Auto-Rx Customers Questions & Answers

I took my car in to get the new rockers and pushrods put in, my favorite mechanic said the ticking was coming from my passenger side header that is missing a bolt, seems as though when I had them put on there was one header bolt that was busted by the firewall and the only way to get it out would be to lift the engine, I am kind of relieved that the sound is not coming from the valvetrain, I am still glad I used auto-rx as I think with 346,000 miles it should have cleaned the ring packs, when I get the car back I will look at the old rockers and lifters.

How's it going Richone, about 2 years ago I put headers on my El Camino, before that I did a dual exhaust to replace the single exhaust, when I put the headers on I had a bolt that was already broken in the passenger side by the firewall, the only way to get to it would be to lift the engine out, I thought I might mix up some jb-weld and put it down there when I get the car back tomorrow, my mechanic friend had the valve covers off, there was some sludge, though very little that feels like a soft paste, hopefully the rinse phase that I am 200 miles into will loosen and wash it out, the, ticking noise is only evident when I am going very slow, once up to speed it disapears, my mechanic friend said that if I put jb-weld in the future I would not be able to get the header off, it does not matter because in the future I want to put an LS2 in there, or if I put a 350 crate motor I would put different headers or I could always buy one new header, I am wondering if I should just leave the header alone and live with the ticking, I dont think this is hurting any thing, I will go with an exhaust tick over a valvetrain tick anyday, the reason I am replacing the pushrods and rockers is because a friend replaced one that was badly worn and he said my rockers had some wear, usually from what I have heard small block chevy's usually wear out in the valvetrain first, how long did you drive with the noise in your 68 Firebird, I too wish they would come back with the El Camino, hopefully the Camaro that is coming out will also introduce the return of the Firebird.

Well, yesterday the temperature gauge was a little high, with only 600 miles on the filter, I changed it and put a new one on and topped off the oil, this filter was even heavier than the last one that I changed, I am saving all of my old filters and will eventually cut them open. Frank told me to extend the clean phase out to 6K, at this rate I will probably have to put on about 8 more filters or maybe 7 more. A funny thing happened when I changed the oil, when I went to add the new oil I could here it pouring down into the engine, I told Frank about this and he said that probably any contaniments are being cleaned off and I can here the oil hitting metal, I have been taking the car out on the highway every night and I am putting on 100 miles a night. Frank has recomended two 3K cleaning phases and then run auto-rx for 1500 miles and then do one final cleaning, the way these oil filters keep filling up it looks like that is what I will have to do, I am using the Fram PH5 oil filter that is a 1 quart oil filter, thank goodness I do not have to put on a smaller filter, my car was originally specked for a filter that only held half a quart, there is a 2 quart truck filter but I cannot fit that because of my headers, I know motor oil cools and lubricates but sludge and contaniments dont lubricate and cool parts. When I changed the oil it was a tad dark but it still had a little gold color. I think when I have had any leaking it could be when the filter is about full, maybe putting some pressure in the area where my oil dipstick is, it just slips into the side of the oil pan, there is a groove in the oil pan seal, my old oil pan had a tube in the side of the pan, I am also having a little seapage by my pcv valve, maybe with the cleaning the oil is getting thrown around more.

Frank, even if I had done a cleaning then rinse, did a clean again and then rinse, I still think I would be doing a few filter changes during the clean phase, I once had a stuck open thermostat for a month years ago in the winter, had a carb rebuilt, put a new one on then a year later got rid of the computer controlled distributor, I had no advance. I finally have the car running good, once I even ran 20w-50 during the summer one year before going to synthetic oil, I have used every brand of oil, synthetic and petroleum, except Royal Purple and Schaeffers. From 100K to 200K I used Mobil 1, 200K on and up until Auto-Rx I used Amsoil. The reason I am telling you this is because I think that all these circumstances have affected the engine and that is why my oil filters are filling up, without Auto-Rx this engine may have lasted another 20K. On my other car with 19K, I am sticking with one oil and doing a maintenance dose of Auto-Rx. I have heard that it is good to just stick with one oil because they all are a little different.

