Disabling Cylinders?
 

On my Yaris, is there a way to disable, either temporarily or permanently, a cylinder to get better mileage, without damaging the rest of the engine?

No

lol I want a 1 cylinder Yaris.

If you started running on less cylinders you would throw the balance of the engine out of wack firstly and secondly on the Yaris the engine is already a 1.5 liter - not too many cars made today are that small to begin with. Just break it in with out any full throttle use so you polish the cylinders up nice and smooth and switch over to SYNLUBE!

Ok, I take the bait. Tell me about Synlube.

In theory, yes. You could remove the tappets from the valves to seal two of the cylinders; and cut the wires to those fuel injectors. This would disable cylinders the same way as GM's "Displacement on Demand".

In reality, I don't know enough about Toyota engines to say if it would work. If the valves use inverted bucket tappets, the cam lobes might hit the valve stems. On the other hand, if the valves use rocker arms or finger followers, it should work pretty well.

bad idea... if anyhtign to disabel the engine unclip the fuel injector wires and pull out the sparkplug. then it would act as if the pistons werent there.(no compression, no force stopping the engine) but bad idea all around...the computer would detect misfires galore and prolyl screw thigns up . not to mention you would have no power. might as well install bike pedals to get going.

lol

You break in the engine on factory oil and call Miro at Synlube.com and tell him Jan (me) referred you to him. He will set you up with 4 quarts engine oil, 1 quart add oil, filter, magnets (which you need to put on the original filter for 100 miles before you change the oil out), tranny gear lube, and if you want the power steering fluid which a pint should do the job if you don't spill any - I baught a quart and used only half. Get all of the lube at once and he should give you an additional discount. Once done you change the filter after 36k miles and check the oil once a month and sent him an email with the mileage and any fluids added or you can call too. You will see that the engine runs quieter, smoother, gets more power, and your mileage should increase about 10-15% maybe more. The next part is the hardest . . . you have to get used to the idea that you do NOT have to change the oil for 150,000 miles or 15 years. Just change the filter at 36k and 75k. Should you want to change the oil, send it back to Synlube and they will replace it for free - just shipping charges I would think.

But what exactly IS Synlube?

Oh yeah you are already running Mobile 1 well get the tranny oil from Synlube. Stop giving your money away to the oil companies!

It is a 3 to 5 micron colloidal particle size mixture of graphite, TPFE Teflon, and Molybdenum Disulfide (moly) in a liquid carrier which becomes a solid lubricant system. It coats the friction surfaces with these solid lubricants making them smoother and more slippery and provides lubrication without relying upon oil film and oil pressure alone. The engine oil is also a 5-50 weight and will continue to lubricate properly when heated to over 500 degrees. It is just really slippery stuff!

Dang that sounds cool!

pyramid scheme? Uncertified lubrication product! Jan won't shut up about it, but makes money on referrals.

ack

there are better ways to get better mileage out of your car, you would be better off choping the roof, and ripping out the inside of the car, find out what vehicles had simaler trannys, and see if any of them have gearing that is more appealing, but in my mind disabling cylenders should be left to engeners, as even they strugle with making it work.

Cylinder ddeactivation technology exists and does work. But why have the car engineers not applied it to 4 cylinder engines? It's a conspiracy, I tell you.

It bothers me to no end that most carmakers just won't put the FE goodies in 4 bangers.

gains from el-cheapo, turn off a couple fuel injectors, cylinder deactivation schemes are negligible.

Gains from killing the injectors, closing the intake valve and leaving the exhaust valve open (or closed perhaps) are a little better. Still significant losses in moving the pistons and the air for no reason.

Really, you need to decouple those cylinders that are not being used from the drivetrain for best efficiency (and still have a balanced setup). Or just do without the extra cylinders to begin with :)

No its a referral fee - no membership other than being a Synlube customer I would think - may not even need to be a customer. Once he referrs someone he also gets a referral fee. There are a lot of small companies making things out there that are not as big as oil companies making massive profit off of products they suck out of the ground. This is a mature product used in tens of thousands of vehicles made from non-petrolium products and can be 100% recycled.

a scooter is a one cylinder, a geo got 3 cylinders and a yaris got 4

the thing about disabeling a cylinder is more for a 8 cylinders who OBSVIOUSLY doesnt need at all its for cylinder to keep moving when reaching a certain speed, but your yaris could probably not stand 60mph on 2 cylinders....

hahaha the guys got the best conventional FE machine out there for the years, and he wants better FE, MAYBE the industrie doesnt do enough and spand to much $ on useless piece of performance or luxuary I will NEVER ever fu**** need, but yessssss the making billions of dollars.

