Critique my oil flush?

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My car is a 2005 PT Cruiser with 63k miles. Prior to my ownership, its OCI was around 4k miles with 5w-30 conventional (no specific brand). Recently, after pulling the stick at 3k miles on the most recent change, the oil was pretty dark so I decided to clean out the engine.

First, I ran Valvoline Two-Part Fuel System Cleaner (the link is for the old three-part; the new system negates the throttle cleaner and incorporates it into the delivery system) for the 20 minutes it took to run its course. This included the fuel injector treatment in the tank. After that, I added one pint of Heartland Oil System Cleaner to the old oil and ran the engine for ten minutes, whereupon I drained the crankcase.

When the oil was mostly drained, I added a quart of 5w-30 to push the old oil out of the sump, completely drained all oil, replaced the filter, and added five quarts of conventional 5w-30 and ran it for another ten minutes to clean out the engine flush. After draining that and replacing the filter once more, I finished it off with five quarts of MaxLife full syn and another oil filter.

So, what do you think? Effective, at all?
 
Well, I'm not sure you really needed to clean the engine. Other than the oil being dark, was there any evidence that the engine was dirty?

BTW, dark oil doesn't mean a dirty engine.

Anyway, you've got a good full syn in there now, so I think you're going in the right direction with this :)
 
Honestly I think you overreacted but you're on the right path now with a quality oil that should last you 10k if you really wanted.
 
Originally Posted By: FastBird232
My car is a 2005 PT Cruiser with 63k miles. Prior to my ownership, its OCI was around 4k miles with 5w-30 conventional (no specific brand). Recently, after pulling the stick at 3k miles on the most recent change, the oil was pretty dark so I decided to clean out the engine.

First, I ran Valvoline Two-Part Fuel System Cleaner (the link is for the old three-part; the new system negates the throttle cleaner and incorporates it into the delivery system) for the 20 minutes it took to run its course. This included the fuel injector treatment in the tank. After that, I added one pint of Heartland Oil System Cleaner to the old oil and ran the engine for ten minutes, whereupon I drained the crankcase.

When the oil was mostly drained, I added a quart of 5w-30 to push the old oil out of the sump, completely drained all oil, replaced the filter, and added five quarts of conventional 5w-30 and ran it for another ten minutes to clean out the engine flush. After draining that and replacing the filter once more, I finished it off with five quarts of MaxLife full syn and another oil filter.

So, what do you think? Effective, at all?


Apart from the last step that was more than I would do, I like what you did. If you maintain a decent OCI and continue to use a good (syn) oil, you won't have to do another flush at all - I think you're good to go!
 
I would think it was somewhat effective.

I would have Auto-RX ed it and called it good. Maybe Amsoil Power foamed the intake and run a fuel system cleaner the last tank of gas.
 
I think you did well, but as others have said it might not have been necessary. I would have just added a pint of MMO for the last 1000 miles of the OCI and drained the oil. Ran dino oil again, add another pint MMO for the last 1000 miles of the OCI, then switched to synthetic oil. All in all you'll be fine.

AD
 
Originally Posted By: hate2work
Well, I'm not sure you really needed to clean the engine. Other than the oil being dark, was there any evidence that the engine was dirty?

BTW, dark oil doesn't mean a dirty engine.


Originally Posted By: Dyoel182
Honestly I think you overreacted but you're on the right path now with a quality oil that should last you 10k if you really wanted.


Not much other evidence. The dirty oil was more of an excuse to clean out the engine! I wasn't sure what OCI it had before I took ownership, so I wanted to start from scratch.

As for using Auto-RX, I was monetarily limited by what we had in the shop (which I can pick up for cost). Has anyone else used these products, and if so, how well did they work for you? I've never seen this Heartland brand before; I was more of a Seafoam kind of guy.

As for pulling the valve cover...

engine_norm.jpg


The intake is in the way.
 
Originally Posted By: FastBird232
My car is a 2005 PT Cruiser with 63k miles. Prior to my ownership, its OCI was around 4k miles with 5w-30 conventional (no specific brand). Recently, after pulling the stick at 3k miles on the most recent change, the oil was pretty dark so I decided to clean out the engine.



I am *not* a proponent of engine flushes, but I understand others are and I won't argue the point. I simply believe the only thing that should go in a crankcase is *oil* and that good oils will never cause an engine to need a flush. Unless maybe the engine in question is a known sludger like some Toyotas and the older Chrysler 2.7.

The PT 2.4 is an engine that is *very* easy on oil, and 63k miles is very low mileage to think about excessive deposits even with run-of-the-mill oil, especially if 4k mile OCIs were observed. If it were mine, ALL that I would do is switch it to a premium synthetic oil, change the oil filter and add make-up oil a couple of times at ~1000 mile intervals, and then keep using a premium synthetic at ~5k OCIs.

But truth be told, you should be just fine going right ahead with conventional oil 4k mile OCIs.
 
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