So I purchased this car about a month ago and it seems to not have been maintained that welll. The valvetrain chatters for a couple of seconds and then ticks lightly for a few minutes upon cold start-up, which makes me think that the engine is sludged up.
I want to try AutoRX but dont drive the car much. I dont put more than 6K miles on the car a year and most of the trips are short. Doing the sludge application cycle would take over 6 months. Would it be a good idea to just do a fast-track application? Also, my engine takes 6 quarts of oil. Do i add auto RX to the 6 quarts or put in about 5 and then add AutoRX? Thanks in advance.
You're definitely on the shorter usage scale there. Interesting situation. I think you could either do the FastTrack over a 3 month period (should fall into your and the application's mileage confines or near enough) and rinse for 3months ...or just use the same two bottles over alternative 3 month bouts ..as in 1500 clean - 1500 rinse - 1500 clean -1500 rinse. You'll use the same amount of product, but I think that you may get more thorough results.
I think your lingering lifter tick will be gone somewhere in the first rinse cycle in either case. You may experience new ticks during the rinse cycle phase, but they will retreat as all passages get cleaner. This isn't an uncommon event. I'm just stating it since it may surprise you.
Thanks geeaea. it sounds like you are pretty knowledgeable at how this stuff works. So do I just add a bottle and a half into the full crankcase or put less oil in so that the oil and the ARX give me 6 quarts total? also, just so that I'm clear on how this is supposed to be done, i am using a bottle and a half to clean the first time and then another bottle and a half to clean the second time after the first rinse? thanks for the heads up on the extra ticking I may wind up with - this would definitely send me into a state of panic.
You should be able to tolerate 18-24oz of overfill (1.5 -2 bottles - they're 12oz). There's no shallow sump issue with that engine that I'm aware of. I doubt that you're operating at engine speeds where windage would be anything more than an economy spoiler if indeed you had such issue to begin with -----which I doubt.
