Piston Soak?

[actionstan]

Hello All,

Lately I have been considering a piston soak in my 99 saturn sl1, which is currently buring oil at the rate of 1 qt per 1200 miles. I have a few questions and was curious to see if anyone could help with some answers.

1. I have read several occasions where oil burning actually got worse after a piston soak, Is anyone aware of why this could happen and how I could avoid a poor outcome?(the only thing I can think of is if they tried to start the engine, before getting any cleaner out)

2. I know everyone recommends MMO, but for my taste.. I don't think its aggressive enough, any other recommendations on something that may be a little stronger but still safe for seals ect in the engine?

3. Its cold right now, will outside temperature have any ill-effect on doing a piston soak?

4. Once the piston soak is complete would it be wise to put just a little motor oil in the cylinders AFTER ejecting any cleaner to make sure the cylinders receive proper lubrication on start up?

Let me know your thoughts, feel free to share your personal experiences with me as well, I am trying to learn all about this before taking the plunge.

Thanks!

 

[Eddie]

You might want to take a look at AUTO-RX. Many good reports on cleaning ring lands.

 

[The_Jeff]

Don't bother oiling after the fact. There'll be plenty of oil.

I vote for seafoam or GM Top Engine cleaner. But really, 1200 miles isn't much, so leave it alone.

The benefit of the soak is you'll be carboned up from the oil burning, and your car will run better afterwards. It'll still burn the same amount of oil, but it'll ping less, be in knock retard less, and get out of its own way.

For bonus points, mist water into the intake while it's running.

Be advised, you'll puke whatever you use all over your exhaust manifold and everything else, despite best efforts to stuff paper towels down the plug holes or whatever.

 

[artificialist]

GM Top Engine cleaner was formulated for this situation, so I would use it.

Seafoam is good, but Berryman B12 is better and cheaper than Seafoam.

 

[spasm3]

Its not really going to work in my experience. I've tried it on my sons saturn with the b-12. The best thing is to use Pennzoil High Mileage 5w30 in the winter or havoline hm 5w30. in the summer use 10w 40 hm. Some people like maxlife , but the pennzoil and havoline hm work best for me.

 

[simple_gifts]

Quote:

But really, 1200 miles isn't much, so leave it alone.


+1; Stock up on some low cost jugs of clearance oil and call it a day.

 

[antiqueshell]

GM Top End Cleaner. Specifically designed for this application.

Use a product designed for the job. Seafoam will NOT do anything for this.

 

[Donald]

Have you checked the compression?

 

[Donald]

Here are the main reasons an engine can burn oil. Obviously it can also drip oil.

1) Valve stem seals worn, broken/cracked
2) Valve stems worn
3) Oil rings gummed up
4) Worn bearings shooting more oil onto the cylinder wall than can be scraped off by the rings

While GM Top End Cleaner will do good things not sure it will help with any of the above.

 

[hattaresguy]

Leave it alone, don't mess with a 15 year old engine that runs good that only burns that much oil.

Buy lots of cheap oil on sale and drive it.

 

[901Memphis]

Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
Leave it alone, don't mess with a 15 year old engine that runs good that only burns that much oil.

Buy lots of cheap oil on sale and drive it.


+1 unless your bored

 

[Olas]

Unless you know why its burning oil you're wasting time and money and resources throwing 'fixes' at it.

If the oil is coming through the stem seals you won't help anything and the leak will continue - correct fix is to pull the head off an rebuild it.

If its the rings a soak *might* unstick them, a mix of brake cleaner and carb cleaner should be strong enough (but would necessitate an oil change straight after)
But if those rings are shot a soak won't do anything.

Mechanical repairs trump snakeoil every time.

 

[Cujet]

Short of pouring thin paint stripper (or the old school carburetor soak) (or paint gun cleaner from the auto paint store) (these products contains methylene chloride) in the cylinders, nothing is going to dissolve carbon deposits. Marvel Mystery Oil, Berrymans, Carb Cleaner, Seafoam, etc. It's all been tried without ANY results. The carbon is, in essence, inert and untouchable.

I'm not suggesting to put such harsh chemicals in your cylinder. But, if you want clean and new, there is only one way. Disassemble, clean, renew rings and put it back together right.

 

[SteveSRT8]

As a last resort prior to teardown a shot of Kreen may work wonders. I have used it in several old engines, some have had amazing results.

In others it did nothing. But it is worth a shot. It DISSOLVES carbon like magic!

Just remember that no snake oil is ever going to repair broken parts. BUT it can indeed remove carbon like crazy...

 

[supton]

Originally Posted By: Olas
Unless you know why its burning oil you're wasting time and money and resources throwing 'fixes' at it.

If the oil is coming through the stem seals you won't help anything and the leak will continue - correct fix is to pull the head off an rebuild it.

If its the rings a soak *might* unstick them, a mix of brake cleaner and carb cleaner should be strong enough (but would necessitate an oil change straight after)
But if those rings are shot a soak won't do anything.

Mechanical repairs trump snakeoil every time.


I see you are on the other side of the pond, and might not be familiar with the OP's car. Saturn 1.9L I4's were notorious for being oil burners; the rings were bad for some reason. Not sure I'd say every one of the motors became oil burners, but most did.

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
As a last resort prior to teardown a shot of Kreen may work wonders. I have used it in several old engines, some have had amazing results.

In others it did nothing. But it is worth a shot. It DISSOLVES carbon like magic!

Just remember that no snake oil is ever going to repair broken parts. BUT it can indeed remove carbon like crazy...


Exactly. I'd give it a try before spending the time and money to rip an engine down. Over the years we've had some great results doing piston soaks. Usually if they didn't work the engine needed work, it was a cheap way to find out without pulling an engine apart.

 

[Olas]

We don't have the Saturn over here, but if they were notorious for burning oil and having bad rings I'd want to put high tension gapless rings in there to stop it rather than using chemicals to fix the symtpom instead of the cause..

 

[SteveSRT8]

Originally Posted By: Olas
We don't have the Saturn over here, but if they were notorious for burning oil and having bad rings I'd want to put high tension gapless rings in there to stop it rather than using chemicals to fix the symtpom instead of the cause..


Of course you would.

Beautiful idea, but many do not have the money. A few dollars for some Kreen is a bit cheaper than a teardown, eh?

Many oil burners develop coked rings and respond beautifully to this. I have seen it personally in a fleet I operate here, as well as in several other folk's cars...

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
Originally Posted By: Olas
We don't have the Saturn over here, but if they were notorious for burning oil and having bad rings I'd want to put high tension gapless rings in there to stop it rather than using chemicals to fix the symtpom instead of the cause..


Of course you would.

Beautiful idea, but many do not have the money. A few dollars for some Kreen is a bit cheaper than a teardown, eh?

Many oil burners develop coked rings and respond beautifully to this. I have seen it personally in a fleet I operate here, as well as in several other folk's cars...


Exactly. I'd rather give the piston soak a shot first. Many of us had good luck with it, making it worth a shot. Rebuilding an engine takes time, costs a lot of money, and can always be done if a piston soak fails.

 

[Cujet]

Kreen is a good solvent. But it will not dissolve carbon. It might clean the engine internals in much the same manner as using a quart of Kerosene in the oil.