No high mileage with Auto-Rx???

[gathermewool]

Info:

Car: 97 Subaru Legacy GT with 193k miles
Bought: 2-5 qt pack of Castrol GTX High Mileage 10w30

Question:

I have ~1000 miles on the first jug of Castrol, and plan to change out in another couple thousand using the second jug with an add of Auto-Rx. I've got a slight leak on my rear seal so I called the Auto-Rx line to see what they thought. Gentleman told me NOT to use High Mileage oil with Auto-Rx, and that if I do use it after the rinsing phase the leak will most likely come back.

Note: since using the High Mileage castrol I've seen my oil usage drop to almost nothing, where I used to use ~1 qt every 3k miles.

Any recommendations?

 

[demarpaint]

For best results you'll have to follow the instructions they gave you and do two complete clean rinse phases.

 

[SuperDave456]

If you want to Auto RX it don't use High Mileage oil. Just use plane ole Conventional oil.
You dont have the oil in there THAT long anyways. 2500 miles on the clean, 3000 on the rinse. Due to your high mileage vehicle you will want to run 2 of the clean and rinse cycles.

Even if you burn 1qt every 1000miles it will do more cleaning than a High Mileage oil will.

My suggestion is to go and read the Auto RX website really well, then come back to BITOG and start reading some of the old threads on Auto RX.

 

[gathermewool]

what about switching back to High Mileage oil afterward? Anything to what he said about the seal leaking if I switch back (after the two clean/rinse phases)?

 

[demarpaint]

IIRC after the complete treatment you can go back to any oil you want. They have a FAQ section on their website its possible the question was addressed there.

 

[Rick20]

According to visual comercials on TV high mileage oil shows swelling of valve stem seals as the claim to fame to reducing oil consumption. But in my opinion it would make sense to clean the working parts in your case first regarding the rear main. Swelling a seal running over a dirty journal would likely just cause the seal to wear at a faster rate. I am assuming that you like everybody is trying to avoid the time or money involved in changing out the rear main.

I bel;ieve the best approach is to clean the motor first before resorting to High Mileage oil.In many cases observed over the years rear mains can leak due to contaminant build up on the crank journal and mating seal lip. An ARX cleaning and rinse with simple dino has solved this type of leak many times. Reason being once the contaminants are removed the seal reconforms to the rotating shaft and nicely mates again.

I say use High Mileage oil as a last resort because it would work best if the seal material was cleaned up before hand, so that the swelling action of the seal running High Mileage would be affected evenly around the circumference. Or if there is crud built up on the journal end it would be best if removed before running the High Mileage oil.

In your case, the leak has practically stopped. Run the oil you have for the OCI and see if it returns. If it does then start from scratch with ARX and a simple simple dino rinse or two. I have heard too many stories of High Mileage solving your problem, short term.