Redex. Does it work?

  1. My model of MX-5 is: 2023 ND 2.0 Homura
  2. I’m based near: Yorkshire_
  3. I’m looking for technical help or recommendations on:Redex_

Thinking of putting some Redex in my cars. Anyone any thoughts on the product as in does it work? Regards

Hmm, with modern fuels (eg V-Power), lubricants and engine tech (hard chromed bores etc), it’s probably a waste of money. And I have my doubts about what it might do to a cat.

After 200k miles of commuting around the M25 my old Astra was still brilliant and using less oil than when it was brand new, but that was regularly serviced twice a year! Modern cars are better still.

However 1,
in the past for 1950s and 1960s cars the original Redex and Lubrocharger was an amazingly effective upper cylinder lubricant. Mt Dad’s 1957 Morris Isis did 370K over 40 years without needing a rebore. I did the rings and head overhaul for him at about 180K when the head gasket began to leak outside the block, but that was all it needed. It had the same clutch all that time! This was in dry Africa, no rust. He installed most of this kit (pic found on the web) from new.

I might still have one from my old Zodiac, hidden in a junk box!

However 2,
in 1969 my old Zephyr’s water pump sprang a leak when touring in France, and when we arrived at the garage where it was going to be fixed, there was a 2CV with its seized rings being un-seized.
I recognised the stink as the mechanic continued to squirt that same Redex into the carb while spinning the engine over from a big booster set. Eventually it caught and ran, and then quickly sounded normal. The whole village was swamped by plumes of stinking blue smoke as he continued to add more Redex until he was satisfied!
The two young French girls got in and headed back to the highway, with the strict instruction NOT to cruise foot flat.

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The stuff I’m thinking of is the injection cleaning stuff?

A couple of tankfuls of V-Power will clean them, and pay for their “extra cost” over regular.

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Yeah I mostly already use v power

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Check out “JayEmm on Cars” on YouTube. There is a recent clip on the benefit of using premium fuels such as Shell V-Power with a speaker who has worked in the fuel industry for many years.
Well worth a look.

Spoiler alert: the expert always uses V-Power in his performance cars and thoroughly endorses the use of premium fuel in modern high performance cars.

Nuff said?

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Depends on the ethanol content too?
Watch some youtube vids on ehtanol in ‘super’ unleaded, where some user (i.e average joe) tests them. In E5, many return ~ 5% ethanol, but some E5s a negligible amount. Granted V power (as well as Momentum and ESSO’s synergy supreme+) is RON 99, compared to a BP ultimate, Salisbury’s E5, GUlf, Texaco etc, which are RON97, but ethanol should come into it too. The ESSO one USED to be zero ethanol where I am until about a year or so ago, when the climate clown show finally caught up to it.

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Definitely recommend Tesco momentum fuel.my mx5 nd runs noticeably better and after putting in my 2 year old Renault captur the annoying top end injector knock disappeared almost immediately.

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Yeah, every drop of my ND miles has been Momentum or V Power in its first year or so, but since then, for 5.5 years straight I’ve only used ESSO’s super brew, every fill, once I found out it didn’t (then) have ethanol in it.
The other cars in the family only get Momentum or ESSOs.
There isn’t a V power garage for about 15 miles from me, and a rubbish journey/roads to get there. There was one close by, but it changed to a TEXACO about Corona time. Not surprised though, only so long they can charge stupid prices before getting punished.

I prefer using Premium fuel, rather than additives.

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The only things worth using are stabilisers or quality octane boosters if your car sits for long periods without fresh fuel being added. The rest aren’t really needed nowadays. Redline and liqui moly work for me but don’t splash out on them often.

My car is mapped to premium fuel so I put premium in, but I do occasionally stick some Redex snake oil if I see a bottle on sale :slight_smile:

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I guess it’s a bit like throwing confetti off the back of an open top deck of a London tourist bus to keep the wild elephants away.

It must work because when did you last see a wild elephant roaming the streets of London?

:grinning:

My choice of snake oils are produced by Forté

Snake oil.

Just use Shell V Power petrol. Much better for your engine than ordinary fuels, and the increased MPG more than pays for the price difference.

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Not London, but many years ago I did meet a herd of elephants going for a walk along a county road in deepest Lincolnshire, so I wonder if elephant / Redex theory might need some further work?!?

:elephant: :elephant: :elephant:

(The circus they belonged to over-wintered at the ex-Honington railway goods yard and I think they were going for exercise, but still an awe inspiring sight).

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When I was very young (6) I met some genuine wild elephants in what was then Bechuanaland, now Botswana. This was when visiting a remote weather station on a hillock next to the Chobe lakes, to exchange its transmitter batteries; four of us, float-plane pilot, Dad, me, and the local tracker we met there who ran the station.

A family of elephants approached and seemed to want to know what we were doing in their territory. The tracker went across empty handed and greeted them affectionately, obviously they knew him well; they all sniffed him with their trunks!

He introduced the matriarch to us, and showed her what we were doing in the little enclosure. I didn’t know enough to be scared of them, and I had read a couple of Babar books so I loved elephants. The books didn’t mention how very, very big they were, or the smell…

She was pleased we were all respectful, you could see it, and the trunk tip was like a gentle hand when she sniffed me. I still remember the magic of that occasion although many of the other details have faded away.

And I still don’t understand how the tracker did it!

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Depends on how many were there before you started throwing the confetti. :blush:

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