Originally Posted By: kilou
OK things have changed and I spoke too quickly: noise is back
It went away for something like 3 starts after the oil+filter change (so I'm now into the rinse phase) and on the 4th and subsequent cold start, the bad lifter noise came back!
At least it does favor the hypothesis of something getting loose and that it wasn't caused by increased viscosity due to ARX. However it's still weird I couldn't find anything trapped in the oil filter on the clean phase... I will go on in the rinse phase and see if the noise goes away. Will keep you updated.
Is it possible that you just got a bad batch of filters (ADBV)?
On one of the vehicles that I did two ARX treatments on (over 100K miles) I started using oil filters (brands) that I wouldn't normally use. Some were filters I had on my shelf that I had experienced start-up noises before and stopped using them. Some were Wix filters that I bought, but never used before. My old standby filter that never produced start-up noises was the PureOne PL10241.
I didn't plan to ARX the engine. I noticed that there was some reddish brown slime covering the valvetrain when I had the valve cover off of this Toyota 2UZ-FE engine trying to retrieve a PCV grommet that had fallen through the valve cover. So I dumped a bottle of ARX into the existing, relatively fresh fill of oil that had the PureOne filter. I used that filter for 1250 miles and decided to try the Toyota OEM filter to finish the 2500 mile clean phase. The start-up noises started almost immediately, even on 70F mornings. So I tried the K&N I filter I had next. This one did pretty well, but I couldn't make it to the 2500 mile mark. This is what I experienced with this filter before ARX though with this engine.
When I switched to the rinse phase, I started using Wix filters. They worked better than the OEM and K&N filters, but some developed start-up noises before I wanted to change them. I haven't had the valve cover off since ARX, but I did notice that the color of the oil at oil changes and filter changes sure looked awfully reddish brown.
Since finishing the two ARX treatments, I've gone back to the PureOne filters with a 4oz maintenance dose of ARX. No start-up noises have been noticed with 3-6K mile OCI's. I do admit that using ARX during the winter may be a problem as has been mentioned earlier. I think I may consider switching over to a six month summer use even here in Texas, and then leave the maintenance dose out of the sump during the winter. I already know that 3-5K mile OCI's with a quality synthetic oil will keep your engine clean isn't a universal truth, and I always cringe when I hear people saying that. It's maybe/maybe not for me.
So far, I'd have to say that ARX is the single best thing that I've learned about here on BITOG. It has already saved me thousands of dollars on un-needed transmission repairs, steering rack leaks, tranfer case leaks, and front differential seal leaks. And even though I haven't verified that ARX cleaned up me valve train, I'm going to go with the assumption that it did do some cleaning in this very difficult area to clean based on the noticeable color of the oil when I changed it. There is no evidence based on my useage that ARX isn't a very safe and effective chemistry to use when its use is indicated.
I'm not a shill, just a satisfied customer that hopes ARX is always available to me.