Mobil 1 better cleaner than AutoRx?

Status
Not open for further replies.
When my Dad was young (sorry, I am a pretty old guy) guys used to rebuild engines after a few tens of thousands of miles.
 
I guess we have progressed, substantially. Both in motor design as well as maintenance products. Now that 75,000 mile life expectancy, was that before or after asphalt was discovered? Just kidding. In the greater scheme of things that was no so long ago. I still think a 273 cu.in. V-8 from Mopar was a great motor.
 
Originally Posted By: Mystic
When my Dad was young (sorry, I am a pretty old guy) guys used to rebuild engines after a few tens of thousands of miles.


They probably used straight 30 oil and still burned it off too.
20.gif
 
I'll tell ya old
grin2.gif


A good friend of my grandfather has a 1920's Minette. 31' long, powered by a Van Blerk tank engine apparently.

It was a massive I4 with a gravity-fed oiling system, dual ignition, rods that were almost 24" long and pistons that were cast iron and weighed 50lbs.
 
I don't know, deven. I get the impression that your mechanics are the scoffing type. I run into them all the time. I talk to mechanic racers ...good ones. Winners. Stock car engine builders. Since I don't race, they don't think that I have much to say that's important. Everyone knows if you know anything about lubrication or other automotive systems, you're a racer, right?

They all think that they know all there is to know and aren't interested in anything that THEY don't think is worth dragging into their radar. In fairness, we are in an information overload. If a mechanic is taking advantage of all the vendor offered clinics ..and new orientation on ever changing skills needed just to "keep up", there's not a whole lot of elective room for new or different.

I'd find it very hard to accept 20 failures for 20 attempts with Auto-Rx. We've witnessed way too many positives to accept that 20 random failures all fell in your lap.

That leads me to suspect that your mechanics don't respect your input in matters where they view themselves as being superior in knowledge .

This product would require a LTR with a customer to be incorporated into a shop environment ..at least as a value added (chargeable) service. You would have to want to take care of the car, not just repair it.


So ..you live in Nahth Attahborah, huh? I was frum Nahtahn
55.gif
 
I browsed the Auto-RX website, read a couple Auto-RX threads and to be honest it looks like a rip off in a bottle. There is no substantial evidence that the product is worth $20 let alone be a strong cleaner. It may clean a little, but no more than a good synthetic.
 
Originally Posted By: peterdes
I browsed the Auto-RX website, read a couple Auto-RX threads and to be honest it looks like a rip off in a bottle. There is no substantial evidence that the product is worth $20 let alone be a strong cleaner. It may clean a little, but no more than a good synthetic.


Perhaps you looked in the wrong place
21.gif


There's plenty of proof that it works.

But, to each his own.
 
Originally Posted By: peterdes
I browsed the Auto-RX website, read a couple Auto-RX threads and to be honest it looks like a rip off in a bottle. There is no substantial evidence that the product is worth $20 let alone be a strong cleaner. It may clean a little, but no more than a good synthetic.


As mentioned you must not have looked very hard. Plenty of people have posted pictures of the cleaning that happened along with compression results showing that it cleaned up the rings.
 
I agree with what you are saying Gary Allan. My general experience has been that most mechanics do not really know a great deal about motor oil. You will still hear mechanics who say that Pennzoil contains wax and causes sludge, some say that Valvoline is the best probably because of the commercials where it is said that most mechanics use Valvoline, and so forth.

My experience with racers has generally been that they will put on the side of their cars the name of any motor oil and oil company that will give them money. They might have Valvoline on the side of their race car but they might be using Redline in the engine. I remember this Indy race car driver who endorsed one oil supplement one year and another one the next year. People have to realize also that the motor oil used in a race car can be competely different than what you would use in your small car or truck. They used to use 60 weight and even 70 weight oil in Top Fuel drag racing cars. One of the race car drivers I personally knew was a big fan of Mystik motor oil and he badmouthed some popular brand of motor oil (I can't remember which anymore). All these mechanics who say that Pennzoil causes sludge need to explain why there are not millions of cars and trucks with ruined engines.

My best guess is that Auto-RX works. It seemed to work for me. On the other hand if this Mobil 1 HM oil really can clean an engine well it is tempting to just use the oil and forget all of the supplements and cleaners.
 
I'm searching and reading. Just a lot of "Yeah Auto-rx is great!" "A bunch of friends of mine say it really works!" "I've heard more success with this product than any other!" Here's a good one, "I think Auto-Rx is the single most important and effective thing I've learned about here on BITOG."

I'm all for a good engine cleaner, there doesn't seem to be much besides seafoam and synthetic/ester based oils. From what I have read Auto-RX is basically a concentrated ester based oil. If so, why not just use a quart of Red Line. The website states it is three separate complex group of esters that each do they're part of cleaning. But, I've seen this all before, marketing at its best.

