Xado - I had been informed of an engine treatment product called Roil which I have had some difficulty in obtaining but while looking for it I came across another called Xado (www.xado.co.uk ). The manufacturer makes considerable claims about what it can achieve when added to an engines sump. I, being skeptical, e-mailed the UK distributor with questions, to which they replied and offered a free sample of their Small Engine Treatment product. I shall not go into what the product is or how it works as you may find this information on the web site for yourself. I added the treatment to my Austin Seven EA Sports sump, after warming the engine for 15 minutes, and then ran it for a further 30 minutes.

Now before I write about the results of this test I must confess that the state of my EA Sports engine has not been good for some time. It burns oil to the extent that if the engine idles for a couple of minutes and I then blip the throttle, the smoke created can create a cloud that travels up the street causing my neighbours to come out of their houses coughing if they have windows open. So I have been aware that I need new rings, if not a rebore for sometime. I also must be clear that the manufacturers do not promise miracles for an engine in this condition.

I have to admit that I did not see any improvement immediately after adding the treatment. However the Austin Seven oil system is rudimentary so I decided to go for a short test drive (3 miles) to see if a higher engine temperature and running under load would help with the treatment process. Also the full treatment is three doses at 120 - 150 mile intervals and so far I have only given one dose and done 20 miles. At the time of writing I do not have a compression tester so what follows is subjective. I tried turning the starting handle (hot and cold) and it does seem to me that compression has improved. Engine noise at speed does seem reduced and looking at the plugs (the L82YC's) the deposits are nolonger oily in nature but are a dry powdery soot which comes away on your finger. Before the deposits were gummy/oily and harder. There is still oil being burnt but the amount of smoke has reduced and does not build up on idle like it did previously.

I shall continue the treatment and I think I will also put some in the AVK Van engine which does not smoke but has some general engine noise.