Auto-RX

[RLDSL]

Since you seems to be an expert on Auto-RX and what i have understood that you use synthetic oil after theatment, do you still use the stuff like they recommend according to maintainance plan or do you just trust that more cleaning synthetic oil willl keep your engine clean?

After the treatment , the synthetic does the job.

I had a long talk with the juy who invented teh stuff and it was originally made for maintaining the gearboxes on commercial printing presses( those 2 block long machines for newspapers ) and then some of the maintnence guys started putting it in their cars, the rest is history, but it used to be that commercial presses required synthetics to continue operating and part of what he was doing was to lower the maintnence requirement on those things, as they usualy had to be drained for cleaning anyway, no real extended drain advantage there, so he has a bit of a anti synthetic bias.

 

[kpj]

Thanks for the info, i was wondering how the formula has developed over the years. I don't usually believe in this kind of miracle stuff, but now i'm doing the first threatment basically because of this forum and so far so good, got about 700 miles left and oil seems to be quite black...

BTW. with synthetic oil, how long is your oil changing intervals? I've been using Kendall's 15W-40 oil since i bought the truck and i drive usually about 4000 miles and then change.

 

[tuckerd1]

...but now i'm doing the first threatment basically because of this forum and so far so good, got about 700 miles left and oil seems to be quite black...

I've never seen anything except black oil from mine and I'm the original owner. My gas burners stay clean and clear through the oils change cycle, but not the diesel.

Anyone seen any difference in their trucks?

 

[kpj]

Mine is always black too. I don't know if i'm imagining or not, but this time i think it got black a little bit sooner than before...

 

[genchowford]

Why not just leave the crud in the engine!! Its not bothering anything just hanging up there in the confines of the block that doesn't even touch anything. Guaranteed any touching parts bearings, cam lobes, rocker arms, etc where metal touches or rubs against itself or other there is no build up so to speak. So why even open that can of worms?

 

[RLDSL]

Thanks for the info, i was wondering how the formula has developed over the years. I don't usually believe in this kind of miracle stuff, but now i'm doing the first threatment basically because of this forum and so far so good, got about 700 miles left and oil seems to be quite black...

BTW. with synthetic oil, how long is your oil changing intervals? I've been using Kendall's 15W-40 oil since i bought the truck and i drive usually about 4000 miles and then change.

I've got a bypass filter so I just send a sample in once a year to the lab to see if it's getting due for a change. On this truck it's a farly fresh engine so I don't have a pattern established on it yet
generally it's about 9-15k without the bypass filter. Some oils can go longer.

 

[RLDSL]

Why not just leave the crud in the engine!! Its not bothering anything just hanging up there in the confines of the block that doesn't even touch anything. Guaranteed any touching parts bearings, cam lobes, rocker arms, etc where metal touches or rubs against itself or other there is no build up so to speak. So why even open that can of worms?

Eventually it starts packing up your rings and you steadily over time , loose compression. They get harder to start and run worse and eat oil. You clean that junk out and it can make a world of difference

 

[h2odrx]

Why not just leave the crud in the engine!! Its not bothering anything just hanging up there in the confines of the block that doesn't even touch anything. Guaranteed any touching parts bearings, cam lobes, rocker arms, etc where metal touches or rubs against itself or other there is no build up so to speak. So why even open that can of worms?

also brings life back to seals!

 

[6 Nebraska IDIs]

I have yet to try this stuff out, but I've used Sea Foam in several of our engines here and Im convinced that stuff is no good. It actually causes the engine to start leaking. The last one I used it in was my turbo eclipse which I just put $750 into less than 5k ago in a new head gasket, timing belt, main seals, cam seals, other seals, more gaskets, did I mention seals, and timing belt tensioner. Less than 1k into the oil change the engine started leaking so bad I had to stop driving it. My brand new timing belt is covered in oil, who knows what else got ruined from this.
My guess is, one of the few seals I didn't replace had some crud on it and the seafoam just ate away at it trying to clean it off until it created a leak.
The results I observed in the diesels I tried it in were similar, but I didn't but 2 and 2 together until a relatively fresh engine started leaking after its use.
So fair warning, stay away from using SeaFoam in the crank case. You're just asking for trouble if you do.

 

[RLDSL]

I have yet to try this stuff out, but I've used Sea Foam in several of our engines here and Im convinced that stuff is no good. It actually causes the engine to start leaking. The last one I used it in was my turbo eclipse which I just put $750 into less than 5k ago in a new head gasket, timing belt, main seals, cam seals, other seals, more gaskets, did I mention seals, and timing belt tensioner. Less than 1k into the oil change the engine started leaking so bad I had to stop driving it. My brand new timing belt is covered in oil, who knows what else got ruined from this.
My guess is, one of the few seals I didn't replace had some crud on it and the seafoam just ate away at it trying to clean it off until it created a leak.
The results I observed in the diesels I tried it in were similar, but I didn't but 2 and 2 together until a relatively fresh engine started leaking after its use.
So fair warning, stay away from using SeaFoam in the crank case. You're just asking for trouble if you do.

Sea foam is yet another solvent cleaner, and what happened to you is very common with solvent cleaners.
The exact opposite happens with Auto RX, it conditions the seals while it's cleaning and gets rid of most minor seeps ( and I've cured a few major gushers with the stuff as well

 

[tractorman86]

well i did the oil change with the start of the auto-rx treatment, unfortunately i couldn't find our compression guage, i could only find the one we use for chainsaws and no adapter to a glowplug hole for that one. oh well, lets just see what happens. i am using napa heavy duty performance blend 15w40 with two bottles of auto-rx and a wix 51734(psd filter) i think with the secont treatment i will get the wix 51734XE(same filter but has a lower micron rating). then i will be an amsoil man!

 

[tractorman86]

sean, did you have all those problems from just the 15 minute flush that is on the bottle? seafoam has worked ok for me so far on the gfs 04 2.3l ranger... maybe i shouldn't use it anymore

 

[kpj]

well i did the oil change with the start of the auto-rx treatment, unfortunately i couldn't find our compression guage, i could only find the one we use for chainsaws and no adapter to a glowplug hole for that one. oh well, lets just see what happens. i am using napa heavy duty performance blend 15w40 with two bottles of auto-rx and a wix 51734(psd filter) i think with the secont treatment i will get the wix 51734XE(same filter but has a lower micron rating). then i will be an amsoil man!

Just wondering how low the micron rating can go that it's still safe to use and it doesn't clog the whole system because of it. If i remember original filter has 25 micron and that 51734XE has 10 micron rating and that sounds big difference to me, could it be it's ment to be used with synthetic oil or does it even matter

 

[kpj]

I've got a bypass filter so I just send a sample in once a year to the lab to see if it's getting due for a change. On this truck it's a farly fresh engine so I don't have a pattern established on it yet
generally it's about 9-15k without the bypass filter. Some oils can go longer.

Sounds pretty long interval, but if you analyze the oil then it must be ok, do you usually drive only highway runs, what makes the oil last longer? I haven't used that long intervals in any of my cars, but then again i haven't ever analysized the condition of oil...

 

[RLDSL]

Just wondering how low the micron rating can go that it's still safe to use and it doesn't clog the whole system because of it. If i remember original filter has 25 micron and that 51734XE has 10 micron rating and that sounds big difference to me, could it be it's ment to be used with synthetic oil or does it even matter

They went with a finer micron rating on the PSD because of the turbo, and I imagine the High pressure oil pump that runs the injectors and that sucker builds some insane pressures.