I have just finished 2 clean/rinse cycles on my girlfriends 2000 Corolla, which is notorious for faulty designed rings. By the first rinse phase I started noticing results; better acceleration and it was running smoother. The car burned about 1qt per 1500 miles prior and I would say it now burns 1qt per 1700 miles- a small improvement but still an improvement. As I mentioned, the car runs smoother, has more power as well as improved mpg (went from an average of 30mpg to 32mpg). On a trip I calculated an all time high of 35.2mpg.
I changed the oil yesterday with Valvoline Maxlife. I'm going to run this OCI and see if the oil consumption continues to go down, so that I can start a Maintenance Dose. I didn't take the valve cover off but did notice removal of deposits in the oil fill hole, and I can only see a splash fed area! I also noticed that the filters were much heavier than usual and all oil changes came out quite dark.
I must say that I am thoroughly impressed with the product and can't wait to start the maintenance dose. I have recommended ARX to all my friends and family, some of their cars could really use it :) I recently purchased a 1997 Lincoln Mark VIII with 84K miles, the engine looks spotless through the fill hole but I will be using ARX in the engine and transmission to ensure that it is truly spotless.
Thank you very much Frank for your product, you now have a customer for life. Feel free to put this on your testimonial page if you would like.
The car has 149K miles, she is not the original owner, she got it with 55K miles. They did jiffy lube oil changes every 3K(I hate jiffy lube). Around 100K miles, the guy at jiffy lube said the car was down 2qts and it has burned oil since. Around that time was when the detonation issue began as well.
The car actually runs very well and I do plan on doing the pcv valve(OEM) and possibly replacing the pcv hose even if it's not bad(can't hurt with 149K miles).
I will also be sure to periodically update the thread.
Can't do anything besides rebuild it. But we shouldn't have to, alot of corollas still last a long time with the rings. I was pleasantly surprised that ARX slowed consumption on this car and it should help the car last a long time to come.
Maxlife with a 4 oz maintenance dose of Auto-Rx slowed my chevy's oil consumption quite a bit vs straight conventional oil that I was using before, during, and after 3 ARX clean and rinses. You could bump the viscosity up one notch too during warm weather and probably see lower consumption from that as well. I have been impressed with Maxlife oil, a high mileage synthetic blend from Valvoline.
About 2500 miles into this oil change with the Maxlife. Consumption has remained constant(as expected). However, the car is running very well. I'm still seeing removal of deposits under the oil cap.
I will run this Maxlife out to 4000-5000 miles, then I will start using Schaeffer's motor oil w/ a maintenance dose of ARX.
I will be using the 7000 series. I was originally thinking the 9000, but I've been impressed with the UOA's of the 7000 series. I don't know, maybe next time I'll use the 9000, it's only 1.00/qt more than the 7000.
I'm sure this oil will work out well. It is highly reveared, and i've seen a couple of teardowns of motors using the 7000. One was a 4.6 with 500K miles, looked great for that many miles, all with 5-8K drain intervals(mostly towing).
Schaeffer's claims better resistance to burnoff than conventional oils, plus it seems to be a very stout oil. This oil with ARX maintenance dose should be an excellent combo.
Actually here is a link to that 4.6 engine teardown:
