Auto RX Skeptic turned Believer

[Mystic]

Gary Allan I agree with you. Unless an engine in a car or truck is a 'sludge monster,' just using good quality motor oils with reasonable OCIs should work perfectly good. Nobody has to buy Auto-RX or any other product to clean the insides of an engine and there are products out there that could cause harm to an engine rather than good. I have always felt that 99% of all the oil supplements on a shelf in an auto parts store are useless.

I feel that Auto-RX is probably an exception to that general rule. I think Auto-RX works but I can't prove it.

Some of the few other products I believe in are Lubegard products because I have had good results using some Lubegard products. In fact some car manufacturers actually approved the use of certain Lubegard products.

I think a person is usually better off not using a lot of supplements for the engine or anywhere else. But if somebody has a seal leak that is not caused by physical damage to a seal or a high mileage dirty engine (or maybe is buying a used car with a dirty engine) I don't think it hurts to give Auto-RX a try. It is a cheap experiment.

 

[BrianWC]

Originally Posted By: stang5
Has anyone here a member even have a before and after picture of an ARX treated motor that belongs to them?? Cause it sure didn't do anything for my motor after 3 treatments..


I do, of the 9-5, somewhere. Nothing drastic. Just bits and pieces removed a bit at a time. But it was the only product that showed any visual improvement of removal at all that I got of the various treatments I tried. But since I was, like a year or two after posting the pics, asked to help mod the arx site ( a task I've failed at quite miserably since I've only been there about 4 times), my objectivity has been questioned. No, I didn't try MMO b/c I was apprehensive about thinning the oil due to the quirks (aka shoddiness) of the 9-5's engine.

 

[Gary Allan]

Quote:
I think a person is usually better off not using a lot of supplements for the engine


The real snake oils are those that appear like an old P.F. Flier commercial. They'll promise you that the "action wedge" will make you run faster and jump higher.

Now TallPaul has been a mixologist for as long as I've known him. I don't think that he "swears" by anything too much. I probably think that he's like many of us in "The Secret BITOG Society of Amateur Alchemists" and figures "what happens if I do this"? He's not as extreme as some. Not nearly as conservative as others. For many it's a hobby in learning in our "on the cheap" real world classroom.

 

[postjeeprcr]

Originally Posted By: GROUCHO MARX
Prepare to be flamed.


He won't be flamed, this is an ARX loving site, now if it was any other additives he would be raked over the coals.

 

[ADFD1]

Originally Posted By: Mystic
Thanks ADFD1.
I don't think people should be discouraged from telling this board about some product they have found that seems to work. If people are constantly attacked nobody will mention any interesting products they have found. Although I do understand the people at this board getting tired of somebody posting about how wonderful Slick50 or some product like that is. The people here already know about Slick50.

Personally I have always thought about giving Lubegard Engine Flush a try, but I never got around to it. Some day I may give it a try because Lubegard products always impressed me.

It would be nice if we somehow could definitely find out whether products like Auto-RX work or not. We have a little testing and a lot of personal observations.


Well said! I don't put much into UOA's but the handful that are on this site where MMO was used are pretty impressive as well.

This board is a great testing ground for products, I've learned a lot from it. That's as long as there is no bashing of a product, once the bashing starts I look at the source, and further distance myself from trying the product involved in the attacking.

One of the things I learned is that Lubegard products are very good, and my bet is their engine flush would be a good product. What is most impressive is, good ,bad, or indifferent you don't see people from the Turtle Wax company or Lubegard people bashing anyone else's product. I respect companies for that, the same way Mobil 1 (who I dislike), never came on this board to tell us Valvoline sucks, or Castrol sucks. Mobil 1 sells on its own accomplishments, for that I respect them. They stay out of the mud, because when you roll in the mud with the pigs, you get dirty. JMO

 

[TooManyWheels]

Originally Posted By: stang5
Has anyone here a member even have a before and after picture of an ARX treated motor that belongs to them?? Cause it sure didn't do anything for my motor after 3 treatments..


Whatever happened to the very public, very visible challenge that was publicized on this board a few years back? I have forgotten the poster, but he was skeptical in the extreme. He did a valve cover removal effort several times - before A-RX and at intermittant intervals during. The results were rather dramatic.

That put the credibility issue to bed for a long time. What happened to that thread?

 

[ADFD1]

Originally Posted By: stang5
Has anyone here a member even have a before and after picture of an ARX treated motor that belongs to them?? Cause it sure didn't do anything for my motor after 3 treatments..


3 treatments wow. What was the problem you were trying to correct? That would have taken me well over a year to complete.

 

[Gary Allan]

Originally Posted By: TooManyWheels
Originally Posted By: stang5
Has anyone here a member even have a before and after picture of an ARX treated motor that belongs to them?? Cause it sure didn't do anything for my motor after 3 treatments..


Whatever happened to the very public, very visible challenge that was publicized on this board a few years back? I have forgotten the poster, but he was skeptical in the extreme. He did a valve cover removal effort several times - before A-RX and at intermittant intervals during. The results were rather dramatic.

That put the credibility issue to bed for a long time. What happened to that thread?


You're talking about Arron's engine. I recall his dialog in some detail ..the part that was here on the board. He seemed very flat about it. He merely said that he'd use it as directed and report his findings. Frank naturally got nervous ..and so did a few others about the suspected "agenda" that the guy had up his sleeve (the drama).

..and he ended up doing exactly what he said he would. No more ..no less. His results were so well documented, Frank got them for his site.

Here's the page

 

[sprintman]

Aaron B. He and I had a long private dialogue. Still the most anti RX person ever by a country mile but the repeated compression tests just got better and better. Even he 'waved the white flag' and admitted defeat. His engine won the victory. And still looking under the valve cover didn't come into it.

