Poor man's AutoRx

[rg144]

I have this '85 Plymouth Voyager parked (for 1 year) in my driveway. Has about 140K on the engine and was subjected to all the snake oils (Dura-sludge, Slick-n-filthy, and maybe even Prolonge the agony). Anyway, it is now serving as a shed. And got to thinking, since Auto-Rx is something akin to Lanolin with some esthers thrown in, I could dump a tub a Go-Jo and a jigger of M1 and see what happens. It smoked pretty bad when I parked it, but it was running strong.

The only difference between some GoJo and ARX seems to be the water was taken out in processing - heck this poor 2.6L had a blown head gasket at 100K with green coolant spraying and steaming out the hood while coming down a long highway hill into town where they based Maybury RFD (my wife was with the kids driving to Georgia it at the time - she still thinks I had something to do with it though I was back home in another state at the time). These Mitsubishi engines can handle a little water a glyconol!

Before I do this test in the spirit of BITOG should I:
1) increase my homeowners insurance
2) alert the neighbors to go away for the weekend
3) make a contribution to the local volunteer fire department
4) wait until mosquito season
5) any other suggestions ....

[ March 03, 2004, 09:24 PM: Message edited by: rg144 ]

 

[sprintman]

Did you also use Motor Up? I confess I did but pre BITOG

 

[Mystic]

If you find Auto-RX too expensive use Neutra. It is pretty cheap and may achieve the same results.

 

[rg144]

S'man - if it was on the shelf I would have used it, but never saw that stuff. Right now my '96 Voyager has internal parts the color of Minwax Dark Oak stain from all that stuff. Never again.

Mystic - no, no, this is ARX vs GoJo. I actually have some ARX on it's way DHL from Frank for my '96. He's the best! Talked with him yesterday (the staff was off and he answered the phone). I'm not too poor, just too interested in how Frank came up with this (while using GoJo late one night after swapping an alternator, 'why not run this through an engine' - takes the wife's Camry - and WOW!). Just interested in the thought process, hey I invent too (I have a patent pending) - even have a drip-free filter removal solution.

[ March 03, 2004, 09:44 PM: Message edited by: rg144 ]

 

[JohnBrowning]

Their is no lanolin in Auto-Rx!! In order to mak e an ester you have to react a fat with an alchol. In this case the esters in auto-rx are reacted from lanolin. THe byproduct of heat, fats, alchols maybe vaccum = natuarl ester used in Auto-RX!

Do not I repeat do not try to put gojo in this engine unless you hate the thing and want to finish killing it!!! If you want cheap put a can of B-12 init with fresh 15W40 oil and old filter still in place. Let the car idle for 15 minutes at double the normal idle speed! This is a harsh solvent and is not good either but it is a HE!! of alot better for it then gojo!

Motorbike has had good luck with LubeGuard Motor Flush and it is $7 at NAPA. You might try this as well. Be warned that strong solvents ae never a good idea in a warn, abused engine and abrasive compounds with simple animal fats and water are never a good idea in any engine!

Good Luck! Let us know how it turns out!

 

[rg144]

Thanks for the warning. That's the feedback I wanted (though I'm not interested in cheap, am wondering the difference - but now I think I'll move the car away from side near the neighbor's house to side with the open field and a bank of dirt that borders the quarry). That van is going nowhere (well actually the family is lobbying me to get it to the junkyard). But other than one spark plug that is frozen in for good, it's quite road worthy and I have had offers for it. What are you predicting will happen though?

Also, I have some B-12 (bought that stuff too!) but before subjecting poor '96 to further abuse had found this forum. I told my son that the stuff has been known to eat through it's can and he made me take it out of the basement to the above mentioned shed/van.

[ March 03, 2004, 10:28 PM: Message edited by: rg144 ]

 

[rg144]

Oh I *was* in Napa *yesterday* looking for LubeGard and the counter guy recommended instead of LubeGard (the bootle he pointed to was for tranny's) he recommended the engine flush which was the diesel fuel variety (forget which). He also said take the drain plug off with a *long* wrench cause he burned himself doing it! A truly stirring endorsement.

[ March 03, 2004, 10:10 PM: Message edited by: rg144 ]

 

[cryptokid]

i say run the gojo. if it blows, so what! youre just using it as a shed anyways right? might as well expierment a little.

 

[Mystic]

Use whatever you want. It is your car. But to me the $7.00 bottle of Lubegard Engine Flush seems pretty inexpensive to me, if you can find a bottle. Neutra seems pretty cheap also.