Well, I am 2000 miles into the rinse phase, Frank wants me to do 2 rinse phases 3000 miles each because I accidently did 2 clean phases back to back, I changed my filter this morning, I only got 500 miles out of this filter, I dumped the oil out of the filter and it was heavy, at this rate I will be adding 7 more filters before the clean phase is done, I am making the owners of Fram rich, I will have to ask Frank if this is normal to be changing filters like this, if anyone has had a similar experience please chime in.

I have not cut open the filters, I have saved them all, I am going to get a tool from Summit Racing that cuts open the oil filters, I forgot to mention that right now I am 2700 miles into the rinse phase, also I did change the oil at 2000 miles, sorry I did not mention that, when I changed the oil ( my Dad has a lift) I changed it on the ground and jacked up the other side of the oil pan plug so I could get as much oil out as possible, it came out fairly clean. Here is the kicker and maybe part of the problem, I have one of those very powerful filtermag transmission pan magnet on my oil pan, I am going to take it off, drive a little and change the oil, maybe this has trapped a bunch of metalic sludge, I should have posted this earlier, the other thing I did was get some Wix oil filters, they are supposed to trap 35% more junk than regular filters like the Fram filters. The other thing I am doing now is taking the car out every night for a 50 mile drive, before Auto-Rx I was driving the car on short trips, 5 miles one way, then a few hours later 5 miles back home, today I flushed out the cooling system, added new antifreeze and distilled water and added a new thermostat, I just wanted to make sure the cooling system was not part of the problem, I am 300 miles into the Wix oil filter and the car is running good, I have been using Wal-Mart dino oil, is Valvoline or something else better for the rinse phase, I hope I do not have to pull the pan off, hopefully taking that magnet off will help, the only way there could be junk on there is if it is magnetic, I do not think sludge is magnetic, any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks Richone, I should mention that last summer I put in a new oil pan, about 15,000 miles ago, I also put in anew oil pump, when I looked at the old oil pan it did not have any sludge on the bottom, I will take your advice about the coat hanger, with the Wix oil filter seems to be running better, I am 400 miles on that filter and it seems to be fine, my last Fram filter only lasted 250 miles, I am no longer running the car on short 5 mile trips, Frank told me to change the oil out at 3000 miles then run another 2500 mile rinse, then a 1500 mile clean phase with auto-rx, then another 2500 mile rinse, when I change the oil and if there is no sludge at the bottom of the pan, what should I do, also if the filter is heavy again what should I do, or if the filter is not heavy what should I do, I just talked to Frank, he told me to read your post, I drove the car last night, it ran great, same thing with today, I think you may be right about the filter issue, the only reason I got a Wix oil filter is that they are supposed to trap 35% more junk than regular filters, I can usually tell when the filter is at max capacity by the way the car runs or looking at the temperature gauge, when I replaced the old oil pan I was doing the short 5 mile trips but also there were times during the day when I would drive it longer, just let me know which way I should go with Auto-Rx after I dump the oil at 3K, I accidently did to 1500 mile cleans back to back ,then the rinse, maybe those back to back cleanings really loosened things up as I did not have to change filters during the clean phase, in the rinse phase I got 900 miles out of an AC-PF35L which is a full synthetic material filter, then at 1500 miles I had to change the fram filter, then again at 2000 miles, and then I added the Wix Filter at 2300 miles, I would say my short trip marathon started in May 2004 and lasted up until May 2007 , but as I said earlier new oil pan in summer of 2006, it may also be safe to say that this could be a new experience for Auto-Rx on an engine that has 345,000 miles and it points to the importance that if you have a new car the maintenance dose of Auto-Rx is very important, I am running a maintenance dose in my other car that only has 19,000 miles, I added the maintenance dose at 10,000 miles when I got the car. Thanks again for replying Richone, any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Brent it is the rinse phase that cleans out the liquified "crud" clean phase loosened up and liquified. No one can tell how there engine is going to run until complete application is finished, you can't tell about guages till rinse phase is over. Dont do anything now except finish application. Need to drive and clean and drive and rinse.
1500 miles for drive-2000 miles for rinse. TAKE ALL YOUR TEMPS ETC AFTER RINS MODE IS DONE AND NEW OIL IN ENGINE AFTER 100 MILES ALL DATA YOU READ ON GUAGES IS RELEVANT. (NOT BEFORE)

