HPL EC PICTURES AFTER 4500 miles and 2 OCI's

One question I had for Dave, what ratio do you need to run the EC to get the same cleaning ability as the oil?
You’ve got it backwards; the oil itself is the stronger cleaner of the two… the EC is a “lite” version to begin to break down sludge & varnish at a slow rate for safety. The oil itself is formulated for maximum cleanliness and if used in a sludges engine may release large chunks of carbon or other accumulations that could plug the oil pickup or internal passages.

Straight HPL EC will not clean as quickly as straight HPL PCMO.
 
You’ve got it backwards; the oil itself is the stronger cleaner of the two… the EC is a “lite” version to begin to break down sludge & varnish at a slow rate for safety. The oil itself is formulated for maximum cleanliness and if used in a sludges engine may release large chunks of carbon or other accumulations that could plug the oil pickup or internal passages.

Straight HPL EC will not clean as quickly as straight HPL PCMO.
I don't have it backwards.

I understand the oil is more aggressive in cleaning.

If you run the cleaner and it does not clean after the first treatment, the question is how much of the cleaner do you need to use to equal the cleaning power of the oil.

The cleaner used to be named engine flush, but members do not like that so it was changed to a Cleaner, and I understand it is used to prep the engine for the oil. I understand the do not harm concept as well.

Another way to phrase it, what is the maximum ratio of cleaner one can use without harming seals? Will that maximum ratio or cleaner clean as good as the oils?
 
I don't have it backwards.

I understand the oil is more aggressive in cleaning.

If you run the cleaner and it does not clean after the first treatment, the question is how much of the cleaner do you need to use to equal the cleaning power of the oil.

The cleaner used to be named engine flush, but members do not like that so it was changed to a Cleaner, and I understand it is used to prep the engine for the oil. I understand the do not harm concept as well.

Another way to phrase it, what is the maximum ratio of cleaner one can use without harming seals? Will that maximum ratio or cleaner clean as good as the oils?
Your third paragraph differs 180* from your first paragraph, and by the wording of it, it appears to be the correct interpretation of your standing: If the cleaner is less than 100% of the cleaning ability of the EC, there is no possible way you can ever achieve more cleaning power than the oil itself even if you ran 100% EC. You can obviously figure out what % of EC is in your mix based on your personal sump size, which even at the 1qt recommended ratio far exceeds that ratio of any other oil additive (which the EC is, in reality, since it shared few similar overall characteristics other than viscosity).

Dave would have to answer, but I’m willing to bet any issues with seals would not be a result of their formulation, but if you did have a problem it would be because it cleaned away the “plug” on a prior leak. No seal damage, but rather erasing sins of oils past.
 
Drew,

There is a difference between the two. The cleaner only utilizes ester to work. The oil has AN’s and Ester. To remain safe with elastomers I would not recommend increasing the strength of the cleaner significantly. The ultimate answer is once you are on an oil that does not leave deposits there is no reason to look back.

David
 
Just got the HPL oil (0W-30) in and will update this post with oil hole pictures when the car comes back for an oil change in 5000 Miles per Dave's recommendations

One thing I can say for sure the folks at HPL are top notch for customer service and follow up!

One question I had for Dave, what ratio do you need to run the EC to get the same cleaning ability as the oil?
Which of their 0w30 oil did choose? My engine looks very similar to yours in regards to varnish build-up and am curious what Dave recommend.
 
I am more curious why the OP resealed the oil pan. Those pans never leak, it is the oil pump seal that leaks.
 
I am more curious why the OP resealed the oil pan. Those pans never leak, it is the oil pump seal that leaks.
I will correct your statement to "seldom" leaks. I 100% agree with you it is rare and this is the first one I have seen that leaks. This is the 3.7L so I suspect somewhere down the line it had the TSB to replace piston rings for oil consumption since it probably had a poor reseal done at that time.

I probably should have done the oil pump reseal as well while I was at it.
 
So the vehicle is back a bit early with 3000 Miles since the last OCI, running on PPCMO 0w-30, it used a 1/2 quart so far.

Looking down the drain hole still shows varnish as shown on pictures above, but the oil has definitely turned the color of shellac. I will post pictures soon.

Given the color of the oil and since I will not see the car for another 3 months Questions are 1.) should I change oil now. 2.) Top off and wait till I see the vehicle in 3/months, OCI will probably be closer to 6K,. 3.) Change filter and add a top off?

The original plan was to run the oil for 5K, change and run for another 5k.
 
So the vehicle is back a bit early with 3000 Miles since the last OCI, running on PPCMO 0w-30, it used a 1/2 quart so far.

