dumping the rinse early , doesn't matter..only matters if you dump the cleaning phase early
Auto-Rx 250,000 Civic & leaking main seal ???
- Thread starter Crusader
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Yet again this raises more questions than it answers. Reason why?
If you dump the cleaning phase oil early how will you get a proper clean? Pretty simple
Not correct the rinse phase is most important to finish 3000
miles. It is not in best interest of your engine to short change cleanin mileage. Please follow the application instructions.
miles. It is not in best interest of your engine to short change cleanin mileage. Please follow the application instructions.
ok . . . let me reiterate for the sake of clarity.
Turns out oil leak is from bad headgasket NOT main seal the best I can tell. Headgasket is leaking oil thus headgasket will be replaced very soon. When you replace headgaskets you most always replace oil & filter. It's not a matter of NOT following directions I'm aborting the process due to contamination due to a leaky headgasket and contamination exposure from removing the head etc.
I'm 1500 miles into rinse #1 now. Obviously I would not of added Auto-Rx if I had know the headgasket was an issue. Regardless here I am now. Do I add more Auto-Rx or not?
Brief background: this car has been pressure tested and passed. The highly recommended independent shop my wife to took it to while traveling to see family not once but twice, on separate occasions, was not able to figure this out. Under certain conditions the car will sip coolant and also the best I can tell is blowing small amounts of exhaust gases into the coolant. My oil analysis result are not back yet on the wash cycle.
All things considered what do I do now?
With you answer please explain at some level the reason why? I'm a technical person and I want some level of the how & why.
Brief background: this car has been pressure tested and passed. The highly recommended independent shop my wife to took it to while traveling to see family not once but twice, on separate occasions, was not able to figure this out. Under certain conditions the car will sip coolant and also the best I can tell is blowing small amounts of exhaust gases into the coolant. My oil analysis result are not back yet on the wash cycle.
All things considered what do I do now?
With you answer please explain at some level the reason why? I'm a technical person and I want some level of the how & why.
You don't add Auto-Rx in rinse phase just oil as needed. If your referring to Auto-Rx added in cleaning part of application it was carried by oil to engine parts. Head gasket leak would not have effected it.If i understand your post you have 1500 miles to to reach 3000 miles?
So based on this I will change out the headgasket and continue the rinse as if the headgasket issue never happened.
I would if your using oil just top off. Please post after your done with Auto-Rx Treatment and get head gasket issue taken care of, how your engine is running and gas mileage last but not least performance. Look for change in all within a few miles of driving.
You're lucky your car was leaking oil into the coolant rather than coolant into the oil. It happens the latter most often. Change the coolant & head gasket and be on your way
Quote:
You're lucky your car was leaking oil into the coolant rather than coolant into the oil. It happens the latter most often. Change the coolant & head gasket and be on your way
Based on the UOA I just received I'm not sure. Super Tech 5w-30 - 1st Auto-Rx run 3,000 93 Civic UOA done to check for coolant in oil
#1
Update on the 93 Civic now with 260k miles. Just paid to have the head gasket replaced at the dealer with the proper head gasket & head bolts this time. According to Honda this should cure it for good. Also turns out that the distribtor seal was leaking oil and that was replaced as well.
The supposed "main seal" oil leak turned out to be a leaking head gasket and/or distubutor seal instead. I just dropped the oil only yesterday to flush any glycol or contaminants out of the engine as well as any left over residue dilution from the dealer intake cleaning job.
So . . . I'm sure Auto-Rx did some good however it's really tough to tell with all the other issue complicating matters.
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#2
My 1985 Toyota with a 22r has roughly 1,000 miles on the cleaning phase of Auto-Rx and the oil is black as tar. I just had the thermostat replaced and the valves adjusted at the dealer. This vehicle stands to gain the most from the Auto-Rx treatment due to it's history of short trips. Truck has already burned through 2 quarts of oil since I first put auto-rx in? Topic for it's own thread.
#3
My Toyota V6 1991 4 runner has roughly 1500 miles on the cleaning phase of Auto-Rx. It was in the shop for a water pump timing belt replacement and intake cleaning and it was discovered that the intake tube had a crack in it. I'm considering dumping the cleaning phase due to intake contamiantion. No way to tell for sure how much unfiltered air was pulled into the top end of the engine??? Not sure if I should dump the oil and start over at this point? Tough to tell without doing a UOA.
Both Toyotas will see a fair amount of miles during the summer with business and towing use.
Update on the 93 Civic now with 260k miles. Just paid to have the head gasket replaced at the dealer with the proper head gasket & head bolts this time. According to Honda this should cure it for good. Also turns out that the distribtor seal was leaking oil and that was replaced as well.
The supposed "main seal" oil leak turned out to be a leaking head gasket and/or distubutor seal instead. I just dropped the oil only yesterday to flush any glycol or contaminants out of the engine as well as any left over residue dilution from the dealer intake cleaning job.
So . . . I'm sure Auto-Rx did some good however it's really tough to tell with all the other issue complicating matters.
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#2
My 1985 Toyota with a 22r has roughly 1,000 miles on the cleaning phase of Auto-Rx and the oil is black as tar. I just had the thermostat replaced and the valves adjusted at the dealer. This vehicle stands to gain the most from the Auto-Rx treatment due to it's history of short trips. Truck has already burned through 2 quarts of oil since I first put auto-rx in? Topic for it's own thread.