 

[JohnBrowning]

THe problem with solvent based cleaner is two fold! They can in some cases cause large chunks of sludge to dislodge pluging oil galleys and pickup screens. THe second proble is that their is always a remote possability that the solvents will attack the aged seal material. It is not likely but does happen! THe gojo has abrasives in it as well as water. water and oil do not mix well and it often leads to sludge.

As mystic said it is your car!

 

[tom slick]

the heck with gojo.
maybe you could shove the whole sheep in there

it could run around and scrub all the carbon and varnish with it's hooves and teeth. it's lanolin could help to loosen the stubborn stuff and it's wool will give everything in there a nice long lasting polish.

 

[novadude]

LMAO @ Tom Slick!

 

[rg144]

No animals will be harmed in the conducting of the experiment

It will pit a '96 Grand Caravan with ARX versus a '85 Voyager with GoJo. To be completely scientific, I suppose we could wait 10 years until the '96 becomes the shed and a new van replaces it and then reverse treatments ...

But the '96 van has used a greater variety of additives that have become available thanks to altruistic corporations

(recently had "Motor Honey" and 2 kinds of anti-smoke stuff, CD-2 and Rislone I think). Tell you the truth the smoke came back after a couple of 100 miles. The best treatment was based on advice from this forum. I had changed the oil to Pennzoil (Purebase), saw Valvoline High Milage was recommended, used it to replace consumed oil, now smoking and consumption seem no worse than with the thickening agents. This experience has bolstered my confidence to try 'one more' additive before going in for the $240 seal replacement.

S'man: we the weak in will power, need to just keep repeating 'what does this additive do that my oil can't do'. Then 'just say no'.

My guess is additives were a 'good thing' when oil was plain oil. I read that Marvel Mystery Oil made of difference in plane engines in WWII. So the homespun wisdom has been passed down while oil technology has made it irrelevant. Better to know your requirements and choose the right oil.

 

[JohnBrowning]

Do the Auto-Rx in the 96. When you are done with the Auto-RX run 15W40 in it!

I have no idea what adding lanolin to the engine would do!! I can not imagine that you would have much luck reacting it to an ester in the engine. How much and what type of acid would you use? How much heat for How long? WHat atmospher is to be used etc..........

If you want lanolin go buy some pure lanolin from you drug store in the health and beaty section. You can also buy it for lactateing mother to use on their breast. I think black people also use it on their hair or skin because it is always in the same isle as their hair and skin care products. It comesin a big tub!!


P.S. I want to make sure you know that I think this is a bad idea. If it was this easy everyone would be nocking off Auto-Rx with lanolin additives!

[ March 04, 2004, 01:49 PM: Message edited by: JohnBrowning ]

 

[rg144]

I have heeded the wise words from senior members of BITOG.

Sounds like if you do this you deserve to be in the sequel to the movie Jack-@ss.

Thinking it through, the GoJo has a lower flashpoint. I put GoJo and ARX on some sheet metal and heated -- it boiled sooner and vigorously (water), but otherwise both liquified clear, ignited and left a residue. (see pic). Then the sheet metal was left out in the rain and the ARX stayed varnished but GoJo side left soot. Just like fat that has been burned. So unless you want you car internals to resemble the grill of a dirty BBQ ...

Meanwhile, the '96 Grand Caravan finished it's cleaning cycle ( Caravan doing it's civic duty reducing the threat of West Nile infected mosquitoes). Like the other thread on this, ARX isn't doing much to remove the nasty stain left by additives and smoke treatments.

But that leads to some interesting conclusions. I can testify the additives do coat! But who needs their protection since oil has zddp/moly/calcium etc for AW.

The cleaning cycle was 1500 miles. I asked Frank since I had used some synthetics - (2 quarts since OC -> 1 qt M1, and 1qt Valvoline HM ie some Group III) and the recommendation was give it a little more time. He also stressed if I wanted to recondition the seals, don't use the HM oils which will swell them. IT's an Either/Or proposition.

No suprises in the oil. Looked as dirty as any oil I've changed. Of course it only had 3000 miles on the oil. Ripped open the filter - no sediment (standard Purolator filter). It's not as if I didn't do oil changes. Just made the mistake of using anti-smoke additives once the engine started smoking (none of which did much good after 500 miles). So Shell oil (dino) went in for the rinse with a AC/Delco filter.

One conclusion to this 'Poor Man's ARX' is the High Mileage oils. The Valvoline HM really stemmed the burn rate of consumption even before the ARX.