Originally Posted By: demarpaint
^^ Could have been the others did most of the work and Rx stole the win.
That's right. This doesn't mean ARX didn't work, or that you're even implying that; just that this isn't proof that ARX did work, as it may have been one or more of the other products that loosened stuff up.
As an example, I ran PU for my last OCI and after 2k it hadn't done much cleaning. Does this mean PU doesn't clean well? No, I just didn't have any deposits that its additive package targeted. When I added 1/2qt of MMO to that same PU, an insane amount of cleaning happened over the course of the next ~750 miles before I dumped that oil. Neither the PU nor the MMO touched that small amount if varnish buildup under the VC, which I had off immediately prior to pouring in 4qt of T6. I had the VC off again 56.5 miles later and most of the varnish was already gone; i've had it off 3 more times since then and not a whole lot has changed.
The way I'm interpreting that is that there was nothing for the PU to clean that the PU would clean, the combination of PU and MMO worked to clean up some carbon/coking and sludge, but then was too weak to do much more than soften/loosen the varnish. Then, the T6 came along and finished the job on the already-softened varnish, which it otherwise wouldn't have touched, as its additive pack isn't necessarily targeted for that. My evidence for this is the complete absence of change in the amount and location of the varnish under my VC over the last ~230 miles, compared with the night and day contrast I saw after the first 56.5 miles.
It's not so much that not everything works for everyone as it is that not everything works for everything. The right cleaner/add-pack for the job will do the job, the wrong one will not. This is why two people on this board with compression issues found success with two different products. One, who had stuck rings, found success with ARX where Restore had failed because it was not designed to address that issue; another found success with Restore because it was designed to address hie scored cylinder walls, which ARX was not intended to do.
I can't really chime in on Kreen other than to say that several people I trust and respect have reported great success with the product *in some cases*. Those same people have reported complete and utter disappointment with the same product in other cases. It's a matter of targeting the underlying cause, not the individual symptoms.
I'll use oil burning in 8th gen Corollas as an example, since that's what I've got the most recent and detailed experience with. It's typical for one of these cars to burn oil because the piston oil return holes are too few and too small, so they clog up, trapping scavenged oil in the combustion chamber where it burns off, eventually completely clogging the holes and coking the rings, leading to loss of compression, increased oil consumption, and eventual engine failure. Provided that none of the holes re completely clogged, a decent cleaning oil like PU, T6, or M1HM might do the trick; you may also need to use an additive such as MMO, ARX, or Kreen. For me, my engine wasn't too far gone and PU+MMO did the trick*. One member in particular did have success with Kreen on the same engine type, also in an 8th gen Corolla, but also failed to clean up another. This would be because the first one had the clogged oil return hole issue and was not yet too far gone, while the other either was too far gone to be saved without physical cleaning (drilling the crud out of the holes) or had another issue, like worn valve seals or a cracked ring, which you're not going to fix with any type of additive.
Can we all just agree that there may be more than one useful product on the market and that those products might have different, if similar, uses? Are we all too dense to recognize this fact?
*No, I don't have "before" pictures -- the "after" shots have been linked to from the PCMO forum. However, there is 0 doubt that this combination did, in fact, solve the problem. Before adding the MMO, I was burning 1/2qt every 1000 miles. 750 miles later, when I drained that oil, not but a couple of ounces had burned. 165 miles into my next (and current) OCI, I did have to top off with 8oz, due to a leaking VCG; 200 miles later, I have not burned a drop. This is a well-documented issue that does not fix itself; Google is your friend if you don't want to take my word for it.
