Engine flush:should I get it? (vehicles, cost, hemi, reliable)
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Deez...will explain. I was in the VW auto parts and engine rebuilding/repair business.
I have seen many engines torn down during my time and narrowed down what caused their demise. I was/am talking about yrs past and not yesterday or today for that matter. There was a time when they first came out with synthetic a person did not mix the two oils together. I can only speak of what I initially saw for my statement. I had ruined my fresh filled solvent tank trying to clean a block that had the synthetic oil. Ruined my day.
Over time I would ask my customers what brand of oil they had been using to narrow down pre-existing situations or possible causes for a engine long life usage and/or breakdown. After a while a pattern starts to show and the results spoke for themselves...thus my statement. Hope that helps.
Different engines and/or makes would/could last a long time if one consistent type of oil was used when the engine was new and broken in. I always specified Valvoline 20/50 for my rebuilt engines and those that followed my advice had a good running engine for many many miles. This of course was yrs past as today the new imports seem to be using a 10/40 etc type of oil...whatever makes it float.
As to the oil differences today...I'm not up on the newer blends on the mkt as I've been retired 15 yrs and things have changed.
Bascailly I see no reason if you have maintained changing your oil. Top engine cleaners such as seafoam have nothing to do with a flusihing of oil passages really.
You do not mix regular engine oil and Synthetic oil together. It is like mixing water and oil together. Had a customer loan his car to a friend. Nice friend was told at a gas station that the engine was a qt low. Nice friend said, "put a qt in for me". Customer ended up needing a rebuilt motor. Stefhen
Not true. They are mixed all the time. I've mixed them many times.
See below for more details.
Quote:
Originally Posted by yo vanilla
...WHAT??? What do you think synthetic blends sold right off the shelf are made up of? If you pick up any bottle of synthetic oil it says right on it "compatible with all synthetic and standard oils". Unless you are talking about a high-performance engine that needs to keep the heat down via synthetic oil, the only thing you need worry about is matching the weight of the oil.
If you change your oil at 3K as recommended then odds are real good that an oil (MOTOR) flush is not needed. If you don't do oil changes as scheduled then it could be helpful IF you don't have a lot of miles on the car.
Car will a lot of miles have gunk and crap in stuck in places and it's best to just leave them there. I can't tell you how many times I've seen someone run one oft those over to counter cleaners then bring their car to me for a rebuild.
If you're going to do them flushes should be done every 15K. If it's been longer than that just leave the crap where it's at.
If you don't change your oil as you should then you definitely should get the engine flushed. A lot of people are stupid and wait 15-20,000 miles to change their oil and then they're ****ed. It does depend on the car, if you flush it too often the gaskets could start to leak. If you use cheap conventional oil and go longer then 3k miles routinely then yes you will need it. Full synthetic oil about 6k and mobil 1 is good to about 8k especially if you use a mobil 1 filter with it.
I saw a customer come in with 20k miles on first oil change with a brand new volvo. I pulled the drain plug and nothing came out, I had to stick a screwdriver inside the oil pan to get the sludge and gunk to come out, and her canister filter was completely dissolved. When you're stupid enough to neglect a brand new car this bad, you deserve the engine to breakdown. Of course she didn't want one when it's clear she needed one.
I work at Michigan's largest oil change chain and have done much of my own personal research and I do feel they really help out as long as you don't do it too often. Some places charge you for it even when they didn't do it, and that is appalling to me. Whenever I perform one I always show the customer the bottle and make sure they see me dump it in. I also make sure they see the pre-service oil level and the oil level after the engine flush. It really does make a dramatic difference and I feel is beneficial ONLY if you go over on the oil change. If you have 100,000 miles and have ALWAYS stuck to your proper interval and the oil looks fantastic, you wont need to flush it out, end of story.
The question I need to ask is how many miles on the engine? How often do you honestly change your oil? If you change you oil at 3K like you should be doing then there really isn't a need for a flush. If you are one of these guys that believes you can run 5000+ miles between changes then there will be gunk and sludge built up in all kinds of areas within the motor.
That being said.. Should you do the flush if your one of the 5000+ miles guys? Well that depends on mileage. If the motor has under 50K then the deposits shouldn't be too bad and flushing them out is not a bad idea. If the motor has more than 50K I would not do the flush. Most of the time it's just better to leave that stuff right where it's at. breaking huge chunks of crap off will surely clog oil passages and could lead to all kinds of internal wear.
If your under 50K and change you oil at 5000 mile then go for it. If you do the smart thing and change it at 3K then it's most likely unnecessary.
You should change your oil and perform all maintenance/fluid changes per the manufacturers schedule using their recommended fluids. These are the people who designed, engineered, built and warranty your car. I work in fleet management and transportation and have NEVER seen a car that followed the manufacturers recommended schedules experience a failure that was attributed to lack of maintenance. The only time to deviate is if you are doing something (severe offroading, racing, etc.) that is not covered under one of the manufacturer maintenance plans.
As for "flushes" they are pretty much a universal no-no. You will not find a single manufacturer or fleet specific maintenance schedule that contains "flushes". They do have their place, but should only be done in cases of major contamination, not as part of routine maintenance. I've seen more failures caused by "flushes" than any other botched maintenance service.
Coolants can last from 2 to 5 years. It depends on the coolant and some on the condition of the cooling system.
Engine oil flushes are bad news. Unless you ended up in East Can't git they'a from heya, and got straight 30W and W means winter not weight. Then you got oil made for a air cooled VW or a lawn mower, and that type of oil contains no detergents.
If then you overheated that oil you would build a rock hard varnish.
Other than that, no one needs a engine oil flush, and I doubt it works.
I have scraped rock hard engine varnish before, and no fluid will remove that.
Don't believe me. Just go wash off the Barbie with a hose and no wire brush. It won't just wash off.
With todays modern oils this flushing is a waste of dollars and time.
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