Auto-Rx® works with generally the least expensive motor oil available. Conventional engine oils include Valvoline Conventional, SuperTech (available at Wal-Mart), and Coastal (available at AutoZone).
Group III Oil,s which include Pennzoil Platinum, Castrol Syntec, and Valvoline Synpower work well also
Use of high-mileage engine oils should be avoided during all Clean and Rinse Phases. However, high-mileage engine oils can be used while following an Auto-Rx® maintenance plan.
If your engine has a supercharger, turbocharger or the manufacturer recommends that you only use synthetic motor oil please choose a Group III motor oil to avoid competing chemistry
Always choose the engine oil weight (viscosity) that your engines manufacturer recommends.
The problem is High Mileage Oil & Most Synthetics have an additive package that contains chemistry to hold oil to metal. This is not what you want when your goal is to clean your engine with Auto-Rx. Many mechanics after using Auto-Rx realize that it would take a teardown of the engine to clean like Auto-Rx. Why disperse your Auto-Rx Chemistry to fight one additive?
By the way we are not in the oil business however we work with oil every day and have a good sense of what works best with Auto-Rx
To my friends who purchase Auto Rx, I always recommend that they use Valvoline conventional. It is a good "dino" oil, is cheap, and works very well with Auto Rx - as a matter of fact, it will be going into our Honda this week for the rinse cycle.
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2001 Ford Ranger, 4.0 V6. Mobil 1 0w-30, Motorcraft FL 820s filter, 3oz Auto Rx
The assumption is you have already did an Auto-Rx full cleaning before you went back to a high mileage oil or full synthetic .The maintenance dose will be able to work with these oils as there lubricating clean metal.
Adding a maintenace dose in a 100,000 mile engine is not going to produce a return. There simply is not enough Auto-Rx to make a difference.
Buut wont ARX just attack the additive package in a full synthetic like Amsoil or Mobil1? I guess that is where I am getting lost. I do have a basic background in chemistry and am a biology teacher so I certainly understand what happens on a molecular level when atoms don't agree with each other. However, it seems like ARX, if it is going to fight with the additive package will do so regardless of how clean an engine is.
If your engine is clean, after 1 or 2 doses of ARX, isn't your oil pump just going to be circulating ARX that is fighting the carrier oil and not the build up of sludge? I hope this makes sense as sometimes it is very difficult to explain your questions in a way that can be answered. Trust me when I say that I know this from first hand experience.
Once the metal is clean ARX used in the maintenance dose with a full synthetic is able to keep the metal free of deposit build up in critical, frictional working parts. A full synthetic is normally thought of as a PAO oil with esters included into the formulation so that the PAO can accept the additive packages needed to make the oil perform well. During a normal cleaning and rinse cycle, it is advantageous to have only Auto-Rx esters present in this mode. The esters used for coupling in the oils additive package are typically just that and not good cleaners.
I'm sticking with the method of using Mineral Oils/Fluid throughout the treatments & cleanings as I always use the group III Fully Synthetic in Engine, Auto-Box & Axle - I've faith in Frank.
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1994 Ford Granada Scorpio Cosworth Automatic 2.9i V6 24valves
Are the 2 oils you mentioned at the beginning of the tread Group 2 or 3? Were these brands just off the top of your head or should I read more into it?
What about Castrol GTX and standard Pennzoil?
Is there a list of the specific brand Group 2 and 3 oils?
Thanks
-- Edited by Firecaptain at 13:16, 2008-06-01
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The Fleet 94 Toyota Corolla 1.8 190K+ 94 Toyota Corolla 1.8 150K+ 95 Toyota Camry 2.2 155K+ 95 Toyota Camry 2.2 98K+ 97 Toyota 4Runner 3.8 130K+
I'm not aware of any list of group II vs group III vs group IV oils. Examples of group II oils would be any "standard" conventional oil - Valvoline, Pennzoil, Castrol GTX, Super Tech. Group III oils would contain "synthetic blends", and "hydro-cracked" synthetics - Castrol Syntec, Valvoline Synpower, Pennzoil Platinum, Quaker State Q-Power. Group IV would include "PAO" based synthetics - Red Line, Royal Purple, Mobil 1, Amsoil.
For my truck, I used Castrol GTX, and a Purolater filter, for both phases. In our Honda, I used Valvoline (it was on sale) and a Purolater filter.
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2001 Ford Ranger, 4.0 V6. Mobil 1 0w-30, Motorcraft FL 820s filter, 3oz Auto Rx