Did a 20 mile flush

[alcyon]

I don't have to justify anything here, guys. Just sharing an experience. Next time I'll just keep it to myself. LOL.

That seems to be the safest option these days, not only in here.

 

[AZjeff]

Consider it a rinse cycle. Get some of the dregs out while getting some use out of oil I wouldn't have otherwise used.

Got it. You accomplished your objectives and no puppies were harmed. If you do anything else out of the ordinary by all means post it up, gives people something to think about besides Crown Vics and Elon.

 

[Johnmpb]

Huge waste of time and resources. You realize there’s a good amount of residual oil left in the internals, right? So you’ll always have a “frankenbrew” effect. Now even moreso since you added 4 more oils that are now part of the residual.

 

[himemsys]

Huge waste of time and resources.

Don't you think that is up to me to decide?

You realize there’s a good amount of residual oil left in the internals, right? So you’ll always have a “frankenbrew” effect. Now even moreso since you added 4 more oils that are now part of the residual.

I do. I'm well aware that dry capacity is much higher. Consider it the same principal as a brake fluid exchange without doing a full-on bleed. The idea is to replace some of the oldest fluid with newer fluid. You won't ever get all the old oil out, but you can reduce the percentage of old oil living in the system. But then again, I wasn't thinking that hard about what I was doing. I was simply getting some use out of orphan oil that wouldn't otherwise have gotten use.

 

[CharlesInCharge]

So this isn't something I plan on doing often, but the circumstances all came together to make it doable. I had just enough leftover oil of various brands and grades (3 qts) that I didn't have a use for (I don't normally like mixing oils for a full OCI) and the time to drain my oil, add the 3 qts, go on a 20 mile 70MPH highway drive, and dump that oil prior to putting in my "real" oil.

A couple of things I found interesting:
-the 20 mile oil drained out looking far dirtier than I expected (though it still looked pretty clean on the dipstick). It was not at all translucent in the drain pan.
-the "real" oil I put in afterward was the cleanest looking oil I've ever seen on my dipstick since the car was new. Could not even see it on the dipstick and when I wiped the dipstick with a paper towel, there was not even a hint of dirt left on the towel. It just looked like I squeezed a little bit of sewing machine oil on the paper towel.

I will probably only do this when this situation arises again, where I have just enough leftovers and plenty of time to do two drain and fills. Why not? Even if it doesn't really help anything, it's not hurting anything either.

For the record, the car was an 03 Civic with a 3.5qt capacity. 3 qts gets it to about the midpoint between the high and low marks on the dipstick. The leftover flush consisted of Castrol 0W40, M1 EP 0W20, ST HM FS 0W20/5W20, and a little bit of Pennzoil conventional 5W30. The "real" oil I ended with was M1 AFE 0W30.

For all the critics, I think this is legit. Minor cost in the grand scheme, and the oil did get used and serve a purpose; that was to help further clean and "reset" the engine internals to a far cleaner state. I'm a frugal person but not cheap and this seems like a good investment in time/resources for the OPs situation of extra resources (franken-oil and time).

OP wasn't going to use the oil for a full OCI anyway, so it was his purgative purogative.

Sure, he could have done a longer "short OCI" of say, 1000 miles or a month, etc, but sometimes we have to balance our time versus costs. He say he had the parts and time to do it, so on the balance sheet it may not have been a waste since he accomplished his goal of cleaning his engine. That's the point, afterall.

 

[snowshew]

All this reaction to the way 3 qts of oil was used and not the 1/2-3/4 gal of gas! If this process was even mildly endorsed by industry or OEMs I would do it every time, especially on new engines. As it is I change oil waaaaay before what most would consider a correct OCI. I look forward to the next oil change before I even put away the drain pan. Garage+beer+talk radio+automotive fluids.

 

[atikovi]

FWI I do this to most all new to me cars I buy that have dirty looking oil. After just one oil change, the oil often still looks dark.

 

[bionictony]

at least use that 20 mile oil as top off oil

 

[Donald]

While it does not seem like a good use of oil to my it's a 19yr old car and it did not effect me so I have no opinion.

 

[demarpaint]

A waste of time and oil imo.

 

[Silver]

I appreciate the post. It could easily be that this mix had a stronger net detergency than what you normally use, and if it came out dirty then nobody can argue to its usefulness. I put a used 86k mile engine in a truck last year. I've noticed that after 2-3k miles the oil is very, very black so I've been running short OCI's with it so far.

I'm all for frugality, to the point of being very irritated when I see folks wasting lots of money, but to me 5 quarts of oil isn't lots of money. Knock on wood!

 

[JC1]

I don't have to justify anything here, guys. Just sharing an experience. Next time I'll just keep it to myself. LOL.

No you won't... LOL it's an 03 civic. On my 97 civic I'll run a Frankenbrew without hesitation. I could probably use vegetable oil without issues!

 

[philipp10]

Huge waste of time and resources. You realize there’s a good amount of residual oil left in the internals, right? So you’ll always have a “frankenbrew” effect. Now even moreso since you added 4 more oils that are now part of the residual.

WAIT! WAIT!????? What? You mean my crankcase has multiple brands of oil from all the times I switched brands? OMG my heads going to explode...&%&I^

 

[Johnmpb]

Don't you think that is up to me to decide?

I do. I'm well aware that dry capacity is much higher. Consider it the same principal as a brake fluid exchange without doing a full-on bleed. The idea is to replace some of the oldest fluid with newer fluid. You won't ever get all the old oil out, but you can reduce the percentage of old oil living in the system. But then again, I wasn't thinking that hard about what I was doing. I was simply getting some use out of orphan oil that wouldn't otherwise have gotten use.

Not if you post about it on a public forum. That activity accomplished nothing, so how is it not a waste?

 

[himemsys]

Not if you post about it on a public forum. That activity accomplished nothing, so how is it not a waste?

You are entitled to your opinion.

 

[SubLGT]

Only 20 miles? You should have left it in at least 10 times longer than that. It requires time and heat to clean engine internals.

 

[ollie]

I would have added a 300ml bottle of Liquimoly and did a proper flush. You did no harm though. As long as you are happy that's what counts. Most all my 3,000 mile oil drains come out a translucent brown to honey color in my 4 wheeled vehicles.

 

[alcyon]

For all the critics, I think this is legit. Minor cost in the grand scheme, and the oil did get used and serve a purpose; that was to help further clean and "reset" the engine internals to a far cleaner state. I'm a frugal person but not cheap and this seems like a good investment in time/resources for the OPs situation of extra resources (franken-oil and time).

OP wasn't going to use the oil for a full OCI anyway, so it was his purgative purogative.

Sure, he could have done a longer "short OCI" of say, 1000 miles or a month, etc, but sometimes we have to balance our time versus costs. He say he had the parts and time to do it, so on the balance sheet it may not have been a waste since he accomplished his goal of cleaning his engine. That's the point, afterall.

I agree, i also think it is legit, but given the hellish weather where I am , I loathe jacking up and going under the car too soon to change the oil yet again. I will pass.

 

[himemsys]

I agree, i also think it is legit, but given the hellish weather where I am , I loathe jacking up and going under the car too soon to change the oil yet again. I will pass.

The main reason I did this when I did because the temperature was in the 50s, which is unseasonably warm for this time of year. I didn't think I'd have another opportunity for a long while.

 

[joekingcorvette]

It's a Honda and worth the extra love. I do something like this every time I buy a different previously owned vehicle. I see nothing wrong with the rinse method. It's your car and your oil.