ARX in 1998 BMW 528 114,000km

[Craig in Canada]

I've recently started an ARX treatment in my 1998 BMW 528 (M52 2.8L I6 engine) with 114,800km on it. I generally do 6,000km/6 month OCIs with Mobil1 0W40. This engine is not sludged, but has minor varnish. I wanted to run ARX to try it out, and to clean ring packs and try to quiet a lifter.

My dino oil is Esso XD3 15W40 HDEO for both clean and rinse phases.

It's been in for about 500km. I inspected the filter - nothing.

My engine was noticeably quieter on the XD3, mostly valvetrain. It was evident that now my steering pump and alternator were dominant noises bouncing from my garage wall instead of my cams.

I had a single noisy lifter that I could sort of hear before, after the change it was quite easy to hear.

By 100km into this phase I noticed increase power output. From the heavier oil or ARX? Dunno. This is based on seat-of-pants pep and ability to break traction in situations which I previously did not. In some ways fuel economy might be up, but I also think the heavier oil is dragging it down in some situations. On 75mph highway, it does seem improved though, where the oil gets right up to temp.

A couple of hundred km into the clean phase I pulled up to a bank drivethrough with the engine warm but not hot and listened. The noisy lifter was now coming and going in a cyclic fashion.

Now (500km or so) I didn't hear it at all at one point last night, and barely heard it at another.

More updates as they come.

I'm planning to switch to rinse phase at 1500mi and possibly change the filter cartridge once during the rinse.

Craig.

 

[Russell]

My experiece with mobil 1 0w40 was a louder engine in all phases of operation except cold start up. No pump-up related valve noise on a cold start.

I did two arx treatments and had similar experiece as you. Also, I noticed much more junk in my filter during the second treatment. I posted my last posting on a "my experience" tread a few days ago. I am now trying Castrol Syntec 5w50. It seems fine.

 

[GROUCHO MARX]

Leave it in for 2k.

 

[sprintman]

Don't change at 1500 miles. Run longeer. Then use a good dino without PAO or ester. You may want the double treatment.

 

[Touring5]

I'm in the rinse phase on my M52.

The clean phase was with M1 0w40 and the filter had small bits of carbon-like material - not sludge-like. Now using RTS (5w40) in the rinse phase and the motor is smooth and quiet, which I attribute more to the oil (supports Russell's experience). Just follow the directions and have peace o' mind.

 

[Craig in Canada]

I'm not expecting to get a large amount of junk since I know it's pretty clean. I'm hoping to make sure the ring packs are clean and get rid of a lifter that ticks at/near idle.

Frank (ARX guy) has indicated that 1500mi clean cycle is already lengthened to allow for people who use it in PAO/POE synthetics. From what he's said, 1500mi is already "long".

 

[Craig in Canada]

Who are all you "run longer" people replying to? Me or Russell?

Why would I run longer? I'm using dino (already purchased) for both phases and my engine is fairly clean... My distance travelled units are in km, not miles, so I'm only 500km or 300mi into the treatment - still a long way to go.

Plus, I'm barely getting this cleaning cycle in before winter comes back since I drive low miles. I want the ARX cycle over and done with so I can get back to synthetic before cold weather.

Craig.

 

[Russell]

Craig, IMO, they were meaning that you should run the cleaning/rinse cycles longer.

FYI, I ran 2000-2500 miles each cycle and still got only a moderate amount of junk out of engine.

 

[Russell]

Craig,
From my experience with my BMW, I now believe that a moderately clean engine, even on the second cycle, only needs to follow Frank's suggestions to the letter. Additional mileage may not clean any more out of the engine.

 

[Craig in Canada]

Update: haven't heard the lifter in a couple of days...

 

[Craig in Canada]

UPDATE:

The lifter is still there in certain temperature ranges. Mostly shortly after started when it's warmer than ambient, but not full temp.

I've noticed no other changes, weird noises or behaviour. The oil level hasn't dropped, there's no smoking or smells, and when I've checked there hasn't been any real desposits on the oil filter but I'm due to peek in on it again. (the cartridge style filter makes this a snap)

I used Lucas UCL in 1.5 tanks worth of fuel with negative results in part-throttle response.

I've just started using FP60 this tank.

Craig.

 

[Rick20]

I beleave that you will find that contaminants will continue to clean off the internals in the rinse phase as well. So you are still pretty early on in your application. Lifter noise being somewhat intermitten now would suggest some valve train cleaning is occurring. The additional break them free power is likely due to ring pack cleansing. It just goes to show that in a seemingly clean motor running a full synthetic, ring packs are still proned to deposits. I would suggest the 3 fluid ounce maintenance dose after you have finished the rinse cycle. The additional dtergency and dispersants as well as lubricity from ARX will serve you well.

