High Performance Lubricants PCMO Series

The EC30 cleaned so quickly on our 2000 Volvo V70 that I’d be reluctant to start with straight HPL.

I prefer slow cleaning by using EC30 or EC40.

Picture shown after running 5 quarts M1 0W40, 1 quart EC30 for 5,000 miles.

View attachment 223018

Do you have a Pic of the Oil Filter from your OCI before you used the HPL Engine Cleaner? Did you use Mobil 1 0W-40 on your previous OCI.?

Are you the original owner?
What are your OCI's Like?
If you are not the Original Owner, at what Mileage did you buy this Car?
Have you used any other oils in this car besides Mobil 1 0W-40?
 
Do you have a Pic of the Oil Filter from your OCI before you used the HPL Engine Cleaner? Did you use Mobil 1 0W-40 on your previous OCI.?

Are you the original owner?
What are your OCI's Like?
If you are not the Original Owner, at what Mileage did you buy this Car?
Have you used any other oils in this car besides Mobil 1 0W-40?
My father’s car until he passed, then my sister’s car until recently. Bulk 5W30 every 3,000 miles. Short trips around Concord Mass. Lots of cleaning to do.

I will run M1 0W40/EC30, 5k OCI until the filter is clean.
 
With 3k OCIs constant, there shouldn't be a need for any big engine cleanings.
Makes me wonder if all those oil change shops were even changing the oil for your father and sister.

If not so, then moving the OCIs up from 3k to 5k, may not be the best plan. I'd stick with 3k OCIs, until you are satisfied with the results.
 
With 3k OCIs constant, there shouldn't be a need for any big engine cleanings.
Makes me wonder if all those oil change shops were even changing the oil for your father and sister.

If not so, then moving the OCIs up from 3k to 5k, may not be the best plan. I'd stick with 3k OCIs, until you are satisfied with the results.
I’ve got experience with this engine. The five of them in my signature, as well as one that I previously own. A cumulative million or so miles on this engine in those 5 cars. One of them has over 300,000. Two of them are well over 200,000.

We are talking about Sam‘s father‘s car.

If Sam says the oil was changed, then the oil was changed. Period.

However, this engine does not do well on conventional. Volvo of North America ruined thousands of engines by using conventional oil in the correct viscosity, but wrong specification, at the dealers. Volvo had to issue this TNN to clean sludged up engines:

https://www.volvoxc.com/0/resources...Lubrication System Contamination Cleaning.pdf

So, applying conventional wisdom to this engine, just like conventional oil, doesn’t work.

Sam and I have talked about his plan. A short interval on any other oil is going to do nothing to benefit his engine. It certainly won’t fix a previously sludged engine caused by the wrong specification.

However, a gentle start on actual cleaning with HPL EC, before going to a fill with HPL is a much better course than short intervals with anything else.
 
Thanks for the reply Sam. Sorry to hear about your father's passing.

So the wrong oil may have been used in the Volvo, thus possibly leading to the sludge buildup. That makes more sense now.
Also, I never suggested not using the HPL Treatment on 3k shorter intervals. I was just dumbfounded why sludge existed in the first place and thought maybe the oil changers scammed Sam's father and short-changed the oil...... even possibly wiping down the old filter, making it look new again.

These-type practices are common and often they prey on the elderly and female persuasions. Sure glad your father wasn't a victim here.
 
Thanks for the reply Sam. Sorry to hear about your father's passing.

So the wrong oil may have been used in the Volvo, thus possibly leading to the sludge buildup. That makes more sense now.
Also, I never suggested not using the HPL Treatment on 3k shorter intervals. I was just dumbfounded why sludge existed in the first place and thought maybe the oil changers scammed Sam's father and short-changed the oil...... even possibly wiping down the old filter, making it look new again.

These-type practices are common and often they prey on the elderly and female persuasions. Sure glad your father wasn't a victim here.
Sludge - and the PCV system failures associated with sludge formation - are very common in these engines. If you stay on top of the issue, through appropriate oil specification and reasonable changes, as well as replacing the PCV system components when they begin to fail, then the engines last forever. At 300,000+ the 2002 V70XC runs perfectly. Good MPG. Good power. Like it was new.

But getting it there requires an understanding of the Achilles Heel of this engine - sludge formation and PCV system failures.

As a note - if left unaddressed, the PCV system failure usually blows out a cam seal when the crankcase pressure gets too high. The engine will puke out a quart every couple of miles, so, if this happens, it is often the end for that engine. Fortunately, when this (cam seal failure as a result of PCV system clogged by sludge) happened to Mrs. Astro at about 150,000 miles in the V70XC, she saw the smoke and pulled over immediately, saving the engine.

Thus began my education into the weakness of the PCV system on this engine. Of note, the engine had been getting regular oil changes with 5W30 synthetic for the past 60,000 miles at 5,000 mile intervals. It was not enough to undo the damage of the previous owner who had it changed at the dealer, where it got conventional 5W30.

So, despite my use of good synthetic oil, much of it A3/B4, and frequent changes, the system still failed from sludge deposits inside. I had the entire system replaced at the dealer then, as I didn't have time to do it. Once the sludge has formed in the PCV sytem, even good synthetic won't clear it up, and it may even still get worse, as the flow through the system is reduced by sludge, leading to even more sludge.

I did the whole system again, myself, at about 285,000 miles, and it still had some sludge in the crankcase passages that drain the PCV system, left over from the first system change, I believe, since they did not drop the pan to clean those passages but instead, ran a wire bush down them from above. The subsequent 100,000+ miles on appropriate synthetic, with short changes, had kept the system relatively clear, which was nice to discover.

