Do you know anyone that does this?

[kingrob]

When I was growing up I used to know of several people that did this procedure during an oil change:

Once you've got the drain bolt off and the filter off take a quart of fresh oil and pour it into the crankcase to let it drain right back out to the pan. Supposed to "flush" the old oil out.

I have to admit I did it once when oil was still .30 a quart, but being young and naive I'm pretty sure I just wasted a quart.

My uncle still does this, he uses a cheap house brand oil to flush through the motor before refilling with Trop-arctic or Kendall. He's been doing it for forty years so I guess there's no way to talk him out of it. With the price of oil the way it is now I doubt very many people still do anything like this.

 

[TallPaul]

Sort of like the Patman Flush, but a shorter and less effective version. One problem is whether it will get all the internals or just fan out as it drains down. Obviously it will only work one bank of a V8. May be better off to put 4 qts cheap oil and run it 20 minutes then re-drain and save the flush oil to screen and re-use, along with a flush filter. But most on this site will likely say waste of good oil except to do in special circumstances.

 

[Drew99GT]

Well, it might work in a 4 banger, as long as the baffle doesn't direct the oil to the drain ports. But in a V-configured engine, all it's gonna do is flush out some of the oil on the top of one of the cylinder heads. It's not gonna get any of the oil out of the galleys and likely wouldn't flush all the old oil out of the pan. Seems like a waste to me!

 

[rg200amp]

It will just go right out. The path form the pour cap, and the drain plug leaves the almost the entire engine untouched. The only way to "Flush" a eninge, is to drain the oil, install new oil run the car 300-500 miles, then drain again. But there is no need to do that. The little dirty oil left is only 1/4 quart, if not less.


Use you good oil and a good OCI and save that quart for next oil change!!

 

[Steve S]

What is the advantage?

 

[TallPaul]

I wonder what would happen if you filled the crankcase with Schaeffers Neutra (all 5 qts) and ran it 5 minutes, then let it sit for a day and run it another 5 minutes, then drain. I think the stuff has some lubricity, no?

 

[Junior]

The only time I did is was when I forgot the put the plug back in.

 

[BrianWC]

Originally Posted By: TallPaul
I wonder what would happen if you filled the crankcase with Schaeffers Neutra (all 5 qts) and ran it 5 minutes, then let it sit for a day and run it another 5 minutes, then drain. I think the stuff has some lubricity, no?

We had someone on here recommend the same thing with diesel. IMHO, I don't know how effective either would be for tough stuff. Neutra didn't work so well for me even after running a bottle for a few hundred miles. And when I tried to use diesel to clean my valve covers, my brush did much more work than the diesel.

As for pouring a quart straight through, I've accidentally pour 4.5 qts straight through before.

But on my car, the filler neck runs straight to the oil pan. So it would ONLY flush out the oil pan and nothing else.

 

[mpersell]

I have a customer that uses an air nozzle on the dipstick tube to get more oil out of the pan with the mid-range Cat diesels.

 

[Gary Allan]

Plebes!! What you need is a tap at the pressure sender and a dedicated pump (like I have

) then you can turn the pump on ..and bump the starter on with NEW (same as intended fill) OIL. Now if you're a purist, you hand rotate the crank (by gripping the crank pulley if need be and risking hemorrhoids from the grunt factor) ..but I'll give some practitioners dispensation and absolution for the complexity of some contemporary engine compartments.

Now some wannabe's just use the pump and call it a day, but you've got to take responsibility for being a slacker ..sooner or later. It all comes back on you.. eventually.

Sure you may blow $20 of expensive oil out the drain plug, but what's that compared to the big picture?

 

[CivicFan]

I know we are supposed to be nuts about oil on this forum but even here it sounds a little strange. You will remove at most an ounce of old oil like that and leave less than stellar oil in its place.

 

[bretfraz]

I've blown air into the engine via the oil filler neck in order to blow out any excess old oil in the bottom of the pan, but puckering up to an engine part is not my idea of fun so I've stopped the practice. Other than blowing out an ounce or two of oil from the pan, I didn't see much difference.

 

[AcuraTech]

Not all that crazy. It gets the last little bit of dirty oil sitting in the bottom of the pan out of the engine. Surprised more here don't do that, I know some people let the oil pan drain overnight to get every drop out. But there will always be about 1/4 qt left after draining.

 

[Cutehumor]

This is just wasting oil and money. OCD at it's finest

 

[ViragoBry]

I do this in my lawnmower before I store it for winter. But not in my car. I don't find it sensible to 'flush' an engine with cheap dino and then fill it with synthetic.

 

[Gary Allan]

The only time I've done this is during testing. You would flush the engine with a dedicated flush oil and then do an in engine VOA after the new oil was added. That would be if you're changing formulas. If you were using the same oil, especially if it was a short run, then the flush would not be necessary ..just the in engine VOA.

 

[oilyriser]

Has anyone else jacked up the car one side at a time with the drain plug off, to get out the last few drops? That was before taking off the valve covers to adjust clearance on the H4 motor.

 

[ViragoBry]

I did this once on my Sport Trac and was surprised how much more oil came pouring out. But it's more trouble than it's worth.

 

[daves66nova]

I sometimes just turn on the engine for around 5 seconds to pump some of the oil out,then let it sit for a good while more.

 

[Steve S]

Originally Posted By: daves66nova
I sometimes just turn on the engine for around 5 seconds to pump some of the oil out,then let it sit for a good while more.
Why would you do that ?