Kreen treatment plan on 2004 Liberty 3.7l burner

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I don't plan to keep this car long but I'm going to take a shot at significantly improving the oil consumption. 158k miles on it, my mom was the original owner and I've just recently bought it for my daughter to drive until she goes to college.

I did most of the maintenance on the car over its life - slightly neglected at times in terms of letting oil change intervals get to 10k but nothing horrific. Synthetic probably used 2/3 of the time and with whatever oil filter came in an oil change deal. Maybe it was run a bit too low at times after the consumption became an issue- which probably happened a bit after 100k miles. I'm guessing it burns a quart every 700 miles at this point; I'd say that rate has been fairly steady since it started burning. No real mechanical failures on the car; other maintenance has been limited brakes, tires and maybe one trans pan dump change. (I'm changing both trans filters and plan to do about 3 pan dumps.)

I've put in a new PCV and did a pint of MMO in the oil with no discernible effect. I bought a quart of Kreen and have a tentative plan. I'd like any suggestions on amendments but it must include Kreen in plan; I will consider additional products in the plan.

I also have on the way two sets of Autolite 3923/cheap cooper plugs, 2 new NTK upstream oxygen sensors and a few extra oil filters. I will be picking up the oil needed as referenced in the plan.
Plan:

1) Piston soak. Pull plugs and pour about 2oz Kreen in each cylinder through a brake bleed hose. Rotate motor by hand a few revolutions and let sit for about 48 hours. Any need to thread the plugs back in to close off the soak area?

2) Start it up, watch the smoke show for a bit, drive a few miles and bring back warm for oil change.

3) Put in 10w30 Rotella and new filter with a pint of Kreen. (is that too much?)

4) At 500 miles of this oil fill, change oil filter

5) Another 500 miles and put in a high mileage oil/new filter (not decided on 5w30 or 10w30), new plugs, new oxygen sensors

Thanks for any constructive suggestions.
 
I'm staying tuned. I consume about the same rate and have a lifter tick. Same mileage roughly. I've run kreen without result. Ditto for MMO.
 
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
I'm staying tuned. I consume about the same rate and have a lifter tick. Same mileage roughly. I've run kreen without result. Ditto for MMO.


What vehicle/engine?
Tick on cold start, or constant?
 
Your plan sounds interesting and I would follow it. I would however do an oil flush after the kreen with cheap oil for 500 miles. Then go to PP 5w30 or 10w30 if you can find it and purolator filter and do 5000 mile OCI's. I would stay with the PP for the balance of the time you own it. It is a great cleaning oil and will clean that engine over time.
 
Originally Posted By: Ramblejam
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
I'm staying tuned. I consume about the same rate and have a lifter tick. Same mileage roughly. I've run kreen without result. Ditto for MMO.


What vehicle/engine?
Tick on cold start, or constant?



Mine is a 91 BMW 318i with M42 engine Ive posted about elsewhere. Tick is only at cold start. Consumption is intermittent. Thoguht kreen or MMO would solve the tick issue but apparently not.

Perhaps tick and consumption are related, like a bad valve...
 
Originally Posted By: JHZR2

Mine is a 91 BMW 318i with M42 engine Ive posted about elsewhere. Tick is only at cold start. Consumption is intermittent. Thoguht kreen or MMO would solve the tick issue but apparently not.

Perhaps tick and consumption are related, like a bad valve...


It could be.
 
I will incorporate your recommendation, thank you. This process is going to take some time with the modest miles put on this vehicle... I will get it used extra miles over normal to make it go faster.... despite the horrific gas mileage...


Originally Posted By: Doog
Your plan sounds interesting and I would follow it. I would however do an oil flush after the kreen with cheap oil for 500 miles. Then go to PP 5w30 or 10w30 if you can find it and purolator filter and do 5000 mile OCI's. I would stay with the PP for the balance of the time you own it. It is a great cleaning oil and will clean that engine over time.
 
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Any recommendations on Rotella type for that particular run with the pint of Kreen? It is pretty cold in NJ...
 
Originally Posted By: deanm11
Any need to thread the plugs back in to close off the soak area?

Yes. Put the plugs back in, hand tight is fine.
Kreens solvents evaporate quickly and you don't want anything like dirt falling in the plug holes.

Piston soak on a V or horizontal engine is a bit of a bugger and is usually not very successful at freeing sticky rings because only part of the piston really "soaks" in the solvent regardless of the product.

