I took my car in for a 95k “tune up” consisting of the following:

1) Terraclean engine treatment (see YouTube link for how this works/testing) 2) New Denso Iridium plugs
3) Oil catch can
4) Tranny drain and fill (done every 50k)
5) Diff drain and fill (done every 50k)
6) New front sway bar links (OEM; the aftermarket ones sucked!)

For almost its entire life, my car has used 1 qt of oil every 2500 miles. Last time I was at the shop I had a compression check done and a couple of plugs pulled and the compression was perfect across the cylinders but you could see on the plugs a light coating of gray soot near the electrode that suggested some oil was being used.

This oil consumption seemed to coincide with when I put on the Motordyne spacer, headers, exhaust, etc. I always wondered if more air getting sucked into the engine etc. due to these mods could have been a cause of increased blowby.

The Terraclean was offered at the dealership and it does not work like Seafoam which basically breaks everything up and then sends it past the O2 sensors and cats--this made me nervous as those parts are expensive. The Terraclean ionizes gas into very small negatively charged molecules that interact to break up positively charged carbon buildup in the cylinders, valves, O2 sensors and cats. When it hits the carbon, it vaporizes it and sends it out the exhaust, so there is no chance of “gooping” up key components.

So, the results:

Unfortunately, since I did all of these at the same time, it is hard to tell whether it was the Terraclean or plugs or both that lead to the change in the car. I replaced plugs 50k ago and can tell you that it did not make as much of a difference as what I noticed this time.

Immediately you could tell that the car idled WAY more smoothly and felt more smooth in general during driving. Hard to tell about power, but, I can definitely say it does not feel slower, and I would venture to guess that I probably gained back some lost performance. As typical, the new tranny fluid makes the shifter “snick” into place, but it tends to actually be a little less smooth for awhile until the fluid ages a bit. Of course, no difference noticed in the diff, but just makes me feel good to replace it.

At the end of the day, the car feels like new and I couldn’t be happier today!

I am going to check the oil catch can every 500 miles to see what collects. I will feel very accomplished if this works.

 

From what you described the service you had done was worth what ever it cost you, I guessing not at the dealership. If you're changing your oil/filter every 3K miles how do you know you're using a quart of oil every 25K miles? I hope you're not one of those members that thinks because you use Amsoil you can drive 25K miles between oil changes.... New fluids should make your trans work smoother especially if you're using synthetics and they don't need to be "broken in."
Gary

 

how much did u pay?

 

Same thing as Seafoam it sounds like..

 

Curious about the 25k oil change to.

I'm about to hit 100k and going to do a tranny and differential change to.

You have pics of your oil catch can setup?

 

Woops.

Sorry about that. I use a quart every 2500 miles!

The first thing I do when I buy a car is find the top tech. at the dealership and then pay him well to work on the side. So, yes, I got the work done at the dealership, but by their GTR mechanic. Cost me 200$ total. Not bad. Mechanics are hurting really bad these days and my friend was able to do all of this in under 2 hours, so, I am paying him an honest $100/hour, which is well worth it for me! I think the going rate for a Terraclean is about 119$ and you can do the plugs on your own, as I did at 50k (but, a tech can do it in like 25% of the time).

What I can say is that I think I underestimated how much performance I got back after the service. The car feels like brand new. I honestly feel a similar increase/recovery of performance as I did when I added headers and an exhaust. I must have been losing a lot to the blow by oil on my plugs etc. The engine revs so much faster and I find myself breaking traction in 2nd at times when there is no chance I would have previously.

I was much more comfortable with the Terraclean vs Seafoam as the Terraclean takes care of the cats, O2 sensors in addition to the engine and does so by vaporizing the carbon build up into a gas. And, in the YouTube videos they show before and after dynos and O2 sensor readings etc. on two different cars performed by an independent garage with clear gains.

I can take some pics of the catch can. The link to what I did is: http://my350z.com/forum/engine-drive...n-diy-pix.html


Anyways, for those of you near 100k, I strongly recommend an engine cleaning and plug change, as it has revived my car.

 

Thanks for the information about the catch can, I just ordered one in chrome with chrome accesories. I have a custom polished power steering can that's smaller than OE so install should be even easier. Once I get my polished radiator over flow tank I'll be finished with that corner of my engine compartment. Thank You....
Gary

 

Yeah, I just can't wait to see if this solves my oil useage problem and keeps my plugs clean.

I will check in 500 miles to see what's in there.

 

I installed my first catch can with less than 10K miles on my coupe. Most were way to big so I ended up with the HD glass can. Now I can have one that looks good and works/fits too....
Gary

 

What amount of oil have you seen in the can? How often do you check it?