So you are making money on referrals, which is what he just said. Or is synlube charging you a "fee" to refer people?

I've been reading this discussion (I'm currently at page 5 of 23) and am not impressed with synlube thus far from it. There are a lot of valid issues being raised there, including why synlube is claiming to meet or exceed certain oil standards while never having submitted their oil for testing.

There is a referral fee and it is not that big - about 5% of a referral sale I think, so I have part of my next oil filter paid for - but it is not a pyramid marketing company. I did it to a fellow xB owner because she was interested in getting some better mileage like I was and Miro likes to know how people hear about his products.

All the disscussions about it can go on and on but in my experiance if you get better mileage from less friction then that means less wear and since they have not had any oil related engine failures from people using their product and have been selling the product for MANY years as well as it being used on the Mars and Lunar rovers and the space station I thought it was ready for me to use in my new xB. I have always used various teflon additives in my vehicles since my first car in 1972 and always have gotten mileage improvements. Moly has been used by the military since WWII and its use in this product along with TPFE and Graphite seems to take care of the a few other mechanical and chemical needs that oils have to deal with. Most if not all of the people knocking it have not used it so consider that too. Lets not also remember some of the "oil" tests are made to test "oil" and this stuff is not "oil" it is in fact an engineered lubricant that is better than oil.
Another note is that in about 174 miles I will have 15,000 miles on it in my engine and all I have added was a little "Add Oil" at 10,000 miles to bring the level on the dip stick to the full mark since the initial filling which wasn't quite full and it is still at the full mark at 18,526 miles.

Looking at the article about 1/3 the way down seems to say it all - 0w20 oils will reduce engine life Synlube 5w50 will make it last longer and still provide better fuel economy.

here is a quote in that post which pretty much says it very well . . .

This next quote is also a good one . . .

So maybe you should limit your discussion of lubricants to the forsale forum?

"pyramid scheme? Uncertified lubrication product! Jan won't shut up about it, but makes money on referrals."

From my experience with him on the forums, he has actually been pretty reticent about it, only going into detail when prodded. 5% of a referral on a product that is only a couple hundred bucks or so is nothing, considering the (at present) meager advertising power of sites like this. I don't think Yoshi for example is giving up his day job. A proper MLM type scheme would have referral fees being on the order of 30% or more, minimum.

The fact is that there is bugger all money to be made on a lubricant that is only bought once or twice in a vehicle's lifetime. Let's do the math.

Synlube:
150k miles, $200. That's $1.33 per 1000 miles, and molybdenum isn't exactly free, nor is PTFE as far as I know.

Oil industry:
3k miles, $30? (In Australia, supposedly good quality oil is about $50/ 5 litres)
That's $10/ 1000 miles. What is lubricating oil? It's effectively a byproduct, as far as I can tell. Read the wikipedia (yeah I know, it's wikipedia, but often a good first order understanding until shown otherwise) article on fuel oil, especially bunker fuel.

So you have something that earns a tenth the revenue, even less profit, and expect that to win out in the marketplace against something that can pour 60% of its earnings into advertising and still be more profitable? Don't think so.

You're not stupid, I suspect that you understand that this is the way the world works with pharmaceuticals, razors, shaving gel, food, transport and clothes. The products that are next to free and work great for a long time (or forever) don't generate profit, and without profit, they can't advertise. Products that advertise something that is inherently cheap at high prices, especially if it does the job, even in a half assed way, will win out. Due to the bell curve, there are always a few idiots out there waiting to be parted from their money, and that money pays for advertising, which brainwashes more people until the vast majority of people have never even heard of, or scoff at the alternative.

That's a separate issue entirely from whether or not this product actually works as claimed, but on the face of it the basic idea seems sound, and we have one knowledgeable member (at least, with electronics stuff) who recommends it. As someone who did well in highschool chemistry, I have no problem with the idea that different chemicals are unstable (e.g. petroleum) at different temperatures, which is the basic idea behind why this lubricant should not degrade. (As I understand it, the presence of colloidal particles in the lubricant act to reduce friction and wear.)

