Red Line for Cleaning

Shel_B

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I've read that some folks use Red Line oils for cleaning their engines, that the esters in the oil help dissolve sludge and gunk. Is there truth to this, that Red Line can help clean an engine? My engine seems to be in pretty decent shape (Camry 2.5, 81K on the engine), and I was wondering if adding a quart or two of Red Line at my next change would have a beneficial effect? Any deleterious effects?
 
I've read that some folks use Red Line oils for cleaning their engines, that the esters in the oil help dissolve sludge and gunk. Is there truth to this, that Red Line can help clean an engine? My engine seems to be in pretty decent shape (Camry 2.5, 81K on the engine), and I was wondering if adding a quart or two of Red Line at my next change would have a beneficial effect? Any deleterious effects?
If it's imaginary cleaning then any oil can do that.

Here are a couple other threads though on this topic with various sundry claims of cleaning:




 
I use a dab of mobile 1 for cleaning sticker glue from things. Petro-products can be used to clean with. The engine cleaner they sell in spray cans smells like kerosene. inside the engine is no different
 
Run an oil change with some Redline ,the high priced stuff not the low end Redline oil.
 
Motor oil is a lubricant, not a cleaning solvent.
not really true, as stated Esters do clean, and condition seals, i would switch to full syn, my choice would be M1 install cheap filter to collect junk, remove after 2000 and replace with cheap, top up oil, do again and then install good filter, note oil is not drained.
 
They actually manufacture ester based oils to do exactly what you are describing. High ester content and a full sump of it for an interval. This decarbonizes the ring lands and domes off of the pistons on heavy duty diesel engines. I imagine it will also dissolve any varnish present too. Red Line oil may help. Probably not needed in a well maintained gasoline engine.
 
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I've read that some folks use Red Line oils for cleaning their engines, that the esters in the oil help dissolve sludge and gunk. Is there truth to this, that Red Line can help clean an engine? My engine seems to be in pretty decent shape (Camry 2.5, 81K on the engine), and I was wondering if adding a quart or two of Red Line at my next change would have a beneficial effect? Any deleterious effects?
No, just do an engine flush with Liqui Moly Pro-Line Engine Flush and two consecutive oil changes with a good Euro oil and you should be good. Red Line Oil will definitively help clean your wallet. Let's just say it wasn't the best money I ever spent on oil, lol.
 
I've read that some folks use Red Line oils for cleaning their engines, that the esters in the oil help dissolve sludge and gunk. Is there truth to this, that Red Line can help clean an engine? My engine seems to be in pretty decent shape (Camry 2.5, 81K on the engine), and I was wondering if adding a quart or two of Red Line at my next change would have a beneficial effect? Any deleterious effects?
It's basically true. Unlike PAO the polarity of esters allow them to attach to metal surfaces. This polarity is one reason why there are no 100 percent ester engine oils because they also compete with AW additives. In addition esters oxidize which means these oils typically are unsuitable for long drains. The ester-base oils sold by Redline will keep an engine clean on a 5k-7k oci, but UOAs in the past have shown high oxidation at around 7,500 miles.

The reality is that essentially all synthetic oils are formulated to keep deposits from attaching to metal surfaces and many of them contain some percentage of esters. I imagine your engine looks just fine.
 
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I've read that some folks use Red Line oils for cleaning their engines, that the esters in the oil help dissolve sludge and gunk. Is there truth to this, that Red Line can help clean an engine? My engine seems to be in pretty decent shape (Camry 2.5, 81K on the engine), and I was wondering if adding a quart or two of Red Line at my next change would have a beneficial effect? Any deleterious effects?
What about adding a bottle of lubegard biotech with your oil.
This is mostly an ester........
I am doing 3 back to back LG oil changes to test the cleaning theory in a 2015 gummed up Odyssey we just bought.
I also put a VCM blocker on it as soon as we got it
I'll report my results prob mid sumer.
The engine and rings are gummed up....Honda's VCM is complete garbage.
Every week another new poster pops up with roasted piston rings.
 
What about adding a bottle of lubegard biotech with your oil.
This is mostly an ester........
I am doing 3 back to back LG oil changes to test the cleaning theory in a 2015 gummed up Odyssey we just bought.
I also put a VCM blocker on it as soon as we got it
I'll report my results prob mid sumer.
The engine and rings are gummed up....Honda's VCM is complete garbage.
Every week another new poster pops up with roasted piston rings.
Liquid Moly Pro Line Engine Flush is what you want. Tested Lubegard for a year in 3 engines, it's pure placebo, doesn't do anything.
 
