Best Cleaning Engine Oil ?

[Drew99GT]

Try Pennzoil Platinum. Pennzoil claims it will remove 50% of existing sludge/deposits in the first run of it.

Valvoline also claims Maxlife will remove existing deposits.

 

[mechtech2]

Pennzoil Platinum's advertising says it cleans 46% very fast.
What that means up to their sales staff, though.
Cleaners are for cleaning - oils are weak at this.
If you need dog food, get dog food.
If you have to feed your parrot, get parrot food.

 

[PW01]

I'll also throw a log on the Auto Rx pile. If you are looking for slow, safe, effective cleaning, Auto Rx is your answer!

 

[ProfPS]

Boy, how things have changed. There was not one mention of Havoline DS. Are we influenced that much by Pennzoil's and Castrol's TV campaigns? Havoline has been a steady performer and was second to Mobil Clean to address sludge with their DS reformulation; GTX and Pennzoil's YB/PP marketing campaigns jumped on the band wagon. They are all good PCMO's.

When my cars hit 25K mi I plan to run only maintenance cycles of AutoRX with each fall/winter OCI. I am not 100% sold on adding a potential oil thinner to a summer 5w30/5w-20 OCI, especially if the car is still under warranty. This is not based on any used oil analysis, engine disassembly, or engine problem; just my personal preference.

 

[DragRace]

Originally Posted By: ProfPS
Boy, how things have changed. There was not one mention of Havoline DS. Are we influenced that much by Pennzoil's and Castrol's TV campaigns? Havoline has been a steady performer and was second to Mobil Clean to address sludge with their DS reformulation; GTX and Pennzoil's YB/PP marketing campaigns jumped on the band wagon. They are all good PCMO's.

When my cars hit 25K mi I plan to run only maintenance cycles of AutoRX with each fall/winter OCI. I am not 100% sold on adding a potential oil thinner to a summer 5w30/5w-20 OCI, especially if the car is still under warranty. This is not based on any used oil analysis, engine disassembly, or engine problem; just my personal preference.


Yup,I hardly see anyone on this board mention Havoline. It does not matter to me,as it's an excellent oil.

My dad used it in his Ford tThunderbird and that had 200,000 miles, his current 88' Thunderbird has 176,000 miles, and all have used nothing but Havoline oil. He changed head gaskets on his 88 Thunderbird,and the valve-train was spotless,so Havoline is fully capable of keepin an engine clean

 

[BrianWC]

Why is it people transpose "protects against deposits" with "cleans deposits" in their heads??? There is a MAJOR difference between the ability of an oil to not leave any of itself behind and the ability of an oil to clean what was left behind by other oils.

 

[jorton]

"the ability of an oil to not leave any of itself behind"

Mobil Clean
Havoline
Castrol GTX
Pennzoil

Do these oils have the same anti-oxidant abilities?

 

[BrianWC]

That's a different question, too...and one that I don't know the answer to.

But I would imagine the major players frontline conventionals are fairly similar these days.... Havoline was a darling on here but didn't they remove the moly and everyone lost interest???

 

[Gary Allan]

The evolution to the Deposit Shield appeared to take the wind out of Havoline's sails on BITOG. The stuff was a bargain sleeper at discount prices before that (as I interpret it) marketing strategy. Basically it made it no longer a bargain sleeper.

PP appears to be the "best bang for the buck" champ right now. When something dethrones it from some perceived cost:benefit favored ratio, it will fall from grace

 

[salesrep]

Originally Posted By: jorton
"the ability of an oil to not leave any of itself behind"

Mobil Clean
Havoline
Castrol GTX
Pennzoil

Do these oils have the same anti-oxidant abilities?

NO.

 

[jorton]

Is that because Castrol and Pennzoil use more zddp than Mobil Clean and Havoline do?

 

[Big O Dave]

What about Mobil 1 High Mileage? They aggressively assert it's cleaning capabilities... have such claims been debunked around here?

 

[BrianWC]

I don't know that they have been debunked, but they haven' been proven, AFAIK. I don't know of anyone who's used them in a verified sludgy engine. I still have some light deposits and would try it if I didn't hae my own strategic petroleum reserve...