 

[TooManyWheels]

Yes, thats the one.

 

[TallPaul]

Originally Posted By: Rick20
When Tall Paul, Gary Allen, Molecule, and other in the know folks make posts, I take notice.
I appreciate the kind words but I just can't see myself in the same league with Gary Allan or Molecule. I would certainly be going to either of them for advice. Now ask me about Johnny Winter and I can tell you a lot, but oil... well, the old timers here know I am a zddp and anti thin oil freak (though I admit that the modern sm and 5w20 is doing the job). But I am afraid I don't know all that much about oil, just the basics I guess.

 

[jmac]

Originally Posted By: stang5
Has anyone here a member even have a before and after picture of an ARX treated motor that belongs to them?? Cause it sure didn't do anything for my motor after 3 treatments..


I seem to remember our friend that posts on this board that lives over La. way a few years ago had purchased I think an Audi that was all sludged up on the bottom end. He tried everything else first, HDEO, MMO, Rislone, etc. and no touching that crud. Then as an extreme skeptic, he tried ARX anyway and viola, results. Complete with before and after pictures and everything. It made a convert out of him.

 

[jmac]

Originally Posted By: BrianWC
Originally Posted By: stang5
Has anyone here a member even have a before and after picture of an ARX treated motor that belongs to them?? Cause it sure didn't do anything for my motor after 3 treatments..


I do, of the 9-5, somewhere. Nothing drastic. Just bits and pieces removed a bit at a time. But it was the only product that showed any visual improvement of removal at all that I got of the various treatments I tried. But since I was, like a year or two after posting the pics, asked to help mod the arx site ( a task I've failed at quite miserably since I've only been there about 4 times), my objectivity has been questioned. No, I didn't try MMO b/c I was apprehensive about thinning the oil due to the quirks (aka shoddiness) of the 9-5's engine.


^^^ This one, sorry Brian, thought you had tried MMO too, anyway from the photos I remember the results being a little more dramatic than the way you are downplaying them here.

 

[BrianWC]

Lol, no problem. Wish I HAD bought an Audi instead, lol. I actually tried the arx second, after a B-12 flush. Then, b/c several board members and I got in a tussle over B-12, I got sent on a bit of a vacation... But I kept on trying different things. I really wasn't terribly impressed with arx until I realized nothing else did what it did for my car. In hindsight, I should have just cleaned out as many deposits as I could from easily accessible parts of the engine. But once I got my pickup clean, I figured was out of immediate danger. So I just kept trying stuff to see what if anything worked best. But no, never tried Lubegard. Never tried Rislone. Never tried CD-2 Oil Detergent. I just went with the standard bitog fare. Arx, LC20, Neutra, a fill of Redline, HDEO, then of course the b-12 flush. I think I may have tried one more b-12 flush later down the line after having a failed thermostat. But I had the valve covers off that engine so many times it's run together in my head. But I will say one thing, I ended up trading in that car with an engine that was in exceptional working order. I could squeeze 35 mpg out of that car and still have enough power to scoot away from most work-a-day cars/trucks at the stoplight. It certainly wasn't a Honda Fit, lol.

 

[Rick20]

Aarons sludge diary can be viewed over on the ARX discussion board. It was here as a sticky post for a couple of years, but got pulled when Frank discontinued his sponsorship. A simple google search will lead you to it. www.RMS13.com should work.

 

[dbdeland]

Rick20,

I belive this is the link you were looking for.

http://www.auto-rx.com/rms13/about.htm

 

[Rick20]

Thank you dbdeland.

For what ever reason, my fault, the link got taken up by Verizon's search engine. A google search typing in the "RMS13.com" will get you there.

 

[KW]

ARX sure has or at least seemed to have cleaned the oil pump screen on my '96 Dodge truck. Within about 50 miles of starting the rinse the oil pressure stopped taking a dive when I mashed on the gas. $25 for the goo or pull the pan -- huummmm...

 

[TallPaul]

Originally Posted By: KW
ARX sure has or at least seemed to have cleaned the oil pump screen on my '96 Dodge truck. Within about 50 miles of starting the rinse the oil pressure stopped taking a dive when I mashed on the gas. $25 for the goo or pull the pan -- huummmm...
Besides, if you pull the pan and clean the pickup and pan, more gunk from other parts of the engine can return to the pan and re-gunk the pickup. At least the ARX (assuming it works, which seems to be the case for me) would clean a lot more gunk out for less future problems.

 

[Ken2]

My Volvo 850 turbo has the oil fill just above one camshaft, so it's easy to look into part of the head. Auto-Rx doesn't seem to do much to the brown stuff in the pores of the aluminum casting. The engine just runs better and burns a quarter of the oil it burned before the A-Rx cleaning. It still isn't pretty inside the head, just no pockets of crud.

I put Auto-Rx into a friend's failing Ford E350 motorhome transmission. It worked much better, but she failed to get it flushed as I told her to. She ended up buying a reman. I can't say if the A-Rx would have keep the old transmission running much longer if she'd flushed it according to directions, but it did run better for a while.

Another friend had a piece-of-junk old original Dodge minivan. It sounded like a rock crusher. I put Auto-Rx in it and told her to get the oil changed on the Auto-Rx schedule. Her mechanic politely scolded her, when he put in the rinse oil, for using any additive in an engine. When he dumped the rinse oil he said that he wished his engine ran as smoothly as hers.

Use it or don't. Do not bad mouth those of us who've used it with good results. And, don't expect what it never claims to offer. It won't cure all oil leaks nor all oil consumption. It won't make aluminum castings pretty. It does work for me.