Rotella Trials

[evillecutter]

just for giggles i got a new egr and pcv valve - no change - whats weird is that it doesnt really smoke... - im assuming that the rings are burnt but i would think i would get a lot of smoke from this

[nfpgasmask]

just for giggles i got a new egr and pcv valve - no change - whats weird is that it doesnt really smoke... - im assuming that the rings are burnt but i would think i would get a lot of smoke from this

I don't get smoke from mine either, but I get a lot of black soot from the tail pipe. Every time I start my VX is belches out a bunch of soot onto the ground behind the tailpipe.

Bart

[evillecutter]

I don't get smoke from mine either, but I get a lot of black soot from the tail pipe. Every time I start my VX is belches out a bunch of soot onto the ground behind the tailpipe.

Bart

we are in the same boat gasmask - i guess as long as i dont look like uncle buck driving down the road its not that bad - just costs me a lot in oil

[vt_maverick]

+2 on the soot fart.

[Mile High VX]

I get the same. In fact where I back out of the garage I have rocks along the edge of the driveway. The area directly behind where I back out is noticeably darker that the other areas of rock...

[Scott Larson]

Yous guyz really oughtta try the Marvel Mystery Oil soak! When your VX has some down-time, (couple-o-days) remove the spark plugs and pour a couple of ounces of MMO down each cylinder and rotate the crank a few times and then let it soak for a few days. Replace your plugs and fire it up and let 'er smoke! Replace your plugs with a fresh set and see if that clears your plugged oil return holes. It absolutely frees sticky rings so I can't see how it wouldn't help unplug those pesky oil return holes...

[eternal21]

Yous guyz really oughtta try the Marvel Mystery Oil soak! When your VX has some down-time, (couple-o-days) remove the spark plugs and pour a couple of ounces of MMO down each cylinder and rotate the crank a few times and then let it soak for a few days. Replace your plugs and fire it up and let 'er smoke! Replace your plugs with a fresh set and see if that clears your plugged oil return holes. It absolutely frees sticky rings so I can't see how it wouldn't help unplug those pesky oil return holes...

Doing this over the next couple days. Just put the MMO in a few minutes ago, and the truck'll be sitting for 72 hrs. We'll see what happens. Currently going through about a quart every 3K miles.

[JAMAS]

Doing this over the next couple days. Just put the MMO in a few minutes ago, and the truck'll be sitting for 72 hrs. We'll see what happens. Currently going through about a quart every 3K miles.

Keep us posted.

[JHarris1385]

Yeah let me know.

[eternal21]

Yeah let me know.

Keep us posted.

Roger, however, reading this thread http://vehicross.info/forums/showthread.php?p=264550 I doubt it will work. Reason being, the MMO is supposed to help loosen baked/dried up oil in those 2 oil passages/holes in the bottom ringland.



When I pulled my spark plugs, there was no oil on them which means there's no blow by (i.e., no oil is getting past the rings). Given that, I'm doubting the MMO will make it past the rings to the oil holes. The MMO needs to be applied *under* the rings, not on top.

I went the Rotella route, and burned 1 qt during the oil change window. Then I noticed that it's 5W-40. From now on I'm going to run:
a) 50% Rotella 5W-40 w/
b) 50% Mobil/Royal Purple 5W-20

This way I can
a) get a detergent in there on a consistent basis and
b) make sure it shears down to a 30W when it is up to temp. I'm afraid that 40W is making the engine work that much harder.

For oil top offs between oil changes, I'm going to use MMO. Hopefully, with the Rotella/MMO mixture, at some point this thing'll stop burning oil w/out me having to rebuild it w/the newer-style, 4 oil passage pistons.

[eternal21]

Well, this is done. I let it soak until yesterday afternoon, for a total of 108hrs. I also changed the fuel filter and oil w/the new mix outlined in my post above, but with a slight mod:

-2 qts Rotella 5W-40 synthetic
-2 qts Mobil 1 0W-20 synthetic
-1 qt MMO

Initially when cranking the engine manually and looking through the spark plug holes, I could see the level of MMO go up or down as the stroke of the pistons would rise and fall. When I did it yesterday, I didn't see the level rise @ any time, which would mean that it was in fact making it past the rings.

I put the old plugs in and it smoked for about 30 mins and didn't seem like it was going to let up, so I waited until LATE last night to drive it on some open road to clear it out. It was smoking so much, it was like a dense fog that wouldn't lift. Literally like a smoke screen. After about 20 miles, it was all done. I got up this morning and changed the spark plugs before work (got it down to 30 mins now) and it rides appreciably smoother. That could be a combination of the new plugs and oil change, though.

It'll be interesting to see if the maintenance will cause the gas mileage to increase. I'm looking forward to seeing if the oil consumption decreases over the next 3k miles.

[vt_maverick]

FWIW I use Pennzoil Ultra class synthetic because of its detergents. Price is about $25 per 5 qt jug at Wal-Mart, so less than Seafoam but maybe on par with Rotella. They appear to be more than just marketing smoke; from their website and the bottle itself:

Pennzoil Ultra™ 0W-40 is the only motor oil trusted to be factory fill in every Chrysler® SRT8® HEMI® engine, and the new 2013 SRT® Viper®. And it's the exact same oil that Team Penske uses right-out-of-the-bottle in the IZOD IndyCar Series.

[Pennzoil Ultra Euro is] the only motor oil exclusively recommended by Ferrari North America.

[RodL]

Isn't it kind of dangerous putting liquid into cylinders? I don't know how much clearance there is between the top of the piston and the cylinder head, but if you have too much incompressible liquid, something has to give.

I have been running non synthetic Rotella in all my vehicles for over 10 years now. Honda Goldwing, Volvo VNL 770 with the Volvo 465 D12, my 1999 VX and my 2013 Yamaha FJR 1300. The VX might use a quart in 3000 miles.

Rod

[PK]

It is dangerous if you put too much in and crank it over with the spark plugs installed.

Couple of squirts in each cylinder, wait and then first crank over with the spark plugs still out, and you are fine.

PK

[eternal21]

It is dangerous if you put too much in and crank it over with the spark plugs installed.

Couple of squirts in each cylinder, wait and then first crank over with the spark plugs still out, and you are fine.

PK

+1. I stuck shop towels over the holes for a few cranks to get out anything that might still be sitting. Afterwards, I stuck the old plugs back to smoke everything out.