Snake oil mix fixes low compression & misfire code PO301

[Ecomike]

Wow those are some pretty substancial p.s.i. gains for just fooling with liquids. So when are you going to do a stroker?

In my work vocabulary its called a significant increase, not substancial, but for now I won't quible over technical words, LOL.:clap: As Darth Vader once said, "Impressive, most Impressive"!

I am just tickled pink at how impressive the gain was for such a short time, less than 3 hours after adding the snake oil mix. No stroker plans, this was on my sons 3.0 Ford Taurus, 198,000 miles, and it had started throwing the misfire code right after the radiator hose busted doing >60 mph on the freeway. The car died immediately from the coolant loss. We thought it might be a headgasket going out, but so far the head gasket seems to be OK.

What's the daily usage pattern on this vehicle? If it is all short trips for cigarettes and milk then the engine is not spending a lot of time in closed loop mode and will likely have a lot of carbon buildup. If it is used for commutes of 20 mins or more, then it likely suffers from scarring. They are different problems and require different solutions, the former needs a good cleaner like Auto-RX (top-end cleaner and carb cleaner helps some too), while the latter needs an engine treatment like Restore to help rebuild cylinder walls. It sounds like you are seeing loosened deposits so I'm guessing the former more than the latter, but it could be a combination of the two.

Right now the daily usage is sitting in the driveway running snake oil repair tests, LOL. But seriously it got 20,000 miles of heavy use the last 12 months. A good mix of long highway drives, and city commutes. It gets to Closed loop in under 1 minute from a cold start up according to my scanner. The old plugs which were worn out from .042 to .055 had very little carbon on them, in fact they looked pretty good, just worn. The new plugs were totally carbon free after the first 3 hours (no snake oil just new plugs and wires), before doing the snake oil thing.

Right now It could be any one or combination of three things that did the trick, (1) coolant head gasket sealer, (2) MMO plus Restore plus fresh oil cleaning the valves and piston rings and plating out in any low areas or scratches to reseal the cylinder and restore compression, and or the 2 cans of carburator cleaner I ran through the intake manifold.

All I know, is I got a lot more than I expected for 3 hours out of my snake oil mix.:clap::clap::clap:

 

[Ecomike]

UPdate:
The car sat for 2 days, then I ran the engine for 60 seconds last night to get some oil flowing and then I re-checked the compression on cyl #1 with the engine still cold, at apx 85 F, and got 105 psi on cyl #1. Did not get the chance to retest it hot or to retest the others yet. I did drive it for a good hour last night after the compression test, to try and empty the last of the prior batch of fuel that I had concerns about. I added a can of seafoam to the last 1/4 tank of gas before I drove it last night. Then I filled it up half way with Chevron Techron 87 Octane gas after the gauge read nearly empty, and then drove it some more.

The only time it threw a code, still the same Cyl #1 misfire code was at idle in drive at a light for more than 30 seconds. It threw a pending code once but only on the scanner and then cleared the pending code itself on the scanner 5 minutes later with out ever throwing the mil code or setting off the service engine soon light.

OH, and for some more news, when I ran the last compression test I got another look at spark plug #1, this time all the carbon on the white insulator was gone, and the spark plug looked clean and normal again. The carbon build up had indeed come from the carburator cleaner aerosol injection I did which ran the engine rich. Still no signs of spark plug fouling on cyl #1 from leaking coolant or oil, and no more carbon fouling on the plug so the cylinder is firing and working, its just a little weak.

The engine runs reasonably well based on old tech engine standards, but the OBD-II computer is a picky bosterd and when it detects the cylinder imbalance to have reach a critical point it shuts off the fuel injector which makes the engine run rough. This only happens now at idle in drive at extended stops. Using the scanner to clear the code and clear the CEL restores the engines performance and eliminates the real rough idle for now. Of course I am hoping that cylinder #1 will continue repairing itself, increasing its compression. I am also considering adding a viscosity increasing additive next as it has 10W30 in it, which might be a little thin for an engine with 198,000 miles on it. I have used Lucas on old tired engines in the past with great success.

 

[ehall]

Sounds good so far. I would only start with half quart of Lucas--some engines really dislike the extra work and will let you know it.

 

[Ecomike]

Update:

Used about 1 quart of oil since last post, about 4,000 miles ago. Planning to change oil soon.

It went on a long apx. 800 miles highway run about 4 weeks ago with no problems. The next 3 weeks in city traffic and at stop lights in gear, drive, it never threw a code again. This week it went back to throwing the same old code at stop lights if left in drive for an extended period. No other changes or problems so far. It is past due for an oil change now.

 

[78/xj88]

Sea Foam WOW what a great product. I was sceptical. Now I'm wondering why i waited. Good info on this thread. You have helped me out and now i THANK YOU

 

[Ecomike]

My son has been driving the hell out of this thing for 6 months now with just one oil change 8 weeks ago.

