3800 series clean out

[ROLEXrifleman]

This is a take off from my 1st post. I added a QT of Motor Medic flush to what was already in my car (1998 Firebird 3.8l) and this is what we got out after 7 minutes of idling.





last oil change I picked up a magnetic plug. I thought it was worthless, but it works!



the entire tip was coating in a metallic sludge that felt gritty and pasty. It was metal of some kind as it stayed stuck to the magnet but came right off with a rag.





another thing I noticed is the fact I'm wasting money on oil filters that I don't utilize to the fullest. M1 replaced at less than 5K miles!






Out with the old, in with the new.



QS filter with Super S 5W-30 blend for $8.99.
I know it's not the 10W-30called for, but we are out of winter here now and don't think we will get below zero anytime soon.


Now here's the kicker. After adding the Motor Flush... Here's what drained out.





And finally.... where do I get a tool to cut open filters! I'd love to post more pics for you guys.

Any feedback or questions would be appreciated. Thanks guys!

 

[ThirdeYe]

I think you have your methods of choice between 10W-30 and 5W-30 a bit backwards. The 10W-30 would be preferable for warmer temps and the 5W-30 for the cooler temps... but a 5W-30 should be fine in these year round. I still go by what the owners manual says, however, and I tend to use a 10W-30 year round since ours is stored in the winter. Btw, for cutting open filters, I use a Dremel with a cutting wheel.

 

[ROLEXrifleman]

I thought 5w-30 was for Colder temps like we get here in the Midwest. The only reason I got the 5w-30 was that Menards was out of 10w-30

Sorry if I worded it confusingly. 5W is for the cold weather we just got done with! lol

 

[ThirdeYe]

Originally Posted By: ROLEXrifleman
I thought 5w-30 was for Colder temps like we get here in the Midwest. The only reason I got the 5w-30 was that Menards was out of 10w-30

Sorry if I worded it confusingly. 5W is for the cold weather we just got done with! lol


Hey, no worries. I took it as you preferred 5W-30 since it was no longer below freezing... but it would be preferable in the freezing temps and the 10W-30 would be preferable for above freezing.

Enjoy the Bird! They're not the easiest cars to drive, but they sure look and sound great.

 

[bubbatime]

After adding a quart of "goo", you only drained 3.25 quarts from the engine? Meaning you only had 2.25 quarts of oil in the engine? No wonder you have metal sludge on your magnetic drain plug.

You need to check your engine oil more often. Running 2-3 quarts low is not very good for your engine.

Your engine oil looks filthy. Run 3K mile changes for a while with Rotella 10W30 to flush that stuff out. Don't worry about buying a high dollar filter on 3K mile changes. Even the Fram orange can will be fine.

 

[InvalidUserID]

I have that same engine and it's easy on oil so you can really run anything in it and it won't complain. Just to clean things out though, might want to keep your OCIs low for now.

Once you get it nice and cleaned up, you can go back to the M1 filter and run it through two oil changes, if you'd like.

 

[901Memphis]

Last time I saw someone do a uoa right after draining a similar flush and the iron wear was insane, this war from a user who was doing regular uoas, so you could tell it was from the flush, since everything was normal before the flush. iirc every subsequent uoa showed the wear metals coming back down, but the increased metal wearing damage certainly reduced his engine life somewhat, it had to come from somewhere.

 

[CharBaby]

Greetings ROLEX!

If this is any consolation to you, don't get too hung up on the 5W30-10W30 thing! I use 5W30 in everything listed in my signature.

Back in '98 when your owners manual(OM) was written, we were in the SJ/GF-2, to SL/GF-3 oils. So, 10W30's may have had an edge in sheer stability(over the oil change interval-OCI) compared to their 5W30 counterparts. This is different today with the SN/GF-5 oils.

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted By: 901Memphis
Last time I saw someone do a uoa right after draining a similar flush and the iron wear was insane, this war from a user who was doing regular uoas, so you could tell it was from the flush, since everything was normal before the flush. iirc every subsequent uoa showed the wear metals coming back down, but the increased metal wearing damage certainly reduced his engine life somewhat, it had to come from somewhere.


Wow that gets me thinking. Did the flush actually accelerate wear while the engine was running, or were the wear metals trapped in sludge [or dirt] and put back into suspension, drained, and detected by the UOA? I'd love to know factually what happened, and I don't think that's possible. It could be a combination of the two......

 

[Trav]

The sludge or deposits are full of wear metals that have accumulated over a long time.
Liquefy the deposits and you turn the metals loose back into the oil.
I saw a Pro-Tec demo of their product in a clean broken in engine, they did a UOA specifically to address this concern and it was normal, nothing unusual.

 

[barkingspider]

Use 10w30 without worry. I also use a dremel to cut open oil filters. Thanks for sharing.

 

[bigt61]

Nice job on the photos.

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted By: Trav
The sludge or deposits are full of wear metals that have accumulated over a long time.
Liquefy the deposits and you turn the metals loose back into the oil.
I saw a Pro-Tec demo of their product in a clean broken in engine, they did a UOA specifically to address this concern and it was normal, nothing unusual.


Interesting, that would back up what I said earlier about trapped wear metals being put back into suspension. The odds of a quick flush causing noticeable wear in an engine after a 20 minute run would be nil IMO.

 

[ROLEXrifleman]

I ended up going to Menards which was closing out the Rotella T5 and was able to find a few gallons of it in 10w-30. After rebates they came to $7.70 a gallon.

i will try this as my cleaner oil vs using additives moving forward. The plan now is to do every 3rd oil change with the T5. Any recommendations to what other oil to use in my procedure? Also what filter? I was thinking WIX for two OCI

 

[Boss302fan]

I have always used a 5W30 in the 3800 V6's... Rotella or even PYB/PYB HM would offer cleaning and also work well in these fine engines.