Which Engine Oil Substitute Myth Test Brand Wins?
A head-to-head test of 3 engine oil substitute myth test options with the measured results for each. See how they ranked and watch the full test video.
Honey
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The measured results
Every number below is read straight from the test. Scroll sideways to see all measurements. Products are listed in the order they finished.
| Product | Cold Flow Test | Lubricity Test | Engine Run Test | Breakaway Torque To Spin Locked Engine | Post Rescue Compression Test | Final Outcome | Rescue Attempt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1Honey | flow of honey below 31F in a freezer was compared against 10W-30 motor oil; the setup is described but no explicit result or winner is narrated for this sub-test | wear scar (scoring) on the honey-lubricated bearing was about the same as on the 10W-30-lubricated bearing, described as suggesting honey might work quite well in the crankcase | honey added to the crankcase in place of oil; the honey began literally boiling inside the crankcase from engine heat and the engine completely locked up | about 65.5 ft lbs of torque needed to get the honey-locked engine to spin over | 89 PSI / 6.1 Bar, per the meta chapter title only ('Compression test: 89 PSI / 6.1 Bar'), never spoken in the transcript narration and its point in the rescue timeline (before or after which step) is unclear from text alone | engine was eventually coaxed back into running for a couple of minutes after the crankcase was flushed with Marvel Mystery Oil and the cylinder wall and valves were sprayed with Seafoam Deep Creep, but the engine is described afterward as in bad condition with maybe one or two more videos of life left in it | not tested |
| 2Marvel Mystery Oil | not tested | not tested | not tested | not tested | not tested | not tested | added to the honey-fouled crankcase in an attempt to free the locked engine; narrator frames this as 'a showdown between Marvel Mystery Oil and honey', engine run for about 2 to 3 minutes afterward |
| 3Seafoam Deep Creep | not tested | not tested | not tested | not tested | not tested | not tested | sprayed on the cylinder wall and valves to help loosen the honey-fouled intake valve so it would close on its own again |
How it was tested
- cold flow comparison below 31F versus 10W-30
- lubricity/wear-scar bearing test versus 10W-30
- engine run test with honey as crankcase oil
- breakaway torque required to free the locked engine
- post-rescue compression test
- engine rescue attempt with Marvel Mystery Oil and Seafoam Deep Creep
“Honey is definitely not a very good engine oil substitute. Please do not try this. This will definitely ruin an engine.”
Data notes and caveats
This is a myth/stunt test (honey as an engine oil substitute), not a competing-brand head-to-head, so isHeadToHead is false and no single product winner is declared; the clear finding is that honey fails catastrophically as engine oil, while Marvel Mystery Oil is described as having 'prevailed' over the honey specifically in the improvised rescue/flush attempt (not as a general oil comparison). The meta chapter 'Compression test: 89 PSI / 6.1 Bar' (126-175s) has no corresponding narration in the transcript at all, only a bare number in the chapter title with no stated before/after context; logged to data/onscreen-only.txt for video-frame recovery of the surrounding context. Cold-flow test result versus 10W-30 is set up in narration but its outcome is never stated.
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