Also, as a note - this is a cartridge, not spin on, filter. The housing is easy to wipe off, but it's black composite plastic and there is no way to tell if it's been off, or not. You have to remove the under engine splash shield to get at it. I've seen the housings damaged by the use of Channel-locks, but a decent shop should have the tool that fits the housing.
 
Sludge - and the PCV system failures associated with sludge formation - are very common in these engines. If you stay on top of the issue, through appropriate oil specification and reasonable changes, as well as replacing the PCV system components when they begin to fail, then the engines last forever. At 300,000+ the 2002 V70XC runs perfectly. Good MPG. Good power. Like it was new.

But getting it there requires an understanding of the Achilles Heel of this engine - sludge formation and PCV system failures.

As a note - if left unaddressed, the PCV system failure usually blows out a cam seal when the crankcase pressure gets too high. The engine will puke out a quart every couple of miles, so, if this happens, it is often the end for that engine. Fortunately, when this (cam seal failure as a result of PCV system clogged by sludge) happened to Mrs. Astro at about 150,000 miles in the V70XC, she saw the smoke and pulled over immediately, saving the engine.

Thus began my education into the weakness of the PCV system on this engine. Of note, the engine had been getting regular oil changes with 5W30 synthetic for the past 60,000 miles at 5,000 mile intervals. It was not enough to undo the damage of the previous owner who had it changed at the dealer, where it got conventional 5W30.

So, despite my use of good synthetic oil, much of it A3/B4, and frequent changes, the system still failed from sludge deposits inside. I had the entire system replaced at the dealer then, as I didn't have time to do it. Once the sludge has formed in the PCV sytem, even good synthetic won't clear it up, and it may even still get worse, as the flow through the system is reduced by sludge, leading to even more sludge.

I did the whole system again, myself, at about 285,000 miles, and it still had some sludge in the crankcase passages that drain the PCV system, left over from the first system change, I believe, since they did not drop the pan to clean those passages but instead, ran a wire bush down them from above. The subsequent 100,000+ miles on appropriate synthetic, with short changes, had kept the system relatively clear, which was nice to discover.

Also, as a note - this is a cartridge, not spin on, filter. The housing is easy to wipe off, but it's black composite plastic and there is no way to tell if it's been off, or not. You have to remove the under engine splash shield to get at it. I've seen the housings damaged by the use of Channel-locks, but a decent shop should have the tool that fits the housing.
Wow!

(off-oil topic for a minute)
This reminds of when I always purchased Mopar products in the 60s and 70s. Around 1975, Chrysler decided to save money swapping Holly Carbs for Carter Carbs. The results were a disaster to owners for about 4-5 more years.

The Carters would either flood, choke or starve the fuel system. Sometimes when the engine got hot, fuel at the carb would vapor lock and the driver had to wait until the engine cooled, to restart the vehicle.

In 1980, I bought new again and noticed a switch from old-school carbs to Fuel Injection and those ceramic computer boxes on the firewall, that wouldn't last more than 25-35k.
 
4th of July sale boxes arrived this morning.

20240710_101846.webp


rsz_120240710_102540.webp
 
Is the sale still going?

Looking for 5w40 BMW LL-01

I've ran in my 2020 X4M with 33,000 miles only Amsoil Euro FS 5w40 for 4yrs before I sold it. In my current car G80 M3 i've ran BMW 0w30 then LiquiMoly Special-Tech 5w30, LM 5w40 and now local shop Repsol but not sure if its 5w30 or 5w40 just noticed the oil temperature has started to show its weakness within 2 months of use.
 
Is the sale still going?

Looking for 5w40 BMW LL-01

I've ran in my 2020 X4M with 33,000 miles only Amsoil Euro FS 5w40 for 4yrs before I sold it. In my current car G80 M3 i've ran BMW 0w30 then LiquiMoly Special-Tech 5w30, LM 5w40 and now local shop Repsol but not sure if its 5w30 or 5w40 just noticed the oil temperature has started to show its weakness within 2 months of use.
Code BITOG15 is active for 15 percent off.
 
Code BITOG15 is active for 15 percent off.
I think last year saw sales for Prime Day and I think Cyber Monday. I believe those were an additional 5% off.

A Free Shipping promo ( with minimum $x-amount$ purchased and maximum x-amount allowed in shipping weight) is what I want to see in the future from HPL. Something like that would replace the prior '% off' deals currently being used. Perhaps something like free shipping on orders of 12-24 quarts purchased equivalents?....... just a ballpark suggestion.
 
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I think last year saw sales for Prime Day and I think Cyber Monday. I believe those were an additional 5% off.

A Free Shipping promo ( with minimum x-amount purchased and maximum x-amount allowed) is what I want to see in the future from HPL.
Yes, free shipping would be great but they won't offer it with the 15% would be my take. They don't offer the $25 flat rate for Fedex 2 day anymore either but for me, it's only a few bucks more to ship it here so the 15% off is ok. I do the 4 gal box when I order my once/year or so oil so not really a huge deal. Again, HPL works if you push the intervals out and makes it competitive (both price/shipping) with using lower-quality oils that are cheaper.
 
I think last year saw sales for Prime Day and I think Cyber Monday. I believe those were an additional 5% off.

A Free Shipping promo ( with minimum $x-amount$ purchased and maximum x-amount allowed in shipping weight) is what I want to see in the future from HPL. Something like that would replace the prior '% off' deals currently being used. Perhaps something like free shipping on orders of 12-24 quarts purchased equivalents?....... just a ballpark suggestion.

I'm not a fan of free shipping promos because that only ever works for Americans. For us in Canada there is no way they can offer that.

So something like the 4th of July sale was ideal, everybody gets 25% off (or whatever it is) regardless of where you live, and I just pay for the shipping as per usual.
 
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