When should you STOP cleaning your engine, or ARX?

[HangerHarley]

Im asking how does one know when TOO much cleaning has taken place? And is ARX something that is good for any car with old Rings?

After that, is using a good "sealer" oil best.. or a high performance, high cleaning oil like Redline, after a bunch of cleaners have been used?

This so a running engine does not turn into an engine with issues. How much is too much? (General question.)

 

[gathermewool]

If you've kept up with regular maintance, then I'd say ANY cleaning is unnecessary, especially if compression is good and you're not burning any oil. If you're cleaning just because of the age of the motor, then there's really no way to answer that question unless you want to tear down your motor and take a look-see for yourself.

Also, if you've got a worn motor, cleaning won't fix it.

 

[Familyguy]

Originally Posted By: gathermewool
If you've kept up with regular maintance, then I'd say ANY cleaning is unnecessary, especially if compression is good and you're not burning any oil. If you're cleaning just because of the age of the motor, then there's really no way to answer that question unless you want to tear down your motor and take a look-see for yourself.

Also, if you've got a worn motor, cleaning won't fix it.


Bingo.

 

[Scienceman]

+1

 

[Spyder7]

There is definitely a threshold where you either pass the point of diminishing returns, or begin to flirt with doing more harm than good (this is particularly true with any solvent based cleaner).

On a Corolla forum I visit a member dealt with a P0302 code (misfire on cylinder 2) and a mystery knock by running ARX, Seafoam (multiple doses), ATF (in the crankcase), and more, all in succession. I'm sure the engine was clean by the time he was finished, but now the P0302 is more frequent, along with a P0300 (multiple misfire) and constant knock. Whether this would have occurred with or without the mega-cleaning we'll never know, but I don't think he did his engine any favours.

If the engine is just dirty, then the first thing is to find the source of the problem and correct it. Then make an informed decision as to how to strike a balance between cleaning it out efficiently yet safely. There are several methods to achieve this end, but I prefer the safer, slower, and less invasive methods. As long as you're making progress and not making the situation worse, then your method is succeeding.

-Spyder

 

[Steve S]

When you feel the oil pumps pickup screen is finally clean!

 

[Familyguy]

Originally Posted By: Steve S
When you feel the oil pumps pickup screen is finally clean!

LOL

 

[lipadj46]

When you finally man up and drop the pan/remove the rocker cover to see if the engine is actually dirty. Or at least do an oil pressure, compression and leak down test.

 

[FZ1]

FZ1 don't stick no foreign objects in his engines. Just top tier gas and synthetic oil for me.

 

[mechtech2]

Many parts will never need additional cleaning with normal maintenance in modern cars. This is the usual case, now.

BUT.. there is the unseen rings/lands area of the piston that will always benefit from cleaning.
I have never seen them clean after an engine has been run.

So we can't say even healthy engines will not benefit from cleaning.
Oils have cleaners for this, and the new GF5 types even more for this specific area.
If we use MMO or ARx, it can help with this situation.

How often and how much?
Pure guess work, and our best is only an educated guess for each case.

 

[Patman]

Originally Posted By: FZ1
FZ1 don't stick no foreign objects in his engines. Just top tier gas and synthetic oil for me.


This is good advice right here! I think that if you do this from day one on a new car and treat the engine right (regular PCV valve and spark plug changes, not overheating it, etc), you will most likely never need to clean the engine with anything (and won't need fuel injector cleaner either) especially when using the latest oils out there these days which offer so much better cleaning than those of a few years ago.

 

[Spyder7]

Indeed. Prevention is worth a pound of cure. Sometimes, especially when buying a used car, you get a certain amount of neglect that goes with it. In those instances, I'm in favour of safe treatments to turn the clock back. Changing the PCV valve, cleaning, lubing, and re-clamping the battery (it was discharging sulfur), and cleaning the throttle body and MAF sensor all helped turn back the clock on mine with some elbow grease and the $12 part.

I've also run 2 Regane cycles (5,000 km spacing) and am using 10% MMO with my PP and a UCL to clean it up further. And the car is purring like a kitten. I will do one more MMO crankcase injection (%10 again) over part of my winter OCI, and then let the PP take care of what's left by itself come spring. I'll continue using a UCL though, and run at least one or two Regane cycles a year, as needed.

Nothing in a bottle can fix everything, but used properly it has its place still.

-Spyder

 

[ARB1977]

Originally Posted By: HangerHarley
Im asking how does one know when TOO much cleaning has taken place? And is ARX something that is good for any car with old Rings?

After that, is using a good "sealer" oil best.. or a high performance, high cleaning oil like Redline, after a bunch of cleaners have been used?

This so a running engine does not turn into an engine with issues. How much is too much? (General question.)

I got carried away with the Auto Rx craze, so i bought 12 bottles 2.5 years ago. Both Tacoma and Jetta were clean to begin wit. I did do maintaince doeses for alittle while then stopped. If its clean your not going to get any benefit from it. Thats why i stopped.

 

[buickman50401]

Agreeing with the "If you've had it from the start and taken good care of it don't bother" crowd.

That being said, with used cars I don't see a problem with dumping some MMO in the crankcase for the first oil change or running a couple of tanks of gas with MMO through the car.

Took care of the stumble in my 01 Taurus in three tanks with MMO. I was also getting some oil burning smell at startup and sometimes a small puff of blue smoke. Those are gone after running 16oz of MMO in the crankcase for 1000mi. I didn't want to mix it any stronger as the car had 5w20 in it to start with.

The car only has 23,000mi on it, but it was one of those "little old blue haired lady" specials that never got driven more than 2,500mi/year and spent a lot of its life just setting in the garage.