Just wanted to share my Kreen treatment of my Generation 8 Corolla. This car is known to have plugged oil holes near the piston ring and cause oil burning. After reading threads on this forum, I was hoping that Kreen will dissolve the carbon and restore its health, as some others have noted (particularly suggested by LeakySeals). Hope it's the right place to share, and would appreciate any comments.
Car: 2000 Corolla CE
Engine: 1zz-FE
Symptoms: Classic 1ZZ-FE symptoms--oil burning, piston slap. Suspected sticking rings or plugged oil return holes. Burning about ¾ quart per 3500 miles the latest oil round with Valvoline High Mileage Semi-Synthetic
date of treatment: 3/2/2015 11pm-ish
treat duration (days): 3/2/15 11pm - 3/5/15 4pm. 3 days.
Mileage of Treatment: 1287.0
volume used in crankcase: 1/2 quart
volume in gas tank: around 0.4 quart
volume in piston soak: around 1oz (or more) in each cylinder
duration of piston soak: more than 12 hours (more like 13)
oil used: SuperTech Synthetic 5w30
Oil burned: around 1/2-3/4 quart
Observations: Green, clear, very watery when poured, though did leave a thin oily film on the plastic funnel. Smelled like a certain kitchen or floor cleaner. melts off markings on my plastic measuring cup.
Piston soak: created a lot of smoke that took at least 10 minutes to burn off. Did not step on the gas when burning it off, due to hesitation. Tried to increased the RPM a little near the end to burn off the residual smoke. Apparently some got on the MAF sensor as well since it started to behave strangely with hesitation and very poor acceleration. The check engine light came on with “p0171” for the rest of the treatment. However, that was solved (so far) with a MAF sensor cleaning. I could smell kreen when taken off the MAF sensor.
Crankcase: It ran mostly highway miles for the duration, from Orlando to Miami, then to Kendall and then the Everglades. The next day to Key West, and then back to Orlando. The piston slap noise persisted after the oil warmed up (pretty quiet when the oil first got in), and the knocking noise during acceleration (due to clogged MAF sensor and lean fuel mixture). No discernable improvement in acceleration (possibly due to the dirty MAF sensor). The oil didn’t dirty very quickly. It was hardly noticeable in the first two days. Then when it comes time to change, it’s less like espresso than it is like iced tea-- it’s still transparent, but dark brown. It’s a bit disappointing, as the oil cap indicates a sludgy engine. The valvoline high mileage came out completely black like crude oil. This is nothing close to that. Maybe Valvoline did its job? Maybe MMO did over all this time?
Changed to Mobil 1 5w-30. The oil is selected for two reasons: 1. it’s said to clean very well, so it’s a good followup to Kreen, I thought; 2. It is thin and can burn easily if the piston ring isn’t fixed, so a good test to see if the oil burning problem persisted. Piston slap continued near idle, if not more persistent. Hesitation persisted with CEL P0171. Cleaned MAF sensor. Hesitation stopped. No CEL yet (was turning on almost every gas fill up and more toward the end. Very poor acceleration too). So far only piston slap seems to be more pervasive than before the treatment, otherwise it is normal. Will check to see if oil burning continues in a few hundred or thousand miles.
Car: 2000 Corolla CE
Engine: 1zz-FE
Symptoms: Classic 1ZZ-FE symptoms--oil burning, piston slap. Suspected sticking rings or plugged oil return holes. Burning about ¾ quart per 3500 miles the latest oil round with Valvoline High Mileage Semi-Synthetic
date of treatment: 3/2/2015 11pm-ish
treat duration (days): 3/2/15 11pm - 3/5/15 4pm. 3 days.
Mileage of Treatment: 1287.0
volume used in crankcase: 1/2 quart
volume in gas tank: around 0.4 quart
volume in piston soak: around 1oz (or more) in each cylinder
duration of piston soak: more than 12 hours (more like 13)
oil used: SuperTech Synthetic 5w30
Oil burned: around 1/2-3/4 quart
Observations: Green, clear, very watery when poured, though did leave a thin oily film on the plastic funnel. Smelled like a certain kitchen or floor cleaner. melts off markings on my plastic measuring cup.
Piston soak: created a lot of smoke that took at least 10 minutes to burn off. Did not step on the gas when burning it off, due to hesitation. Tried to increased the RPM a little near the end to burn off the residual smoke. Apparently some got on the MAF sensor as well since it started to behave strangely with hesitation and very poor acceleration. The check engine light came on with “p0171” for the rest of the treatment. However, that was solved (so far) with a MAF sensor cleaning. I could smell kreen when taken off the MAF sensor.
Crankcase: It ran mostly highway miles for the duration, from Orlando to Miami, then to Kendall and then the Everglades. The next day to Key West, and then back to Orlando. The piston slap noise persisted after the oil warmed up (pretty quiet when the oil first got in), and the knocking noise during acceleration (due to clogged MAF sensor and lean fuel mixture). No discernable improvement in acceleration (possibly due to the dirty MAF sensor). The oil didn’t dirty very quickly. It was hardly noticeable in the first two days. Then when it comes time to change, it’s less like espresso than it is like iced tea-- it’s still transparent, but dark brown. It’s a bit disappointing, as the oil cap indicates a sludgy engine. The valvoline high mileage came out completely black like crude oil. This is nothing close to that. Maybe Valvoline did its job? Maybe MMO did over all this time?
Changed to Mobil 1 5w-30. The oil is selected for two reasons: 1. it’s said to clean very well, so it’s a good followup to Kreen, I thought; 2. It is thin and can burn easily if the piston ring isn’t fixed, so a good test to see if the oil burning problem persisted. Piston slap continued near idle, if not more persistent. Hesitation persisted with CEL P0171. Cleaned MAF sensor. Hesitation stopped. No CEL yet (was turning on almost every gas fill up and more toward the end. Very poor acceleration too). So far only piston slap seems to be more pervasive than before the treatment, otherwise it is normal. Will check to see if oil burning continues in a few hundred or thousand miles.
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