In November of 2005, I purchased a 2001 SAAB 9-5 2.3l turbo, a car known to have problems with engine deposits. I knew the risks but figured I'd get lucky. The car had 59,000 miles so it couldn't be that bad, right? Well, upon pulling the valve cover I discovered I had lucked up alright! The engine was decently varnished and hard carbon deposits lined the timing chain side of the engine, along with scattered small clumps of sludgy deposits. After messing with an engine flush, I ordered two bottles of Auto-rx. What can I say, it did some cleaning! I was very skeptical but my oil filters showed it did some good cleaning. Was it a "magic bullet?" No, I still had some deposits after the two cycles. But it cleaned much more than the engine flush I tried and without the associated risks involved in flushing an engine.
Afterward, I did go on to try several other products with a reputation for cleaning and none gave me the level of cleaning that auto-rx had. A certain ester-based synthetic that everyone believed would clean a "dirty" engine did nothing. Two other types of flushes along with another highly regarded additive did nothing. I didn't get a single dirty filter and before/after pics under my valve cover showed no change since my last Auto-rx cycle.
A new maintenance dose that I put in recently reaffirmed Auto-rx's abilities. Several oil changes had passed since my last Auto-rx clean and rinse cycle and none of my filters showed any significant amount of carbon deposits in the pleats upon removal. Yet, after changing out a 4,500 mile run of Pennzoil synthetic with an Auto-rx maintenance dose, I again had a pleasant surprise when I broke open my oil filter. Even with the maintenance dose, Auto-rx was removing deposits.
As for my SAAB, well, I've put more than 40,000 miles on it since I bought it and it has yet to develop any deposit-related problems! I'll keep everyone posted as I will run the maintenance dose from here on out!
Here are my filter pics!
Here they are, left to right:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v257/bkrell/DSCN5155.jpg
The first clean phase filter is a Fram Extended Guard. It's the big beefy one that looks like it means business. The oil was M1EP 5W30.
The second filter (1st rinse phase) is a Purolator PureOne. The oil was Supertech 5W30 dino.
The third filter (2nd clean phase) is a Purolator PurePlus. The oil was Castrol Tection Extra 15W40.
The fourth filter (2nd rinse phase) is a Supertech. The oil was once again Castrol Tection Extra 15W40.
Here's a couple of pics of some of the crud that came out of my second rinse filter.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v257/bkrell/DSCN4978.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v257/bkrell/DSCN4672.jpg
Here's some before after pics of my engine.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v257/bkrell/3e618d2e.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v257/bkrell/DSCN5123.jpg
The last pics are of the maintenance dose filter. The filter was a Supertech and the oil was Pennzoil synthetic.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v257/bkrell/DSCN5941.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v257/bkrell/DSCN5942.jpg