The hotter oil filter temperature with a properly operating thermostat makes no sense to me. I would have thought it would be the reverse. In any event getting the motor quickly up to operating temperature is key on a normally aspirated motor(Carb). Otherwise you run a rich fuel mixture based on the choke. This will pass a whole lot of unburned fuel into the crankcase leading to poor oil performance and sludge formation.

I finally reached 3000 miles last thursday on the rinse phase and I am happy to report that the last filter that I changed was very light, not heavy like the one a couple of hundred miles back, I am now into another clean phase and I will see how things go, I will be cutting the filters open soon, I definetly think that my filter dilema is behind me.

Frank, I had an interesting conversation with the guy that put my oil pump in last summer, he told me that after they put the new oil pump and pan on that it took a long time for the engine to build up oil pressure, guess maybe there was a lot of junk in my engine by evidence of all those filters I was using, he also said that when I got the car in 1985 that the oils back then were not as good as the oil's today, when I first started using oil I think sc or sd
were the designations and today I think we are up to sl or sm , so my engine never got the best oil from the start,
I am 600 miles into the final clean phase and I will change the filter maybe halfway through or when the car starts
to run sluggish, maintenance dose is great on my 2004 Marauder, took a trip to N.Y., on the way up going 65 mph,
I got 28 miles per gallon, coming home doing 55 mph, I got 30 miles per gallon, the Auto-Rx is letting the oil get to where it needs to be.

I finished the final 2500 mile clean phase, the oil was dark gold, and the filter was heavy, went through 3 filters on this clean phase, I am now 100 miles into final rinse phase, yesterday I drilled out my busted header bolt and put new gaskets and Stage 8 locking header bolts, no more ticking and tapping, but I am getting a noise from the engine when I am accelerating, it almost sounds like 2 pieces of metal rubbing against one another or a squeeking sound in engine, but otherwise the engine is running great, I am using the Wal-Mart Super Tech oil, I was tempted to put a Group III synthetic but I think the dino oil will do a better job of rinsing in my opinion, I will see what happens with the engine noise in the rinse phase as Frank says that is when you see results.

Frank, I guess what you are saying is that in the final rinse phase here that the noise I am having might go away as everything is being rinsed off the parts in the engine and allowing the oil to get to where it needs to go, I am 300 miles into final rinse, I have been driving the car 50 to 100 miles a day, I hope to have the rinse phase done by the end of October or early November, obviously with the header leak issue taken care of I can here everything in the engine, I also removed my heater core and took out the A/C box by the passenger side firewall, this freed up alot of space and allowed me to get to everything on the passenger side making it easy to get to the header bolts, when I drove the car tonite the squeeking noise was alittle bit less noticeable but that could be my imagination, I thought you once said that Auto-Rx changes the chemistry of the metal in your engine that was not getting any oil, this noise started when I started the final rinse phase as I had the header issue taken care of at 2400 miles into final clean phase. When I am done final rinse do I go to oil of my choice and maintenance dose (my oil would be Amsoil 100% synthetic) or do I run a GroupIII oil by itself for 3000 miles, I ask this because I thought I read that in one of your posts that further rinsing is beneficial.

Frank, I am 500 miles into final rinse, changed filter today and topped off oil, filter was light compared to my other filters, but oil inside filter was dark, which probably means rinsing is taking place, Amsoil has a Group III oil, it is there XL line, I wanted to use there 100% synthetic when I am done with the final rinse phase and of course do the Auto-Rx maintenance dose with this oil.

I am one step ahead of you, I have read on BITOG that Amsoil dealers are using Auto-Rx instead of the Amsoil flush and recommending Auto-Rx to there customers before switching to synthetic, do you think Wal-Mart Super Tech dino oil is a better rinse oil than a Group III synthetic oil. I can remember when Mobil 1 was upset with Castrol because there Castrol Syntec was not a true synthetic oil, just a base stock dino oil with different chemistry. I am over 600 miles into final rinse phase and all is going well.

