I have not been able to find an example of somebody that has used Auto-Rx in a heavy duty diesel engine, as would be found in a semi tractor. Has anyone documented a clean and rinse on a Caterpillar, Detroit Diesel, Cummins, or Navistar/International?
Can you see any reason I should not use Auto-Rx in a 2003 Cat C12 engine? There are 783k miles on the clock. The sump capacity is 40 quarts. How much Auto-Rx would be the recommended clean dose? I was thinking about a gallon.
Do you ever plan on selling larger units than 12oz bottles?
Thanks Frank for the great product and service.
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If you were to follow the 2oz. per quart method, you would need about 7 bottles(6.6) of ARX. I would also Imagine that you could extend the clean and rinse phase past 2500/3000 with a 40qt capacity, maybe 3500/4000?
Let's see what Frank thinks, I would love to see the results of this test.
Actually, I plan to go 10k miles on the clean phase and 15k miles on the rinse. Keep in mind that the OEM change interval for this truck is between 16k and 20k miles.
Yeah, I suppose 80oz. would be roughly the amount needed. Spose I would just go with 7 bottles then.
-- Edited by Squeek at 15:55, 2009-01-02
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"Entrepreneurs are the forgotten heroes of America." --Ronald Reagan
I had no idea the interval was so long, don't know much about big diesels. Yeah I think 7 bottles would be good, and having the ARX in that long should really clean things up nicely.
How big is the filter, I wonder if it would be a good idea to change the filter midway?
Friend of mine is an Auto-Rx dealer, and he was having a word about the product with truckers. Your average semi takes about 35+ liters of oil from what he's told me, and some of these engines would require 6 bottles at the very least to be able to efficiently clean them. I know some product was purchased, but I was told the guy wanted to use it in his differential.
Hello there would be no reason to treat a leak with any differnt application than now on www.auto-rx.com (except amount of Auto-Rx used in initial cleaning) Ratio is 2 ounces per quart of oil, since you have a 40 quart sump you would need 80 Ounces of Auto-Rx.
Auto-Rx is bottled in 12 ounce bottles (7 bottles would do nicely) I would extend the cleaning mileage to 7500 mile and the cleaning rinse to 10,000 miles.
The leak will take time to stop and no Auto-Rx or any other additive is to be used as you go from finish of rinse to first OCI.
We have done heavy duty diesels over the road diesels and stationary ones. Your priority would seem to be to stop the leak. Remember as we clean seal material (front & back ) leak will get worst. (we can stop leaks on seals as long as they are not cut or torn)
This brings us to type of oil to use My suggestion is your base AMSOIL Product which does not contain any complex additive package. In fact it may be a group 11 oil. As you start your first OCI simple additive package in Base AMSOIL Product will start to restore pliability in the seal in question and over miles seal will stop leaking.
This should get you started on project. Frank Miller
I'm a member of the Ford-diesel website. We're just a bunch of guys (roughly 20,000 members US & Canada) who get together on a website to help each other out with the care and feeding of our vehicles. Fords, mostly pickups (some vans) with Navstar diesel engines in them.
I've owned my '96 F-250 since new and have over 276K miles on it. I'm almost 7 years from retirement and the wife says no new truck 'til then. So I'm off on a major campaign "to make it last". I will do it. The first 200K miles was put on in the first two years, the rest was in the last four. Its been a good truck, but needs some work, like new exhaust, front springs, ball joints, etc. The one thing it DOESN"T need is a new engine. I had switched to Amsoil x-mission fluid after a trannie re-build at 132K miles. With another 144K+ miles and still no trannie trouble, I've decided to switch All fluids over to Amsoil. (except windshield fluid and the Batts are sealed)
I had commented in several posts on the F-D website as to my intentions to go for extended engine oil changes. I have a neighbor who has over 80K miles on truck since his last oil change. Its still going strong and oil analysis STILL does not indicate a need for an oil change. I've heard other members with over 100K miles without an oil change.
A fellow member suggested I check out the Auto-Rx website. I did, but didn't feel the need for a "engine cleaning" as I always been faithful in giving my truck "the best of care". I was, however, going to use the solvent type engine flush from Amsoil. Geees, you'd thought I'd let a pig loose in a crowd or something. I was finally convinced that a solvent type cleaner was not the way to go.
The Auto-Rx way was going to be expensive. At $25 a bottle, it was going to cost me $50 to clean my engine. OH No, I wasn't clear yet on things. Because our engines have an oil capacity of 14 qts, I needed TWO bottles for ONE treatment. And with my high mileage, TWO TREATMENTS (four bottles) were required. Make it FIVE bottles ($125) as I wanted to clean the trannie too. I was not liking this at all. I really thought there was no way my engine was as dirty as everyone thought. I cut open my oil filters once in a while and was impressed on how much crap was being removed. When I had the valve covers off, I was impressed how clean everything was. WOW, things looked like new (almost) yet. A very small (3/4" x 4") stain on the inside of the valve cover.
Finally, I rationalized. Hey, I'm puttin' almost $4000 in the truck (with gauges & all) whats another $125 to ensure a clean engine?? Well, I forgot, I also needed $65 in oil filters because EACH treatment included filter changes every 250 miles to make sure there was enough filter material to collect all the crud from my "clean" engine. To prove to myself how stupid I was being, I cut open each oil filter to see that there wasn't that much junk being collected. And with the last couple of filters, there wasn't. But on the first four, I was amazed the amount of just plain crap that was being removed. If I had used a solvent flush and all that stuff was put in suspension all at once....I don't know what the consequences would have been. I do know a solvent type flush or cleaner has NO lubricating qualities. Nor would the crap that was flushed out.
My understanding is that Auto-Rx does have lubricating qualities and does not break down the oil the way an alcohol or petroleum solvent product would.
Am I sorry I spent $125 for Auto-Rx, PLUS $65 for filters?? NO WAY!!! For what it did and the way it did it... I'm not saying "it was cheap". I'm saying it was SAFE, EFFECTIVE and WELL WORTH THE PRICE. And I just ordered another bottle to clean the engine in my wifes Honda. And a bunch of filters.
In my book, the higher the mileage on a vehicle, the more you need Auto-Rx and not a solvent type flush.
Thirty years ago I bought my first new vehicle, a '70 Plymouth Duster. I used a product called Reslone. That product replaced one quart of oil and was put in at every oil change. At 108K miles I tore the car apart to paint it a different color. I put the engine on an engine stand and removed the oil pan and bearing caps. After noting there wasn't any built-up anywhere, I measured the bearing clearance. It was .0015" out of tolerance after 108K miles. I caped it back up and drove it another 144K miles ( 252K total) before I sold it. It run around for another 3 years that I knew of. My point is with oil, a CLEAN engine has minimal wear. In that case the Reslone kept the crap in suspension to be caught by the oil filter or washed out of the engine at the next oil change. Baring using Reslone from day one, IMHO Auto-RX is the way-to-go to clean a dirty engine. Over the years I bought used cars 'till my truck and have gotten away from using Reslone. And I don't know of it can be used in a diesel or not. In a new gasser, I'd use Reslone from day one again. In cleaning an engine which I now know WILL be dirty regardless of how good of care you give it....I'd use Auto-RX.
Too long of a post, I know, sorry. But like the old commercial (for something, I don't remember) says, "TRY IT, YOU'LL LIKE IT".