Still reading/searching. A lot of people asking the same questions I am and getting the same responses. "Search!", "There's plenty of proof it works!", "Use google! it is used worldwide with great results!".

Okay that is great and all, but yeah..

I found this thread https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/arx-success-story-ford-vulcan-3-0-v-6.83633/

Very good thread, but it seems like the Auto-RX only really works in a neglected engine with sludge and gunk. Of course a Clean engine will not need cleaning...


Has anyone taken a VOA of the product? Some will say you will not get much from the VOA. But if it basically a super concentrated ester oil, I believe you will see whether it is made up of mostly esters ect.

Originally Posted By: Mystic
...If this Mobil 1 HM oil really can clean an engine well it is tempting to just use the oil and forget all of the supplements and cleaners.


Exactly.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
The ester in Auto RX that does the cleaning is a Lanolin ester. It's not the typical ester you'll find in engine oil. It's an excellent cleaner.

VOA's do not show the base oils, so a VOA on Auto RX is useless.
 
Esters do not show up on a UOA. Auto-Rx works, period. If your engine is spotless inside visibly and runs great, but has a lot of miles, it will still do some good in areas you cannot see. My friend's 96 Acura TL had over 200k miles on the original engine which was spotless inside due to short 3-4k oci intervals with Mobil 1 since nearly new. He decided to try some ARX and he was able to improve his compression on all 5 cylinders by a modest amount and had noticeable power boost as well. I have seen more dramatic results firsthand on many less-cared-for engines as well, but have never gotten zero results from ANY treatments yet. Customers ALWAYS comment on improvements they can FEEL.

Latest example comes from a guy I met, friend of a friend, that was complaining about a tapping noise coming and going on his 2000 Suburban with the 5.3L engine. I sold him a bottle of ARX and told him to put it in there with the 6 qts of oil his engine holds. He then told me that his engine only holds 5 qts of Castrol GTX 10W-30. Well, I told him that was odd, but whatever. He came by one day and told me that the truck was running very well and power had improved some and he seemed a bit excited about it. Later, I ran into him and he said he was currently on the rinse dose with the GTX, but that something weird happened that had alarmed him. He had pulled out the drain plug to change the oil and nothing came out. He checked the stick and the engine was full of oil, then after a few minutes some globs came out and then it began to flow out normally. He said he let it drain for a good while before reinstalling the plug. And said that the oil filter was quite heavy. But here's the kicker, he said he put in his usual 5 qts and his oil was a quart low. FIRST time he had ever needed to put in 6 qts to fill it to the full line. I found out that he probably got a lease car that was turned in by someone who never changed their oil. Before I could suggest it, he already was saying that he wanted to do a second treatment. His engine has nearly 150k miles now and no more tapping noises.

Would this have happened with M1 HM? I don't know, but I sort of doubt it, at least not in 3000 miles.
 
Okay, Well I'm going to buy the two bottles for 20 each or so. (a ridiculous price) and try them out. After reading and reading, I like the idea of how it is ester based. I'm just surprised that a big oil company did not already think of using esters as a concentrated product to clean the engine. Which makes me wonder if the "ester based" is a highly exaggerated marketing scheme.

See ya.
 
Originally Posted By: bmwtechguy
Esters do not show up on a UOA. Auto-Rx works, period.


"Auto-Rx works, exclamation point!" would be more forceful with superior impact!
LOL.gif
 
LOL.gif
You're rapid fire here, peterdes
LOL.gif


Quote:
From what I have read Auto-RX is basically a concentrated ester based oil. If so, why not just use a quart of Red Line.


Red Line has an aggressive additive package that shares some components with Auto-Rx. It's quite disruptive to surface formations.

Quote:
Very good thread, but it seems like the Auto-RX only really works in a neglected engine with sludge and gunk. Of course a Clean engine will not need cleaning...


Well, it shows that someone thinking that their engine didn't have something wrong with it because it appeared clean could be DEAD WRONG. It also clearly showed the effectiveness of the product at cleaning coked ring packs.

So..in your mind this proves that it's marketing bogus junk? Sounds like good reasoning skills to me
21.gif


Don't believe it ..don't use it ..don't buy it. Really. This is absolutely the wrong product for you.
 
Originally Posted By: moribundman
Originally Posted By: bmwtechguy
Esters do not show up on a UOA. Auto-Rx works, period.


"Auto-Rx works, exclamation point!" would be more forceful with superior impact!
LOL.gif



I was reading the Auro-RX thread with you and C3PO. You sir, are hilarious.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom