Auto-Rx Customers Questions & Answers

Saddened to here of you sludge issues. Regarding your oil leaks, they could be due to blocked up crankcase ventilation, namely the PCV valve and or plumbing. In any event the cam shaft seal is likely affected by deposits that dont allow for a good pinch between the shaft and the lip of the seal. With respect to the valve cover, that would be a pinch seal, whereby there should be no oil flow. If the gasket is cracked then only a replacement will cure it. If it is due to crankcase ventilation problems, correcting the PCV problem will likely lessen or stop it.



With respect to white smoke at start up, white smoke is normally thought to be condensation in the exhaust system that steams off. Other possibilities can be minor head gasket leaks whereby some coolant/water is being drawn into the combustion chamber. Sludging can occur from moisture entering the oiling system. It can also be created by poor crankcase ventilation. And lastly it can be created by length oil change intervals.



Then price tag for the dealer or a mechanic to tackle the sludging issues will likely be quite expensive. Mostly a lot of labor, plus solvent cleaners and a new pick up screen. There is no guarantee that desludging at the dealer will provide a perfectly clean motor. Many times sludge can get moved down into areas of the drain back castings in the block, which are not visible. In any event if oil can not drain back to the sump at the same rate that the oil pump is sending up to the valve train, then it is highly likely that the motor will sludge up again.



The question you have to answer is what kind of dough you want to sink into this unit to have it last a year. On the one hand, you need a timing belt, which is some money, likely 300 to 400 bucks or so for the dealer to change out. Should the current belt break, it is almost certain to hurt the motor beyond repair. I guess a big question you must ask is how many miles are you going to drive in the next 6 months to a year? My guess is that the dealer doing the cleaning and the timing belt, and a couple other parts you could be looking at close to 2000 bucks.



For a lot less money, you could try Auto-Rx. Provided that the oil is able to circulate properly through the internals of your motor, it will work. Auto-Rx is a very slow and methodical cleaner. For a heavily sludged motor, it is recommended that you add the product with a fresh oil change and filter. After 1500 miles of operation, change the filter only and then run another 1500 miles. Now you will have accumulated a total of 3000 miles on this oil fill. It is time to change it out. So perform an oil change and filter. There will be no Auto-Rx used in this step. At the 1500 mile mark change out the filter, then drive the remaining 1500 miles on this oil change interval.



A heavily sludged motor typically takes two applications to bring the cleanliness level back to very respectable. The first application will clean up the working parts of the motor nicely. That would include piston rings, cam shaft lob and liters, cam and crank bearings. Auto-Rx does not chunk off deposits that could cause engine troubles. It is a very slow and methodical cleaner, working on the areas of highest heat and pressure. In other words the frictional points. The choice is yours; you can give Auto-Rx a shot for about $45.00. Or you can have it manually cleaned for big bucks. You might find that after the first application the need for a dismantle for cleaning has already been remedied. Again it depends whether or not oil is properly circulating through the oiling system.



I hope this is helpful in making your decision.



Best Regards,



Rich Eklund

Auto-Rx Worldwide, Inc.

Thanks to you both for your response.

bmwtechguy....My mechanic's diagnosis is pretty much the same as yours. He thinks that the leak at the rear valve cover was due, in part, to the fact that oil was not draining back through the engine to the oil sump. The oil that was pumped to this area (under the rear valve cover) had to go somewhere and it did. It found (or caused ) a leak in the gasket and it was sucked into the combustion chamber, causing the smoke.

He finished his work yesterday. New timing belt, new water pump, new new spark plugs and new pcv valve. And he cleaned out as much sludge as possible, following the procedure outlined here: www.yotarepair.com/engine_replace.html He removed as much as he could from the top of the engine with a vacuum and screwdriver then cleaned and rinsed the area with dieselfuel. He assures me that this diesel fuel flowed back through the engine, to the sump.(presumably through the drain back holes you describe) He removed the sump, cleaned it and removed and cleaned the oil pick up and screen as well. The valve covers got some special treatment too. Sludge was packed behind the baffles so badly that he couldnt clean it out so he ground off the rivet heads to remove the baffles for cleaning, then used screws to re attach them. (I read somewhere that Toyota has now redesigned the valve covers to avoid sludge build up there.)

