LC & varnish how much does it matter?

[SteveU]

Does the varnish that LC removes degrade the oil to the point that it should be changed out early or is it no problem? I pulled the valve cover on my engine this summer, no sludge just varnish. LC was then added at 3oz/qt which really did a good job of removing the varnish. It also made the oil dark a lot sooner than normal which tells me that it is working. The main question is whether I should change this oil out earlier than usual due to degradation from the varnish or continue to run it thru the winter at which point it will have 5000 or so miles on the oil. Oil is amsoil tso 0w-30 with an oversize oil filter currently at 1700 mi on oil.

Thanks,
Steve

 

[Dr. T]

Yup, that's what I did. 2 quicker than normal OCI's...one at ~3-4 and another at ~6-7k...now I'm back to 10k.

 

[Bill]

quote:

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posted by Steve
Does the varnish that LC removes degrade the oil to the point that it should be changed out early or is it no problem?

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I would say NO,
Lube Control advertises that a conventional oil can be run longer with the LC added, this statement is not based on how dirty the engine is, LC is suppose to keep the oxidation low in the oil allowing the lubricant to degrade at a slower pace (oxidation), so, I would say the varnish in the oil would not cause the oil to have to be changed out sooner.
It seems logical that an oil getting darker appears used up but looks are deceiving,
depending on how long you want to run this oil, I would do an oil analysis at the 5000 to 7500 mile mark to determine how the oil is performing.

 

[goodvibes]

I think it would strictly depend on the TBN and how the extra contaminants affect them. I don't thimk insolubles would go up so why not keep using the oil until its done.

 

[MN Driver]

Is the 3oz/quart a one time thing to finish the cleaning? There was someone on the forums here that had put 4oz/quart and another 4oz/quart every 1,000 miles and when his OCI was finished it showed high lead and most people said that was due to the LC having nothing to attack so it started attacking the bearings. 3oz/quart seems okay as long as it isn't repeated when there is nothing to clean.

I don't see any problems with Amsoil and LC cleaning with 5,000 miles, if you were doing it with dino, I would probably change it at 2,000 or 3,000 miles if it was me, but with synthetic I wouldn't worry. Synthetic oils do their own slow clean on their own a little bit too.

 

[SSDude]

quote:

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Originally posted by MN Driver:
Is the 3oz/quart a one time thing to finish the cleaning? There was someone on the forums here that had put 4oz/quart and another 4oz/quart every 1,000 miles and when his OCI was finished it showed high lead and most people said that was due to the LC having nothing to attack so it started attacking the bearings. 3oz/quart seems okay as long as it isn't repeated when there is nothing to clean.

I don't see any problems with Amsoil and LC cleaning with 5,000 miles, if you were doing it with dino, I would probably change it at 2,000 or 3,000 miles if it was me, but with synthetic I wouldn't worry. Synthetic oils do their own slow clean on their own a little bit too.

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You are using too much of this stuff. The recommended rate is 2oz/quart and 1-2oz. every thousand miles.

 

[SteveU]

The plan is to rid the engine of varnish + whatever else the LC will take out & then do an ARX treatment next summer. After the ARX treatments are done then I plan on going back to LC to keep the varnish & junk from coming back. At the rate I accumulate miles (approx 6-8000 or so per year) the vehicle would be 16-18 yrs old before needing additional ARX treatments, kinda iffy here in the land of salt & snow. I agree 4oz/qt every 1000 mi seems a bit much, seems like he would have pure LC after a bit at that rate. MN Driver: The 3oz/qt was to get it going then 1oz/qt every 1000 mi to keep it working.

 

[SteveU]

 

[kgb007stb]

How much does varnish prevent proper heat exchange between different engine metal parts? Is this inhibition more or less than carbon build up?

 

[bruce381]

quote:

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Originally posted by SteveU:
Does the varnish that LC removes degrade the oil to the point that it should be changed out early or is it no problem? I pulled the valve cover on my engine this summer, no sludge just varnish. LC was then added at 3oz/qt which really did a good job of removing the varnish. It also made the oil dark a lot sooner than normal which tells me that it is working. The main question is whether I should change this oil out earlier than usual due to degradation from the varnish or continue to run it thru the winter at which point it will have 5000 or so miles on the oil. Oil is amsoil tso 0w-30 with an oversize oil filter currently at 1700 mi on oil.

Thanks,
Steve

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Hello anything that will disperse or disolve sludge and varnish from a dirty engine WILL impact the oil change out since the crud now in suspension will/may not stay there long and the oil should be changed out sooner till you are happy the varnish and sludge are gone.

Then in a clean engine add your LC (AO) or whatever and then exstend the OCI just have to shorten it to get it clean first. Otherwsie the crap will re deposit in hot areas and coke all over again.

bruce

 

[Terry]

Why periodic Auto-RX is a good part of a reasonable internal engine cleanliness regimen.

Carries all that bad stuff to the oil filter and does not stress the host oil dispersant capability.


LC and Auto-RX cool tools.

Terry