Try to get a small hose shooting product all the way around the piston, a large disposable plastic syringe works good.
 
Before something like Kreen I might be tempted to try a high ester oil.

If I couldn't wait, I would try a detergent based engine flush product.

Also why not go to thicker / high mileage oil to reduce consumption? A quart every 700 miles must be getting expensive!
 
Originally Posted By: Trav
Originally Posted By: deanm11
Any need to thread the plugs back in to close off the soak area?

Yes. Put the plugs back in, hand tight is fine.
Kreens solvents evaporate quickly and you don't want anything like dirt falling in the plug holes.

Piston soak on a V or horizontal engine is a bit of a bugger and is usually not very successful at freeing sticky rings because only part of the piston really "soaks" in the solvent regardless of the product.

Try to get a small hose shooting product all the way around the piston, a large disposable plastic syringe works good.


Those syringes work great. Do you also recommend turning the engine over by hand [via a breaker bar] every few hours and refilling? That's how we've done it and it seems to work well.
 
Originally Posted By: Trav
Sure why not it cant hurt. You just want to get as much product all around the rings as possible.


A nice long soak time works well too. After the soak take the car for a drive and change the oil and filter.
 
Kreen in the oil probably has a better chance of producing some results if in fact any are obtainable.
You know yourself there is really no magic bullet, once something is stuck (not just sticking) everything you try is a hail Mary pass.

Giving the product time to work is important with any product. Personally for genuinely stuck rings i would soak them in Chemtool and use the Kreen in the oil.
The object is to break the ring free of the carbon and varnish filled grooves, its not easy.
 
10w30 as compared to 5w30 and high mileage oil didn't seem to change anything though my records on oil add/consumption were spotty.

A quart every 700 isn't all that expensive actually. It works out to the equivalent of like 10c extra per gallon of gas or something like 0.5 gallon in fuel mileage, for example, assuming $4/qt. This process will cost me roughly $125 - a few extra oil changes, the Kreen plus extra miles on the car to speed the process along. That would take me at least 20,000 miles to recoup from less added oil. These Libertys are pigs on gas mileage- I don't know how people justify them for any reasonable amount of mileage use. They are cheap to buy used though.

This project is only about the science experiment aspect + being possibly able to sell the car without an oil consumption issue at a better price.



Originally Posted By: TrevorS
Before something like Kreen I might be tempted to try a high ester oil.

If I couldn't wait, I would try a detergent based engine flush product.

Also why not go to thicker / high mileage oil to reduce consumption? A quart every 700 miles must be getting expensive!
 
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Add an "italian tune-up" or two to the process.

My GM 5.3L started to sound like death lately - ticking, valve clatter, piston slap... sounded like a diesel even when warm, and that's with M1 0W-40 in there.

Took it on the highway, warmed it up for 10 minutes, then flogged the heck out of it. Lots of idle to redline runs, ran it at 4.5K for a few minutes at a time, etc.

The next morning, it sounded much, much better. The valve clatter and ticking were completely gone, the piston slap greatly reduced when cold.

Whether or not it helped my oil consumption problem, I don't know yet (the 0W-40 was my second attempt to 'fix' that problem). But I do have a new can of Kreen sitting in the garage that will probably get tossed in sometime late next week.
 
K. As far as carbon goes I was stunned by mmo and how it softened the carbon on my stock Harley pistons. I accidentally spilled some on one of my pistons when I took them out to go big bore. The mmo only splashed the piston and not the whole piston was covered. A couple days after spilling on the piston I saw the deposits and they looked wet,and the carbon was so soft I wiped it off with my thumb,then a shop rag,but the deposits that didn't get mmo spilled on them were still as hard as ever and not removable.
So I'm sold on mmo for carbon,and I'd use it for a piston soak. I'd fill the entire cylinder bore then put in the old plugs to close the hole. Leave it for a few days then hand crank the engine slowly so it can splash the valves too.
Just my opinion. Mmo really surprised me and how it softened up the severe carbon deposits on my pistons. Softened them so much they wiped right off revealing a nice shiny crown.
 
Originally Posted By: TrevorS
MMO didn't work for him in the oil. Do you think the oil neutralized MMOs cleaning ability?


I didn't suggest adding it to the oil. I suggested a piston soak
 
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