can 5w 20 oil be used ot clean an engine?

[ziggy]

I had read an online oil bible, and it was saying that 5w 20 oil can be used to clean an engine up of sludge ect. Pour 4 or 5 quarts 5w 20 in, let car idle for about 20 minutes, drain, and see all the bad stuff that comes out...
Any real truth or logic to this? My car runs on 5w 30 or 10W 30 oil, for the

record..

 

[sxg6]

In my opinion, No. If i recall, the oil bible you're referring to says that 20wt motor oil is ONLY supposed to be used as a flush. And 130k later on 20wt motor oil, my civic still runs just fine on this "flush only" stuff..

 

[Lonnie]

Why consider engine oil? Maybe try Auto-RX. Oil may do some cleaning but nothing like Auto-RX.

 

[G-MAN]

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I had read an online oil bible, and it was saying that 5w 20 oil can be used to clean an engine up of sludge ect. Pour 4 or 5 quarts 5w 20 in, let car idle for about 20 minutes, drain, and see all the bad stuff that comes out...

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That's probably the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.

 

[Merkava_4]

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I had read an online oil bible, and it was saying that 5w 20 oil can be used to clean an engine up of sludge ect. Pour 4 or 5 quarts 5w 20 in, let car idle for about 20 minutes, drain, and see all the bad stuff that comes out...

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That's probably the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.

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Are you sure about that sir?

What about the notion of Pennzoil Platinum making the A/C blow colder air?

 

[G-MAN]

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I had read an online oil bible, and it was saying that 5w 20 oil can be used to clean an engine up of sludge ect. Pour 4 or 5 quarts 5w 20 in, let car idle for about 20 minutes, drain, and see all the bad stuff that comes out...

---

That's probably the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.

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Are you sure about that sir?

What about the notion of Pennzoil Platinum making the A/C blow colder air?

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Well, I was talking about something that someone could possibly take seriously, not total nonsense.

 

[-Clayton-]

Unbelievable

http://www.carbibles.com/engineoil_bible.html

 

[-Clayton-]

One of my favorites.

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Using Diesel oil for flushing

A question came up some time ago about using diesel-rated oils to flush out petrol engines. The idea was that because of the higher detergent levels in diesel engine oil, it might be a good cleaner / flusher for a non-diesel engine. Well most of the diesel oil specification oils can be used in old petrol engines for cleaning, but you want to use a low specification oil to ensure that you do not over clean your engine and lose compression for example. Generally speaking, an SAE 15W/40 diesel engine oil for about 500 miles might do the trick.

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[ziggy]

You found the link/website clayton Thas the one i was talking about. I know its kinda ridiculous to think a 20 weight owuld flush, but i was more credibility adn all, of all his info...

 

[JohnBrowning]

No, When that refference was written you had some companies like Motul that made a flushing oil. It was usualy sold in gallon jugs and was a 5W20 or 0W20 and was full of solvents,detergents,AW additives. You did not see these products int he USA you would have had to grown up in Europe.

 

[Quest]

LOL! I was at the brink of getting gallons of 3-in-1 sewing machine oil, run it to flush my engine...but then again, maybe not...

(*I'm just kidding here*)

 

[oilyriser]

But 5w-20 is a "grinding compound" in another oil bible. Shouldn't that be relly good at cleaning?

 

[Camu Mahubah]

When I ran a 5w20 in a car specified for 5w30, after 3000 miles I drained it and guess what came out....??????

oil...

 

[JohnBrowning]

These FLushing oils actualy had a lot of solvents and cleaning additives in them and were not for general use. This was before Auto-Rx. They were safer then juet adding a can of solvent to your oil since they were designed to clean without destroying the engine. You really never know when you add a can of solvent to your current fill what is chemicaly going on inside the engine or mechanicly. Back when these were use you did not see 20W20 or 10W20 anymore in Europe as these were known at the time to contribute to "Black Death" on anything Adma Opel made that ran high speeds on the Autobahn.Different time different technology andhas nothing in common with current xW20 oils.

 

[Laminar Lou]

Heh, I am surprised no one brought up using ATF to flush your engine...

Edited to note that I am NOT advocating using ATF for an engine flush. I know some of you have done it, but I am not recommending it.

 

[Steve S]

The wrong bible to read. Why would 20wt oil be any different than any other oil?

 

[Steve S]

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I had read an online oil bible, and it was saying that 5w 20 oil can be used to clean an engine up of sludge ect. Pour 4 or 5 quarts 5w 20 in, let car idle for about 20 minutes, drain, and see all the bad stuff that comes out...

---

That's probably the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.

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Are you sure about that sir?

What about the notion of Pennzoil Platinum making the A/C blow colder air?

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A/C only blows cooler with PP in the summer. That is why PP is so special

 

[mdocod]

maybe putting a thermostat that's 10F warmer than stock then could have the same cleaning effect as 20wt oil! (since the oil will be closer to a 20wt from the heat thinning it out a bit).

nonsense.

 

[Rickey]

I've used both cheap 5W20 and 5W30 to flush OPE, and gotten equal results!
In an engine with no oil filter I have; believe it or not gotten a little more of the "glitter" to drain out with this technique.

I admit that this is most likely a totally obsessive waste of oil.

Rickey.