To Decarbon or get UOA?
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From: Centerville, Iowa
To Decarbon or get UOA?
Yes, that is my dilemna. My 94 F150 (302) is a little over half way to 3000, and I'm not sure what I want to do. I'd like to know exactly what shape the 302 is in...its at 73,070 miles (mine for almost 3000 miles) and feels great as can be. My problem is....should I ruin/skew the possibility of getting my UOA and run through a decarbonizing agent like MMO or Seafoam...or send in the UOA and let the decarboning wait till later? What's you guy's opinions?
Btw...my old truck is also close to an oil change with its Valvoline...its got another like 800 miles to go, though its not getting as many miles right now. Might end up selling it though O_O. I had a big thread before about getting UOA's out of it on different oils...but I kinda want to get rid of her.
Btw...my old truck is also close to an oil change with its Valvoline...its got another like 800 miles to go, though its not getting as many miles right now. Might end up selling it though O_O. I had a big thread before about getting UOA's out of it on different oils...but I kinda want to get rid of her.
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From: Dededo, Guam
UOA = U_____ Oil Analysis 
. If you are worried about carbon in your motor, skip the MMO and Seaform. I will let you in on a little trick. Use diesel engine oil. Like Shell Rotell T , or Chevron Delo 400. Diesel engine oil has a great additive package in it, and is meant to handle all the carbon produced in a diesel engine. Make sure it has the CI-4 rating on the API seal. The previous two oils I mentioned have this rating. I personally use Crevron Delo 400 in my diesel truck, I remember looking at the bottle and it also has the SJ rating for gas engines.
. If you are worried about carbon in your motor, skip the MMO and Seaform. I will let you in on a little trick. Use diesel engine oil. Like Shell Rotell T , or Chevron Delo 400. Diesel engine oil has a great additive package in it, and is meant to handle all the carbon produced in a diesel engine. Make sure it has the CI-4 rating on the API seal. The previous two oils I mentioned have this rating. I personally use Crevron Delo 400 in my diesel truck, I remember looking at the bottle and it also has the SJ rating for gas engines.
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From: houston
What makes you think you need to de-carbonize? Significant carbon buildup is a thing of the past with todays lean burning engines. As far as the condition of the engine, do a compression check, pressurize the cooling system for leaks, use a mechanical O/P gauge to find out the real pressure and send off your oil as you planned. All this together will tell you all you want about your engine. Good luck.
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Joined: Jul 2002
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From: South Dakota
Originally Posted by holland501
What makes you think you need to de-carbonize? Significant carbon buildup is a thing of the past with todays lean burning engines. As far as the condition of the engine, do a compression check, pressurize the cooling system for leaks, use a mechanical O/P gauge to find out the real pressure and send off your oil as you planned. All this together will tell you all you want about your engine. Good luck.
IMO, the best thing on the market for removing carbon in the upper intake is Seafoam, and the best at removing carbon in the internals (ring pack, seals etc,) is Auto-rx.
I have a picture of a bucket bottom that had oil with only 1000 mi on it (it was the oil change after the final rinse on a 2 phase Auto-rxing) from a 100K mi '02 5.4L motor (and this was on a motor that got 3-4k changes). The oil that I drained only sat in the pictured bucket for a maximum of 15 min before it was dumped into my collection tank. The crud that settled to the bottom of the of the bucket is carbon, and only represents a small amount that was removed from the engine. I still have the oil filter from that change, but have not cut it open yet. I will post the picture of the bucket as soon as I get home from work.
You can find all kinds of info on auto-rx at auto-rx.com and BITOG.
EDIT:
Picture posted to my gallery.
Last edited by superrangerman2002; Nov 15, 2004 at 03:08 PM.
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So why don't you do both? Run the engine and get the oil warmed up, pull the drain plug and drain it into a clean bucket/pan, take your sample mid-stream like I'm sure you usually do for analysis. Put the drain plug back in and put the old oil back in. Run your decarbonizer thru it and then change the oil and filter. Too simple!
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From: Centerville, Iowa
Brilliant idea, Flash. What would I do without you =).
This engine is on a permenant diet of MC 10W30. I don't have alot of concern as for the engine, it ran on Havoline 10W30 for the first 50,000 miles of its life...and the intermittent 20,000 I can't account for. I believe Quaker State.
I don't want to run diesel oil in the engine. I'm aware of its addative's and propensity for cleaning up a mess. However, a dose of MMO (Marvel Mystery Oil) for a little bit ought to do just as well.
Also, the MMO and Seafoam products are quite close in relation. I believe Flash posted the MSDS for Seafoam a while back, and pointed out its likeness to others on the market. Yet...nobody ever complains about Seafoam. Denatured Alcohol, Naptha, and straight oil I believe. We'll see....
Good thing about teh drain part...what I pull out for UOA purposes will be replaced with the MMO.
Flash...I thought you weren't allowed to talk oil anymore..?
This engine is on a permenant diet of MC 10W30. I don't have alot of concern as for the engine, it ran on Havoline 10W30 for the first 50,000 miles of its life...and the intermittent 20,000 I can't account for. I believe Quaker State.
I don't want to run diesel oil in the engine. I'm aware of its addative's and propensity for cleaning up a mess. However, a dose of MMO (Marvel Mystery Oil) for a little bit ought to do just as well.
Also, the MMO and Seafoam products are quite close in relation. I believe Flash posted the MSDS for Seafoam a while back, and pointed out its likeness to others on the market. Yet...nobody ever complains about Seafoam. Denatured Alcohol, Naptha, and straight oil I believe. We'll see....
Good thing about teh drain part...what I pull out for UOA purposes will be replaced with the MMO.
Flash...I thought you weren't allowed to talk oil anymore..?
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From: Southern California
Originally Posted by Saurian
Flash...I thought you weren't allowed to talk oil anymore..?
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From: Centerville, Iowa
Horsepuller, its not that. I love Flash too!
Flash had said inthe past during some PM-based correspondance that his employers were on edge about his oil talk on the boards. Something in regards to accidentally divulging proprietary information? I dunno..I have the PM elsewhere.
I just didn't know..he'd said that there was some date..or 1000 posts...and he's beyond the 1000. Just curious - I don't want to lose him either! =P
Flash had said inthe past during some PM-based correspondance that his employers were on edge about his oil talk on the boards. Something in regards to accidentally divulging proprietary information? I dunno..I have the PM elsewhere.
I just didn't know..he'd said that there was some date..or 1000 posts...and he's beyond the 1000. Just curious - I don't want to lose him either! =P
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From: Southern California
Oops, my bad. 
I thought you meant FTE had clipped his wings. 
Yeah, we all love the big guy too! 
Flash is like the 'Smoking Man' from X-Files. Everyone is dying to know where he gets his information from, but dares not ask for fear of losing the resource, LOL!
I thought you meant FTE had clipped his wings. Yeah, we all love the big guy too! Flash is like the 'Smoking Man' from X-Files. Everyone is dying to know where he gets his information from, but dares not ask for fear of losing the resource, LOL!
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