 

[Crusader]

Originally Posted By: Big O Dave
What about Mobil 1 High Mileage? They aggressively assert it's cleaning capabilities... have such claims been debunked around here?
I'm currently using M1 "High Mileage" 10w30 in my 98 Civic that I bought last August. The top end just had some light varnish when I adjusted the valves last fall. I basically take Mobil's advertising hype for what they say, "shorter OCI as the clean up progresses" . . .well at least until proven otherwise.

The oil analysis results for M1 "High Mileage" 10w30 have been solid add pack wise and wear numbers and it seemed that it's probably one of Mobil's best current offerings. I have been wondering how this oil has been holding up for BITOG members? I will not buy Mobil's other offerings in the future due to reports of weak additives in the oil. Exception being HM and the 15w-50 oil and maybe Delvac 1 and/or Truck and diesel 5w-40

FWIW my other 3 vehicles have all had one go around with Auto-RX. My conclusion is I'm really not sure how well it cleans. My 93 Civics' main seal still leaks, however my 85 Toyota Pickup may be using less oil now than it did before I used Auto-Rx.

What truly confuses me are the claims on the Auto-Rx web site that use of synthetic oils other than Group 3 oils causes sludge and should be avoided. I have never seen this challenged here? If it has been then I missed it? Also avoiding high mileage oil because it will damage ones seals.

I have one bottle of Auto-Rx left and I may use it on my 93 Civic with the leaking main seal again since this is the current biggest hassle on wheel I have to deal with. Wife won't drive it anymore because the leaking main seal oil drips on the exhaust pipe and stinks up the inside of the car.

 

[BrianWC]

Huh? Never heard that about arx. The precaution on using synthetic in the rinse phase is b/c the polarity of advanced synthetics might interfer with arx slowly detaching itself and the deposits from engine parts. This prevents it from removing as many deposits as it could otherwise.

 

[Drivebelt]

Quote:
have one bottle of Auto-Rx left and I may use it on my 93 Civic with the leaking main seal again since this is the current biggest hassle on wheel I have to deal with. Wife won't drive it anymore because the leaking main seal oil drips on the exhaust pipe and stinks up the inside of the car.
Are you using M1 in the Civic? M1 contains PAO which can cause drips on the seals of older vehicles. I would try using a conventional SM oil.

 

[[RT] ProjUltraZ]

anyone ever use the CD-2 Oil Detergent in the yellow bottle?

 

[BrianWC]

Originally Posted By: [RT
ProjUltraZ] anyone ever use the CD-2 Oil Detergent in the yellow bottle?


MANY threads on it in the additive forum. Not much to it but thin oil....

Of course, a few people swear by it...just as a few people think mercurochrome cures cancer, gout, and rheumatism.

 

[Crusader]

Originally Posted By: Drivebelt
Quote:
have one bottle of Auto-Rx left and I may use it on my 93 Civic with the leaking main seal again since this is the current biggest hassle on wheel I have to deal with. Wife won't drive it anymore because the leaking main seal oil drips on the exhaust pipe and stinks up the inside of the car.
Are you using Mobil 1 in the Civic? Mobil 1 contains PAO which can cause drips on the seals of older vehicles. I would try using a conventional SM oil.
The 93 Civic has been weeping oil from the main seal for years. It did get dramatically worse after I used some older stock Mobil 1 5w30. Might have been the older "Advanced Formula" from over 5 years ago. That oil change was in April of 2007. Since then the headgasket has been changed on the Civic. The car has over 264,000 miles on the original transmission so it makes little sense to pull and separate the transmission and NOT have the transmission serviced at the same time. Apparently I'm going beyond normal service for the transmission however I change the fluid regularly and I recently used Auto-Rx the help clean out the pump. Would not surprise me if this car makes it to 500,000 with the auto transmission not requiring any service.

I really don't think another dose of Auto-Rx will help the main seal. I'm open to any suggestions at this point. Current fill is 3+ qts of Valvoline 5w30 and 1 quart of CI-4 Delo 15w40

Car is due for an oil change now and I bought some Pennzoil 5w30 High Mileage to try however I was considering some Mobil 1 10w-40 High Mileage or even some conventional 20w50. Last year I used some left over Napa conventional 20w50 before the leak became really bad and I never had to add a drop during that fill.

I'm even open to using a full throttle seal swell product. What do I have to loose at this point. Cam and front crank seal have already been replaced at 231k miles

 

[coffee]

I would just go with MaxLife 10w40 as it is thicker and will also help with the seals as well.