Worst Oil related Products, ones you would NOT use!

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More and more people are trying Auto RX and realizing it's just another additive that does little, if anything. My car never ran smoother, and after popping valve covers twice after using it, I saw absolutely nothing to suggest that any change had taken place. Add to that the ridiculous price of the goop and you feel like the Monopoly man, pockets empty and a big question mark over your head.
 
I purchased 3 used Volvos for my family in the last 3 years.
94 960, 70k miles, 8 years old at time of purchase.
90 740, 110k miles, 13 years old at time of purchase.
89 240 113k miles, 15 years old at time of purchase.

I don't think any of the cars had ever seen a drop of synth oil. All three had black deposits under the valve cover at the time of purchase. The 960 in particular had only seen 7 oil changes with with 10w30 dino in its entire life. Thats 10k OCIs with the bargain of the month at jiffi lube oil The car came with a bag full of receipts and a enthusiastic seller eager top point out how she followed Volvo's service recommendations to the letter
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I switched all three cars to M1 5w40 ASAP after purchase. After 2 5k OCIs all three engines were absolutely spotless. Now I have them on 7500 mile OCI with about 1/2 - 1 quart top off over the interval. The 740 seems to burn the most oil while the 240 burns the least. All three cars consistently get very close to or better than the EPA mileage estimates. All three passed smog check with flying colors. Today 960=117k miles, 240=128k miles, 740=140k.
Why would I waste my money on ARX when normal synthetic oil does the same thing? Do you still think I need a compression check? Granted that I probably need my head checked for convincing my whole family that driving a 17 year old european car is better than monthly car payments on a new Honda. And I haven't even told you about my beater!

[ November 14, 2005, 08:51 PM: Message edited by: jtantare ]
 
What's your beater? My "normal car" is a New Beetle. My restored car is a '74 Super Beetle. My "beater" in the summer time is a Citroen 2CV!
 
I'll never use the quick tire repair spray again. Used it one it worked ok but the inside of the tire had so much sealer that the tire could not be balanced again.
 
quote:

So...people who have not used ARX are an authority on it. I see.

The burden of proof is on the people advocating the use of ARX, not the other way around. So far I haven't seen any evidence that ARX accomplishes anything that the use of synthetic oil can't. Why I should pour anything other than oil into my engines?
 
Respectfully, no. The burden of proof is on the party making an assertion, one way or the other. It's one thing to decline to accept the positive claims of those who believe in ARX (or any other product). It's another to affirmatively claim a lack of capability or other negative characteristic. You've made the affirmative claim that "normal synthetic does the same thing [as ARX]". Since you've made that claim, it's up to you to support it.
 
Since folks are picking on ARX, let me add this: My ~16 month old G35's engine is spotlessly clean, both by looking into the oil filler and from my UOA data. But that said, after the first 10k miles or so (first 6k on Havo dino, GC syn since), the highway mileage dropped from the 24s down to the 22s, and has stubbornly stuck there. Nothing that I can ID had changed -- I drive the same way, same places, with about the same load. And for over a year it's always 22.x mpg on a highway tank. From doing some research here and elsewhere, I figured my rings might have become a tad sticky thus reducing efficiency slightly. So I figured what the heck, I'll try the ARX and see. Well guess what. I put it in on a Monday and drove around for the week (almost 200 miles). I've now done three long highway trips and the figures are 24.5, 24.2, and 23.8. On one hand, not statistically significant, but certainly consistent with the opinion I've seen tossed about that ring cleaning is one of the earliest effects you get with ARX, and that it may appear within the first couple hundred miles in the cleaning phase. My little experiment continues, but I'd have to at least tentatively join the camp of those who are saying, "if you haven't tried it, why are you knocking it?"
cheers.gif
 
Anything made by Fram
Turbonator or Tornado (I know its not oil related but I couldnt help myself)
Any Lucas Product
Any fuel octance booster (I know)
Oil Filter wrap around cooling fins are a joke.
 
quote:

Since you've made that claim, it's up to you to support it.

I already did. Read above. I don't see anything to support the claims of ARX supporters therefore I stand by my position: ARX is snake oil.
 
jtantare, you read my testing for Auto-RX/Cycle-RX on their sites and still come to that conclusion?

