07 Accord K24 and another Kreen thread (sorry).

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mjk

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Hello,

So I have a couple of questions and an observation, after having used an initial Kreen cleaning.

My K24 (with 192k) burns a quart at around 2,000 miles - give or take. In the late fall, I did an initial run with a half quart for 600 miles. Had to change out a bit early, given the weather here. A week or so ago, I noticed that at 1700 miles into this run, I was only a half quart low.... thought I had made some headway. Today, I checked at 2000 miles, and am down a full quart. A bit bummed, but wondering how the burn rate increased dramatically in 300 miles. Any thoughts? I am sure it isn't a linear process, but thought it was odd. I also noticed something different (and yes, I know color means nothing), but at 2k, my oil was still a honey color... where as before, at 2k, it would have been a shade of light brown consistently regardless of oil used.

My plan is to run the last half quart of Kreen for a full 1000 miles on this run, and see where that goes. I bought the car with about 160k, (new car trade in), so there was very little if any records on maintenance.... so who knows what the previous owner did as far as oil changes goes.

I then plan on running consecutive changes of Maxlife, just to see if there is any effect on it. My previous 5k changes have always been whatever semi-syn is on sale at the time - Havoline, Mobil Super 5000, Formula Shell, etc. Not sure if Maxlife will have any effect, given it is burning and not leaking, but i figured 'what the heck'. May even go 10-30 during the warmer months, but yet tbd..

If nothing changes, after all this, then it is what it is. The K24, will run forever, being kept topped off and other maintenance taken care of. Oil is cheap. But this is what this site is about - experimentation, and hopefully data that might help someone down the road.
 
I plan to run Kreen in the spring/summer time for varnish, not sludge.

The K-series from reading on forums seems to have stuck rings almost always cylinder no #3, I'm guessing because of the resonance of stock exhaust manifolds. Many ways to approach this obviously, if this was the case.

Without a full leak down pressure test, it could be valve seats, valve stem seals, iVtech system, PCV valve/hose, loose oil filter by JiffyLube, etc... a quart in 2000 miles should still be within specs. Make sure you're checking the oil level consistently each time.

Good luck and let us know.
 
I once had an oil burner. The oil burning really got going after I did a valve job. Should have put in new rings while I was there (famous last words I know).

The oil burning certainly seemed to be non linear. The oil level would hold up fine for a while, then suddenly drop. I suppose it could have been ongoing water or fuel contamination followed by a clearing out. I never did figure it out.
 
For all the kreen worshippers out there I wanna make a full disclaimer that I in no way blame kreen so no bashing me for my experience with it. My Nissan was an oil burner and always was, serviced meticulously since new. Anyhow, I thought I was on the right track running it through the oil a couple times so figured why not do a piston soak. That's where things got worse. After the "kreen purge" I changed the oil a couple times and installed new plugs. Long story short the car was ran 900 highway miles and was down a full qt which was 25% more than usual. This car didn't use hardly any oil in the past after fresh oil for the first 1k so I was really shocked. My son had the car back from school due to my father being in hospice so I switched him cars for my upcoming business trip. In 300 miles I've added another half qt. My plan was to either improve the situation, which is obviously mechanical and there's nothing that kreen could do to help or replace the engine. I purchased an engine with 30k, just gotta pick it up. My theory is kreen cleaned things out and now my consumption increased. Once I get the new motor installed we're gonna tear it down and see what the problem is. I'm also ordering a new pre cat for the swap just in case but I doubt that's the problem. Kreen did some positive things, but in the end may have cleaned something out that was actually helping thus the increased consumption.
 
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The K24 is easy to do piston soaks.

If it were mine i would probably spray Mopar Combustion Chamber cleaner into the holes and pull the Fuel Pump Fuse.. let it soak with plugs out, then rotate the engine, then do another soak then rotate the engine.

Mopar Combustion chamber cleaner is a foam and gets in every nook and cranny, and doesnt seem to flash off.

I think the goal is to decarbon your stuck rings. The best way to get to those rings is to have the rings scrub the walls of the bore with the solvent.

While the Kreen is good stuff, not sure how much of it is getting to the rings.

Perhaps someone some day will get some old pistons from a junk engine and soak them in Kreen, Mopar Combustion Chamber Cleaner, Chem Dip, GM top engine cleaner.. to see if anything really removes the coking.

Until then its just guessing.
 
Yes, if you think it's the rings, do a piston soak with Kreen. Pull the plugs, dump 1oz into each hole, gently rotate it over a full revolution or two using a socket on the crank pulley, reinstall the plugs hand-snug, then let it sit. At 12 hours, come back and repeat process. After 24 hours, pull the plugs, crank the starter for a couple seconds to get any remaining liquid off the piston tops, then reinstall everything. Dump the remaining Kreen into the crankcase and drive at least 1000 miles before draining the oil. If this doesn't fix your consumption on the next OCI, nothing will. If the rings are stuck, they are not likely to remain so after this procedure.
 
