's idle for at least 30 seconds before driving to let the suspension lift, I've been a bit lazy with that lately so I really should go back to that...its good for the engine if nothing else. In the winter it usually gets to idle 5 to 10 minutes while the heater warms up and the ice is scraped off the windows...
Chris570 wrote:I'm with addo's cynicism here. I would get that old oil out pretty quickly, especially if you think that the noisy valve gear is causing the problem. Yes it has an additive in it but you'll get cleaner having a bath in clean water than you will in sewage mixed with shampoo. Do your engine a favour and get the gunk out.
It's not "old" oil, its only been in there a month...

The additive that's in there now has some varnish/sludge removing agents in it (although not as much as their specific flushing agent) so some of that crud will be coming out into suspension in the oil now. I'll give it another change next month, no money left this month for stuff like that.
Is the battery clamp done yet?
Nope. I have one of those quick release clamps that RichardW suggested, it looks like a better fit than the other one but I'm still sceptical of its long term durability and whether it will be any better than what I have now. The clamp is clamping nice and firmly since I straightened it out and there are no problems with voltage drop, so no evidence that it's causing any issues. I'm trying to avoid "diagnose by replacing" which I've done far too much of, and actually replace stuff that tests faulty...