If Miro would get back to me, I'm going to try it, and if it works, I will say so and recommend it. If it doesn't, I will be badmouthing it on every relevant forum I frequent.

I appreciate that perspective, but I count 100 posts by jan in 54 threads where he mentions synlube. Can you say reticent 100 times? ;)

That's the rub, testing and certification are expensive, gotta run a lot of engines a long time to get reliable results. Does it mean that you skip it before going to market?

Guess none, there's a few patents that mention it but you are correct in the implication AFAIK. I was working from memory (not always a good idea).


I can see the smarter engineers at gm really groaning as the current deactivation scheme was taking shape.

I did on a 304 Javelin and it was a mistake. I left the intake valves out. The transfer from cylinder to cylinder sapped the power at high rpm. I gained about 10-15% in mileage. The engine ran fine on 1 barrel of the carb. The intake manifold was completely separated which I thought was a bit unusual.

How many of those does he go into detail? I searched his posts looking for detail about synlube, and came up short which was why I asked him directly.
Maybe, especially if the market is tiny. You'd test it enough to satisfy yourself, not a government regulatory body. That is a different issue entirely as to whether it works or not.

e.g. I went ahead with the drag coefficient modifications on my car without testing each one on its own to verify that they all work, and I get a much improved drag coefficient at the end and increased fuel economy. I haven't got the money to book wind tunnel time to certify the improvement either.

I'm willing to risk my car's engine on this stuff because I'm an enthused hobbyist and my car is very inexpensive. I suspect that I'll get a good idea of whether it works or not in 2-3 years, which is 50,000km. I'm sure, being a vocal forum poster, Miro would think twice before selling me something that doesn't function as claimed. It's obvious judging by my car that I care as much about being known as "the sucker who fell for the synlube scam" as I would "the crazy synlube avocate" or "the guy who drives that ridiculous car with the bolted on sheet aluminium, sheet plastic and too-small air intake that looks like it should overheat".

It has been run in a lot of engine for a long time . . . from the Synlube site...

Oh, it said so on the internet! Of course :)

Hey watch it Skewbe - you are boarding on personal attacks with these posts you are making.

how did a cylinder deactivation thread get contaminated with a spamlube discussion again?

wow, I shoulda searched, there is a recent (ok, not that recent) cylinder deactivation experiment right here:
https://www.gassavers.org/showthread.php?t=243

My only complaint about SynLube is that I emailed the guy, asking him exactly what it was, and he referred me to his website, which nowhere states specifically exactly what it is.

After many years in the business explaining what his product is gets pretty repetative - so check out this like below or the text I clipped from it. The Table of Contents is a good place to start in their website too.

https://www.synlube.com/prod01.htm

Product Description
SynLube™ is a synergetic blend of man-made liquid and solid chemically inert lubricants that are thermally stable from -65°F (-54°C) to over 500°F (260°C). The sub-micronic particles of Graphite, PTFE and MoS2 are colloidally suspended in a mixture of synthetic liquid lubricants.

SynLube™ is a 100% fully synthetic, multi-grade, super premium, colloidal Sol lubricant.

SynLube™ does not oxidize nor decompose like conventional Petroleum or Synthetic Motor Oils. It can be therefore used, without oil changes, for up to 15 Years / 150,000 Miles or for up to
5,000 Hours of Engine operation in Gasoline Engines, or up to 2,000 Hours in Diesel Engines.

SynLube™ Lube-4-Life ® ...for Engines is backed up, if installed in NEW vehicles, by our exclusive Limited Lubrication Performance Warranty for up to:
15 Years or 150,000 Miles (15 years or 240,000 Kilometers)
see: Warranty in Services section for details.



Product Performance
SynLube™ Lube-4-Life ® ...for Engines exceeds all of the following performance requirements:

