At a 140,000 miles. I think that engine looks OK. Ive seen alot worse and not too many better with that high of milelage it looks like a motor with about 90-100,000 miles and its got 40,000 more than that. I also dont think its fair to bash Castrol or RX since we dont know how bad or Good it was before at 100,000 miles. I would just run it and change oil as you have been. As far as Synthetics, I think conventional oil has came a long way and the comparison is marginal at best. This at reasonable change intervals of course.
View under the valve cover 180k 1992 Accord
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If thats how it looks after AXR and we all know AXR usually does some sort of cleaning by previous posts i can only imagine it was waay worse before.
so i would say some oil's performance IS at fault.
so i would say some oil's performance IS at fault.
I don't think it looks too bad. I think some are too concerned about a spotless engine when wear is what really matters. If it looked like this with 3-4K changes with one brand of oil it's whole life you might be able to blame an oil for leaving too many deposits.
Due to no history before the GTX and Auto RX, not much can really be concluded other than rating the deposits. It could be that the GTX really cleaned up this engine. But we will never know.
Due to no history before the GTX and Auto RX, not much can really be concluded other than rating the deposits. It could be that the GTX really cleaned up this engine. But we will never know.
A little dirty to me, but then my Hondas have always been spotless.
Still, not bad for the age, miles, short-trip use in a place that sees real winter weather and uncertain maintenance history.
I think that this engine will get cleaner with no more than regular oil changes.
Driving the car hard and warming everything up on a regular basis also cannot hurt.
Still, not bad for the age, miles, short-trip use in a place that sees real winter weather and uncertain maintenance history.
I think that this engine will get cleaner with no more than regular oil changes.
Driving the car hard and warming everything up on a regular basis also cannot hurt.
Unless you really have a 'thing' about having a spotlessly clean (inside) engine for some reason, Don't sweat it! it will go for another 100k looking like that.
It used to be (and proberbly still is, outside this site) the way ALL engines look when not 'new'
More to the point, how is the rest of the car for Rust?
It used to be (and proberbly still is, outside this site) the way ALL engines look when not 'new'
More to the point, how is the rest of the car for Rust?
There is definitely some rust. The classic rear quarter panel rust. I hope to get to 200k at least. It'll depend on how often I drive it. The rest of the car is solid. I recently replaced the starter and did a tune up. Original clutch, tbelt due at 195k.
Give MMO a try. 1 qt for an OCI or two, just don't overfill.
In my experience, and the experience of some other BITOGers whose posts I've read, auto-rx does nothing to that kind of discoloration.
Both Hondas I had from that era that I bought used had lived on conventional oil, and had that color through the fill hole.
May not be perfect but nothing to worry about, IMO.
Both Hondas I had from that era that I bought used had lived on conventional oil, and had that color through the fill hole.
May not be perfect but nothing to worry about, IMO.
It's hardly a Sludge Monster, but is among the grungier Honda F2x engine's I've seen around here.
The sludge/varnish/gunk on top of the spring keepers and inside the valve cover is somewhat surprising, although IMO there's no need for MMO or other 'treatment.'
For comparison, here's my 92 'Cord, at ~185K, after several years of M1 and PP at 6~8K OCI. (I'm up to 10K now.)
The sludge/varnish/gunk on top of the spring keepers and inside the valve cover is somewhat surprising, although IMO there's no need for MMO or other 'treatment.'
For comparison, here's my 92 'Cord, at ~185K, after several years of M1 and PP at 6~8K OCI. (I'm up to 10K now.)
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Originally Posted By: rewote500
Originally Posted By: ARCOgraphite
OP said car was run on castrol since new. So much for castrol's sludge ads.
Wow. So we can say Castrol GTX causes sludge on this forum but we cannot say QS and Pennzoil do. Wow. This forum is bias.
no, you just totally don't see the difference between you and the rest of us
Nobody said Castrol GTX causes sludge. Abused oil is the source of sludge. Castrol GTX's commercials claim to prevent sludge 57% better than other oils
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9RttyUQiws
It's much more fair to say the claims on that commercial are questionable than for you to flat out tell people that QS always causes sludge while ignoring facts such as Shell buying QS and changing their formula since the last time you've used them
Originally Posted By: ARCOgraphite
OP said car was run on castrol since new. So much for castrol's sludge ads.
Wow. So we can say Castrol GTX causes sludge on this forum but we cannot say QS and Pennzoil do. Wow. This forum is bias.
no, you just totally don't see the difference between you and the rest of us
Nobody said Castrol GTX causes sludge. Abused oil is the source of sludge. Castrol GTX's commercials claim to prevent sludge 57% better than other oils
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9RttyUQiws
It's much more fair to say the claims on that commercial are questionable than for you to flat out tell people that QS always causes sludge while ignoring facts such as Shell buying QS and changing their formula since the last time you've used them
Originally Posted By: demarpaint
Give MMO a try. 1 qt for an OCI or two, just don't overfill.
Whats the recommended OCI when using MMO to try to clean an engine up? I would assume one would want to use syn. oil and change it out much sooner than normal?
Give MMO a try. 1 qt for an OCI or two, just don't overfill.
Whats the recommended OCI when using MMO to try to clean an engine up? I would assume one would want to use syn. oil and change it out much sooner than normal?
