I have a 1998 Lumina car with 165,000 miles on it. After replacing the manifolt gasket I noticed a lot of chunks, sludge and incrustations all over inside the engine, tappets everywhere. Can I use Auto-RX or will it damage anything on my engine? How much do I have to use and how? What oil? I used for the past couple of 10,000 mile Castrol GTX High Mileage Oil.
Thank you for your answers
Attached are two pictures how my engine is looking.
-- Edited by MAD King on Monday 9th of August 2010 04:06:04 PM
Autorx will not damage your engine, but it will remove sludge that is right now coating your shrunken seals, which can result in leaks because now there are gaps between the rubber and the metal. This is an annoyance that comes with rehabilitating an old high mileage engine. Usually the leaks stop at some point.
No, those are not pictures of my engine. Just similar how my engine looks like. I always change oil and filter every 3,000 miles, but I am using the Castrol High Mileage oil since around 10,000 miles and before a cheap walmart oil.
Depends on how many clean and rinse cycles you may want to do. If you want to use it in your transmission and if you want to apply maintenance doses to your engine. There are too many variables to advise you as to how many bottles you will need. You will have to decide that. The more you purchase the cheaper per bottle it is. Doesn't hurt to stock up.
It sounds to me that this Lumina is in need of two cleaning applications. I think "geeaea" spells it out nicely. On your next oil change, using plain jane conventional oil add in a full bottle of Auto-Rx, with a new filter installed. Drive your normal 3000 mile oil change interval. Next merely change out the oil and filter as you normally would and drive the next 3000 miles, which is a normal oil change interval on conventional oil. Then repeat this procedure one more time. At this point you will have cleanliness at all frictional or working parts.
As "geeaea" has stated it is as easy as running a bottle of Auto-Rx every other oil change. It is really simple with no effort other than adding the bottle every other oil change.
I do now a oil change with cheap oil from Walmart, a filter and the Auto RX. Drive 3000 miles and change the oil and filter with cheap oil again but without Auto RX. Then, 3000 miles later again, Change the oil again with cheap oil, filter and Auto RX. After 3000 miles again, change oil and filter with good branded oil. Is that right?
btw. As a final oil. Can you recommend the Castrol High Mileages Oil?
Richone wrote:
It sounds to me that this Lumina is in need of two cleaning applications. I think "geeaea" spells it out nicely. On your next oil change, using plain jane conventional oil add in a full bottle of Auto-Rx, with a new filter installed. Drive your normal 3000 mile oil change interval. Next merely change out the oil and filter as you normally would and drive the next 3000 miles, which is a normal oil change interval on conventional oil. Then repeat this procedure one more time. At this point you will have cleanliness at all frictional or working parts.
As "geeaea" has stated it is as easy as running a bottle of Auto-Rx every other oil change. It is really simple with no effort other than adding the bottle every other oil change.
You might consider changing out the oil filter once or twice during the first clean and rinse cycle because with 165,000 miles on the engine it is possible that a lot of "chunks and sludge" will clog the oil filter if you go the full 3,000 miles on one filter
Really, if you have always done regular oil changes on time, then changing oil filter early may not be necessary. If you would still prefer to change the oil filter early on your first treatment as a precaution, you can change only the filter at 1500 miles and top up the oil and continue to drive 1500 more miles until you then change both the oil and filter.
When you are completely done with all the clean and rinse cycles that you plan (I would do 2 full treatments), then you may return to a high mileage oil such as the Castrol in the green bottles. I prefer Maxlife just because it has done so well for me and I have not used much of the green bottle Castrol.
-- Edited by bmwtechguy on Tuesday 10th of August 2010 10:30:13 PM
Maxlife is a Valvoline oil and was the first to market a high mileage oil. I use it especially in engines that seep, leak, or consume oil. It is the best oil that I have found that will reduce these issues.
In many cases, the proper use of Auto-Rx with regular conventional (non high mileage) oil has already reduced or eliminated leaks and excessive consumption, and so a HM oil is no longer necessary, but can still be used.
