ARX & Aluminum Engines

Status
Not open for further replies.
Thanks for the welcome back c3po!

I didn't mean to sound so defensive. I guess I meant to show that in some applications ARX works well, and others, there may be no need for it. BTW - we sold that Beetle and bought a newer one. The 98 was built much better.

I have not tried Neutra, primarily because I never think of it. I do not buy Schaeffer's product normally, only because they are not locally availible and I never think to order on line. I guess I should try them sometime.

Another poster mentioned that we should not endorse products that we have never used and I feel the same way. So yesterday, while on a road trip in the afternoon (after my post) I dumpped a little MMO into the crank case of my current ride, a 2004 GMC Sierra. Like all here, I religiously maintain this truck, usually with a full synthetic and occasional maintenance dose of ARX, and run OCI's based upon the indicator (between 4500-6000 miles usually). My reasoning is that the oil seems to be getting very dark lately. Maybe a sign of carbon buidlup? PCV valve issues (which I honestly can't find on this truck!)?

I have approximately 2K miles left to go on this OCI and will probably top up any loss with a little more MMO. When I change the oil, I'll cut up the filter and report any deposits. My expectations are very low, because I'm pretty certain the engine is clean. If there is a drastic improvement in performance or a whole mess of gunk in the filter, I think that would be a bitter-sweet result. Glad to clean it, but disappointed with sludge build up.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: crashz


I have approximately 2K miles left to go on this OCI and will probably top up any loss with a little more MMO. When I change the oil, I'll cut up the filter and report any deposits. My expectations are very low, because I'm pretty certain the engine is clean. If there is a drastic improvement in performance or a whole mess of gunk in the filter, I think that would be a bitter-sweet result. Glad to clean it, but disappointed with sludge build up.


Many times people try products to clean something up that might not be dirty. A-Rx might have done a bang up job cleaning things up for you, lets hope so. OTOH I was exactly the opposite of you, I had used MMO for several years and gave A-Rx a try, 2 cleans, 2 rinse cycles. At the time about 160,000 mile Ford 3.0L engine. Each filter removed was light, and the oil not much different than any other OC I had done. I had a slight oil leak which had stopped for a little while and came back. My conclusion was you can't clean something that isn't dirty, and certain leaks really need to be fixed. I might try a HM oil and see if that changes anything long term with the leak, its very slight and doesn't really bother me though. MMO was unsuccesful at stopping the leak as well.
 
Originally Posted By: demarpaint
Originally Posted By: crashz


I have approximately 2K miles left to go on this OCI and will probably top up any loss with a little more MMO. When I change the oil, I'll cut up the filter and report any deposits. My expectations are very low, because I'm pretty certain the engine is clean. If there is a drastic improvement in performance or a whole mess of gunk in the filter, I think that would be a bitter-sweet result. Glad to clean it, but disappointed with sludge build up.


Many times people try products to clean something up that might not be dirty. A-Rx might have done a bang up job cleaning things up for you, lets hope so. OTOH I was exactly the opposite of you, I had used MMO for several years and gave A-Rx a try, 2 cleans, 2 rinse cycles. At the time about 160,000 mile Ford 3.0L engine. Each filter removed was light, and the oil not much different than any other OC I had done. I had a slight oil leak which had stopped for a little while and came back. My conclusion was you can't clean something that isn't dirty, and certain leaks really need to be fixed. I might try a HM oil and see if that changes anything long term with the leak, its very slight and doesn't really bother me though. MMO was unsuccesful at stopping the leak as well.


Demarpaint, did you notice anything different with the way your engine ran when you did the 2 Clean and Rinses, are you saying that your oil that was drained out looked the same on both the Clean and Rinse Phases.

Do you think that arx did anything for your engine.
 
Really hard to tell now that I think back, my vehicles usually are running well. Another funny thing I realized was this: I usually check my tire pressure when I change my oil, and add air to the tires. You'd be amazed how much better a car seems to run on tires that are inflated to 10% below max psi, when you typically run 32-25psi. That is an old trick mechanics did when they tuned up cars so the car felt peppier.

I was expecting to see filters loaded up with all kinds of junk and I found just the opposite, nothing out of the ordinary. I had removed filters at the halfway point of the first clean and rinse phases and ended up wasting 2 perfectly good filters. I was under the impression, reading here removing the filters and re-installing them was bad and they would leak. I have debunked that myth.