More good news, we cleared the last CEL missfire #1 code, drove it on the freeway, etc., retrained the computer, long enough for the OBD-II to reset all the sensors, and took it in for the annual Gestopo emissions sticker / tests.

Surprise, IT PASSED!!!!!! :clap::clap: Even I was impressed!

arty:

SNAKE OIL ROCKS!!!!!!

 

[jgrotter]

I want to start out by saying "Thank You!" for this thread. I may start my own post to follow up on this and will put "Snake Oil" in the subject.

Around Thanksgiving my 97 Jeep Cherokee started dripping puddles of oil - it had a light oil leak from around most of the Oil Pan for some time, and would put little drops of oil wherever I parked: but it started showing me cigarette-pack size puddles whenever I started/ran my Jeep. Also, the engine was idling kind of rough (to which I attributed plugs or wires). So I jumped into changing gaskets/plugs/wires/filters - I am in no way a mechanic.

I found that the worst leak was coming from the Oil Filter Housing Unit (?) and so removed that (more difficult than it seems due to a tight fit) and replaced the largest rubber O-ring within, and then replaced the Oil Pan Gasket (another "more difficult" than I first thought - due to having to drop the front axle in order to pull the Oil Pan out). I cleaned it all up, removed all the old gasket (using a Dremel and a steel brush tip, and a small metal GP brush and lots of elbow grease). I occasionally reached up into the exposed guts to blot a drop of oil before it dripped on my face. I had already changed the plugs and plug wires, along with the air filter & oil filter.

The job took me terribly long (for this type of thing) - about 2 days. When I was finished (and oil wasn't pouring out of some hole that I was still holding the part to) I was thrilled. (Mechanical Noob.)

Motor started - engine ran - things were good. Idle was still a little rough, though.

A day later, the Check Engine light lit up (one week ago, today). I thought about buying a little $200 diagnostic unit, but decided to take it to the Jeep Dealership nearby to have it checked. They charged me $100 and found codes P0300 and P0304 (and another about fuel sending voltage) which are "Misfires" (I think) on cylinders 3 and 4. They also did a Compression test and found low compression on cylinders 3 and 4 (90psi on 3, 100psi on 4 - all others from 170psi - 180psi is what they documented). They said they'd have to tear it down to find the cause "but at 200k miles would recommend doing a reman long block" - only about $5K - $6K.

Obviously, even being the Mechanical Noob that I am, at $5K I'm thinking - tear down engine: where's my Haynes manual.

Possibly needless to say, but I will anyway - after searching for an hour on the internet I found this site and this post. I bought my own Innova OBD2 & 1 Tool (for $200 - in retrospect I should have done that first), and $40 worth of "Snake Oil" (minus the Fiber pellets - I couldn't find those). I'm going to see if this resolves the problem, or if I have to grab the Haynes manual and start working from the top down. Whether or not this works, though, thank you, Ecomike.

 

[Ecomike]

My how time flys, my son is actually still driving his. Been nearly 12 months now. We are planning to finally pull the heads over the holidays.

 

[Ecomike]

Well the last 4 weeks of December 2008, the rough idle came back, worse than before, and the CEL misfire Cyl 1 came back and stayed. So we pulled the heads over the Christmas holidays. Machine shop found hairline cracks in both heads. So we replaced the heads. Found some pitted spots here and there in the cylinder walls of the #3 cylinder near the top, suspect there may have been more lower down in other cylinders which might explain why the Restore helped out. Head gasket was OK. The rockers and tappets looked brand new, so someone had done a prior engine job before he bought the beast.

The worst head crack was at the valve seat area. The oil seal and valve guide on Cyl #1 finally gave out and fouled the #1 spark plug and cylinder. In summary, he got 20,000 miles out of it before we finally changed the heads.

 

[winterbeater]

They also did a Compression test and found low compression on cylinders 3 and 4 (90psi on 3, 100psi on 4 - all others from 170psi - 180psi is what they documented). /quote]

Don't the 4.0 heads crack between 3 & 4? I hope you're monitoring oil and coolant.

 

[Ecomike]

One final update to this story. After replacing the heads last week, and getting the most unpleasant and persistent # 5 cyl missfire code, trying a different fuel injector, checking for spark, checking compression (while holding my breath!)....then finally In one last desperate cheap attempt I replaced the spark plug. Bingo! No more more worries. I was just about to pull the heads, or at least dig into the rockers and lifters again.

The old Spark plug looked great, it was a Motorcraft single platinum tip, so were the rest as well as the new one. Must be something internally out of whack with the bad plug.

Long story short, it's a 200,000 miles and back on the road.

