Using LC20 as a flush after Seafoam

[peterr]

Okay, sorry for the stupidity but... I bought a winter car, a litle Mazda MX-3 with the 1.8 l v6. I am replacing the O2 sensors and slapping winter tires on.

I want to do an auto-rx cycle. It is high mileage (over 140K in ten years) but has had regular OCIs. Does not seem sludged. I figured on dumping the oil in there now, but before doing so I added some seafoam to the crankcase thinking it might be a reasonable quick flush. I have only driven about 80 miles since.

I later thought better of it and thought I should have done a heavy LC20 flush then an oil change to begin my Auto-RX cycle.

Any thoughts? Should i just dump the oil right away and start AR-X? Is the Seafoam volatile enough to have cooked off in 80 miles of mainly highway driving at 60MPH. Should I bother adding some Lube Control before i dump the oil?

 

[unDummy]

How many quarts in the sump? How much Seafoam did you add to the oil?

 

[peterr]

Sump capacity is 5.2 quarts. Added about 8 ounces of Seafoam. I was really just looking for some extra solvency to wash out whatever crap i could with the old oil before beginning the clean cycle.

 

[surfstar]

5.2 qts on an mx3? Wow thats bigger than the 2.5L KL sump.
If you're doing two ARX cycles, I'd just throw in the ARX now and go with it.

 

[unDummy]

Change the oil/filter prior to ARX. Follow the directions on their website and complete the rinse/OCI prior to using LC20 or Seafoam, which I don't see the need if you use quality oils.

There's no need to go 'OCD' on your engine or play 'mixing' to see what happens, especially since your engine does 'not seemed sludged' and has had 'regular OCIs'.
You should've just picked ONE product and stuck with it.

Monitoring oil level/consumption on the dipstick would answer the question whether some of the Seafoam disappeared or not.

5.2 quart sure beats the 3.625 in my 2.4L Nissan.
IMO, a decent oil capacity can prevent many problems. I wonder how many sludge monsters would NOT exist if oil sump capacity in those engines were 1 or 2 quarts higher. Tiny sumps/filters + extended OCIs + high head temps for emissions = recipe for .................

 

[peterr]

I am used to driving cars with generous sumps. My other car is a 2.5L engine with a 6L sump. The tech manual for the car says the sump is 4.9L or 5.2 quarts. I would have thought that the KL would be similar since there are so many common parts between the two engines.

This car is new to me and will only be used as a winter car so I am running ARX as a basic precaution. I was just looking to get some extra solvency out of the last few miles on this inherited oil.

 

[MolaKule]

Wow Peterr, you should have the cleanest engine on BITOG.

I tend to shy away from the very thin solvents and prefer instead to use AUTO-RX for ring pack cleaning and LC for general internal cleaning.

quote:

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5.2 quart sure beats the 3.625 in my 2.4L Nissan.

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Never a truer statement. My Frontier with the 2.4L engine with the 3.5 Liter sump thrashes the heck out of the oil.

 

[peterr]

Molakule,

I hear ya. Its funny because before i found this board 18 months ago I probably would have thought that this type of behaviour was crazy. Now I am devoting obsessive attention to a car that is solely intended to bear the brunt of the harsh Canadian winters. I run LC20, FP 60 and the occasional Auto-RX in all my vehicles and now am apparently trying to invent uses for Seafoam. On my last trip to the US, I didn't stop at the duty free for booze and smokes, but I did bring 4 bottles of Gumout Regaine and Chevron Techron back with me.

I dumped the oil today and it was pretty filthy. It had about 3500 miles on it according to the PO and I ran about 80 miles on the Seafoamed oil.

It now has fresh cheap 5w30 conventional and AutoRX in there. I think I will probably just run a single ARX cycle and rinse and then run LC20 in maintainance mode.