Liquid Moly Pro Line Engine Flush is what you want. Tested Lubegard for a year in 3 engines, it's pure placebo, doesn't do anything.
Interesting.....
I have already done 2 flushes using the proline from liqui.
It cleaned a bit of the varnish in the fill hole.
I expected a little better.
On both flushes I used new 5w-30 oil and filter, got the oil nice and hot before performing the flush.

I think with this much ****.....it's going to take time to clean.

Where did you buy your lubegard. Rock auto?
My last lubegard RA auto purchase I received bottles that were almost 20 years old....confirmed by lubegard.
RA did nothing about it. Customer service is pretty low over there.
 
Does your engine need cleaning? Just do a full Redline oil change a couple of oil change intervals, it will be a fun thing to do.
 
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Does your engine need cleaning? Just do a full Redline oil change a couple of oil change intervals, it will be a fun thing to do.
Too expensive here in Canada.
Yes the engine needs cleaning. The Honda 3.5 is notorious for getting gummed up with the VCM.
great engine......crummy design.

According to lubegard the engine treatment will clean sludge and piston rings.
 
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Liquid Moly Pro Line Engine Flush is what you want. Tested Lubegard for a year in 3 engines, it's pure placebo, doesn't do anything.
The esters in lubegard trans protectant did a great job of cleaning out the 6 speed in our grand caravan a while back.
Sadly....I should have kept that over the odyssey.
I thought Honda had better reliability and design...
Boy was I wrong.
 
On both flushes I used new 5w-30 oil and filter, got the oil nice and hot before performing the flush.
I used Liqui Moly Pro-Line Engine Flush with Euro lubes exclusively. I got the best results in my wife's 2017 Hyundai Santa Fe because I had Castrol 0W-40 in there, then refilled after the flush with M1 5W-40, ran it for a week, dumped it, and refilled it again. There were a few varnish spots here and there, including the oil filter plastic housing from a dealership oil change way back (bulk "synthetic" Shell they claimed), and it's all gone now. I never used Liqui Moly Engine Flush with ILSAC GF5/GF6A lubes.

Where did you buy your lubegard. Rock auto?
I got it from Amazon, and funny enough, I still have 2 quarts of the stuff.

The esters in lubegard trans protectant did a great job of cleaning out the 6 speed in our grand caravan a while back.
I have no doubt about it, I use 4 oz. of Lubegard Platinum in my BW44-44 transfer case in the Ram 1500 along with Amsoil ATF just to boost the cleaning abilities of the fluid. When I dumped the factory MobilfluidLT it was clean, but I wanted to rinse it out, lol. When I do my next change I won't add Lubegard to it.

The Lubegard engine additive is a different story though. I only used it with ACEA A3/B4 engine oils. I doubt that it can add anything to those as they already have a beefy additive pack. I think that it can help "lesser" oils, however, it can't improve upon a good quality synthetic. Engine oil formulation is tricky, and you risk destroying the balance that exists in a fully formulated oil when you add Lubegard to it. I guess that's why I've seen people claim that Lubegard quieted down their HEMIs after they added a 15oz bottle to their Quaker State or Pennzoil 5W-20 filled engine. The HEMI is set to cook itself to death from the factory, at temps of 220F~230F just driving around town. So of course in that scenario, Lubegard added to a weak oil will quite the notorious "HEMI tick." I installed a 180F thermostat and removed 8 of 12 grille shutters, so now I'm hovering at 185F~190F all day long. When towing, oil temperatures average 210F. So I'm barely hitting full operating temperatures. I hope this makes sense.

Honda dropped the ball on reliability because they cut too many corners. I wouldn't buy a Honda, even if prices were sane. They always seemed overpriced to me. The 6-speed transmission in the Grand Caravan is made by Hyundai and is known to be very reliable. The downside is that it's set to constantly cook the ATF at 200F~210F when driving gently, never mind when you step on it. I just changed with 3 drains and fills, each, the ATF in our Hyundais to AMSOIL "ATL" fluid. They run really well, but the fluid I drained at close to 40K miles on each was dark brown on the 2018 and pitch black on the 2017, and they are both driven gently (look in my sig).
 
One of our sponsor's has a formulation just for engine cleaning that contains a high level of cleaning esters:

 
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