Dear Tom and Ray:

I have a 1984 BMW 528e with 248,000 miles. I bought it when it had 47,000. Lately, I've been burning a quart of oil every 375 to 500 miles. I can still buy 20W-50 for 99 cents a quart, and the quotes I've obtained on a rebuild are at least $2,000. So I've been content until now to just "burn, baby, burn." The side benefit is that our north Florida property is mosquito-free due to my daily foggings. However, my brother-in-law is coming to town and will be using the car for a couple of weeks. So, looking for a quick, cheap and desperate fix, I bought the "magic pellets" from the JC Whitney catalog. I pulled the plugs out and dropped 11 pellets into each cylinder. The directions said nine, but I said if nine are good, 11 must be better. My wife thinks she sees less smoke coming out of the tailpipe, and I think I'm already noticing more power off the line. I still have 60 miles to go in the break-in period. Will the pellets work? -- Brian

Ray: You're going to have to write back and tell us, Brian.

Tom: Here's the theory: When engines get old and worn out, space develops between the piston rings and the cylinder walls. That lets oil sneak into the combustion chamber, where it gets burned and then spewed out the tailpipe as blue haze -- which appeals to neither man nor mosquito.

Ray: And although we couldn't get the scientists at JC Whitney to divulge their "pelletalogical" secrets, our guess is that the magic pellets must somehow melt against the cylinder walls, thickening the walls and therefore closing the spaces between the walls and the piston rings (Note: this is complete and utter speculation on our part -- and therefore, probably bull-feathers).

Tom: We DO know of one case where they actually worked. At least for a while. How far did Nissenbaum's front-end loader run with those pellets?

Ray: About 60 miles.

Tom: My guess is that this is a temporary solution at best, Brian. It's sold to people like you -- with 240,000 miles on an old beater and nothing to lose. And, now that you've invested in the stuff, you WANT it to work, and you might even think you notice improvement where there is none.

Ray: But as I said, we have no scientific evidence either way on the magic pellets. So write to us every 60 miles and let us know if they're still working.

Auto repairs can be costly! Save money by ordering Tom and Ray's pamphlet "Ten Ways You May Be Ruining Your Car Without Even Knowing It!" To order, send (check or money order) to Ruin, P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475. You can also order online.

© 2000 by Tom and Ray Magliozzi and Doug Berman Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.

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