Arx oil selection advice for saab 9-5

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terminaldegree

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Hi folks,

I just purchased an 05 saab 9-5 arc with the 220hp turbo 2.3l engine and 43,000 miles. Even though it is not from the notorious sludge laden years I want to do an arx treatment as I don't know its full service history.

Right now the car has amsoil 5-40 euro oil and a saab filter which the dealer changed back in July 08 when the car was put on the lot for sale. Obviously, the car sat around a while... I have put 400 miles on it in the past week.

Should I just add arx and start the cycle, or should I change it out and use something else? Any suggestions for rinse phase oil? Thanks!
 
I don't really know much about Saab's, but I would use an oil with no PAO. I think you could use Rotella T? Hopefully someone will chime in that knows more. I believe the Rotella T has no PAO, but is a grpIII.
 
It depends on how quickly you want to begin the Auto-Rx routine.

I'd leave the Amsoil 5w-40 in for the summer, then switch to a dino oil for the cleaning phase, followed by the same brand dino oil for the rinse phase.

I'd be concerned if you were running dino oil for 5k miles or more in that engine, but since you will be running 2-3k mile clean and rinse phases, any dino should work for that mileage period.

I would not waste Auto-Rx by adding it to the Amsoil Euro.
 
I was thinking about using AutoRX with Rotella 5w40 until I read its MSDS as noted...

Rotella is a synthetic blend based on the MSDS:

"Blend of synthetic hydrocarbon, polyalphaolefins and additives. The highly refined mineral oil contains w) DMSO-extract, according to IP346."
 
I would be tempted to run the Auto-Rx with the oil that is in there and go 2500 to 3000 miles, change the oil filter only and top off the oil. Then run another 2500-3000 miles on the same oil/ARX, then change both oil and filter. You will get better results doing your clean and rinse phases while the weather is warmer between May and September, IMO, then waiting until cooler weather to start the process with a non-syn oil.

For your rinse, I would get some Castrol GTX 10W-40, Mobil Clean 5000 10W-40, or 15W-40 HDEO if the weather is still warm and run with that for 3000 miles. The rinse is when it is most critical to use a motor oil with no esters/PAO. Some will disagree with me, but this has been my experience.

Leaving Auto-Rx in the crankcase for a total of 5-6000 miles with a filter change in the middle will surely make up for the possibility of slower cleaning with syn oil in the sump. That way you do not waste the good oil that is in there by dumping it prematurely, nor do you wait until cooler weather when you may not see enough hard, long, hot runs to do some optimal cleaning with Auto-Rx.

If you were to drain it now and start over with another oil, the RTS, aka Rotella 5W-40 syn HDEO, would be a fine oil to use. I would still run the extended miles with a filter change in the middle if it were me.
 
+1 to what dkryan said.

I see the concern posted again about using Auto-RX with an oil containing PAO but that Group III is fine. That makes no sense to me. PAO is only slightly less polar than Group III. Esters are much more polar than either. Esters are mentioned as a no-no to mix with Auto-RX. Ok, it has merit. Then on the other hand, PAO is mentioned as a no-no too. So which is it? High polarity is bad or low polarity is bad? Can't have it both ways. Then there is the fact that PAO is very similar in polarity to Group III.
 
I think the biggest issue from all I have read is to not use ester-containing oil in the rinse phase, for best results. There are ester-containing additives that cannot be totally avoided perhaps.
 
Hi, Jag

Help me out here if I'm off base. While polyalphaolefins are non-polar, they also have low solubility ..which you typically cope with by adding an ester.

In discussions that Frank has had (not that his interpersonal communication skills are stellar in text form) he's conceded that you can use any oil for cleaning, it's just that he has no basis for the time/mileage frame appropriate to do the job when you've got esters involved. 5k? 7k?

So, the "blurted out" catch all, given the marketing need to be all things to all people ...KISS.. is to remove as much "what if" out of the equation by saying not to use a Group IV or V oil. The economics also lends to this action.
 
Originally Posted By: Gary Allan
In discussions that Frank has had (not that his interpersonal communication skills are stellar in text form) he's conceded that you can use any oil for cleaning


wink.gif
 
Originally Posted By: Gary Allan
Hi, Jag

Help me out here if I'm off base. While polyalphaolefins are non-polar, they also have low solubility ..which you typically cope with by adding an ester.

In discussions that Frank has had (not that his interpersonal communication skills are stellar in text form) he's conceded that you can use any oil for cleaning, it's just that he has no basis for the time/mileage frame appropriate to do the job when you've got esters involved. 5k? 7k?

So, the "blurted out" catch all, given the marketing need to be all things to all people ...KISS.. is to remove as much "what if" out of the equation by saying not to use a Group IV or V oil. The economics also lends to this action.


Howdy partner. The need for KISS is understandable. I just get bothered by some of the statements people make about it. To me it is as painful as if someone said 1+1 = 3.
 
Oh, not at all to impugn your little "mori-esque" needs for accuracy (come visit some filter threads that I've been in- any "debate" is all about clear definitions - no "morphing" of beliefs
grin2.gif
), you're frequently dealing with 43rd person hearsay that's been reduced to its lowest terms and then "back filled". Effectively or essentially correct (for the most part), but not necessarily for the right reasons.


I've had many conversations with Frank about this. He's always caught between candid and complete disclosure and customer satisfaction. For a one man show, fielding the 42,954th question of "if I drive north on a bearing of xxx° for 29 minutes @ 63.2 mph, can I swap filters and not drain the sump if I use a group IX oil in my Xeno-cruiser with the 4X9 Speed Racer powerplant?", the economy of just "use a simple oil" becomes the default response. You then get the "why?"
21.gif


Look at how "downspeak'd" you had to be getting me to understand the Newtonian vs. Non-Newtonian concepts in Mola's question of the day. Now multiply that by thousands of customers over years.

This is why (on a comical note) you'll see me reference scenes from movies. If you can tie into it, you get the (albeit paralleled) BIG PICTURE ..with very few words.
 
All Amsoil oils are PAO with the exception of the XL line. You could add it ..but you're in uncharted territory.

Sprintman has used this stuff up and down and all over. For maximum possible results you should follow the directions. That's not to say that you cannot get the benefits from using it with your current oil, just that the results may be less than what they could be.

I dunno what I'd do here
54.gif
Much would depend on my impatient nature and whether the thought of wasting a perfectly good sump (or saving it) trumped (potentially) not getting my money's worth out of Auto-Rx. The time span is the enemy here.

It would probably nag me so much that I'd add it now and run the sump out as long as I would normally. Then go to a 3k rinse fluid of much lower price.

I would think that regardless of the host oil's chemical make up, any ring deposits would be cleaned. This normally happens early on for most users (like 500 miles).
 
Originally Posted By: moribundman
Originally Posted By: Gary Allan
In discussions that Frank has had (not that his interpersonal communication skills are stellar in text form) he's conceded that you can use any oil for cleaning


wink.gif



Since there is no comment on my smilie, let's just say I will bookmark Gary's post, because the question regarding oil suitability comes up daily.
 
Well, now..here's a comment.

Nice smiley (I think "smiley" is the adaptive non-standard accepted spelling).

Even Google and Wiki appear to accept this

#

Did you mean: smiley Top 2 results shown
#
Smiley - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A smiley, or happy face (☺/☻), is a stylized representation of a smiling human face, commonly represented as a yellow (many other colors are also used) ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smiley - 46k - Cached - Similar pages

Now you don't have to bother linking to my post.
48.gif
 
Smiley? As in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy Smiley?
shocked2.gif


Smilie is fine. It's non-conventional, which makes it the more attractive variant in my opinion.
 
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