Frank, old Auto-Rx instructions were 1500 mile clean, then 2000 mile rinse, do it a second time and total miles are 7000 miles, new instructions 2500 mile clean, then 3000 mile rinse, do it a second time and total miles are 11,000 miles. I will end up at 11,500 miles, 1500 mile clean, 1500 mile clean again, my mistake, 3000 mile rinse, 2500 mile clean, then 3000 mile rinse, I think why I have had the filter issue is because I did a double clean and then when I went to the rinse everything really poured out, so in essence I started Auto-Rx with old instructions then new instructions, as evidence of stuff still filling filters if I had done instructions right from the beginning I would have finished Auto-Rx application before new instructions, but I would have probably have had to do a third application, maybe we need to have people do 3 appliocations for engines that have 200K or more miles, I dont know, 10,000 miles into application with cleaning and rinsing there is still stuff getting to filters, you cannot expect to have well over 300K and expect engine to be cleaned overnight, especially when the car was driven for 24.5 years, I have been doing the Auto-Rx thing for 4 months, I am trying to erase all the junk in there from 24 years.Yes I am doing new application but going over it by 500 miles, I am a fan of cheap filters because they last as long as the expensive ones, keep up the good work and thanks for making a great product.

Thanks for the clarification. Do you have access to another car a a real oil burner? however runs and is daily driver? A Saturn would be ideal.

I am about 1000 miles into final rinse phase, I feel that all the junk has been released into the filter, but I will still be going another 2K to finish application, my reasoning is that my oil temperature is down by about 20 degrees, that reading was taken with an infrared gun aimed at the middle of the pan, the coolant temp is down, before it would stay alittle high even when cruising now when I come to a stop it goes up a little bit, then back down a bit while I am driving, before when I took a temp reading at the back of the head it was between 240 to 250 gegrees, now it is about 220 degrees, the car has more power, meaning that when I turn and hit the gas to get on to a major road it takes off like a rocket, changed oil filter at 500 miles and inside the filter, the oil that I dumped out was clean looking, not dark brownish gold like before, with the coolant temp gauge before if it got up to 190 it would stat there even with a 180 thermostat, now if I am sitting for a while maybe close to 185 or 190, then cruising back down to 180 or a little below, I should mention that since the car is not tested anymore you can guess about the stuff I removed, so there is no computer running anything, plugs look fantastic, no carbon residue, even though I feel that everything is out, I am not going to second guess Frank, I am going to change the filter Wednesday night or Thursday and see how things are doing, through this whole process oil that has been drained from pan has looked like a very slight dark gold not black, maybe all those filter changes, but oil dumped from filters has been darker than oil drained from pan, if you have a newer car with less than 20K do the maintenance dose so you do not have to go through what I am going through, I am doing maintenance dose on my 04 Marauder and my mileage coming back from N.Y. was 30.2 miles per gallon, the car is rated for 23 miles per gallon highway, I attribute some of this to Auto-Rx letting oil get to everywhere it needs to be.

Frank, changed filter at 1300 miles and put different one on, oil filter was half as heavy as previous time, but oil dumped out of filter was dark, leading me to believe that rinsing is still continuing and why you state 3000 miles for rinse, power is definetly up, I know I have been saying this all along but now with a little hit of the gas the car is up to 55 miles per hour, once car is warmed up acceleration is crisp with no sign of power loss dip, the car just keeps running better, will have to change trans fluid and filter as I have gone a little over 1500 miles, when I am done final rinse and go to maintenance dose will I still have some cleaning and rinsing going on, this 305 motor now feels like a 350, thank goodness I am doing maintenance dose on other car so I dont have to go through what I am doing here with the El Camino.

Brent If your just using Mobil filter running non synthetic no problem and your choice of filter to use. For other readers of this post for the rinse mode it is very important to use non synthetic oil. Polorization effect of synthetic oil on metal keeps "dirt etc on metal" on your parts. You want to rinse off dirt etc into filter. Thats why non synthetic oil for rinse mode If your application of Auto-Rx is for cleaning ring packs when done with rinse use any oil you want.


