Interesting Pennzoil dino effect

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JHZR2

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Our 94 toyota previa has about 220k miles. Runs, drives, operates like new. Can't complain...

The one thing not like new was the heat shield on the exhaust, which as rusted off. The valve cover gasket started to seep a bit, and was dripping slowly onto the exhaust, creating a stink when the car was turned off hot.

Fixed it, and since all that went down, figured it was a good time to do an ARX interval. The car has been owned since new, had 7500 mi OCIs at the dealer on conventional oil to 160k, has had M1 since at extended OCIs, and shows very little wear in UOA. Up until the leaky valve cover gasket there was no use. After the valve cover gasket, no dripping.

So we did ARX with pennzoil conventional, and a purolator filter. After about a month and less than 1000 miles, the oil is nearly 3/4 of a quart down. This is rare, as when running M1, it would take about 10k miles to get between 1/2-3/4 of a quart down.

Im hoping it is a bad drain plug gasket or something else stupid, but it is very interesting. We will likely put HM oil, etiher M1 10w40 HM or valvoline maxlife 10w-30 in after the ARX job...

Interesting all the same... again, hope its mechanical, but I wonder if it is the oil?!!? or ARX ?!?!?
 
It is obvious you take good car of your car, so I doubt it is anything mechanical. It could simply be the change of oil brands, it could take the car a few oil changed before the car gets "used to" the new oil. It could also be a coincidence and the PCV valve is bad, or the hose blocked up. You could also be leaking somewhere that you aren't aware of??
 
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Originally Posted By: Johnny
Probably has more to do with the ARX than the brand of oil.


+1
 
Ive seen that for the first few changes from conventional to M1, experienced on many of our engines as we have done it, that there has been consumption... Ive never heard of this being the case when going the opposite way, but it certainly can be the case.

I too wondered if perhaps ARX flashing off or doing something else (volume minimization when interacting with the surfaces) might be a cause too...
 
I wonder if maybe you actually "over-cleaned" your now-very-old piston rings. If this is the case, you may have cleaned away old "stuff" that was helping the rings seal, and keeping consumption down. If, and I do emphasize "if", that is the case, your newly clean, but very old, rings may be allowing oil in to the combustion chamber in greater amounts than was the case before the ARX treat.

Any observations/evidence that would rule out this theory?
cheers3.gif
 
Originally Posted By: ekpolk
I wonder if maybe you actually "over-cleaned" your now-very-old piston rings. If this is the case, you may have cleaned away old "stuff" that was helping the rings seal, and keeping consumption down. If, and I do emphasize "if", that is the case, your newly clean, but very old, rings may be allowing oil in to the combustion chamber in greater amounts than was the case before the ARX treat.

Any observations/evidence that would rule out this theory?
cheers3.gif



Quite possible. I've heard it happen with flushing an old engine, it is certainly something I wouldn't rule out. But for now I would stay the course, and see what happens.
 
I recall a conversation with Frank from A-Rx. He basically said some crazy things do (sometimes) happen during the clean and rinse phase. Oil use generally stops after the final rinse is complete and you're into the next OC. Basically don't panic and hang in there. There are so many A-Rx success stories that I think you'll be fine. Worst case go back to the Mobil 1 next OC and see what happens.
 
My 04 Camry did that when I switched from Synpower to Maxlife blend. Seems to have stopped using oil now after switching back to Synpower and 2 oci's.
 
Did you have the PCV system checked when you had the valve cover gasket replaced? Have you checked the engine for any other signs of leakage?

Pull the dipstick with the car running and pop a latex glove or a ballon over the end of the dipstick tube and see if it inflates, if it does, you've got a bad clogged PCV system that could have caused your original leak and may be causing leak elsewhere.

Cheers,

J
 
I frequently change brands (ie, buy what is on sale) and Pennz YB has the most consumption out of all major brands in my 3 cars. I dont use PYB any more :)
 
I have never had consumption with pennzoil. However Castrol has been consumed like water the few times I used it.
 
Why use an engine flush if the engine is clean. Long time M1 user here and i've never had a need to use that stuff. In fact I never heard of Arx until I joined BITOG a few months ago.
 
After running ARX and switching to Pennzoil Platinum and then Amsoil, I experienced a little consumption (about 1/4-1/2 quart per 5,000 miles) whereas my car has never consumed oil before, synthetic or regular, and I had ran Amsoil before as well with no consumption. I changed back to conventional (pennzoil) and I am now approximately 1,700 miles into the OCI and no consumption again. I'm very interested to see if it stays at the full mark by the time it hits 3,000 miles. For the sake of comparison, I am going to be going back to synthetic on the next oil change to see if the consumption returns or if maybe it was just the cleaning effect of ARX causing temporary consumption.
 
Originally Posted By: Johnny
Probably has more to do with the ARX than the brand of oil.


Amen. I know that stuff has a huge following on here, but seems to me its just as risky (or more risky) than all the other engine enemas that have come and gone over the years.

The only thing that goes in my crankcase is *OIL*. I'm not going to fsck up all the work that the engineers at Mobil or Shell did formulating additives and detergents to work together with the base oil by putting extra stuff in there. Besides, good oils don't leave deposits. I don't understand the logic in cheaping out on oil and then spending extra for engine enema.
 
Bubbatime: I frequently change brands (ie, buy what is on sale) and Pennz YB has the most consumption out of all major brands in my 3 cars. I dont use PYB any more :)

Its really funny you say this because a about 2 years ago when i had the 1994 SL1 It also used oil (maybe a Qt every 700 miles??) I switched to PYB and it could go about 300 more miles before adding more oil, 1000/Qt again this is a couple of years ago.
 
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