To each his or her own. Its the same for tires, oils, wipers, brands of gasoline, and the like. I know we have NO electric oil pump and they would not function fully if the crank was in the wrong position anyway. SO, an engine treatment to protect the close tolerances in MY engines will be taken care of. I used the term 'dry start', that means (to ME) that the engine sat for quite a period of time before cranked/ran. In actuality, a rebuilt motor would NEVER be dry because anyone who rebuilds a motor without having all associated parts drowning in any type of (assembly) oil deserves to rebuild it down the road. No matter how thin or thick oil is, I believe the oil could be mostly gone from the bearings upon a cold start (given my car sometimes sits for MONTHS without being started). I know STP is extremely persistent, and clings to everything it touches. The intent is to have the coating of STP on the bearings to fight off any wear until the pressurized oil floats the associated parts internal. So, that is my choice to add STP to my engines. If semantics is an issue then maybe some leeway should be applied? Who knows...


My 87 Buick Park Ave blew a timing belt/gears back in @ 96/97, that 3.8L motor had 132000 miles on its odometer but actually had over 161000 miles on it (odometer was replaced it its lifetime before I bought it). The shop (college auto shop, I was in classes across the hall a Friday morning when the belt blew at lunch break, and they did the work for a course project for a grand total of 68 bucks and a bundle of shop towels) took that Friday afternoon until Tuesday morning the following week, to fix it. The Monday morning I got to classes, the guy in charge of the college shop (head instructor) that did the work could not believe how clean the internals were. He called me into the shop (during one of my breaks) showing me the entire front of the motor off (and the oil pan off being cleaned of the timing gear fiberglass parts). He asked directly how many miles were on it and how/why it was so clean, I told them I used a (at the time) generic engine treatment at every recommended oil chance (same bottle as STP, same consistency as STP, procured from WalMart). My 02 Camaro 5.7L LS1 motor is notorious for its noisy lifters upon startup and until its warmed up. The noise is almost eliminated by adding a bottle of STP when the oil is changed. This one result convinces me something is different, so I continue to add STP to my motors. Always have, always will. Yes, oil changes may be enough for most, many do not follow any schedule (all you have to do is pull the dipstick and you can see the abuses engines get). I choose to INVEST in another 3 bucks a year for my engines (6 for the XF, as it takes 8 quarts oil). BTW, the ONLY reason I use the factory listed Mobil1 oil in the 0W-40 weight, is because I will not let Chrysler have the ability to deny my LPW. If I was not able to get the Mobil1 at 22 bucks a 5 qt bottle, I would probably use a synthetic BLEND at a less expensive price (or maybe even plain DINO oil OH MY!). It isn't rocket science, it IS clever marketing and cooperation with auto manufacturers, to confuse both the government pollution folks and consumers who just throw hands up and take it to the stealerships. Yes, I said it, GOD BLESS capitalism!