engine and drivetrain Castrol GTX with liquid tungsten?

[Guest Anonymous]

I posted the question below about some royal purple oil discovered in the garage. learned a little from the responses as well as my own research. After finding the purple stuff, I next found some castrol oil of similar 70's vintage. The packaging indicates it contains "liquid tungsten".

Interestingly (to me) a search raised serious issues as to problems that may have been attributed to this oil. One blog talks about Mercedes engine "issues." Since some of you folks may have used this product when it was new, I just though I'd ask for some first hand experiences, if any.

From what I have read, I am afraid to ask anything concerning "best", "worst", "polls," "carpet" or "advice." This post does not concern those topics, I hope.

[jerry]

liquid tungsten (element: W) sounds like 'snake-oil' to me. tungsten is typically associated with hardness and is an element added to steels and Ni-base superalloys to form carbide precipitates which affect hardness. to my knowledge, (which is admittedly, stretching somewhat here), tungsten is not typically associated with any additional lubricity.

molybdenum (element: Mo), on the other hand offers good lubricity when pulverized. i use moly powder (from Dow Corning, btw) mixed with motor oil, forming a paste, as an anti-seize compound. a trick i picked up in the aeroengine overhaul business.

molybdenum disulphide (MoS_2), is the form typically added to grease to yield exceptional lubricity. however, in high temperature environments, beyond normal automobile environments, btw, embrittlement issues have been noted and it is avoided in turbines.

back to the tungsten issue, i suspect it is playing on the public perception of hard, tough and strong. i do remember the old shick razor commercials on television that made a big deal about tungsten coating on the edges of the blades. they used that imagery for years.