THE PROGRESS

8/10/03-121,893: Initial photos, compression check, oil pressure, and idle speed check.

8/13/03-121,904: Changed oil and filter. Added AutoRx. Posted more pics.

8/25/03-122,036: Mileage update. (I need to start driving more!)

9/01/03-122,126: Mileage update. After the last update I added AutoRx to my power steering system to see if it would stop a leak there. It's too early to tell if the leak is slowing but AutoRx did make my steering noticeably "smoother".

9/10/03-122,242: Finally putting some miles on. The power steering leak seems to have slowed. It's still a little too early to tell though so there will be another update on that.

9/18/03-122,374: Previous update was said to be at 122,342 miles. That was incorrect and has been changed. AutoRx has been in my power steering system for ~300 miles and the leak has stopped completely. Before I added ARX I would have to add about 8 ounces* of P/S fluid every 100-150 miles. After adding ARX, it required about 2 ounces* in the first 100 miles and hasn't required a drop since. (*amount required to bring fluid up to the "full" level when warm)

10/01/03-122,528: The power steering is still leak-free. The fluid has darkened considerably since the last update so it will be changed in the near future. I will see if the leak stays gone then. As for the engine oil, it isn't particularly dark. At least, not as dark as I would have expected after 600+ miles. I should point out though, even with all the junk I found in the filter before I started the ARX treatment the oil was not getting particularly dark then either.

10/06/03-122,643: Pulled the valve cover and took some pics. This marks ~740 miles that ARX has been in the oil and should be indicative of the results that you would get by running the old 750 mile clean cycle that was previously recommended on the Auto-Rx site. According to the new instructions this cleaning cycle is only half complete and should be followed by a rinse cycle, another cleaning cycle, and 1 last rinse cycle. Even so, the results at this point are not encouraging. Hopefully this will change.

10/13/03-122,891: This marks almost 1000 miles into the test. I have been going out of my way to put miles on the car so the 1500 mile mark should be coming up soon (definitely by the 1st) One benefit of this type of driving is that it is all hwy miles, at least 40/50 miles at a time.

10/19/03-123,114: The only new thing to report is that my engine has developed a misfire since the last update. If you are cruising, let off the throttle for a moment and then accelerate it "bucks" for a couple of seconds on acceleration. Nothing major but I thought I should mention it.

10/25/03-123,488: The first 1500 mile cleaning cycle has been completed and the photos have been placed in the After Pics section. Up next is the 2000 mile rinse phase with clean oil. The very first signs of cleaning have appeared and can be reviewed in the before/after comparison shots. The biggest improvements can bee seen on vertical surfaces such as the cam bearing caps. I am surprised to say the least.

11/11/03-124,602: The filter pics of the first 1500 mile cleaning cycle are up. Sorry I took so long to open the filter and snap those pics. In other news, the mileage to the left over there is correct. I am hurrying this test along and I have continued driving the car for no other reason than to get closer to the end of this test. I have made more trips between here (near New Orleans) and Baton Rouge than I can count. I'm not sure if that means I can't count or it was a lot of trips but either way you get the idea. Also, and this is important, there were a few tiny little metal flakes in my filter. Nothing to start crying over and I am in no way saying ARX is the cause but I feel it is worth mentioning in the spirit of this test. The metal was way too small to photograph and looked like very tiny flakes of glitter. I suppose if you gathered it all up and put it together it would have been equal to the little ball in the tip of a ball point pen. Medium point Bic to be exact . Seriously, that's the best example I can give. And just so we are clear, I cannot say ARX had anything to do with this. I didn't inspect the pre-ARX filter that closely and for all I know there was an equal amount of metal or more in it. I can say that the debris in the filter had a definite"gritty" feel to it that wasn't exactly like the normal grittiness usually associated with ARX's wax crystals. I would guess that it is mostly bits of crud from my engine that wasn't "liquefied" the way ARX is supposed to do. I have retained this "debris" and intend to see if it is abrasive by rubbing it on any polished metals I can find. Not very scientific, but it should demonstrate whether or not the "stuff" being released into the oil is harmful.

11/27/03-125,302: The 2000 mile rinse cycle is almost done! I will have the next round of pics up on Saturday, 11/29.

12/01/03-125,324: I lied, so sue me. I got the pics up today along with the compression test readings. No oil filter pics but I am going to go out on a limb and guess that there will probably be debris in it. Seriously though, I will post the oil filter pics as soon as I get a chance to change the oil. Might be a while.

8/14/04-126,804: The second cleaning cycle is complete and the latest photos are up. During this cycle I noticed that the oil got really dark for the first time. I also see that there is a considerable improvement in compression and interestingly, the spread between one of the cylinders is a bit higher than before. Without opening the engine for a look I can only assume that whatever crud was causing the rings to stick is definitely coming loose now. Except for cylinder #3 the engine is actually within it's specified compression range. As for #3 I am optimistic that it will improve during the upcoming final rinse cycle. The engine also does feel a bit stronger now.

2/7/05: The final results will be posted no later than this weekend. I haven't checked the compression or pulled the valve cover yet so at this point all I can really say is that the rinse oil was extremely black after ~2000 miles of use.

2/19/05:-129,136: This update had to be delayed a week due to bad weather. It was too cloudy to take pics last weekend.

As I mentioned during the last update (2/7/05) the oil was very dark after this rinse period. This is important to note because I have noticed that many people seem to be frustrated when they add ARX to their engine and 1500 miles later the oil still looks clean. My personal results indicate that the first cleaning phase and rinse phase won't produce oil that appears to be dirty. It wasn't until the second cleaning phase that the oil could be considered "dark" and after this rinse phase it was downright black.

The compression readings have made me very happy. I will point out here that you should in no way expect ARX or any other product to produce similar results unless you suspect the low compression is caused by a stuck ring pack or maybe even sticking valves. The former was exactly what I thought at the beginning of this test and it was the reason I wanted to try ARX.

After over 7000 miles of cleaning I can say with certainty that this engine idles smoother and quieter and that it does indeed have more power than before. By "quieter" I mean that most of the ticking and clicking noises that this engine used to make are now gone. To put it simply, I'm happy.

The only negative thing I can say is that ARX seems to have cleaned some sludge from around the valve seals and they have yet to reseal themselves. The result is a very slight amount of oil burning when you first start the car in the morning or after being parked for several hours. In my opinion the benefits very much outweigh this issue but I felt it was important enough to note.

I never really measured how much oil my engine was consuming but I would estimate that it currently uses about 1 quart in 1400-1700 miles. This is well within normal limits for this engine. Even more so when you consider the mileage.

Fuel consumption was also not measured before the test but I would guess that there has neither been an increase or decrease.

There will be plenty of you that think that this was just an advertisement for ARX and that the test just might be fake. The fact is that Frank (the ARX inventor) hasn't spoken to me since the test started and we were on such poor terms that he wouldn't even sell ARX to me. I had to purchase it from a private individual on the BITOG forums. We are not friends and we are not business partners. What you see with this test is as honest as it gets.

If you have any questions feel free to email me at the address listed at the top of this page.