I'm 1100 miles in to the cleaning phase. I can tell you that my engine seems to run smoother and quieter already. My oil started turning real dark and dirty looking about 300 miles in to the cleaning phase. This is on a vehicle I just purchased with an unknown maintenance history. I plan to use it on my wifes mini-van next. We have owned it since it was almost new and it has had the oil changed every 3000 miles since. I'm not expecting to see quite as much difference on it, but we'll see.
No two engine history's are alike. You may see an immediate effect in the first cleaning phase of ARX and the next person who's in their 2nd rinse phase wonder's when something is going to happen. By that I mean they are usually looking for some visual proof that they had contaminants in their engine to begin with. They hover over their dipstick daily or cut open an oil filter after each phase looking for signs.
Two good methods of knowing what you are up against are to visually inspect under the valve cover and take a compression test.
I've done ARX treatments that I couldn't honestly say resulted in any improvement. But I also didn't take any "before" visual inspections under the valve cover or take a compression test. ARX can't fix a problem that isn't there.
On other vehicles ARX has made a big difference. As a for instance the oil leaks in my 1989 V6 Toyota truck were bothering me. I first tried a stop leak product or two and didn't get too much in the way of results. Then I tried Valvoline MaxLife and that cut the oil leaks down to half of what they had been, but went no further than that.
Then I heard about ARX and thought I'd give it a try. I went back to conventional oil and added the recommended amount of ARX. Within 30 miles I could tell that something was different. The engine ran smoother, was more responsive. The leaks slowed dramatically.
Fast forward to the end of the 2nd ARX treatment. While things had improved the small oil leaks that remained just would not go away. I decided to do one more clean phase before I started in on a 3rd ARX application.
This time I decided I'd keep ARX in the engine for 3,000 miles. At the end of that time I found the oil filter filled with sludge! Yikes, how'd that happen? Turns out that my PVC valve was defective, causing the crankcase to be over pressurized and turning my oil into sludge over time. Once I replaced the PVC valve all the leaks I'd been trying to stop immediately went away. However I still had a bunch of sludge to remove as was evident under the valve cover.
I'm now in the clean phase of my 4th ARX application for this vehicle. The engine runs great. Have I finally removed all the sludge? That I couldn't tell you. Removing the valve cover that houses the PVC valve is a big ordeal I'd rather not go through again.
I'll be running an ARX treatment plan just in case there is anything that was missed.
In another Toyota V6 application, this time a 1995 Camry, I discovered a large amount of contaminants in the oil filter two Mobil 1 EP oil changes after a double ARX application. During the 2nd oil change I had changed the PVC valve but I can't say for sure it had an impact one way or another. The point is just because you don't see some visual proof right away that ARX is doing anything don't be discouraged. Some cleaning comes after the last scheduled rinse phase.
Sludge isn't created equally, some of it is dried on baked on for years type of sludge that may need two applications, and some may be disolved real easy and you'll notice it within 100 to 400 miles as was the case in my treatment. Failing PCV'c are a leading cause of sludge IMO, I'd just change it if you haven't for a long time.
I should also add that on my truck, it had a valvetrain clatter every time I started it after it had sat for a while. That completely disappeared a few hundred miles in to the cleaning phase.
Different areas of the motor will also clean at different rates. Even though ring deposits are usually rock hard, the heat and pressure applied to the ring packs makes ARX work really quickly on what should be a tough clean. By the same token, areas that are splash fed oil in the top end will clean much slower.
But I agree with all that is mentioned above. Not all deposits are created equal. Crankcase ventilation issues create deposits differently than what may form from a slight coolant leak into the crankcase. Deposits get tougher to dissolve the longer they are left in place.
Auto-Rx is only 5 1/2 percent of the oil in the crankcase. Although arx greatly improves the soil loading capability, when compared to oil alone, the cleaning phase has limitation as well. This is actually a built in safety feature. Then when you go into the rinse phase, deposits that have not been carried away, during, the clean phase, but are impregnated by ARX get suspendend into the rinse phase oil. So absolutly, cleaning continues after the initial cleaning phase.
