driving habits to increase the effectiveness of an RX treatment?

[Brandon Gatz]

just a random curiosity...will driving uber hard, punctuated by random intervals of WOT make the most from an RX treatment? My logic tells me that extreme runs should clean the engine most efficiently. am i loopy?

[ January 31, 2006, 11:35 AM: Message edited by: gr8gatzby ]

 

[Ugly3]

Yes.

 

[surfstar]

...and yes.

 

[Brandon Gatz]

yes to me being a loon?

yes to driving habits?

 

[mettech_2001]

yes

 

[Brandon Gatz]

Frank?

 

[glennc]

Everybody is saying you are loopy I think.

But it is a good question since they say that A-RX is heat-activated. I've never seen an answer to the question of how much heat is needed. Is it better if you run it in summer? Long trips at full temp, or short trips with lots of static time sitting on surfaces in between? Does it make a real difference? Etc....

- Glenn

 

[thooks]

I'd say about as many 10-12 mile trips as possible over that 1500 miles would be the most beneficial.

I'd also be willing to bet a good compromise of time & mileage is the best scenario for ARX. It needs heat, circulation and time to work properly, IMO.

 

[michaelc80]

I was told on the AutoRX forum that the time the mileage is done in really doesn't matter. I was originally asking because my wifes Jeep was ready for an AutoRX treatment and I was getting ready to go on a couple of trips that would pretty much use up all the mileage for the complete treatment within a couple of weeks. The advice from AutoRX was to run it for the mileage and don't worry about the time.

The quote from Tony on the AutoRX board is:

"No, just do the 1500 mile clean cycle. Just go by the instructions for mileage. If you do the 1500 miles on a trip no problem. Auto-Rx will do the job. I did one of my vehicles on a trip and had it done in 6 weeks, clean and rinse. Another vehicle has over 10 months on the clean cycle. I will finish it this summer. This vehicle is seldom driven. And I can see visible cleaning on this one also. So don't worry, you will do fine, either method."

[ January 31, 2006, 06:18 PM: Message edited by: michaelc80 ]

 

[dbdeland]

gr8gatzby,

Mileage is the important thing here. How fast and hard you drive will not effect how Auto-Rx cleans your engine good Luck.

Daryl

 

[Rich21]

Heat, oil pressure and flow are all helpful to the cleaning process. My preference is highway miles, but have good results in couple vehicles with only short hops.

 

[Brandon Gatz]

well either way, i'm on my 3rd treatment and i'm driving like a bat outta hades whenever the opportunity presents itself. i've been hitting WOT 5-10 instances each day and driving at high revs as much as possible.

 

[Shaman]

Some thoughts to ponder. WOT runs will get the heat up alright, but at WOT, you are putting your filter into bypass because of too much oil pressure.

On a different note, I think that long trips are the best for the ARX phases because long trips are the easiest on oil. No worries of fuel dilution or other things to minimize what the ARX is doing.

IF you are stop and go, the ARX may have to attack what the SAG is doing to the oil, aside from what it is supposed to be taking care of.

 

[Fastride95]

Well higher heat cleans better. This is a given. Just look at anything from washing dishes to doing laundry or even carpet cleaning. Of course, you do not want to run the engine too hot!

With that said, I'm not sure constant WoT and generally hard (and potentially dangerous depending on conditions) driving are really going to help Auto-RX clean more efficiently. Like Shaman said, the filter will likely go into bypass and it actually takes a moment for the oil pressure to adjust to the open throttle run.

I think having the engine running at steady operating tempurature as much as possible during it's operation is probably the optimal way to go. Honestly, from what I've seen here and the Auto-RX board the product works 90% of the time as long as the instructions are followed, regardless of driving habits.

Here's my advice, follow the instructions, use conventional oil for the rinse phase and incorporate 3 -4 long leisurely drives into both phases if possible. Use this oppurtunity to see some places you've been curious about that's up to 100 miles away. If you're car can handle it, run a 20w oil for very good flow on those sustained low load highway runs and avoid romping on the throttle unless you really have to for passing or emergency manuevers.

Good luck!

 

[Rich21]

Don't beat the motor while cleaning. Merely drive conservatively. Bestr advise is to drive as many miles as possible with motor at full operating temperatures. Thats why I suggest highway miles. In most motors that will tend to keep oil pressure up, with good flow. Matting the thing will not help.