Auto RX Skeptic turned Believer

[TallPaul]

Subject: 92 Aerostar 3.0 V6. Miles 128,000 beginning of ARX, 141,600 end. This included two treatments and two rinses. Each run 3000 miles, but last rinse cut short at 2600 miles due to a failed oil pan seal. Had the pan seal replaced yesterday at the shop. Struck me I should have looked at the pan, so I called the shop and asked. They asked the mechanic who did the job and I heard him in the background "the pan was real clean--spotless, and so was the pickup."

No way could this be the case at 140,000 miles on a 92 engine that often saw only 3000 miles in 6 months, included a lot of short trip operation, and consumed a quart every 1000 to 1300 miles.

 

[GROUCHO MARX]

Prepare to be flamed.

 

[greenaccord02]

I'm just curious if you had ever seen the pan before the treatments.

 

[Gary Allan]

Sure he has. He paid SWRI to document the refractive sheen (some Rockwell 254x spec) with a borascope at 5 mile intervals for the past 17 years. He was fully apprised of the condition just in case such inquiries would arise from a totally disinterested party, knowing that sensible givens over a 17 year period would not be accepted as any bona fide 100% .."under penalty of perjury" oath type evidence.

Meanwhile, MMO and Rislone are just ducky without anything other than "they've always been there ..and always will"

 

[TallPaul]

No this is the first time the pan was pulled; I can't spend $200 for a before peek and I am not really trying to prove anything, just reporting what happened, nothing statistically significant or even scientific. Since the car received Rislone every oil change for the first 90,000 miles or so, and had an OCI of Redline oil around 100,000 miles, who knows if those didn't clean it (but Rislone in my '84 F150 for 175,000 miles didn't prevent it from getting lifter tap on startup). Yeah, I can't say it is absolutely the ARX but it sure suggests it. I think the longer runs help too, this was suggested by Gary Allen. I still don't have all the info, because of the pan leak I can't tell if oil consumption dropped, will see on this next OCI.

 

[eoghan]

Quote:
"the pan was real clean--spotless, and so was the pickup."


I once had a 1979 pinto 4 banger that leaked oil by the buckets!!!

I was using conventional 10 W 40 Conoco oil at the time (it was cheap) never changed it as it was leaking as fast as you could put it in literally. You had to add a quart of oil every time you started the engine and then another quart for every 10 mile trip you made. it left oils stains everywhere it went and a gas station owner once yelled at me to get it off of his lot because it was leaking so bad. This went on for about 6 months while I was saving money for the parts.

I grew up next door to a mechanic that was an old family friend as was his mother as his mom and my dad went to school together. So I trusted him to work on anything I had even so I was helping him replace the rear main seal and pan gasket that was causing the leakage when we took off the pan to clean it all we needed was a shop rag as the pan was as clean as it could be very shiny no sludge nothing and this engine was over 100,000 miles on it. I seen this with my own eyes and he could not believe how clean it was either as was the pickup etc.

I ran NO special additives or cleaners just lots and lots of oil...

I believe it is the flushing and frequent changes that make the difference NOT the auto Rx so much. now it may have some cleaning action but I don't believe it is any sort of miracle oil at all. The new additives in the constant oil changes would have just as much cleaning action as the auto rx in my opinion.

 

[SuperDave456]

I have run Auto Rx on 5 vehicles. All 5 have shown improvement.

I have an extra bottle of Auto Rx and plan on ordering more in the future.

However, after seeing guys get totally flamed on this board I choose to keep my opinion to myself.
Just have to warn you, these boards have changed.

 

[greenaccord02]

Originally Posted By: Gary Allan
Sure he has. He paid SWRI to document the refractive sheen (some Rockwell 254x spec) with a borascope at 5 mile intervals for the past 17 years. He was fully apprised of the condition just in case such inquiries would arise from a totally disinterested party, knowing that sensible givens over a 17 year period would not be accepted as any bona fide 100% .."under penalty of perjury" oath type evidence.

Meanwhile, MMO and Rislone are just ducky without anything other than "they've always been there ..and always will"

I asked a simple question. What gives? What if he came back and said he HAD pulled the pan for some reason before. Wouldn't that make your post sound silly?

 

[BrianWC]

Cool TP.

 

[StevieC]

Originally Posted By: SuperDave456
I have run Auto Rx on 5 vehicles. All 5 have shown improvement.

I have an extra bottle of Auto Rx and plan on ordering more in the future.

However, after seeing guys get totally flamed on this board I choose to keep my opinion to myself.
Just have to warn you, these boards have changed.
I'm with Superdave, I have had similar experiences with this product and this board so now I don't advocate for AutoRx and unless asked specifically.

 

[Gary Allan]

Originally Posted By: greenaccord02
Originally Posted By: Gary Allan
Sure he has. He paid SWRI to document the refractive sheen (some Rockwell 254x spec) with a borascope at 5 mile intervals for the past 17 years. He was fully apprised of the condition just in case such inquiries would arise from a totally disinterested party, knowing that sensible givens over a 17 year period would not be accepted as any bona fide 100% .."under penalty of perjury" oath type evidence.

Meanwhile, MMO and Rislone are just ducky without anything other than "they've always been there ..and always will"

I asked a simple question. What gives? What if he came back and said he HAD pulled the pan for some reason before. Wouldn't that make your post sound silly?

Yeah, it sure would have looked silly.

I was just saving time

How long would it have taken (seriously now) to descend into the commonality of recurring things? I figured I'd just blow up the bomb ahead of time.