Looking down the drain hole still shows varnish as shown on pictures above, but the oil has definitely turned the color of shellac. I will post pictures soon.

Given the color of the oil and since I will not see the car for another 3 months Questions are 1.) should I change oil now. 2.) Top off and wait till I see the vehicle in 3/months, OCI will probably be closer to 6K,. 3.) Change filter and add a top off?

The original plan was to run the oil for 5K, change and run for another 5k.
Option 3. If you’re running full HPL and not just EC with another oil, it is foolish economy to drain HPL at 3k miles. Top it off, give them half a quart more of top-off oil, and tell them to check the level again in 3k. Depending on how much stuff is left to clean after your current state, the consumption may slow or disappear altogether at some point during the next 3-5k of driving.
 
3000 Miles of HPL PPCMO 0w-30, after two tratments of HPL EC
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Starting to see bare metal around the bolt. It is definitely a slow clean but I can finally see progress.

Slow progress is best progress! Reading the comments from Dave it's clear to me that the intent of the oil is clean slowly, rather than risk chunks ending up somewhere they shouldn't. That's a plus to me, as long as it's in the right direction, slow clean is absolutely perfect.
 
Slow progress is best progress! Reading the comments from Dave it's clear to me that the intent of the oil is clean slowly, rather than risk chunks ending up somewhere they shouldn't. That's a plus to me, as long as it's in the right direction, slow clean is absolutely perfect.
Absolutely agree, Main reason I bring it up , is a have read comments from people saying they ran in 500 miles, etc. Patience is needed.
 
Here is an updated picture after a total of 14K miles total since I started the experiment using HPM EC and HPL oils, I also did the BG EPR flush during the same duration to help things along.

As can be seen there is still varnish left, however what is interesting, is there were multiple chunks of carbonaceous material, about the size of rice grains that were left on the side of the oil drain caddy during this last oil change. I wish I had a pictures and over the last 3K miles, no noticeable oil consumption.

For this next OCI, I used the last quart of my EC + RGT 5w-30 and will run it for another 3-4K miles if there is again no noticeable usage by next OCI, I will run BG EPR again then put in HPL for an extended period.

I think the ring groves must have gotten some cleaning this last cycle since the carbon can not come from the pan or valve cover since those were cleaned those thoroughly during the pan reseal and valve adjustment.

I want to see if and how long to get the engine back to spotless. Every OCI will either have and EC, HPL oil until engine is spotless.

PXL_20230724_221049195.jpg
 
Here is an updated picture after a total of 14K miles total since I started the experiment using HPM EC and HPL oils, I also did the BG EPR flush during the same duration to help things along.

As can be seen there is still varnish left, however what is interesting, is there were multiple chunks of carbonaceous material, about the size of rice grains that were left on the side of the oil drain caddy during this last oil change. I wish I had a pictures and over the last 3K miles, no noticeable oil consumption.

For this next OCI, I used the last quart of my EC + RGT 5w-30 and will run it for another 3-4K miles if there is again no noticeable usage by next OCI, I will run BG EPR again then put in HPL for an extended period.

I think the ring groves must have gotten some cleaning this last cycle since the carbon can not come from the pan or valve cover since those were cleaned those thoroughly during the pan reseal and valve adjustment.

I want to see if and how long to get the engine back to spotless. Every OCI will either have and EC, HPL oil until engine is spotless.

View attachment 168765
Well something is working but how do we know if it’s the BG flush or the HPL?
I guess your goal is to jus get it clean and thats cool lol. Progress can be seen
 
Here is an updated picture after a total of 14K miles total since I started the experiment using HPM EC and HPL oils, I also did the BG EPR flush during the same duration to help things along.

As can be seen there is still varnish left, however what is interesting, is there were multiple chunks of carbonaceous material, about the size of rice grains that were left on the side of the oil drain caddy during this last oil change. I wish I had a pictures and over the last 3K miles, no noticeable oil consumption.

For this next OCI, I used the last quart of my EC + RGT 5w-30 and will run it for another 3-4K miles if there is again no noticeable usage by next OCI, I will run BG EPR again then put in HPL for an extended period.

I think the ring groves must have gotten some cleaning this last cycle since the carbon can not come from the pan or valve cover since those were cleaned those thoroughly during the pan reseal and valve adjustment.

I want to see if and how long to get the engine back to spotless. Every OCI will either have and EC, HPL oil until engine is spotless.

View attachment 168765
Cool progress, but really just two questions: other than cost, if your goal was engine cleanliness, why wouldn’t you have followed the 1 OCI with EC, then move to full HPL after that? The HPL oil will accomplish more cleaning over a full OCI than a 20% mix of EC & shelf oil.
 
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