 

[TiRod]

I've got a 90 Caravan 2.5 - compression ran like 20 - 85 - 35 - 35. The oldest boy was reallly chugging to get to college, and once parked, it took a lot of throttle to even move. Dumped a can of Restore in it, fired it up, and after 5 mins of idle, no chugging.

It's sat awhile - he bought his own Cherokee - now I need to get rid of it. I'll run a compression check after I charge the battery and report the figures. I do know it sure runs better than it did - enough I want to use it in my Renix with 190k.

Since I Glass Sealed the head gasket and dropped the pellets in, I have no leaks - even with 1/3 of one core missing from a deer collision (3 core rad.) Just been too busy building a chimney to replace the grille header. "Snake oils" have their place, and are a legitimate, cost effective repair.

 

[4wheelnfun]

I believe in Snake Oil.
My '96 sport had 224000 miles when I got it from a friend this past summer.
It had a diesel rattle sound (possibly piston slap) that was very loud after a hot restart.
I did a engine flush with a quart of ATF for a couple of miles.
Then I changed the oil w/ high mileage 10w30 Casteroil and added a 6 clylinder can of Restore.
The diesel rattle was reduced about 20%.
About 3000 miles later, I changed the oil with Casteroil Syntec blend 5W30 and added an 8 cylinder can of Restore.
The diesel rattle is 95% gone.
For $12 extra dollars an oil change, I'll put Restore in my engine to get rid of that ugly diesel rattle sound.

 

[urbexx]

Wow...another thanks for this thread

I started researching Restore today, as I've seen enough anecdotal reports of it working to really wonder about the stuff, but none of the reports I've seen before have had this level of before/after testing. Usually just a "engine runs like crap...I added a can of Restore...runs better now..I'm sold!".

I've been dealing with a rough idle on my '91 4.0L for a while now, but it hasn't been bad enough that I've felt like dealing with the Arizona heat to try to figure it out, lol. I'm planning on doing a compression check shortly..maybe even today if the sun doesn't heat things up too badly in the next couple of hours, and get an idea of what I'm dealing with.

One of the big things I'm wondering about though...if I'm dealing with minor ring or valve guide/seal wear, will adding Restore affect the block/head in any way when I pull it later this year for a stroker build? I can't imagine it doing so, and figured a 0.030 over bore would clean the stuff out, but figured I'd ask anyways.

 

[winterbeater]

If you are going to the work of building a stroker, with an overbore and valve job, you will have removed all the shedded snakeskin. Good luck on the tool-box-in-a-can plan. I just can't get out of my head what my daddy told me many moons ago: "If it's too good to be true, it ain't."

 

[urbexx]

If you are going to the work of building a stroker, with an overbore and valve job, you will have removed all the shedded snakeskin. Good luck on the tool-box-in-a-can plan. I just can't get out of my head what my daddy told me many moons ago: "If it's too good to be true, it ain't."

I've had decent results with some other box-in-a-can repairs, many that were supposed to be short term band-aid fixes that ended up holding for years...the old powdered radiator repair stuff comes to mind. Or like one of my emergency dental fillings (the pasty stuff that comes in expedition level first aid kits) that's still going strong almost two years later

If I wasn't planning on engine replacement soon, I wouldn't even be thinking about this canned stuff. At this point it's more of a curiosity than anything else.

 

[Ecomike]

Not a problem. When we did the head job a year later I noticed an area that I proceeded to try and clean on the cylinder wall with Teflon dish safe scotch brite, and the Restore came off with vigorous dry brushing with the scotch brite to reveal the rust pitted area in the upper cylinder wall it had previously filed in and sealed.

Then I wished I had not cleaned and scrubbed it, LOL.

Did the head job 5 months ago. No problems since.

 

[urbexx]

LOL, good to know, Ecomike. Thanks

 

[winterbeater]

I am getting closer to believing. Why can't life have more absolute truths? I guess that the exception proves the rule. Maybe I'll try coolant sealer on my 0331 head.

 

[TiRod]

I've tried sodium silicate - Glass Seal - and have 5K on the results. I was suffering a slight antifreeze leak into the oil, and had used Water Wetter to boost the coolant (it works, too, about 10* improvement across the board.) Being the Water Wetter is also a great mixer, the antifreeze blended into the motor oil. My first significant symptom was collapsed lifters from the sludge clogging up the tiny passages. It took three oil changes at about 500 miles each to wake me up.

Followed the directions on the label, leak sealed. Lifters do not rattle now. With 195K, I don't expect all to be in great shape internally, but the additional time to save up money for parts is nice. No sense blowing it early when the economic justification can not only be delayed, but the results improved on - like gathering parts for a stroker.

I've "cured" a antifreeze leak with a Zerex type concentrate one year in my '66 Mustang. When I finally got around to changing the clutch, all I found of the rear freeze plug under the flywheel on the 200 six was a green web of plastic clutching fragments of rust. We all have been using snake oils for decades. They are nothing new.