Engine Cleaning Additives - What is good and what is not?

Based on the above, you have absolutely NO reason to be concerned about varnish, sludge, or the Charlene scum around your tub!

--

  - Philip

I tired one of the oil cleaning products. I change the oil around 3k on my '93 Pickup and even at 270k miles at the time, it still came out quite clean. So I figured what could it hurt. I dumped some cleaning stuff in and did what the lable told me too.

What came out of the pan when I pulled the plug shocked me. A thick brown, mud like liquid. Grit, dirt, everything. I was and still am worried that all that crap blocked something in the engine. I changed the oil a few times after that to help flush it out.

The truck is now at 302k without any problems, but I do not want to try that flush again. I figure any dirt still in that engine has not caused a problem so far, so it's staying.

add

They are a useless and potentially dangerous thing to use IMO. They in theory, loosen any deposits allowing them to go into the sump to be pumped into the oil-filter until it blocks and bypasses the grit to the bearings,.....not a good thing,...but I dont think they work anyway.

Jason

I would not worry about it. I have a 97 4 cyl using Pennzoil changed at 3-4000 mile intervals and theres no gunk under my valve cover... BTW I have 190,000 miles on it now. Since your using sythentic oil I would think yours should be as clean as possible anyway.

Doing a lot of reading/research online, I've seen people swear up on down about Redline and BG44. Those seem to be the most popular ones for Toyotas (or at least Camry's). So I picked up a bottle of Redline and gave it a go. I've got a 1994 Camry with 160K miles. That was about a week ago and I'm pretty sure I've noticed some increase in pickup. Haven't tried BG44 yet, you can only buy it online.. at least no place around here sells it. Curiously, I was at my Toyota dealer today inquiring about various maintenance services and one that they have is called "BG Carbon Cleaning Service" for $169.95. Its the same BG that makes the BG44 fuel additive. I know that the carbon cleaning service has nothing at all to do with fuel additives but at least Toyota trusts BG enough to use on their cars.

BTW, has anyone ever heard of or had any experience with Fuelon? Its reddish and comes in one of those clear containers where you measure only a bit at a time to add to each tankful. Supposedly it improves fuel combustion and clears out carbon from the engine. And supposedly it'll make any vehicle pass emissions testing (I guess by reducing NOX?.. a result of hotter combustion?). I'm a big skeptic so I like to hear other peoples input.

-elric-

It is not Toyota that trusts BG, it is the dealer you were at.

--
Ray O
correct the return address punctuation to reply

An oil viscosity enhancer can lead to varnish formation and cracked rings. One reason why wide viscosity oils were not recommended by the car companies after that finding came out. Why not just switch to a heavier oil? 10W-30 instead of 5W-30 for example.

Richard.

The only one I used was BG RF7, an oil viscosity enhancer for my end of life Corolla with an oil light that flickers at idle.

It worked for about a year - not bad IMHO.

look @

BG Products are made in Wichita and are easy to find im my area. I know Eddy's Toyota as well as many auto parts stores have BG Products. I like KREEN by Kano Laboritories, Nashville, Tn. These are the same people who make KROIL.

15 years ago, I was teaching Vocational Agriculture and one of our projects was an old John Deere combine which had been sitting for 10 years. The engine was stuck. We used a mix of diesel and ATF to free up the engine. This took about two weeks of soaking. If we had known about KROIL at the time it would have taken a day. The combine would burn so much oil that you did not have to worry about misquotos. lol I ran this combine this way for two years and then discovered KREEN. We put an ounce in each cylinder and rolled the engine around without the sparkplugs installed. Ate lunch and reinstalled the plugs. We drained out a quart of oil and put a quart of KREEN in the crankcase and ran the engine at a fast idle for 45 minutes. We drained the oil, changed the filter, added a pint of KREEN to the oil and also a pint in the fuel tank. The more we used the combine, the better it ran. Power kept increasing and oil consumption went from 3 quarts a day to 1 quart every 3 days. KREEN disolves carbon and crud in the engine. KREEN cleaned out the sticky piston rings allowing them to seal properly.

BG44 is good, several autoparts places I have seen it in. To get the Injectors really clean and not waste money on snake oils, the Toyota dealer has a chemical that hooks to your fuel rail, they disconnect the gas pump and your car runs about 10 minutes only on this chemical. It costs about $50 or so. It fixed my clogged injector after several bottles of techron did nothing. You can skip the carbon cleaning, I doubt you have any problem with carbon.

I picked up a bottle of Redline and gave it a go. I've got a 1994 Camry with 160K miles. That was about a week ago and I'm pretty sure I've noticed some increase in pickup.

----------------- You need to continue adding a small amount to each tank of gasoline for minimum_10,000 miles_for full effect, roughly one bottle per hundred gallons of fuel, per markings on the side - precise quantity is not essential, but the idea is to permit cleaning continuously for gradual improvement over time. The end result can be quite an improvement. See technical data section, especially Toyota four cylinder graph.