You'd be surprised how many people don't know that. I thought you were taking the whole "real good" angle.
Varnish
- Thread starter texasproud
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Man, I just can't stand to watch that little guy bang his head. That looks like it HURTS!
Sorry MarkC - actually my brain knows the difference between allude and elude. Maybe my fingers don't. I make a butt load of typos, and you don't (yeah right) - DUDE YOU WORRY TOO MUCH. (But thanks for making this a humerus post, in fact fact my bones ache laughing!)
I know, I just kneeded something to do.
MarkC, As Pablo apologized for typo, I suppose I owe you one as well as the original "e" instead of the "a" was my mistake. I made another mistake as well.....I thought I posted on an oil forum but it turned out to be "Bob is the Grammar Guy".
Wrong again Tex (
For my part, one of the prime reasons I continue to use sythetics is their strong tendency to leave no varnish at all behind, even after many years and miles. This satisfies my own strong OCD tendencies.
Thanks for the commments. So....
1)Synthetics tend to varnish less than dino.
2)Varnish may or may not causes valves & lifters to stick. Other than that it appears to be harmless.
Has it been determined which additive causes the varnish ?
1)Synthetics tend to varnish less than dino.
2)Varnish may or may not causes valves & lifters to stick. Other than that it appears to be harmless.
Has it been determined which additive causes the varnish ?
I am going to take an ameture technical stab at it.
Water, Fuel, oxygen & Carbon is a good start to creating varnish(also flashed off oil vapors that are not ventilated would seem to be a godd way to form it).
Varnish can have negative implications. It can cause rings to stick, oil pressure control valves to stick or function less than optimal (In variable valve timing systems)and to me it seems it could cause poor heat transfer between the fresh oil and the hot metal surface leading to a viscious cylce of build up once it starts.
Oil needs to be capable of suspending and containing all oxidized carbonon particles until it is filtered out or drained.
Another thing that I have read that caauses varnish is aeration of the oil. This is primarily from a loss of surface tension in the base oil allowing air bubbles to stay small and circulate. This allows air bubbles to enter high pressure situations such as journal bearings causing extreme hot spots( do to compression) and the production of hardened oxidized particles. from flashing the surrounding oil in a high pressure situation.
Certain base oils and additives can resist physical traits that cause varnish better.
Basestocks alone can form varnishes under bad enough conditions(even PAO). Some additives (like anti-oxidants) are there to prevent varnishes from forming. The more severe the conditions are, the larger the gap between a lesser and greater oil is. Oil breakdown is very non-linear as well. Once an oil reaches a certain point of abuse, it suddenly falls to pieces which you can see when looking at API Sequence IIIF tests.
Many of the tests by API and ACEA directly or indirectly are keeping a check on varnish, so the engine/oil experts agree that is not totally harmless. Reading up on the tests they do is quite informative about this matter.
Many of the tests by API and ACEA directly or indirectly are keeping a check on varnish, so the engine/oil experts agree that is not totally harmless. Reading up on the tests they do is quite informative about this matter.
I wasn't trying to offend you, Tex, if I did, I apologize.
No worries MarkC... I got a ton of good info from this thread as well as some good laughs. I don't think you could ask for much more from a computer !
Related question please: How does a synthetic PCMO compare to a heavy duty diesel/car rated oil with regard to cleaning/preventing varnish ? Is the ultimate a HD Synthetic ?
Not that I speak with any authority, but I think as far as preventing varnish,maybe. Cleaning an already dirty or varnished engine, I don't think so, but i may be mistaken.
I don't know. Saabs have a rep. for varnish and sludge. I know my 900 internals were varnish free at 191k miles but never inspected them when I took the car over. I always used M1 and periodic B-12 flushes. I just took over a 9-5 from its original owner and its got varnish and a bit of light sludge everywhere. I'm running autoRx but I really suspect that my obsessive 3-4k OCis w/ M1 may have cleaned the varnish out of my 900.
It interesting that no one has mention if it is possible to remove varnish. Wouldn't a combination of HDEO and Lube Control be a good idea to remove varnish.
Ekpolk mentioned that synthetics are better at not leaving varnish behind. I wonder if Auto-RX will remove varnish ?
The varnish on my Sentra's cams and head is still dark orange from the orange Pennzoil HM I used once 2 years ago.
Glad it's not harmful but should I soak the pistons anyway?
Glad it's not harmful but should I soak the pistons anyway?
IMHO AutoRx does not touch stain type varnish. At least it didn't in my beater Volvo.
Maybe that's a good test - if AutoRx doesn't clean the stains yet cleans the sludge, goo, plaque, ring built up, etc - don't sweat the varnish stains.
jorton - Not sure what soaking the pistons will do for cam varnish.
Maybe that's a good test - if AutoRx doesn't clean the stains yet cleans the sludge, goo, plaque, ring built up, etc - don't sweat the varnish stains.
jorton - Not sure what soaking the pistons will do for cam varnish.
I don't think an HDEO alone will touch varnish.....at least not in the case of my '87 Legend.
I've been using Delo with a 5k mile OCI since 272k miles (when I first got the car.) The car now has 360k miles and the varnish is still there; no apparent change that I can tell by looking thru the oil filler hole.
I have to agree here. It didn't touch the varnish in my Lumina 3.1 after the first clean and rinse cycles.
I just started the second clean cycle last weekend.
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