People ask “ Why should I use AMSOIL Upper Cylinder Lubricant?” And my response back is “why wouldn’t you”?
An upper cylinder lubricant is a fuel additive that’s primary function is to lubricate the upper parts of the cylinder above the piston rings and to prevent rust and corrosion from causing premature wear on metal parts. They also clean and lubricate the fuel injectors, protect the valve train and prevent carbon buildup on the pistons.
The upper cylinder, or the top end, are the parts above your rings that include: the valves, valve seats, fuel injectors and others. Keeping these areas lubricated and clean prevents performance and power robbing issues. Prevention of these issues also helps to increase the longevity of your engine, by preventing premature wear of the upper cylinder parts.
Keep reading to learn more about Upper Cylinder Lubricants.
Why Use an Upper Cylinder Lubricant
An Upper Cylinder Lubricant is used to help to prevent corrosion and rust due to the ethanol in todays fuels. Ethanol attracts water and when you shut your vehicle down, some of the intake valves are left open to the air which allows moist air to enter the cylinders, creating rust and corrosion.
The speeding up of this process is enhanced when the effects of a cooling down engine mixes with the ethanol in the fuel. As your engine cools, it creates condensation in the cylinder and ethanol attracts even more water. Because this area is made of metal and lacks the proper oil to coat it, “flash corrosion” can occur.
Upper Cylinder Lubricants are also used to prevent premature wear on metal parts. Upper Cylinder Lubricants coat metal surfaces and prevent rust and corrosion from starting. Another factor that increases rust an corrosion are vehicles that sit. They don’t have to sit long before micro corrosion occurs, but the longer it sits the worse it gets. Then when you start your engine, the corrosion causes more damage.
Another benefit of Upper Cylinder Lubricants is a thing called “oil cushion”. The “oil cushion” or thin protection film on the valves, helps prevent the slamming together of bare metal as the valves open and close. This film also helps to guide the valves into place helping create a good seal. This prevents excessive wear on the valves and valve seats.
In older fuels, lead was an additive in the fuels that acted like this oil cushion for your valves. Now that lead has been removed, its up to additives in products like AMSOIL Upper Cylinder Lubricant to accomplish this.
These products also clean and lubricate the fuel injectors, protect the valve train and prevent carbon buildup in the combustion chamber. With new technology like direct injection, injectors and other parts are subject to increased conditions that promote damage. Keeping these areas properly lubricated and clean becomes even more important.
Fuel Injectors have tiny openings, as small as 1 micron, to spray fuel into the combustion chamber. These injectors use many tiny moving parts to produce the right amount of fuel that exits that opening. These parts work better and last longer if they are lubricated properly and remain clean.
Newer testing shows that products like AMSOIL’s Upper Cylinder Lubricant, provides 18% better lubrication than its competitors like Sea Foam* and Lucas* Upper Cylinder Lubricant.
Carburetors also contain many small passages and moving parts just like fuel injectors. All these parts like to be lubricated to perform at their peak. Today’s fuels with ethanol, just cause havoc on all these parts including your fuel pump, which is not only costly, but can be a nightmare to change out.
All of these items can reduce the performance and power of your engine, causing your engine parts to work harder. The harder an engine has to work the faster it wears out. Using an upper cylinder lubricant provides extra lubrication to these parts and helps to save you money.
Why did people start using Upper cylinder lubricants
Upper Cylinder Lubricants have been used in Racing engines for a long time, because race fuels use alcohol. Alcohol attracts water and also washes the oil from the cylinder walls. This causes all the effects described above and an upper cylinder lubricant combats those problems. This in turn, reduces the wear damage causing these expensive specialized engines to last longer.
The fuel blends mass produced today contain ethanol in them. Ethanol attracts water causing the same conditions as race fuels do. It was a natural transition to start using upper cylinder lubricants in daily driven vehicles, as issues with using and combatting ethanol in fuels had already been figured out in the racing arena. So using the AMSOIL upper cylinder lubricant to is another piece to making your engine last.
How It Works
Upper Cylinder Lubricants are added to the fuel, because this is the best way to get the additives in the product into and onto parts. Fuel runs from the fuel tank through the fuel pump into the fuel injectors where it is then sprayed into the combustion chamber. From the combustion chamber the additives get into the top end parts and do their work.
Along the way, the Upper Cylinder Lubricant cleans, lubricates and protects the fuel system and other parts. When shutting down your vehicle an Upper Cylinder Lubricant leaves a thin protective coating on metal parts to help protect it during non use and subsequent start up.
Why Use AMSOIL Upper Cylinder Lubricant
Some people will use an ash-less 2 stroke oil and mix in some Techron, but why use products that are not specifically designed for this application? By mixing up your own blend, in your own ratio’s, you run the risk of causing damage instead of preventing it. Choosing AMSOIL Upper Cylinder Lubricant, you know your getting a product designed and tested for this purpose.
Also, when I hear the phrase “I’ve used it for years with no problems”, I ask some simple questions back. Those questions are “How long do you actually keep your vehicle” and “What is your max vehicle mileage or years owned timeframe before buying a newer car”? In other words, are you getting rid of this vehicle before you find out that there are issues from the homemade products your using?
Todays vehicle owners only keep their vehicles a few years. According to this AutoTrader article the average person owns a vehicle 71 months, while the average age of vehicles on the road are just over 11 years old.
This is important, because it shows most people get rid of their car before they really learn if they properly cared for their vehicle. Those that buy “used cars” expect issues to pop up and just blow those issues off. They don’t care as much as to why things broke, because its a “used car” and just want it fixed.
Using a product like AMSOIL Upper Cylinder Lubricant, that is specifically designed and tested for this use prevents any problems from “making your own”.
Why Else Should You Use AMSOIL Upper Cylinder Lubricant
AMSOIL Upper Cylinder Lubricant’s unique additives package provides the missing lubrication that fights piston-ring and cylinder wear. It helps maximize engine compression and horsepower.
Its lubricity improvers aid in protecting fuel injectors and other fuel-system components from wear, helping ensure excellent performance and long-life. Testing shows AMSOIL Upper Cylinder Lubricant delivers 18 percent more lubricity than Lucas* and 20 percent more than Sea Foam* for better retention of horsepower and fuel economy.
AMSOIL Upper Cylinder Lubricant uses potent corrosion inhibitors to coat metal surfaces, block out moisture and stop deterioration before it starts. Inhibiting corrosion maximizes component life and reduces wear in the engine’s top-end to guard against compression loss and maintain optimum power.
AMSOIL Upper Cylinder Lubricant contains detergent additives designed to maintain injector cleanliness. Upper Cylinder Lubricant helps preserve injector and combustion-chamber cleanliness.
When Should You Use Upper Cylinder Lubricant And How Often
AMSOIL recommends this product for gasoline engines in cars and trucks. One bottle treats up to 25 gallons and is safe to use at every fill up. Using it with every tank of fuel helps retain fuel-economy and performance gains and maximizes component life. Plus, bottles are compatible with cap-less fuel systems.
AMSOIL does not recommend this product for 2 stroke and diesel engines. They make Diesel Fuel Additive products for diesel specific applications. AMSOIL has its Quickshot fuel additive for 2 stroke equipment.
Buy AMSOIL Upper Cylinder Lubricant Today
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