river

Rx300 2000 with 346k miles use synthetic oil. Recently heard about engine sludge issue with these car. So did some research and found about auto rx.
spoke with the guy he suggested to do the cleaning with conventional oil and start using dino oil thereafter for a oil change.
any experience or comments?

lserlohn

An old man with 80 years old, and he is in good healthy condition. Why do you want to give him a surgery?

Bill Dowd

Pull off your valve cover and see if there is sludge.
Normally there is no sludge with synthetic oil

TrueGS300

There are many engine oil cleaning products. Pick your poison. A lot of shops use BG products. They have a great oil cleaner, and fuel system cleaner called 44k. It's a good thing to do once in a while. The BG one is cool because it goes into your old oil when it's time for a change and you just run it for 10-15 minutes. Then drain and change oil. This along with their oil adative with the new oil makes a difference in how smooth the engine sounds. Gets rid of lifter ticking and running noises. The 44k is designed to clean the intake from where the injectors enter the intake runners and valves for better airflow, valve seating, and restoring fuel-economy and performance.

carguy07

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

TrueGS300

They do work, I'm a profession tech and have seen wonders worked on an engines with noise and sludge issues. The BG products brand and Liqui-Moly brand are best and not snake oil. Customers who had noises on startup (lifter tick) etc, and even my own vehicles have all become quiet and smooth. Treating the old surfaces in the engine with good products can make a big difference.

Broc

Full can of BG109 (now known as EPR) and drive to town and back, change oil and filter. Repeat at each oil change, and in a few, the issues will be gone.

If you really want to get aggressive with internal engine cleaning, either Kano Labs KREEN (not for sale in Calif), or Sea-Foam ... Sea-Foam is 1 oz per qt of oil in your crankcase. High idle for 10 minutes, drain and change oil.

For an old beater that needs to free up stuck lifters and rings, 1/2 can of Sea-Foam and drive it 200 miles, change oil and filter. All good

But, on a nice car, I'd only do the BG109 treatments long as the engine is quiet and running OK ...

Or, do what professionals in the heavy trucking industry do, one oil change every 100,000 miles with Valvoline Restore oil especially designed for Cummins to free sticky rings. Make sure it's the Cummins approved oil. Expensive, but it's not a treatment added to oil, it is the oil. It's the best out there, and stays in for the full oil change interval. Many change filters 1/2 way through interval and top up

Striker223

If you use good oil and change in time you will never need to clean any engine that doesn't have a PCV or blow by issue. If you have an issue the worst advice possible is to not use an synthetic oil as dyno oil is flat out inferior.

I have permanently fixed 4 3.0/3.3 v6s by flushing them and having the owners go synth from there on out. I use new oil, new filter, filled 2/3 oil, last 1/3 trans fluid and a cup of diesel and let sit for 30 min. Drop the oil pan and reseal and done.

Margate330

If you do another Un-gunking service for a customer it would be nice to see some pics what comes out.
Is the car run for some miles/time before dumping the "recipe" and why pull the pan is the gunk so thick it won't drian?
>> Not my pic but would be nice to see under covers before buying a car. lol

Striker223

I have a video actually of a Chevy 5.3 that blew its head gasket from owner stupidity and the "oil" would not drain until I added some stuff to it. Video is of the first drain before adding the blend and the 2nd one just looked like normal oil for the most part, give me a little to upload and link.

Pan is dropped for safety to ensure all the gunk is gone and the oil pickup is not obscured in any way just because sometimes the screen can have issues. Car is just idled for 30 minutes after I stare at it for the first 5 to make sure oil pressure is a thing

Margate330

+1 on all the posts above!
I agree with others don't fix if not broke...
But always wanted to try one of the cleaners or methods mentioned above if it can be done safely just to see what my engine coughs up. lol

Broc

The Valvoline Restore (Cummins approved) is safe and effective. It's gentle, but through.

Last I checked, it was about $40 gallon ...

It is the oil and it's good base stock with their proprietary cleaners to deal with EGR coking rings in modern low pollution big rigs. Took years to develop, but is the best gentle engine cleaning oil out there

Australian

Best bit of advice ever if you move all the sludge out you then need to contend with all your worn gaskets so did you want a complete rebuild unlike an old man you can repair to new but what a job that will be.

Margate330

I wish there was something in a bottle that will rebuild my car and me too. lol

Margate330

Ok something very strange happened yesterday.
I bought my car with 120k ish miles and now has 151k miles and for the last 5k miles I have heard what sounds like a lifter tap on bank 1.
So, I ordered the special tool with intensions of doing a valve clearance service but yesterday the ticking just stopped!

That blows my theory about needing the service and now looking towards oil flow.
I been doing 2-3k mile oil changes with Mobil One Synthetic to clean the engine since I bought it(under valve covers look good-no visible gunking) but thinking maybe I need to de-gunk too.
Ideas anyone?