I remember seeing this years ago.. i found it again. Saturns were notorious for this..

"My observation when I was cleaning my used pistons for reuse; the only thing that really dissolved the hard carbon on the pistons was Castrol Super Clean from Autozone.The cheaper detergent called "Greased Lightning" did zero. Solvents that you think would work better like carburetor cleaner and even lacquer thinner did not either."

http://www.saturnfans.com/forums/showthread.php?t=147154

I would still like to see a piston dipped in Kreen to see if it dissolves the carbon...Same thing with GM or Mopar top end cleaners.

maybe project farm or someone will someday.
 
Originally Posted by Rolla07
I dont know anything about Kreen but your maxlife plan sounds good. What weight oil are you running now?


Been running 5-30, since I bought it.
 
Originally Posted by krismoriah72
I remember seeing this years ago.. i found it again. Saturns were notorious for this..

"My observation when I was cleaning my used pistons for reuse; the only thing that really dissolved the hard carbon on the pistons was Castrol Super Clean from Autozone.The cheaper detergent called "Greased Lightning" did zero. Solvents that you think would work better like carburetor cleaner and even lacquer thinner did not either."

http://www.saturnfans.com/forums/showthread.php?t=147154

I would still like to see a piston dipped in Kreen to see if it dissolves the carbon...Same thing with GM or Mopar top end cleaners.

maybe project farm or someone will someday.


Can't speak for kreen because I've never used it but go out onto YouTube and search for Berryman ChemDip. There's a guy who used it on the heads, valves and pistons and it practically dissolved 100% of the carbon buildup without scraping after a soak of a couple hours. It turned it, the carbon, into a slurry...(I'll see if I can find the video and post it later in this thread, I'm too tired right now)

I think with pour in treatments you're getting a lower concentration than say the Berryman ChemDip product, so you have to temper your expectations and maybe a 2nd treatment is called for or you just leave well enough alone and just keep topping off?..but you have to be careful with pour in products because they a) can damage some seals and gaskets if they're left in too long or to high a concentration of solvents and b) they can actually free up sludged in places maybe you didn't intend it to, like say sludge acting like a "seal" on a worn stem seal. You clean that sludge away and all of a sudden you're burning (more) oil...

And sometimes oil burning can't be fixed (it is what it is) without machining if say for example the cylinder bore has enough wear after +190k miles or maybe you have a broken ring instead of a stuck ring...
 
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When water is introduced into a combustion chamber (in small amounts), it obviously flashes to steam and helps break down and steam clean some of the carbon. As far as ChemDip goes, I would say all 4 of the amines and butoxy... compounds. But I'm no chemist.
 
Originally Posted by SubieRubyRoo
Cool video, but he'd never be touching my engine with a workspace in such disarray. Thx, didn't know about ChemDip before this!

That's shade tree mechanic 101. ...‚

Ya, Trav turned me on to using ChemDip to clean the oil pan and pick up screen. I've never used it before because of the cost but I could see some applications where it's def' worth the $30 price tag. Impressive how it cleaned up that piston. ðŸ‘

Also, I think Gunk makes a similar product...
 
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Originally Posted by krismoriah72
The K24 is easy to do piston soaks.

If it were mine i would probably spray Mopar Combustion Chamber cleaner into the holes and pull the Fuel Pump Fuse.. let it soak with plugs out, then rotate the engine, then do another soak then rotate the engine.

Mopar Combustion chamber cleaner is a foam and gets in every nook and cranny, and doesnt seem to flash off.




I stopped in at a dealer today, just to get some info. FYI - according to parts, it has been discontinued. Guy knew what I was talking about right away, knew it worked well.... but was environmentally unfriendly, so production ended.
 
I did a piston soak on my K24 with the BMW stuff, details in this post.

Too soon for results but I'm sure the dip stick is not reading a linear level; that could explain why the oil level appears to drop faster below the half way mark.
 
Originally Posted by WagonWheel
I did a piston soak on my K24 with the BMW stuff, details in this post.

Too soon for results but I'm sure the dip stick is not reading a linear level; that could explain why the oil level appears to drop faster below the half way mark.

Honestly, the next time I fancy doing a piston soak I'm gonna do it just before the oil change and pop for a gallon of that Chem-Dip. I think a couple of ounces in each cylinder will eat away at that carbon and at $30 for 128oz, that's a lot of piston soaks for the money. ...
 
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