Here are before and after pics  under the front valve cover




Before





After


The car is back together now, and running. Ive only driven it 50 miles, so its too soon to declare victory, but I feel good.

My Auto-Rx was delivered this afternoon and Ill start a cleaning cycle tomorrow morning. Ill report back here with my success of failure. Assuming some success I should still be driving this thing for another year  I plan to do two cleanings and a rinse then remove the oil pan and front valve cover for an inspection. If it goes those 9000 miles, Ill use my third bottle for maintence doses every oil change

One question at this point....Should I do a rinse between cleanings, or do two cleanings back to back, then a rinse?

-- Edited by ronparise on Friday 5th of February 2010 11:44:53 PM

-- Edited by ronparise on Friday 5th of February 2010 11:48:09 PM

Those pictures tell a lot of the story. The rear cylinder head is a bit different in that the oil drainback holes are much smaller and are bad to plug up completely. Hopefully he got those cleaned out as well. It is difficult to access that area as it is WAY down back against the firewall. I had to lay across the whole front of the engine with my feet off the ground to see and reach down in there to work on the rear bank.

I wish I had just gone ahead and ground off the valve cover rivets like he did..it would have save a lot of soaking and flushing, etc. Sounds like you are well on your way to having a good running car. I am curious as to how much all the work you had done cost you....

Thanks for sharing your experience and let us know how it does during/after Auto-Rx use!

-- Edited by bmwtechguy on Saturday 6th of February 2010 11:21:12 AM

Thanks guys for your interest and advice

bmwtechguy..regarding the cost......... I went into this knowing I needed the cam shaft seal replaced and the rear valve cover gasket replaced. and as long as the timing belt and water pump were going to be off (to replace the cam seal) and since the rear valve cover would be off, the pcv valve should be replaced too....This work was estimated at $660 labor and $400 parts. Knowing about the sludging issue with this engine, and knowing my oil changes were always done at the quick change place that had the best deal that week, and seeing the smoke on start up and the condition of the dip stick we decided to pull the front valve cover and take a look, before ordering parts...The before picture is what we saw. The mechanic wanted to put the valve cover back on and sell the car, but I had read the article on yotarepair.com and my mechanic had stories from the "old days" about filling an engine with diesel fuel to clean it. He told me that more than once he had cleaned an engine like mine with a screwdriver and vacuum and a diesel bath. I had enough money in the bank to give this a try, but I didnt have enough for a new car so I pushed him to clean it up as best he could.

I think that he came to look at this as a challenge, and he was looking forward to telling the story to his grandkids. In any case he agreed. I bought him a new shop vac, and he got started

I think he either lost track of the time he had into it, or took pity on me, but in either case I got (I think) a real deal on the labor. Other than the labor charges I noted above that I would have paid anyway for the timing belt water pump and pcv valve the only other labor charges were to remove, clean and replace the oil pan and screen ($144) and disassemble the valve covers as described above ($120) There was no item on the bill to describe the work to scrape , and vacuum the sludge from the top of the engine (the results of which you see in the photos I posted above)

Anyhow.... that was a long way to get to an answer to your question...I paid $1547 plus the vacuum and plus the auto-rx so the grand total will be $1650, Worth every penny if I can get another year out of the car (12000 miles) which is exactly how long it will take to run two complete clean and rinse cycles with the auto-rx (If I do get through a year I expect that I will have another several years before I need a new car.)

The big question is, of course: can the oil get back to the sump from the rear head, ie are those rear drainback holes and passages at least partially open? Only time will tell. As long as there is no more white smoke and I dont burn up any oil.......we'll see. If the smoke and oil loss come back Ill probably have my mechanic (if he is still speaking to me) open it up again to take a look (remove the front and rear valve covers) and clean those drain back holes. That will cost another at least $400 but probably worth it

If I get through the year I think Ill have my mechanic open it up again anyway to take a look and confirm that the holes are still open and to see the job that auto-rx has done.

I will continue to post my progress

-- Edited by ronparise on Saturday 6th of February 2010 09:02:03 AM