I did have an oil leak stop as I mentioned and it started leaking shortly after again. Not knocking A-Rx but I should have known better.

I've said this before and it is worth repeating. If it isn't dirty you can't clean it, my engine was clean to begin with.
 
Originally Posted By: demarpaint
Really hard to tell now that I think back, my vehicles usually are running well. Another funny thing I realized was this: I usually check my tire pressure when I change my oil, and add air to the tires. You'd be amazed how much better a car seems to run on tires that are inflated to 10% below max psi, when you typically run 32-25psi. That is an old trick mechanics did when they tuned up cars so the car felt peppier.

I was expecting to see filters loaded up with all kinds of junk and I found just the opposite, nothing out of the ordinary. I had removed filters at the halfway point of the first clean and rinse phases and ended up wasting 2 perfectly good filters. I was under the impression, reading here removing the filters and re-installing them was bad and they would leak. I have debunked that myth.

I did have an oil leak stop as I mentioned and it started leaking shortly after again. Not knocking A-Rx but I should have known better.

I've said this before and it is worth repeating. If it isn't dirty you can't clean it, my engine was clean to begin with.


Demarpaint, any thoughts on why arx did not fix your leak, are you under the impression that in order to fix a leaky seal you may need to replace it.
 
Originally Posted By: sprintman
If the seal is torn nothing will fix it.


That pretty much sums it up.
 
Originally Posted By: demarpaint
Originally Posted By: sprintman
If the seal is torn nothing will fix it.


That pretty much sums it up.


I would also like to add that if the seal is hard as a rock then no oil additive will bring it back to life, I talked with a member who used arx in his engine and he still ended up replacing his front oil pan seal because it was still very hard.

He did tell me that he had used other oil additives in his engine before using arx, I am not sure if these other oil additives could have led to his seal getting hard as a rock.
 
There are no miracles in a bottle. People have to understand that when they embark on trying to pour a liquid fix into an engine. Cleaning an engine is one thing, trying to pour a fix onto a bad seal, worn, rings, guide valves, etc. it ain't happening.
 
I went ahead and took off my oil cap on my Marauder that has aluminum heads on it and I noticed a brown substance on the oil cap as well as the brown goo inside the cylinder head that I wiped off.

My observations tell me that this is some leftover arx, it might not be bad thing, maybe everything inside the engine is clean and this is some leftover arx, I was only able to wipe a little bit up, I will pop the cap off after I have driven the car some more.

This is a DOHC 4.6 so I am not sure if the cylinder heads are splash fed or pressurized, I will say that the arx wiped easily off the oil cap and inside of the cylinder head.
 
Originally Posted By: sprintman
RX will rejuvenate seals, it will not repair them. My BMW VANOS seals are proof of that.


I talked with an arx user whose front seal on his oil pan was still hard as a rock after 3 arx treatments, if the engine does not have many miles and it has seen reasonable oil changes using a quality oil like Pennzoil Platinum then arx might rejuvenate the seals. If the engine has alot of miles and has had infrequent oil changes then it is doubtful that arx will help bring the seals back to a pliable shape.
 
Could be so, my BMW had 75,000 odd kms before I hit it with two bottles RX. The oil darkened pretty slowly but the VANOS seal rattle went away quite quickly. I didn't expect that.
 
Originally Posted By: sprintman
Could be so, my BMW had 75,000 odd kms before I hit it with two bottles RX. The oil darkened pretty slowly but the VANOS seal rattle went away quite quickly. I didn't expect that.


When I used arx my oil never really darkened, but my oil filters seemed to get loaded up, maybe arx was just breaking stuff off in pieces instead of liquifying the contaniments.
 
Originally Posted By: sprintman
No, time you had a rethink.


I just go by my experiences and observations as to what arx can and cannot do.
 
Originally Posted By: sprintman
Yes but your 'observations' are somewhat clouded no?


I think they are clear now since I know the truth about arx and other oil additives.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

S
HPL Engine cleaner results Toyota 2GR-FE, 6 cyl
Replies
9
Views
5K
TiGeo
V
Husky 3 Ton Hybrid Aluminum Steel Floor Jack
2
Replies
21
Views
3K
D60
M
Ideal drain plug metal for aluminum case
Replies
8
Views
2K
xmanjeff
A
Chemtool B12 in Oil
Replies
13
Views
2K
nicholas
F
2013 steel vs 2015 aluminum body f-150
Replies
10
Views
3K
Srt20
Back
Top