Ok, call me an idiot. I accidently put about 1/4 qt of ATF in engine. I had the Chevron ATF dexron in the garage. Well, the engine oil and the ATF is in the same color bottle. I only topped off about 1/4 qt of ATF. Will this hurt my engine. I remember when I was young they use to say you could put ATF in engine to clean it, like a heavy detergent. But I really don't know if that was ever true or not. Never did it till now. Do I have to dumped this new oil and filter? or do I have nothing to worry about? Thanks for your help.
ATF in engine HELP!!!!
- Thread starter Oilmeup
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I would not worry over it either. But I also would not do an extended drain interval either.
Its no problem.
many put a full quart of ATF into their crankcase, just previous to an oil change (40 minute idle and then drain) to clean it out.
A gentle and time proven process.
As for a quarter of a quart, its gonna theo some of your additive balances a bit, but no reason to change teh oi,right away.
But I would use that particular fill for an extended drain as ATF is not made for runnning in an engine and you the lube stock is more likely to decompaose than motor oil lube stock.
But its a pretty small amount.....
Not to worry too much.
Fred...
many put a full quart of ATF into their crankcase, just previous to an oil change (40 minute idle and then drain) to clean it out.
A gentle and time proven process.
As for a quarter of a quart, its gonna theo some of your additive balances a bit, but no reason to change teh oi,right away.
But I would use that particular fill for an extended drain as ATF is not made for runnning in an engine and you the lube stock is more likely to decompaose than motor oil lube stock.
But its a pretty small amount.....
Not to worry too much.
Fred...
Patman
Staff member
You should do a UOA on it just to see the effects of that ATF.
A lousy 1/2 pint? You didn't put enough of it in your motor to even alter your normal drain interval either. My dad did the same "bonehead" stunt on our new '55 Plymouth when I was a kid. Only he put 5 quarts of Type A Suffix A ATF in the flathead Chrysler I6 motor. He drove the car the regular 3,000 miles and didn't catch his mistake until he drained it. Five years later he traded the car on a '60 Dodge Dart. The Plymouth had 100,000+ miles on it at that time and still ran well. (well, at least as well as that anemic 85 hp flathead six could...) Keep in mind in those days just reaching 100,000 miles without mechanical problems was unusual, oils were no where nearly as good as they are now, and neither was the metalurgy. Quit worrying.
At least you did not try to pour 5 qts of oil in your trans like my friends brother did.
He was changing his oil for the first time back in college. We were hanging around at a friends house down the road and his brother comes over and tells us he can only gets 3 qts of oil in his engine and its really hard pouring into that small tube. We went to see what he was doing and he had a funnel in the Trans tube and was dumping the oil in there. It was a 70's Chevy and the oil filter cap was on the valve cover and hidden by a heater hose laying on top of it. Took him many years to live that down.
btw He is now a superintendent of the local schools.
[ April 27, 2003, 09:07 AM: Message edited by: Mike ]
He was changing his oil for the first time back in college. We were hanging around at a friends house down the road and his brother comes over and tells us he can only gets 3 qts of oil in his engine and its really hard pouring into that small tube. We went to see what he was doing and he had a funnel in the Trans tube and was dumping the oil in there. It was a 70's Chevy and the oil filter cap was on the valve cover and hidden by a heater hose laying on top of it. Took him many years to live that down.
btw He is now a superintendent of the local schools.
[ April 27, 2003, 09:07 AM: Message edited by: Mike ]
Oil me up, don't worry about changing any sooner than your standard 2500 drain as that will not cause you any problems. Putting ATF in the motor is an old timers trick and was used to clean the motor as atf is a high detergent oil. They would put a full quart to a 5qt system and run the full drain interval of 3,000 miles.
The properties of that oil isn't enough to cause it to thin out your motor oil and I wouldn't even consider changing any sooner than your normal drain interval. Now if it was a turbo of some sort, another story but in a standard engine, no worries my friend.
The properties of that oil isn't enough to cause it to thin out your motor oil and I wouldn't even consider changing any sooner than your normal drain interval. Now if it was a turbo of some sort, another story but in a standard engine, no worries my friend.
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