What's going on?

[mazda323]

Here's the deal.

Wednesday of this week I started my Auto RX process for a car with over a 100, 000 kms. I used a bottle of Auto RX and Castrol oil 10w30.

Right after I finished putting it in, I started the engine. I was a bit shocked. The idling sounded horrible and there was lots of smoke coming out of the tail pipe. Before the Auto RX I had never seen that kind of smoke coming out of my car.

On Friday, I went to work and on the way home my car had problems starting. The engine light came on and off and it sounded horrible. It took a while for the light to go off and the car eventually smoothed itself out. Today the same thing happened as on Sunday.

My question is, Is this normal? Has it ever happened to anyone?

One more thing. When I added the Auto RX it came out in clumps out of the bottle. I actually had to close the bottle and bang on it to get all of it out! Is this the way it should be?

I'd appreciate any help that anyone can give me.

Thanks in advance.

[ November 16, 2003, 08:05 PM: Message edited by: mazda323 ]

 

[Chris]

That does not sound right to me. Mine poured fine and did not affect the running of the car at all. You need to save you bottle and contact Frank.

 

[Patman]

If it was cold out when you put it in, that's normal, as Auto-rx needs to be warmer to flow out of there. What you need to do in cold weather is put the Auto-rx bottle into some hot water first to get it nice and fluid, and then pour it in. I ran into the same thing myself, when I tried pouring it into my mom's car on a freezing cold day.

 

[sprintman]

You must warm the bottle up if it's a cold day or it will not be a liquid. I thought this was on the RX site somewhere. It has been mentioned here many times. Did you replace the oil filter which is mandatory?

 

[digitaldrifter91]

usually i let auto rx sit in the sun before pouring it in...

but u said clumps?? wow...yet i dont see how it can be directly related to ur problem...what code is ur engine putting out?

 

[mazda323]

It's running now. Yes, I did install a new castrol oil filter also.
As for the Rx, lets say it was coming out in blobs.

What about the increased smoke coming out of the tail pipe?

Can anyone answer that?

thanks

[ November 16, 2003, 09:33 PM: Message edited by: mazda323 ]

 

[MolaKule]

Right after putting in ARX you had this problem?

I doubt ARX even had sufficient time to blend into the oil, so I find it difficult to believe ARX caused any of the problems you discuss. My experience is that it takes at least 50 miles and up to 250 miles before the ARX has mixed sufficiently to begin its cleaning. Sounds to me as if you had a prior problem or something was accidently hit or disconnected.

As Patman and others stated, yes it will come out in dark globs if you attempt to pour it in cold. But that doesn't diminish the effectiveness since it will dissolve into oil as the engine gets hot.

Black smoke is the result of the fuel/air mixture being too rich; blue smoke is an indication of burning oil.

 

[JohnBrowning]

Check your vaccum lines and conectors! The auto-rx is so mild that it take 750-1500 miles for it to clean the engine. Even after this much time it still takes a 2000 mile rinse to finish cleaning. In your case it would take two suck application. The auto-rx did not have suffiecent time to cause all the problems you describe.

It would be like some one takeing an asprin tablet and their headache going away within 15 seconds of consumeing the asprin! The fact that the headache went away had nothing to do with the ingestion of the asprin.

Part of or human nature is to look for and expect dirrect cause and effect relationships. To often this is not the case. Sometimes irrational beliefs are formed this way. Someone wears a pair of socks and wins a game their for it must have been the socks that won the game etc.........

 

[TR3-2001SE]

The idle problem and starting problem I had also.
Did not have the smoke problem at least as far as I know. I have now completed the first 1500 mile treatment on my 250,000 mile toyota cressida. It now idles normal or slightly above normal and starts great. I am guessing this was part of cleanning up the valves and rings which I am sure were dirty after this milage.
Oh and yes my bottle came out in clumps also and was plenty warm as it sat on the dash in the sun before the install.

 

[rob-the-oil-nut]

quote:

---

Originally posted by MolaKule:
I doubt ARX even had sufficient time to blend into the oil... it takes at least 50 miles and up to 250 miles before the ARX has mixed sufficiently to begin its cleaning.

