ARX Anomaly? Need your feedback on this..

[Oilgal]

Originally Posted By: Rick20
Oilgal,

Is it possible that your oil filter is loaded up again. I ask this because you had previously mentioned on other threads that you felt the need to replace oil filters fairly frequently during the original rinse phase of your first application. Now you were 400 miles into a second cleaning before adding the second bottle, trying the double dose. It may be possible that the filter was pretty close to blind from the first 400 miles of this application. I wonder if possibly your filter is in the bypass mode and messing with good oil circulation or flow. It may be worth checking?


BINGO

You are right about the filter issue. I checked it today, and it was very heavy after I poured out the viscous black liquor it contained. I bet it was very flow restricted. Really though it was early this morning, that I finally got around to actually adding that second bottle of ARX, and I also finally figured out that I am really 500 miles into my second treatment.

One other thing of interest.

Taking a good look inside, the oil fill port on my valve cover, revealed that most of the varnish is now gone finally. Now that was really nice to see.

 

[Oilgal]

Something Gary Allen said over in the 2 bottle Auto-Rx test thread got me thinking.

My engine, had clearly been carboned up, for a long long time. Nearing the end of the first clean phase, I began to receive remarkable improvement in ring seal, and yet during the rinse phase, it was mainly a large amount of hard carbon bits, that resulted in my filters. I saw no evidence of sludge in the pleats, and I have long wondered about that.

Also at the end of the first rinse phase, my cams and followers appeared different than before, and yet, rather than appearing cleaner, they instead looked dull or matte in surface appearance. What I mean is, that they no longer resembled a burnished caramel 'anodized' surface, but rather they looked softer or more matte caramel, and I theorize, this is because, the varnish had only just begun to soften up. Apparently the ARX was used up by combining with [emulsifying] carbon buildup in the rings etc., and there was not enough left over to remove much sludge let alone any varnish.

Apparently ARX targets hard carbon deposits first somehow. Now that is very very cool.

So I think there is definitely something to what Gary said. It appears, that at least a significant portion of the ARX remains in the filter, along with whatever is has broken down removed and emulsified, and added ARX, can do more cleaning, because it is fresh and not already combined with contaminants.

I have decided to change oil filters every 500 miles, during both the clean and rinse phase, of this second ARX application, and I bet I could safely add a third bottle, at the 1500 mile point, of the 3000 mile clean cycle. I am certain, that this would be both safe and extremely effective, as long as I change filters every 500 miles. At this point, it doesn't look like I will need to however, and I can't tell you how happy I am about that.

 

[dnewton3]

With the experience that Oilgal is having, I think I'll consider filter changes at .5k intervals as well during the rinse phase.

When I cut open my filter from the 2-bottle application phase, I really didn't see anything extraordinary. However, I started out with such a clean engine on the top end, that overall there may have been little for the ARX to work on, other than the suspected muck around my rings. I experienced STELLAR compression restoration. I credit ARX alone for that impressive accomplishment.

I am still in the beginning of the rinse phase; I'll update my thread with filter observations to compare with Oilgal's, when I arrive at that point.

 

[Oilgal]

At the very least, it can't hurt, and my engine is worth the small amount of extra money.

I don't want to rely on badly flow restricted oil filters.

A chain is only as strong, as it's weakest link, and the filter is an important part of the ARX treatment process.

 

[dnewton3]

You make a solid argument. The cost of an inexpensive filter for a few .5k mile filter changes during rinse phase is inconsequential to the cost of a multi-thousand dollar investment.

Point taken.

 

[Oilgal]

Thank you.

 

[Gary Allan]

I imagine that there's sense to changing filters fairly often if you've got a decent amount of crud to deal with. I also imagine it's not imperative to do so. The Auto-Rx experience is a small slice of the engine's lifespan that the suspension of "stuff", as long as it's not allowed to redeposit itself, will be removed with the dumping of the sump.

..but there are limits to what one filter can hold and how much material can attain suspension in one application. This would be something where someone buys a 20 year old vehicle with relatively low mileage that's also seen variable (or even spec'd) maintenance.

A Marine lawyer purchased an air field utility jeep (a J20, IIRC). It only had 30k on it (IIRC - it may have been 60k) ..but was of a 70's vintage. The one head had required service at one point, but otherwise the thing had only seen whatever maintenance that the protocols required. The thing probably rarely got to full oil temperature and, again probably, saw 100% short trip usage.

He purchased Auto-Rx on my recommendation to remedy oil seal smoking upon startup. He then changed the oil and reported that the oil filter was, without cutting it open, plugged with goo.

This would be something where there were mounds of pudding competing for space under the valve cover. Most of you have never seen this level of sludge build up since many vehicles are retired before this length of service ..oils have improved a tad, and we've had a general trend to more miles of driving since the 70's. 60k was a good run for a 1st owner ..and 100k was something to boast about at that time. Most contemporary engines (later model) tend to have the harder type "tar" deposits that aren't nearly as much in mass, but tend to be more stubborn to remove. They would still tend to trump any filter's holding capacity, but may not do so in the time/mileage restraints of the cleaning phase. Either way, our engines are buffered enough to handle the loss of filter utility for any extent that a treatment takes.

..but it can't hurt and would be a BITOG-ite thing to do.

 

[Oilgal]

Originally Posted By: Gary Allan


..but it can't hurt and would be a BITOG-ite thing to do.


Thank you Gary. That's darn BITOGer of you.