No big deal. There really was a big "

" on my face when I posted that.

 

[TallPaul]

Originally Posted By: greenaccord02
Originally Posted By: Gary Allan
Sure he has. He paid SWRI to document the refractive sheen (some Rockwell 254x spec) with a borascope at 5 mile intervals for the past 17 years. He was fully apprised of the condition just in case such inquiries would arise from a totally disinterested party, knowing that sensible givens over a 17 year period would not be accepted as any bona fide 100% .."under penalty of perjury" oath type evidence.

Meanwhile, MMO and Rislone are just ducky without anything other than "they've always been there ..and always will"

I asked a simple question. What gives? What if he came back and said he HAD pulled the pan for some reason before. Wouldn't that make your post sound silly?


Gary knows as he sponsored this whole ARX treatment, he bought the ARX and paid for the UOAs. Yes I have UOA data and will have to post when I get a chance. Not sure it will really shed any light though. Still one UOA to go since the last rinse turned into clean oil from 5.5 qts makeup in 2600 miles from the leak and any consumption. Again, just a couple guys goofing around, never intended to prove anything.

The point above about the clean pan is interesting. However, I have the old pan pulled from my 95 F150 around 80,000 miles and it was pretty nastily sludged and at the time the oil pickup was half clogged with sludge too. Who knows.

 

[JohnBrowning]

SWRI!!!!!! ROFLMBO!!!! Gary that was too good. I am guessing that almost no one on here though knows who they are or what they do! They can also be expensive if you not sure exactly what you want from them or what you need!I amsure Terry gets a lot of information from them because if I did what he did they are on the short list of people I would seek out for raw data on a number of things and I will leave it at that! Plus I love visting Texas!

 

[Gary Allan]

Quote:
Again, just a couple guys goofing around, never intended to prove anything.


That's about it. I don't even know if I would have posted it. I have a decent history with TallPaul and he, like Dan (fueltankerman) and Dave (dnewton3), saw little value in Auto-Rx. While not committed skeptics, they didn't see the value to it.


What most don't know is that there's a loosely associated group of seasoned/veteran members who do all kinds of stuff behind the scenes that they don't readily broadcast. Given the prevailing hostility toward this product, this may have never seen the light of day and remained in silent obscurity with no other "product" but to show the totally whacked hostility for what it is. Totally whacked.

..but, as stated, take it FWIW ..note it ..forget it ..throw it in a trashcan ..hang it on the wall. It really doesn't matter.

 

[c3po]

Originally Posted By: TallPaul
Subject: 92 Aerostar 3.0 V6. Miles 128,000 beginning of ARX, 141,600 end. This included two treatments and two rinses. Each run 3000 miles, but last rinse cut short at 2600 miles due to a failed oil pan seal. Had the pan seal replaced yesterday at the shop. Struck me I should have looked at the pan, so I called the shop and asked. They asked the mechanic who did the job and I heard him in the background "the pan was real clean--spotless, and so was the pickup."

No way could this be the case at 140,000 miles on a 92 engine that often saw only 3000 miles in 6 months, included a lot of short trip operation, and consumed a quart every 1000 to 1300 miles.


How about popping the valve cover off to see what it looks like inside the valvetrain.

Does this motor have aluminum or cast iron cylinder heads.

 

[Gary Allan]

It's a Vulcan ..so that's cast both block and heads. I think that this is a north:south installation in a minivan and pulling a valve cover is like open heart surgery.

 

[c3po]

Originally Posted By: TallPaul
No this is the first time the pan was pulled; I can't spend $200 for a before peek and I am not really trying to prove anything, just reporting what happened, nothing statistically significant or even scientific. Since the car received Rislone every oil change for the first 90,000 miles or so, and had an OCI of Redline oil around 100,000 miles, who knows if those didn't clean it (but Rislone in my '84 F150 for 175,000 miles didn't prevent it from getting lifter tap on startup). Yeah, I can't say it is absolutely the ARX but it sure suggests it. I think the longer runs help too, this was suggested by Gary Allen. I still don't have all the info, because of the pan leak I can't tell if oil consumption dropped, will see on this next OCI.


TallPaul, I am glad you are getting results with arx and I agree with not spending $200.00 for a before peak, if I was in your shoes I would not be spending money for a before peak.

The problem here is that you have said everything looked great when the pan was taken off and since there was no before pics we cannot really say whether it was arx or the Redline Oil, and maybe even the Risolone.

I know we all would like to see valvetrain pics, but from what Gary has stated this is a nightmare and we are not asking you to spend money to have the valve covers taken off to show us pics.

 

[Rick20]

When Tall Paul, Gary Allen, Molecule, and other in the know folks make posts, I take notice. How many pics do we need to see?
Add TD to the mix above and I have all the credidability I need to decipher posts that have credability and those that have not so much.

Not to blow up the heads of the previously mentioned folks, but I have alot of respect for what each of you write.

 

[tenderloin]

Why anyone would listen to posters who have never used AutoRx is beyond me. Why certain people are trashing this fine product is also beyond me.

The change in this forum over the past few years is disheartening. I hope the crazies don't drive the few remaining knowledgeable contributors away.

 

[JMJNet]

Originally Posted By: tenderloin
Why anyone would listen to posters who have never used AutoRx is beyond me. Why certain people are trashing this fine product is also beyond me.

The change in this forum over the past few years is disheartening. I hope the crazies don't drive the few remaining knowledgeable contributors away.


They already drove most of them away.