just for a change i stuck some stop smoke in with the standard repco branded 20-50w ive always run. seems to smoke allot less but has much more tappet noise which i can understand considering its now thicker oil. im wondering weather the tappet noise will cause any problems apart from a bit of wear and possibly wrong valve lash.
i am aware that all stop smoke does is thickens the oil but considering it all cost $38 with a filter and 6l of oil im happy. he also suggested paying over $50 for some much thicker oil but i dont see the difference.
im wondering what other peoples experiences are with this stuff. i searched the forums but there wasnt mant references to it.
thanks
regards jay

Noisy tappets - mine on a V6 TS were noisy for a long time, when the heads were stripped down some of the lifters had lost their case hardening and were pitted, and some valve stem ends were hammered badly. One exhaust valve was burnt. So, in short, noisy lifters will do damage, over a long period of time. Also, if the oil is too thick for the oil to move through the lifter, it will gum up and not retract when it should, possibly keeping the valve from seating and leading to it burning. It just depends on how long you want the thing to keep going really, without a proper head overhaul, but thick oil isn't good for it.