Auto-Rx maint. dose for small engines?

[Crashbox]

Since I changed out my ARX'd oil in my lawn mower yesterday the thought crossed my mind that a maintenance dose of some sort would be highly beneficial for small four-stroke cycle engines such as my mower, pressure washer, tiller/edger, et cetera. But I reckon there are oh-so-many variables, probably more so than water-cooled engines, that a generic recommendation may well be very difficult if not impossible...

On the other hand, perhaps one or a few published ratios of Auto-Rx to oil would suffice, e.g., one ounce per quart for self-propelled mowers, riding mowers, pressure washer engines, generator sets, toothpaste cap installation engines and so on.

I apologize if this question has been asked/answered before but I have not found any info on this.

Great stuff.

 

[yeehaw1960]

You mean Marvel Mystery Oil or one of its more reputible cousins?

 

[Crashbox]

Nope. Auto-Rx, the one and only. Found at www.auto-rx.com and it is fantastic stuff.

 

[Crashbox]

Just found a very, very recent post on the ARX website where one ounce per quart appears to be successful as a maintenance dose. Guess my guess was in the ballpark.

 

[vronline]

Why do you think you need an oil additive? As long as you're using a decent oil and changing it as specified, this is unnecessary. This goes for your mower... car... etc.

 

[Crashbox]

In my opinion, using Auto-Rx is indeed necessary if I want to keep areas in my engines such as ring packs clean. Lube Control's LC20 is another good additive, albeit worlds apart chemistry-wise vs. ARX and not to be used concurrently with same.

I DO NOT LIKE SLUDGE IN MY ENGINES. Period.

 

[Mystic]

I believe in Auto-RX and I use it in my car but I don't think I will use it in my Honda engine lawnmower. I figure the engine should stay pretty clean if I change the oil once a month and use a good quality oil. I am currently using Mystik 10W30 oil that meets some diesel requirements and is supposed to be a pretty good oil. I might switch to Mobil 1 10W30 synthetic oil after the engine is broke in.

The Honda engine runs flat out great compared to Briggs & Stratton engines. I want to keep it running like that and I think I can keep the engine clean enough as long as I change it often.

 

[Crashbox]

My mower is a Honda also, about six years old now. I've ran synthetic oil in it from day one, yet when I drained the ARX'd oil out last week it was considerably darker than normal- indicating that there was in fact some degree of contaminants despite synthetic usage.

Indeed, the Hondas are a great engine. Mine usually starts on the first pull.

 

[Mystic]

Thanks Crashbox. If the synthetic makes no difference tha maybe I will put just a slight amount of Auto-RX in to keep the engine clean. It would have to be something less than 1 oz. The engine gets filled up with 16-18 ozs of oil. I am using 10W30 Mystik semi-synthetic oil that is acceptable for some diesel engines as well as gasoline engines. I am going to change the oil once a month. That will be a few lawn mowings because my grass this year is growing like there is not tomorrow.

 

[teven7492]

Mystic if your going to change your oil once a month your wasting your money on Auto-RX. ANY SM-GF-4 oil will give you great protection , if it was my mower i would use DELO 400 15w40 , it will give you the best protection money can buy.

 

[Crashbox]

Wow, Mystic, I thought I was fanatical at changing my oil twice *yearly* in my mower! Yes, I agree with teven7492 with respect to using a maintenance dose if you're changing out the fluid monthly. However, the occasional full Auto-Rx treatment wouldn't hurt at all and would likely help quite significantly in the long run. I ran about two ounces of ARX in my 15-ounce sump Honda for about 15 hours total FWIW.