Engine flush - good or bad ?

[aha]

Someone please tell me...the pros and cons, I heard both and I'm confused.


=dRe=

[zx3focusguy]

No, bad. It supposedly brekas up all deposits etc. Whare do these deposits go? Into your oil pump pick up and in your oil filter. Plus I have seen some of it turn oil to sludge. Not good.


Scott

[BUR_ZX3]

If you're using Synthetic oil.... I don't see a need for this.

[dan-d]

Well it's kinda one of those catch 22 things. If your using a good quality oil (especially synthetics) and have regular oil change intervals there shouldn't be any sludge build up to clean, so running an engine flush compound would probably yield you nothing good or bad. On the other side of the coin is running your oil for extremely long periods (especially dino oil), this will cause a build up of sludge. If the sludge build up is slight then a flush would most likely clean it all out. But if the sludge is heavy it will most likely break the sludge loose, and this sludge will not flow. It will cause all kinds of neat little problems. For one it will plug up the oil pick-up strainer, then any of the smaller particles that may somehow get by the strainer will collect in small oil passages and eventually plug off oil flow. The best way to tell what kind of build up you have if any is to simply remove your valve cover and check for build up on the inside of the head, what you find there is a good indicator of what's in the rest of the engine....good luck.

[aha]

That's some good advise, dan-d. I f' up my old Civic because I flushed the engine. I did follow the instructions, but a week after I noticed the coolant had some oil inside. Engine stalled numerous times.
But, like zx3focusguy said I suspected the flush cleaned up necessary build up and the rest...well I'm not a mechanic so I won't try to continue on this
But, my friend just flushed his civic (113K) and he even used air compressor at end. He saw all kind of sludge coming out and he noticed smoother engine, etc. I guess I will check with him in a month or two

=dRe=

[TXFO]

mopar has a solution that is similar to ford's BG44. get some new sparkplugs before you do it though. you spray the stuff in and let that engine sit. when you fire it up again it will smoke and smoke and smoke. then all of a sudden it stops smoking. Replace the spark plugs and its good to go, clean as a whistle too. boroscope says A-ok.

[dan-d]

mopar has a solution that is similar to ford's BG44. get some new sparkplugs before you do it though. you spray the stuff in and let that engine sit. when you fire it up again it will smoke and smoke and smoke. then all of a sudden it stops smoking. Replace the spark plugs and its good to go, clean as a whistle too. boroscope says A-ok.

I don't think we're on the same page. I beleive the author is talking about flushing out the block and lubrication system and not the fuel system and combustion chamber. Completely different ball game.

[dan-d]

That's some good advise, dan-d. I f' up my old Civic because I flushed the engine. I did follow the instructions, but a week after I noticed the coolant had some oil inside. Engine stalled numerous times.
But, like zx3focusguy said I suspected the flush cleaned up necessary build up and the rest...well I'm not a mechanic so I won't try to continue on this
But, my friend just flushed his civic (113K) and he even used air compressor at end. He saw all kind of sludge coming out and he noticed smoother engine, etc. I guess I will check with him in a month or two

=dRe=

Thanks!! Just to let you know I do have first hand experience with this. I bought a Mercury Cougar many years ago and when I pulled off a valve cover I noticed quite a buildup of sludge. I put in some engine flush and everything seemed to be working fine, about a week or so later I could the lifters starting to clatter. As I continued to drive the car the clattering got worse, I pulled the valve cover off again and I could see where a lot of the sludge had broken loose, as a matter of fact it had some of the drain holes in the head pretty much stopped up so the head was full of oil and I could tell that the rockers weren't getting any oil. I tore down the engine and the sludge just about completely had the oil pump pick-up tube screen blocked. Engine rebuild time.

[Jibberish18]

AUTO-RX

You'll find out LOTS of info on different flushes from different companies on www.bobistheoilguy.com

I'm currently using AUTO-RX for my engine, power steering and soon my trans.

If you're using Synthetic oil.... I don't see a need for this.

No expert here but from what I hear others say, their is only so much synthetic oil will do.

[BLUE_02_ZX3]

snyth oil is for preventing a problem IF its ran from day one then you should have no probs and shouldnt need flush. When i got my car it had 40K on it and the lifters were doing a little tap dance so every other oilchange for 2 times i used gunk motor flush and ALLWAYS MOBIL ONE FULLY SYNTHETIC MOTOR OIL IN THE 5-W30 VARIETY. Its light enough to travel well and its mobil one so its the best and its funlly synthetic so its got more vicosity than rosanne has fat grams!!

from beginning to end I CANNOT EMPHASISE ENOUGH TO USE THAT OIL!!! your engine will give you what you give it. you give it some crappy ass just picked up from the shelf of the dollor store poop and your engine aint gonna live to fight rush hour!!

and dont forget the weight of a motor oil is important in our engines (all motors nowadays) out motors have holes that critical engine parts rely on oil to flow through them the size of the tip of a pin, bear that in mind

i have no idea where that came from
IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN*

*i cannot promise you that it will never happen again

[zx3focusguy]

mopar has a solution that is similar to ford's BG44. get some new sparkplugs before you do it though. you spray the stuff in and let that engine sit. when you fire it up again it will smoke and smoke and smoke. then all of a sudden it stops smoking. Replace the spark plugs and its good to go, clean as a whistle too. boroscope says A-ok.

This is a very GOOD method IMO. We (Gm dealer) use this quite often especially on northstars with oil consumption problems. But like said, I don't think this is the type of flush he's wanting. Any product made by BG is top notch. I use there complete line of addatives/flushes every day.

Scott

[PeteCO]

I freed a stuck lifter once by draining half the oil, adding some Diesel fuel, running it for abour 20 minutes, and then doing an oil change. The previously golden oil was now black.

If your fuel system can handle it, ethanol-rich gasolines will rid your combustion chamber of carbon deposits. I run E85 in my Tahoe with no problems, but that'a little risky since it's 85% ethanol.

[BLUE_02_ZX3]

i knew a mechanic who did that. run half oil half diesel then draining, running it again, then draining it , then refilling it with good oil.