---

I was pretty sure I posted it elsewhere, but then again I'v been a bit too tired...what about mixing ARX and (in this case) Schaeffer's Moly in with the oil, in, say, a clean plastic milk jug the night before dropping it off for the mechanic that is going to be doing the oil change and other stuff for me?? It's not going to get to 80 F let alone 180 F, and every last drop of the ARX can get used up? I know I'm cheap but I've read of cheaper people in posts, after all it's $25 a bottle and tends to 'clump' if at 65 F.
Good idea? Bad idea?
Thanks...keep praying for Bob!
Rob

 

[Frank]

MolaKule has it correct. As stated on the Auto-Rx website you should have let the Auto-Rx warm up overnight or run under hot water. The fact that it came out in globs is because it was stored in below normal temperatures. The globs thinned out immediately in your oil when the operating temperature in your engine rose to normal. The symptons you described are from an extremely dirty engine getting cleaned. The smoke is carbon and contaminants burning off your engine parts during the cleaning process. Try and get back to doing the application as recommended and you should have no problems.

 

[Terry]

323, Auto-RX is all NATURAL chemistry and as such all the molecules will do the same thing at the same time when it gets cold, solidify. The website and instructions for use make that clear.

If I lived in an area that gets below 70 degrees outside then keep it indoors for a day before using or shake the stuff to make sure. Frank has recommended running a sealed bottle under hot water for a while to liquify it in the cold.

If you are installing it in a machine and its less than 50 degrees outside pour it as soon as you bring it outside. I've had customers that couldn't get it to pour after sitting on the fender for a few minutes in sub freezing temps.

Then idle the engine to mix well.

Sounds like you demonstrated how not to do it !

The chemistry once riding along in the oil does just fine.

The product is a thin 20w weight at 100c so the RX would not affect the engine.

Are you sure you used 10w-30 castrol and not a thicker weight ? Sounds to me like the oil is too thick.

12 ounces or so of Auto-RX will NOT affect the cold start characteristics of the engine or oil.

Certainly not at the normal operating temperature.

 

[rob-the-oil-nut]

No one told me NOT to, so here's what I did:
Empty 4 litre jug from milk, was rinsed out 5 or 10 times and left a few months to dry out (on its side so it doesn't get dust) (I have several such jugs around just for this sort of ocassion. Used another, empty, for collection of samples)
Added some GC. Added Auto-RX. Rinsed out Auto-RX bottle with GC (every drop counts) Added Schaeffer's Moly and rinsed it out with GC, too. Closed up jug and set it by the heat vent overnight (Auto-RX was warmed in water. Container of Moly was, too) and is now in my car (cold, in a parking lot) right now. Should disaster strike I'll let you know. Otherwise I'll just post the UOA's from the who-knows-what plain stuff the car came with.

but I guess there was SOME discussion of warming A-RX. I read somewhere, maybe on the RX site, never microwave it...can we have a volunteer to try and see what happens? Someone with a digital camera and up-to-date insurance...

Rob

 

[crashz]

The little metallic seal on the bottle will spark in the microwave. It will smolder the bottle and possibly ignite. Bad idea to microwave!

 

[jason07-1zzfe]

Ignite what? The flash is over 400F. I just figured it would somehow damage the natural esters.

Like how the microwave damages the proteins in baby formula or components in breast milk.

 

[rob-the-oil-nut]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jason Troxell:
Like how the microwave damages the proteins in ... breast milk.

---

Granted, I have never seen any warning labels, but I am pretty sure that placing breasts in a microwave is a bad idea...
LOL. Seriously, I think that the foil seal point is quite correct, but that applies to anything with a foil seal. Sadly, (OK, happily for Frank) VOA of A-RX doesn't show anything of a secret formula, and I suspect that if you tested A-RX right out of the bottle, against A-RX that had been boiled in a microwave, few people if any would be able to tell the difference.
Any additive needs to stand up to 500 F instantaneous temp, no? And it SHOULD be able to handle 200 F for hours, no? Like, Auto-RX has a proven record but something cheap & on sale may not handle serious heat (or cold, as I was mentioning) too well...in my case the mechanic noted how my special blend had seperated and settled in the jug... It was likely about 32 F when they looked at it...
Rob

 

[jason07-1zzfe]

I think Frank has a little more faith in humanity than that to think we are too dumb to not put foil in the microwave. Actually metal in a microwave is not a big deal really. And the seal being flat, likely it wouldn't spark. And like I said nothing is going to ignite.
Also I doubt Frank is the lawyer type, so why would he care if someone wanted to make fireworks in their microwave.
I'm sure there is a sound scientific reason.

btw, Maybe some should have a warning label