I started ARX treatment a few months ago for alleged lifter chatter/tick. I am now half-way done with the rinse cycle and the symptoms unfortunately are still there. I am putting fresh oil in tomorrow (i do a lot of short driving, so I decided to put in new oil as well instead of just changing the filter) and then will probably just add Lucas to the oil at the next oil change to try and quiet the lifters down. Doesnt look like my issue here is sludge, but rather a collapsed filter.
I think I had a collapsed lifter to begin with. I was hoping tjat the chatter was due to dirt or sludge, but after runnin ARX through the motor I don't think that is the case.
I started ARX treatment a few months ago for alleged lifter chatter/tick. I am now half-way done with the rinse cycle and the symptoms unfortunately are still there. I am putting fresh oil in tomorrow (i do a lot of short driving, so I decided to put in new oil as well instead of just changing the filter) and then will probably just add Lucas to the oil at the next oil change to try and quiet the lifters down. Doesnt look like my issue here is sludge, but rather a collapsed filter.
Don't be in such a hurry. Let the rinse phase finish out. Did you get all the way through the clean phase?
Yeah, geeaea, i finished the clean cycle before draining out the oil for the rinse. I changed the oil a week ago and now have another 1500 miles of rinsing to do. I'll definitely let it finish before draining the oil again and going with a synthetic+Lucas or Restore. Who knows, may be it'll still work. I'll definitely let you guys know once I'm done with the rinse.
Frank, I was not implying that ARX had collapsed the lifter. I was just saying that my issue was probably a collapsed lifter to begin with, and not sludge in the motor, as I had hoped.
The only reason I stress this is because when I had a stubborn lifter tick it didn't do anything during the clean phase and even more noises appeared during the onset of the rinse phase. It passed, but took time. With shorter trip usage the length of the clean/rinse would tend to be more critical.
Here is an idea for a final rinse. Get some Rotella 10W-30 T5 heavy duty engine oil from WM. This oil sells for 11.50/gal here currently. The detergent/dispersant additves in this oil are higher than regular passenger car oil and should assist with rinsing away and removing any remaining contamination that the ARX has already penetrated and loosened during the clean cycle(s).
This is a dual-rated diesel/gas oil and has some extra anti-wear as well.
After you have rinsed all you can, then any remaining issues could possibly be helped some with choice of oil or a quality, proven additive. I am not a fan of Lucas or Restore and have found other products that work better for less money if you need to fix a problem without engine disassembly or repair.
thanks for the suggestion bmw, I might just give ROtella a try. I still have about 1300 miles to go in my rinse cycle.
Do you mind sharing what additives you would recommend for lifter tick if all else fails? I was actually considering going with 5w-40 instead of the recommended 5w-30 to see if a bit thicker oil might help.
If you have hydraulic lifters, then usually there is still contamination/oil flow issue in a lifter that will not stay pumped up enough to take out the slack and ticking noise. There can also be excessive pushrod/rocker arm wear in the case of some engines such as my Ford V6 2.9 in a 90 Ranger.
When you have done all you can do for these noises by cleaning/rinsing with ARX and some good HDEO, then take a look at Schaeffer oils and their moly 132 additive. Also Lubro-Moly additive has quieted down some stubborn and annoying ticks and taps for me and my customers. My 90 Chevy 305 has 301k miles on it and it was its quietest ever on Schaeffer 5W-50 oil for the summer. I will switch it soon to the 5W-40 for winter. Lifter taps on startup were eliminated by Schaeffer oil. I originally treated this very nelected, sludged engine with several full ARX cycles years ago, and it went from very noisy overall to an occaisional startup tick only. But that and the timing chain noise is gone with heavier Schaeffer oil in it. I was using 20W-50 Maxlife in it during the summer and 10W-40 in the winter. It was not as good. It cost less though.
-- Edited by bmwtechguy on Wednesday 6th of October 2010 09:53:00 PM
thanks for the advice. I may give that a shot. Does the thicker oil protect as well? I've actually been thinking of going with 5w40 for a while. On a side note, my CEL came on today for a cam positioning sensor. Can this be related to the rinse?
-- Edited by bigpav7 on Friday 8th of October 2010 09:16:15 PM
Your cam position sensor code is not related to arx. You can get one for $25 at autozone and its located by taking off your front passenger tire and looking through the wheelwell and you will see it - takes just a few minutes to replace
got the sensor replaced. All good now. I'm really curious is thicker oil will offer as much protection as the oil hte engine is spec'd for. I've seen 5W40 on the shelves here and would love to see whether this would help the lifters out at all, but dont want to do at the expense of causing more wear on the motor.
Not to worry. Someone's car in Canada sees higher viscosity fluids for over half of the chassis life even if they're using the lightest fluids you can find. Half the population during the winter may reach the SAE viscosity chart in their daily drive. Same with people in the Dakotas ..MN, MT, etc.
If there were to be any alterations, it would not be in wear. If something required a given viscosity to work properly, it may delay a few minutes due to marginally higher viscosity simulating a colder engine in terms of oil temp/visc. That is, a 40 weight looks like a 20 weight did 5 minutes ago in the oil warming process.
