Flushing engine

[Diamondpilot]

I wouldn't do it either....and if the guy selling the used car had told me he had been doing it I probably wouldn't have bought the car

I dont think your read the post very well. I have a friend who has done this to a car he bought new and it now has over 350,000 miles in 9 years with no engine problems what so ever. I bought another car back in May and it is due for a oil change. I was just curious if what my friend was doing was a common practice or what. From what I gather here on this site is that it was common practice 60 years ago but is not necessary with modern engines running modern oils and filters.

Chris

 

[Wayne County Hose]

Chris,

What your friend is doing maybe why his engine lasted so long. Then again, maybe not. I personally wouldn't take the chance. The old timers also swore that you never change the fluid in an automatic tranny. My Dad held onto that theory against my protests. He changed his mind after spitting a tranny at about 100,000 miles. His mechanic laughed when he told that he never changes fluid.
With the new developments in engines and oils, this flushing is not necessary. IMHO.

 

[Danno1]

.

I used to do that to a 1980 Yamaha XS850 years ago. The inside of the valve cover was clean enough to eat off of. But I bought this vehicle w 600 mi on on it.

I used to do it to a 1979 Chevy 1/2 ton van w a 250ci straight six. When it needed a valve job at 130K the cross hatching in the cylinders was perfect. I bought this vehicle w 49K on it.

However.......... I did it once to a 1983 F150 w a 300ci straight six. It had 120K on it when I did the first/only flush. Always had low oil pressure after that!!!!

.

 

[frank_miller]

You can use Kero, diesel etc to flush an engine. What do you think Amsoil engine flush is, mostly kero...

It is not in there long enouth to do anythin but clean. I have used the above and more...You are fine.

 

[Egon]

Why does the engine have to be flushed when a high detergent oil is used???

 

[frank_miller]

Why does the engine have to be flushed when a high detergent oil is used???

um, engine oils do not have the high ester count or solvant to clean. There #1 jobe is to lube, not clean.

You can take an engine running Redline from day 1 and it will become dirty over time. You need something to clean piston, rings, pan, valves etc

 

[Bird]

Why does the engine have to be flushed when a high detergent oil is used???

Maybe he didn't use a detergent oil, though that would be very unusual in this day and age. When I was 16, working in my dad's Texaco service station, we had one customer who drove a 6 year old Ford that looked new inside and out and underneath. And when I changed the oil in it, he wanted Texaco oil (which was non-detergent; Havoline was Texaco's detergent oil), but he wanted one pint of Marvel Mystery Oil added with each oil change. Seemed to me to be unnecessary way of doing it, but it obviously worked for him and that certainly provided the detergent.

And when I was 17 or 18, I bought a 1937 Plymouth with the intentions of getting a big engine and building myself a hotrod. The old Plymouth didn't run too bad the day I bought it, but the oil on the dipstick looked like dirty 90W gear oil (and may have been). So I flushed it, as I mentioned before, with 4 quarts of oil and one of kerosene. It still ran but didn't have enough compression to hardly pull on your hand if you put your hand on the air intake of the carburetor. Now, since I intended to replace the engine, I didn't care if I blew it up. So I'd wind it wide open in low gear until it just wouldn't go anymore, then would step on the clutch and shift to second without ever letting up at all on the accelerator, then do the same thing when I shifted to high. And that engine just simply did not have enough compression to even self destruct.

 

[Red55]

Chris-
I personally wouldn't do it! But in terms of your friend wasn't he doing it all along with every oil change? Has this car you now own had it's oil changed the same way or is this something new on this engine? On most of the engine flush cans they warn you that if the engine has over 50K on it that it will be necessary to drop the oil pan to clean the sludge off the oil pump pick up screen BTW on Bob the Oil guy they swear by auto RX to clean the engine out- I haven't worked up the courage to try it yet, but then again I have been doing 3k OCI and the engine is working fine. Either way GOOD Luck and let us know how you make out -Ed

 

[Eagleview]

Bird , you old Rev Head .


I just remembered another thing i learnt along the way regarding using solvents to flush engines . The gaseous by-products that get burnt via crankcase vetilation and exit the exhaust can poison the Catalytic Convertor .

 

[RalphVa]

I think you're wasting time and money doing flushes. Just switch to a good oil. By about the 3rd change, it will have cleaned everything out pretty well.

I've switched everything to synthetic, on some of the engines (particularly my Gravely when I had it) it wasn't until the 3rd change that the oil stayed clear for most of the engine change period.

If you want to clean the engine out quicker, use one of the popular additives. Again, you're probably wasting your money, and it'll still take a couple oil changes to see the effects vs. 3 by just starting with a good oil without an additive (not talking about using non-additive oils; don't do that!).

Ralph