#3
My Toyota V6 1991 4 runner has roughly 1500 miles on the cleaning phase of Auto-Rx. It was in the shop for a water pump timing belt replacement and intake cleaning and it was discovered that the intake tube had a crack in it. I'm considering dumping the cleaning phase due to intake contamiantion. No way to tell for sure how much unfiltered air was pulled into the top end of the engine??? Not sure if I should dump the oil and start over at this point? Tough to tell without doing a UOA.
Both Toyotas will see a fair amount of miles during the summer with business and towing use.
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Well, you seem to have the Gary Allan syndrome. You're not only a calamity magnet, you get stuck in exceptional circumstances because of it.
I'd continue on with all three as scheduled. They're all old enough or have enough advanced mileage to warrant additional treatments. You could drop back and punt (start over) ..but it's just the difference of one oil change each.
I'd continue on with all three as scheduled. They're all old enough or have enough advanced mileage to warrant additional treatments. You could drop back and punt (start over) ..but it's just the difference of one oil change each.
Wife called today and of course smelled burring oil on the exhaust again, bit of oil splashed and peppered on the rear of the car. This always happens on trips out of town when I'm typically not there to observe.
I think it's time to pressure wash the engine - underside of the car and use some sort of an oil dye to track this down once and for all.
I sure hope it isn't the headgasket again. Could really be the main seal after all. I resisted farming the headgasket job since I was concerned about a dealer mechanic taking short cuts on cleaning up the mating surfaces mainly, but I'm swamped with getting another business started - had little choice.
I have to confess if it looks like it may be main seal yet again I may jump ship and use MaxLife 5w-30 and see what happens.
I think it's time to pressure wash the engine - underside of the car and use some sort of an oil dye to track this down once and for all.
I sure hope it isn't the headgasket again. Could really be the main seal after all. I resisted farming the headgasket job since I was concerned about a dealer mechanic taking short cuts on cleaning up the mating surfaces mainly, but I'm swamped with getting another business started - had little choice.
I have to confess if it looks like it may be main seal yet again I may jump ship and use MaxLife 5w-30 and see what happens.
The pressure washing of the motor sounds like a good diagnostic step. I would also check to see if the head gasket repair was successful, by visually checking the radiator for air bubbles etc. It is likely that any glycol that may have entered the oiling system would cause some gelling of the oil, so that these deposits would not drain with a normal dumping of the oil. Also may have some [censored] in the exhaust from water and glycol that may be just burning itself out.
Once you are comfortable that the mechanical issues are resolved, I would run another cleaning cycle of ARX. I am assuming the wifes ride is the Civic.
Once you are comfortable that the mechanical issues are resolved, I would run another cleaning cycle of ARX. I am assuming the wifes ride is the Civic.
I'm pretty sure the head gasket is licked this time. I specified the best mechanic at the dealer for it. My brother in law says the headgasket area is bone dry but the main seal area is wet. Turns out the tech knew about the proper headgasket and spec'ed head bolts regardless. I even had a complete print out of the service bulletin etc. Last week before it was changed out I could hear gurgling in the coolant.
I have much faith in Auto-Rx cleaning out the sludge but I'm not so sure it can help the main seal at this point. Then again in all fairness I did note that there is updated instructions for leaking gaskets now. "Pour in the whole bottle"
I do remember over a year ago that oil consumption was at it's lowest when I ran some left over Napa 20w-50 dino oil. Just before the start of last winter I ran Delo 15w-40 and that seemed to slow it down as well.
Regardless I have gotten my monies worth out of the car even if I drove it to a junk yard and handed over the keys. The only real issue with such a high mileage car is you never know when something will fail and leave you stranded. Happened to my wife a few years go with a burned out igniter module. This is why we bought a newer 98 Civic with only 109,000 miles on it last year. Anyhow the 93 will probably run well into the 400,000 mile mark at this rate. Returns good economy numbers and still has 95%+ of it's original pep left.
FWIW I ran some auto-rx in the auto tranny to clean up the pump. After all these miles no tranny work needed. The pumps usally fail on these Honda by now but I have been a zealot about changing ATF fluid and keeping it clean around the dipstick hole.
I ran a lower than specified tranny dose but I ran it longer than you are supposed to as well and I didn't worry about doing a complete flush on the drain. When I change the next oil filter I will swap out the ATF again.
I have much faith in Auto-Rx cleaning out the sludge but I'm not so sure it can help the main seal at this point. Then again in all fairness I did note that there is updated instructions for leaking gaskets now. "Pour in the whole bottle"
I do remember over a year ago that oil consumption was at it's lowest when I ran some left over Napa 20w-50 dino oil. Just before the start of last winter I ran Delo 15w-40 and that seemed to slow it down as well.
Regardless I have gotten my monies worth out of the car even if I drove it to a junk yard and handed over the keys. The only real issue with such a high mileage car is you never know when something will fail and leave you stranded. Happened to my wife a few years go with a burned out igniter module. This is why we bought a newer 98 Civic with only 109,000 miles on it last year. Anyhow the 93 will probably run well into the 400,000 mile mark at this rate. Returns good economy numbers and still has 95%+ of it's original pep left.
FWIW I ran some auto-rx in the auto tranny to clean up the pump. After all these miles no tranny work needed. The pumps usally fail on these Honda by now but I have been a zealot about changing ATF fluid and keeping it clean around the dipstick hole.
I ran a lower than specified tranny dose but I ran it longer than you are supposed to as well and I didn't worry about doing a complete flush on the drain. When I change the next oil filter I will swap out the ATF again.
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