Do you employ oil analysis to verify your chosen lubes?

Appreciate your opinion but as a independent analyst I wholeheartedly appreciate that Auto-RX is anything but snakeoil. I test lots of that stuff and NEVER mention them here.

Terry
 
Auto-Rx is a quality product. Amen.

Products I Wouldn't use:
99.9% of the chemicals in the additives section of any big-box store or parts house, save for Chevron Techron concentrate.

The orange wall of overpriced, low quality oil filters.

Coastal Oil

Slick 50 or the QS with Slick 50 in it.

Anything overpriced. Paying $5.99/qt for regular M1 is a joke. Thus the reason there's a coating of dust on these bottles.
 
"prove to me ARX works...blah blah...who cares? I couldn't care less if someone is such a chronic skeptic that they need blue-ribbon "proof". If someone is curious about a product and motivated to look at it further, I'll add my $.02c, but as far as I'm concerned, they cry out for attention that is not deserved and ask for respect that is not returned. Anyone who wants to know about my latest ARX experience read the post below, others can go back to killing kittens or whatever makes them a "believer".
 
I got the 1998 CR-v on friday. It has 85k. Oil was dirty even though owner said it was done 1200 miles ago. I had a trip the same day 100 miles south to pick-up some wheels for it and I changed the oil there in a pizza parlor parking lot (crazy, huh?). Under the filler was dark brown in the corners of the oil gallery and all under the valve cover area. Spots of gunk were pea-sized. Did a full bottle of ARX with Clean 5000. Drove home 150 mi and another 300 miles since friday. Checked underneeth today and...it's cleaned. Whoa.
ARX skeptics...the same guys who were synthetic oil skeptics in a previous life.
 
Audi

That’s all hunky dory but for those of us who have used a top tier oil from the beginning, arx doesn’t make a lot of sense.

tom slick nailed it, "for most people they are buying a solution to a problem they don't have"

Just to say I’ve tried it, I suppose I’ll have to buy a bottle. I have an ’89 Accord that got 3k dino changes for 130k miles (I put M1 T&S in it last week)

Anyone want to bet an arx treatment doesn’t do anything? Just email me a test protocol that I find acceptable and your on.
 
Posted by jtantare:
quote:

I already did. Read above. I don't see anything to support the claims of ARX supporters therefore I stand by my position: ARX is snake oil.

I'm thinking the revealing detail here is your verb choice "see". For whatever reason or reasons, you choose not to "see" what is plainly there. Just because you can't, won't, or don't see it does not mean it's not there. It's easy to reach or reject any conclusion when you selectively admit (or reject) the existence of facts. Now, can you point us to someone's actual testing of ARX that would indicate that it is ineffective for its stated purpose ("snake oil" as you put it -- another term suggestive of bias based upon emotion rather than fact)?
 
A lot of rhetoric but still nothing to back it up. But I'll try to ignore that and repeat my point. Does ARX do anything that the long term use of high quality synthetic oil can't? If it does accomplish the same thing as synthetic oil, the product is useless.
The fact that people are willing to back this product so vehemently without any sort of empirical evidence is kind of scary. Anyone reading this thread should be very skeptical.

[ November 16, 2005, 04:36 PM: Message edited by: jtantare ]
 
Whether you CHOOSE to use it or not:

AUTO-RX is the only in-situ cleaning product I am aware of that is non hazardous to you, pets , the treated unit,is inert to the host oil,lubricious, cleans and SAFELY disperses residue to the oil filter and has a residual cleaning effect after the oil is drained out.

Satteri and I have discussed this before, Auto-Rx can clean because it is not the primary lubricant. ANY motor oil formula using current technology that I am aware of WILL sacrifice itself in the cleaning process. Motor oils are formulated (even "synthetic") to MAINTAIN a level of cleanliness, if they are chemically called on to deep clean , that fluid chemistry WILL sacrifice itself in the lubricity area, compromising the unit you are attempting to protect.

Sattefi's Redline lubed Bikes still need periodic cleaning or that oil will be stressed, and deposits and wear will increase.

Terry
 
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