The AutoRx Thread....Results and how it's going with it.

[lucast]

Just an update on my post of a few months back.

Having to pass this car back to a friend, we did an oil change today.

I used a Pela Oil extractor for this oil change and it's really neat. No need to jack/ramp the 850 up since the oil filter is pretty accessible as well.

Let me just say that the oil that's come out of the engine is black. Pitch black! The oil that dripped out when I unscrewed the previous oil filter was even thicker!

Now on to the rinse phase. Using Castrol GTX.

FWIW, I just bought an 850 T-5 that I will be doing the same treatment to. Unfortunately it's got semi-synthetic oil already in it (previous owner just changed the oil before I took ownership) but Auto-RX now says that it's ok to use synthetic for the task, just drive 2000 miles instead of 1500 with dino. Frank from AutoRX mentions this in his forum.

[luketrash]

Alrighty.. Long time no update.

I was on the rinse phase of my process, using Castrol GTX 5w30. I went over my 2000 miles to 2600 miles. The oil drained out was not black at all. The internals of my engine are no cleaner than when I started out. My oil dipstick still puffs smoke even with a cleaned PCV system. My valves still tick until the oil is really hot, even with thicker 10w30 to up the pressure a bit. Gas mileage is still the same (crappy.) And my compression numbers are still the same.

What does this mean? I guess not a whole lot. The stuff probably didn't hurt my engine, but I doubt it really did anything. The first 1500 miles with it mixed in, it did come out blacker. The rinse phase was nothing like what I'd read about though.

Also, I have that really powerful drainplug magnet on my oil pan and there was no (zero) metal stuck to it. I guess I shouldn't be complaining about that


So anyway, nothing Earth shaking happened with my car, and I imagine I could have saved myself 25 bucks.

An honest review from an honest person.


I bought two containers of A-RX though and intend on using one of them in one of the 40+ year old cars I have that definitely have sludge issues. I just haven't decided which one yet.

[MadeInJapan]

Wow, luketrash....not impressive at all. Sorry to hear it hasn't helped you. Maybe a try with the SeaFoam? Or maybe you just have blow-by in your cylinders.

[kelvin6]

As for me, pretty soon I will be changing my oil and this would be the last phase of the auto-rx cleaning for me. But over the time I ran AutoRx, I have noticed gradually that the engine is smoother, and the valves and dipstick cleaner. I don't think there was much sludge in my engine to begin with, but the AutoRx did do a pretty good job of cleaning some stuff up. I'm going to try to save the filter this time to cut it open if I remember to do so.

As for the transmission, it has smoothed out the 1-2 or the downshift to 1 gear shifts. Not too noticible effects with auto-rx in there, the fluid has begun to get darker with the auto-rx.

[luketrash]

Yet another update:

It's been another half year later and my car still blows steam out the dipstick hole even with a clear PCV system.

My winter MPG was about 13. On the highway I get about 25mpg.

My oil never really turns black or anything. I'm using Mobil One 10w30 synthetic. It's finally about time to change that out. I use about a quart every 3 months. I think with such a cold winter, the rubber gasket on the fill cap got hard and started leaking oil onto the valvecover again even though I replaced it in late 2006.

Anyway, if people asked me my thoughts on Auto-RX, I'd just tell them it didn't seem to do a thing for my car.

[MadeInJapan]

It's too bad it didn't work for you. I buy the rubber gaskets in bulk (same one fits both cars) and I change them out at least once a year.