Looks like some varnish on some areas and RX does not really remove varnish, at least in my expereince
Originally Posted By: countryboy9799
Originally Posted By: demarpaint
Give MMO a try. 1 qt for an OCI or two, just don't overfill.
Whats the recommended OCI when using MMO to try to clean an engine up? I would assume one would want to use syn. oil and change it out much sooner than normal?
I would add a cup or two a week/200miles before your next OCI - thats all. I would never run it long - and especially with a synthetic.
Originally Posted By: demarpaint
Give MMO a try. 1 qt for an OCI or two, just don't overfill.
Whats the recommended OCI when using MMO to try to clean an engine up? I would assume one would want to use syn. oil and change it out much sooner than normal?
I would add a cup or two a week/200miles before your next OCI - thats all. I would never run it long - and especially with a synthetic.
Geonerd,
You Accord definitely looks cleaner. Probably a combination of different usage patterns and the synthetic oil. It makes me glad I've used synthetic since new in the Golf TDI since that car gets driven more and will likely go many more miles before rust becomes an issue (145k on the Golf now).
Another potential contributing factor to dirtyness in my Accord is that it sat for around a year without being driven before I purchased it, and almost certainly wasn't properly prepped for long term storage or anything. It probably had quite dirty oil sitting in it.
I think that these deposits are largely cosmetic - though it does look ugly, especially on the top of the valve springs. But the oil itself is not currently sludged, the engine runs smoothly with plenty of power and great mileage. I suspect the Auto-RX did improve things 40k miles ago, especially since it was run through after the previous oil had sat for a year in who knows what condition. I felt like the engine got smoother during the process, but of course it wasn't a "double blind" test or anything like that
You Accord definitely looks cleaner. Probably a combination of different usage patterns and the synthetic oil. It makes me glad I've used synthetic since new in the Golf TDI since that car gets driven more and will likely go many more miles before rust becomes an issue (145k on the Golf now).
Another potential contributing factor to dirtyness in my Accord is that it sat for around a year without being driven before I purchased it, and almost certainly wasn't properly prepped for long term storage or anything. It probably had quite dirty oil sitting in it.
I think that these deposits are largely cosmetic - though it does look ugly, especially on the top of the valve springs. But the oil itself is not currently sludged, the engine runs smoothly with plenty of power and great mileage. I suspect the Auto-RX did improve things 40k miles ago, especially since it was run through after the previous oil had sat for a year in who knows what condition. I felt like the engine got smoother during the process, but of course it wasn't a "double blind" test or anything like that
It's a shame of all the things people make to remove money from your pocket to try and fix this problem in the pictures, some deposits, varnish etc.. when in fact it will not harm anything, and the only cleaning that will go on is from your pocket. I doubt any brand of oil caused this problem, and I also doubt any oil will fix this problem even over a long period.. as to the "problem" if it was twice as bad as pictured, you could still get 250-300k out of the Honda with zero problems running conventional oil. A spotless engine means it's clean, not that anything is wrong with it. One more point about clean engines, an engine with blowby/using oil via oil getting past pistons will be a much cleaner engine than one that has no blowby ( I guess all engines have some minute blowby).... The pistons will be spotlessI really want to push my point for my post, please don't dump a bunch of money dumping various so called cleaning agents into your engine, you don't have a problem, you have an engine which shoould last a long time with little maintenance.
Edit to add, Castrol took yet another hit.. mention the name, and a few picture... and the blame starting flying !! Yet if it had been another oil (and this has been shown many times in other threads to be true) and there would be something wrong with the engine, thermostat, some new valve timing thingy, maybe the egr, and the number one fall back PCV valve
Edit to add, Castrol took yet another hit.. mention the name, and a few picture... and the blame starting flying !! Yet if it had been another oil (and this has been shown many times in other threads to be true) and there would be something wrong with the engine, thermostat, some new valve timing thingy, maybe the egr, and the number one fall back PCV valve
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Eh, it's not that bad. Spinfire, enjoy many more miles on that Accord. 200K will be easy.
Originally Posted By: panthermike
Eh, it's not that bad. Spinfire, enjoy many more miles on that Accord. 200K will be easy.
+1 for the most part it is just varnish (harmless) and it looks pretty clean, but I am sure most people on here focussed in on the valves which do have some sludge. I would keep your oci's at 4 to 5K and if you do use ARX again, use it with supertech. you could also try to mix in some PP. that engine is good for another 100K.
Eh, it's not that bad. Spinfire, enjoy many more miles on that Accord. 200K will be easy.
+1 for the most part it is just varnish (harmless) and it looks pretty clean, but I am sure most people on here focussed in on the valves which do have some sludge. I would keep your oci's at 4 to 5K and if you do use ARX again, use it with supertech. you could also try to mix in some PP. that engine is good for another 100K.
Looks pretty dirty for an engine that had a few Auto RX ttreatments only 40K miles ago.
I would pour in a pint of MMO for the last 1K miles of your current OCI. You could try a quart for 500 miles but be sure that you do not over fill...
Then try 5W30 PP for your next OCI and see how it looks after 3K miles.
I would pour in a pint of MMO for the last 1K miles of your current OCI. You could try a quart for 500 miles but be sure that you do not over fill...
Then try 5W30 PP for your next OCI and see how it looks after 3K miles.
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