If your Auto-Rx application is for sludge removal or seal leak non synthetic oil is called for the entire application.

I am now 2000 miles into final rinse, had a 2nd thermostat stuck open, switched to a 195 degree stat, cars warms up to temp after a few miles and stays there, I feel my past thermostat issues caused the car to run rich which would be causing the filters to fill up quickly, I am happy to report that after 400 miles on new filter and oil it looks clear, I changed the oil and filter 400 miles ago it was slightly dark and the filter was heavy but I think this was more with the thermostat issue, it is better for a car to get up to temp quickly, not after 20 miles, car has great power but as Frank has said I wont really know until final rinse is done and I am on Maintenance Dose for a while maybe 1000 to 2000 miles or maybe longer, the important thing to learn from this is to follow Frank's instructions and finish the Auto-Rx process, how I know this product is working is that when the thermostat was stuck open the 1st time the car would eventualy get up to 210 degrees and stay there, 2nd time thermostat was stuck open it would stay at 160 degrees all the time, so I sat with the car running it got up to 210 degrees, I took it for a drive thinking it would stay there like before, but this time it dropped back down to 160 degrees, usually when you have a stuck thermostat it eventually stays hot. If you have a new car do the Maintenance Dose, my engine has more power than it ever had before.

Brent,

I think that you are pretty well done on the cleaning of this motor. I believe it to be pretty well rinsed as well. If I were you, at this stage I would select an oil, suggest a group III, such as Amsoil or PP and run it with a maintenance dose installed. The next question that needs to be answered is what filter to run. In a 345K motor, I don't know that a real tight filter is the way to go. I do not think that a tight filter is the way to go during the rinse phases that you have done as well. For one reason, a tight filter will blind up much quicker than a full flowing filter. During a rinse mode the free flowing or not so tight filter will become a tight filter as it loads up with contaminants. In the case of your well loosened up Camino power plant, I would suggest a filter that is not too tight. I think that good oil flow is paramount to your motor, as opposed to trying to filter down to mini microns, at the expense of oil flow.

The oil I have sitting in the garage is Amsoil 100% synthetic 10W-30 which I believe is a Group IV motor oil, are you suggesting I do not use this and instead use Amsoil's Group III oil, as far as an oil filter goes I guess I will maybe go back to Fram, as Wix, Purolator, and the Mobil 1 oil filter are tight, I just put in new dino oil and filter so I would guess you would say I should run this for 500 more miles when I hit 3000 miles, let me know about the Amsoil 100% synthetic, I can always use this in my lawn mowers, I have heard that the Group IV synthetics like Amsoil do some sort of polarizing where they dont let the sludge come off but bond, went out this morning and checked filter, everything had drained, only reason I went with Mobil 1 filters was that the Fram's were crushing when I was using the old oil filter wrench, Frank and Rich, give me your thoughts as I am excited to be soon getting on maintenance dose and let me know yes or no on the Amsoil 100% synthetic with maintenance dose.

I see what you are saying Frank, I guess some cleaning is going to be happening for a while, I know that I have said it before about the power increase, but today I took the car out and it felt different, like the engine was making a much more noticeable noise, it sounded more powerful, and when I gunned it going on the highway I was up to 80 mph, whereas before I was up to 65 or 70 doing the same thing, with this many miles on engine, 355,000 miles, it may be a few oil changes before everything is totaly cleaned out, since I have the oil filter cap wrench I will be going back to cheap filters for a while as they take longer to load up, I will save the Amsoil 100% synthetic for my mowers or use it after a few oil changes to make sure everything is out, just in case I have an oil filter problem I carry an extra one in my car with some extra oil, maybe we need to change rinse mode, instead of 3000 miles, maybe an oil and filter change halfway through at 1500 miles, the amazing thing about this Auto-Rx journey is that when I think I will find an oil filter that I take off will be light, I am wrong, would rather have junk in my filter as opposed to having it in my engine, will post soon.