My Auto-RX Filter Pics

[BrianWC]

Well, here we are. Results of 2 cycles or auto-rx on my 2001 Saab 9-5 2.3l turbo. I acquired the car w/ 59,000 miles on November 5. I was extremely panicked b/c of these cars' reputations as sludgers. There was a nice coat of varnish on the dipstick. When the valve cover was removed, there were scattered pockets of small amounts of sludge in cracks and crevices. I began arx at 61k I believe. Lots of crud in the filters.

The first clean phase filter is a Fram. I can't remember which but it's the big beefy one that looks like it means business. The oil was M1EP 5W30.

The second filter (1st rinse phase) is a Purolator PureOne. LOT'S of pleats. The oil was Supertech 5W30 dino.

The third filter (2nd clean phase) is a Purolator PurePlus. Not as many pleats. The oil was Castrol Tection Extra 15W40.

The fourth filter (2nd rinse phase) is a Supertech. About as pleated as the PureOne. The oil was once again Castrol Tection Extra 15W40.


Notice that the rinse phase filters seem to have more crud than their preceeding clean filters. We've always heard that the real action takes place in the rinse phase. I don't know WHY the 1st clean filter looks so clean but the others made up for it. Though under the valve cover, some bits o' sludge remain, these filters don't lie. Stuff got cleaned up quite a bit.

Sludge that dripped out of the filter as I removed it from its housing. This is the 2nd rinse filter.

Yet another look at the 2nd rinse filter just after opening it up.

engine in November

Then in February

Sludge in first clean phase filter, you know, the one that doesn't look that bad!

 

[GROUCHO MARX]

Thanks for thr effort.

 

[Touring5]

Great visual documentation.

I'd guess that the first filter (initial clean phase) looks cleaner because synthetic oil was in use - along with the fact that more "crud" shows up during rinse, typically.

 

[Pablo]

ew.

 

[BrianWC]

Lol, I just noticed. If you look at the 2nd of the group shot of filters, below the 3rd filter, you can see an old bottle of B-12 (flushed the mom-in-law's Yukon, lol) and part of one of the filter housings in the trash.

What's the matter Pablo? Shoot, I thought it would be much worse!

 

[Virtuoso]

Wonder what the oil pump pickup screen looks like

At least you know the filter's work!

 

[BrianWC]

I'll be cleaning it soon!

 

[Pablo]

Amazing. 5 year old car, 59K miles. What was the OC history? (oil type/brand, changes, etc)

 

[BrianWC]

No idea. I bought it in Houston after seeing it on eBay. I knew it could potentially be a problem as the same engine is in the 2000-2003 9-3. I moderate the 94-98 900/9-3 workshop at Saabcentral.com and had seen folks have an issue or two w/ the later cars. 9-5's for whatever reason, were supposed to be 10 times worse. I couldn't pass it up at $9,995 as I had just lost my 1997 900 to a wreck and wanted a bigger car. Saabs are so rare in the South that it's hard to find them used. Luckily, when you do find them used in the South, the resale value is astoudingly low.

The model has had several revisions to the PCV system b/c originally saab had designed a computer controlled unit that they were not able to make OBDII compliant. As a result, they constructed an interesting and poor-working alternative. Combined w/ folks taking a little too serious the 10k OCI and not using synth, you had a real mess. It's pretty much impossible to find a low mileage 9-5 engine anymore.

Here's a link to a Swedish guy's webpage who had a lot more time to ponder the 9-5 PCV system than I ever will.

http://www.mitt-eget.com/saab/information_ccv_en.shtml

Saab also took the opportunity to save money by constructing cheaper oil pumps more easily susceptible to wear. This resulted in them shrinking the openings in the pickup mesh, which combined w/ the sludge/coking problem, has resulted in countless spun bearings.

Now I remember, when I first posted pics of the internals everyone thought I was silly for worrying!

 

[va3ux]

It still amazes me that the instructions for Auto Rx specifically call for Dino oil for the entire treatment (clean and rinse), yet people ignore the instructions and use synthetic - and still expect the best possible results.

Phil

 

[Russell]

The ARX instructions state synthetic is ok for the clean phase.

 

[Russell]

Great post!
My BMW 525i (about 118,000 miles)after the first clean/rinse had very little in the pleats. I used synthetic in the first clean and dino in the first rinse.

The second clean phase with dino had a bit more crud that the first clean/rinse Even so nothing like this. I am looking forward to see how my second rinse turns out. Car runs great.

 

[topz]

I thought one of the benefits of ARX is that sludge /cruds will be washed away slowly, instead of in solids. But look at the pictures, it appears that they are fairly large (in grain size?). Is this expected?

 

[BrianWC]

It wasn't too big. I found one chunk maybe half the size of an English pea. The rest were small. That's the reason for the upclose shots. I couldn't tell what they were. You have to understand, this isn't just your traditional sludge, this is also turbo coked oil. I suspect there was a whole lot of debris buildup in the oil pan. These cars are know for clogging oil screens if not properly taken care of.

 

[BrianWC]

quote:

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Originally posted by va3ux:
It still amazes me that the instructions for Auto Rx specifically call for Dino oil for the entire treatment (clean and rinse), yet people ignore the instructions and use synthetic - and still expect the best possible results.

Phil

---

It still amazes me that people don't read the fact that the instructions specifically state you can use synth on the clean phase and that the instructions take that into account. I even posted on here asking Frank if I should drain my Mobil1 EP.

Thank you very much.

 

[Black Thunder]

did you hang those filter's and let all the oil drain/drip out of them before you took the pics?

 

[BrianWC]

Yes, they've been hanging for a while just like that. All I did was group them together for the shot. The oil dripped off (well, some of it is STILL dripping) and all that was left was the crud. The only shot with a fresh filter is the one on the shop towel.

 

[Black Thunder]

i should do that with my next oil filter, its on its last rinse phase, but i don't think the motor was very dirty to begin with.

i hadn't cut the other elements apart like you did......i should have so i could have seen results.

oh well.....perhaps with my next Auto-RX on a different vehicle i will do what you did.

 

[BrianWC]

It really wasn't that difficult. I just put the filter in a vise and sawed the top off. I had to make sure to clear away the metal so as to not contaminate the filter once I opened it up. You'd be surprised what you find in a clean car. I've used on M1 until recently in my wife's CR-V and upon opening the filter, there were still a few of these particles in it. This is a car w/ spotless internals. Albeit there were very few carbon particles, but that's not even using arx.

 

[noob]

quote:

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Originally posted by BrianWC:

quote:

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Originally posted by va3ux:
It still amazes me that the instructions for Auto Rx specifically call for Dino oil for the entire treatment (clean and rinse), yet people ignore the instructions and use synthetic - and still expect the best possible results.

Phil

---

It still amazes me that people don't read the fact that the instructions specifically state you can use synth on the clean phase and that the instructions take that into account. I even posted on here asking Frank if I should drain my Mobil1 EP.

Thank you very much.

---

Great post. Sorry, va3ux but you got pwned.

Brian, did the ARX clear up any problems or did you just do it as a precaution when you bought the used car?