 

[Craig in Canada]

UPDATE:

Rinse cycle started on June 30/2006 again with Esso XD-3 15W40 HDEO. I cut open the oil filter and found some (less than 20) easily visible 'curly-Qs' of a black substance. There was no "carbon sand", buildup of soft goo or anything else in the filter. I didn't expect to see a whole lot since I figured the engine was pretty clean except maybe the ring packs. I didn't observe too many weird things happening while ARX was in the oil.

In general the engine is very smooth and quiet, pulls strong and behaves itself. I would easily say that on casual observation it definitely feels superior to some other BMWs with less mileage. Again, it's a 1998 2.8L M52 (not-TU) with 120,725km on the clock today.

The lifter tick is still there, but generally less audible. I'm due to end my rinse cycle within a couple hundred kilometers. I'll probably cut open the filter at that point too. No oil consumption or loss, no weird smells, no noises, no loss of oil pressure. Actually, on edit, I would have to say that the lifter tick is still there, but a LOT quieter. After switching from M1, the lifter tick became a quite dominant sound instead of being hidden in the other noise. It is now much less dominant, and blends in at about the same level as it used to... I'll make some more observations before I change the rinse oil and post again.

I intend to switch to GC Gold M052xxx (a long time M1 0W40 user), possibly with LC20. I'm looking forward to observing how GC works for me. I'm not going back to M1 because I strongly believe that I was affected by noise issues since I immediately observed that the engine was a lot quieter when I first filled with XD-3. M1 protected me well over the years, I'm sure, but I'm not going back to the racket now that I know the oil may be to blame.

I do not intend to provide controlled sample recordings or audio meter readings to prove my point to skeptics because I don't care enough to bother. Suffice it to say that switching from M1 caused an immediately apparent reduction in engine noise. I noticed this *before* reading the plethora of M1 noise posts here. I could/can hear all of my belt driven accessories as the majority of noise from under the hood now - no question there's a change.


Craig.

 

[Craig in Canada]

UPDATE:

Changed out the rinse oil tonight at 120,927km for GC+LC20 as I mentioned.

The lifter tick can be heard from time to time, its usually worst in mid-temp conditions such as restarting after a 30 minute rest or while warming up and reading halfway to normal on the temperature idiot gauge. I paid attention in the garage before shutting it down after coming home from a highway drive and the lifter was inaudible.

I have no cut open the filter or done any in depth study of the rinse oil yet. It looked pretty good.

I would declare ARX a success, both for freeing up the ring packs (read: power) and possibly eliminating the lifter noise I was hearing. We'll see how the lifter sounds with the GC tomorrow.

I am not going to subscribe to the maintenance dose notion, but ARX treatment will be on my periodic list of things to do and first on the list the next time I buy a used car.

Craig.

 

[Steelhead]

Hi Craig,
you have that wonderful 0w40 and 0w30 Esso Extra XD-3 in canuck land...great year around PAO oil for those Toronto Siberian Express winters.
would not be surprised that that Hi Pro engine would love the 0w40 year around and tame that exotic valve train noise

 

[Craig in Canada]

I really gave XD3 a hard look before going with GC. I may still try XD3 at some point, maybe the next time around. In my non-expert opinion, I thought that that 0W40 was a little heavy, and the 0W30 a little light (if I remember) for what I was looking for. That, and the 0W30 is harder to come across up here, while the 0W40 is easily found at WallyWorld.

The GC is very quiet and smooth in my M52, and has made all kinds of clatter and knocking go away in my dad's M62 engine 540 (which was running on dealer oil every 10,000km or so).

Craig.

 

[Craig in Canada]

UPDATE:

I cut the rinse cycle filter open tonight. Squeaky clean except for more 'curly Qs' of carbon that I really think came from the rings. There were more Qs and they were generally larger in the rinse filter than in the clean filter. These Qs look like bits of carbon that were attached to a curved surface - like a ring.

No carbon sand, grit, sludge, or collections of squishy dots.

A lot of folks might say I didn't get a lot for my money/hassle but I'm pretty happy. I'm an enthusiast, and somewhat of a perfectionist. I can tell my engine is happier, quieter, smoother and has more power. I know that it's cleaner where the sun don't shine and it really does perform like new.

Craig.