API Service SJ Warranty Requirements for new 1997 Model Cars, Vans & Trucks
API Service SL Warranty Requirements for new 2001 Model Cars, Vans & Trucks
API Service SM Warranty Requirements for new 2005 Model Cars, Vans & Trucks
API Service CG-4, CF-2, CF-4, CF Warranty Requirements for Heavy Duty Diesel Engines
API Service CH-4 Warranty Requirements for new 1998 Low Emission Heavy Duty Diesels
API Service CI-4 Warranty Requirements for new 2002 Low Emission Heavy Duty Diesels with EGR.
API Service CJ-4 Warranty Requirements for new 2007 Low Emission Heavy Duty Diesels using fuel with 15 PPM Sulfur.
Global DHD-1 performance specification for Heavy Duty Diesel Service according to International specifications
Cummins performance specification 20076 (also called CH-4 plus or CH-4+)
Mack EO-M, EO-M PLUS, EO-L, EO-L PLUS & EO-K/2 Performance Specifications
Quadruple Cummins NTC-400 performance
Caterpillar 10 TBN requirements
Detroit Diesel 7SE 270
Exceeds the requirements of MIL-L-22851C (U.S. Military)
ACEA ES-99 European Specifications for Heavy Duty Diesel Engine Oil
ACEA B4-98 European Specifications for Light Duty High Speed Diesel Engine Oil
ACEA A3-98 European Specification for Gasoline Engine Oil
CCMC PD-2 for High Performance Automotive Diesel Engines
CCMC G-5 & D-5
ILSAC GF-1, GF-2, GF-3 & GF-4

The thread I posted before (and that JanGeo quoted from) notes something very interesting. Several of those specifications that SynLube claims to meet are mutually exclusive. IE if it meets one, there is no way it'll meet another because their requirements are so different.

Also according to that thread, SynLube hasn't actually submitted to and been certified for many of them, so SynLube is *claiming* too meet specifications, but are unwilling or uninterested in actually getting certified as meeting it.

I personally wouldn't risk spending nearly $200 for the chance to put an *uncertified* oil in my car. I care too much about protecting my car to do that.

Well, certifications are that. You pay to have it looked at under specific parameters set up by someone. Those paramaters may have specific assumptions or even very low standards.

Personally, I have had an oil mixed to my specifications for my racing motorcycle. It isn't a bike that got torn down all the time or anything, so it's not like it was a lubricant that only had a shorts shelf life. We didn't submit it for any certification.

Similarly, motorcycle helmets have about three certifications that state standards for what they do. In some cases, a helmet that meets one specification cannot meet the other, and visa versa. It's a struggle for some to think outside the box.

I'm not sold completely on the Synlube idea, but I'd like to know more. New ideas are often looked at with distaste while the same ol' same ol' is looked at as gospel. I don't think that a manufacture would give one warranty coverage for using a non API certified oil for an oil related failure.

On a completely unrelated note, helicopters are still not supposed to work, but I've seen them and even flown in a couple. Maybe Synlube is the best stuff on earth? I don't know yet.

Which one is not possible to meet both with the same product? You think the same oil would not work in both diesel and gas motors? It can if it meets the requirements for both. Wouldn't be surprised if one of the specs is for it to have the ability to suspend sludge in it and it doesn't have to because none is formed by Synlube just like its ability to carry ash which it doesn't need to do because it doesn't create any.

Best stuff on earth?? Best stuff on Mars and the Moon!

Also keep in mind that Synlube has I think over 200 different products.

Like I said when all this started - if a Yugo can run 350,000 miles on this stuff then it must be pretty good.

https://www.synlube.com/15years.htm#1987%20YUGO%20GV

I'm betting the duration of the daily drive (120 miles) and the individual driver habits contribute more toward the over all total mileage rather than just oil. An persons obstinance can even allow one to keep a car through axles, brakes, etc. where others just junk stuff.

I know people with old air cooled motorcycles that have 100k. It runs great, but at some point, most people ask why and part it out or move on to something that rides better and so on.

lol when my parents forst got married they had a 76 dodge van and liek a 77 ltd hunk of crap. van had a straight 6 that was still running and driving until like 96 when it started crapping out.(it was everywhere, vacatiion/camper van) lol the ltd had a v8, well untill one of the pistons blew so my dad just took the sparkplug out , sealed the valves shut(took off the rockers) so it was a v7 and ran with a missfire...supposedly ran for a few years till they got a new car for her...

hehe any car can run almost forever with basic preventative maintince and good filters.

especially if the yugo driver was crusin 120 miles each way, thats a crapload of miles per start up ya know? the most wear and tear on an engine is short trips, its when the oil has to be pumped all the way back up the top end to start lubricating the pistons and valves and such. should do a test on a car using only dino oil and regular maintince and see how much wear it has...

They DO have this today. I have it in my 2007 Honda Civic Hybrid. Under low-load conditions all eight valves close and all four cylinders are deactivated. At this point the car is propelled under the electric motor's power alone.