Solvent Flush's and Oil Used for FLushing Procedure???

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JohnBrowning

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What you guys think???? Does fresh oil have enough extra chemical capacity to make it worth useing for a 5-15 minute solvent based flush? Is it worth it to drain out the old oil after say 6 months and add 4 fresh quarts and 1 quart of oil flush? The reason I ask is becasue I am going to use an Amsoil Engine Oil Flush. It is a simple solvent based product. The engine is clean and is being flushed as a preventive item. I could not afford Auto-Rx or a gallon of LC. The engine is 3 years old and has slightly less then 40,000 miles. The car has been run on M1 mostly but has seen some GIII and GII oils. In the past long before Auto-Rx or Lube Control I would simple add the flush to the exsisting crankcse oil. Now I am thinking that 4 fresh quarts of cheap dino oil might be able to hold more of what ever the flush disolves.

Let the debate begin!!!


P.S. When I was a young aprentice in Germany we used 5W20 Flushing Oil and did not add anything else. The most popular one was Motul 5W20 Flushing Oil. Boy how things change!
 
Don't see why you need the flush, but if you do it just follow the instructions and let it drain open for a LONG time. The draining and the heat should evaporate most of the solvent. Then do a short OCI.

Amsoil flush just helps get the old thick oil out. It doesn't really clean metal surfaces.

You hadn't planned of driving the car with flush had you? Just checking.
 
I have a funny story on Amsoil flush and a 78 or 79 Chevy 350 or 400 V/8. It was when I first became interested in oil related issues in engines. My friend had a very nasty tick in his engine. He was going to have it rebuild. So I asked him if I could give my new founded products a try out. I doubled the Amsoil flush by pouring a few cans in and drove the truck for 30 minutes. Drained the oil out and refilled with Amsoil. Tick was gone and engine lasted longer than my memory has....true story
 
40k miles mostly on M1 with some GIII and GII thrown in - I agree with Auto-Union that no flush is necessary.

Especially when you state that ARX and LC are cost prohibitive - flushing is more $$, and Pablo, a BITOG Amsoil sponser recommended a shorter OCI following the Amsoil flush = more $$ again sooner.
 
quote:
Originally posted by surfstar:
40k miles mostly on M1 with some GIII and GII thrown in - I agree with Auto-Union that no flush is necessary.
Click to expand...
I concur. If you must, run a 1/2K interval with a new filter and your favorite grade and brand of inexpensive SM. Take it out for a good, long, hard drive right before you change it out to your usual brand/grade/filter.
 
I got the flush for $2.81. I wanted to do an Auto-RX flush just for preventive deposit control but could not justify the cost at this point.. Maybe three years from now and another 40,000 miles I will be able to justify Auto-Rx for it. When I was growing up I always flushed with a simple solvent flush every 3 years just for good measure. It surely will not hurt anyting. I do not over use flush's so I have never had an issue.

I have only had one vechile that saw a flush every OCI and was a sludge bucket when I bought it used! Even flushing every OCI it never hurt that engine and it still runs to this day and does not burn any oil.I am generaly against doing a flush or purge every oil change even with the old 1 quart of Kerosine home made flush! If the engien is well maintained then you should not need to flush often. These simple flush's every 3-4 years are their to keep varnish at bay especialy from the pickup screen and bypass piston bore. If you can see any varnish on the pickup screen with the naked eye you have lost between 10%-30% of your oil flow through the screen.

I would not drive a vechile with solvent based flush inside the crankcase unless it was a do or die situation. If I had some sludge best that to the point that it was rebuild it or try agressive measure to cleanit out I would consider it but not under any other situation. The solvent based flush combined with engine load is a recipe for increased wear well beyound what I think is acceptable. I do not even idle them up while flushing unless their is a sludge issue.
 
I did it last night and it made the oil very black. Now the oil was about the color of Honey with about 3000 miles on it. After about 10 minutes of fast idle I let it finsih at low idle. By fast idle I mean 1200-2000 rpm. The that came out was of course a lot thinner but was also as black as road tar!

So after letting it drain on ramps this is what I did. I left the old filter in place. I refilled with cheap dino 10W30 for a short run. I figure if their is anything else still in the engine a short 500-1000 miles OCI will get it out. The filter on this car is a ST 4967 so we are talking a tiny little filter. It can not hold more then 1/8 of a quart. The little bit of oil left in the filter is not going to hurt anything. Rember I am only going to leave the cheap dino oil in their for 500-1000 miles. It would not be worth it to waste a filter for that short of an oil change.

I was suprised to see how black the oil turned!! Their must have been something in their?
 
Either that or something designed to turn black and look like it did something.

I'd like to hear more about this. I have a 180k mile engine that I wouldn't mind experinmenting with.

I've done the Gary Allan ATF/MMO treatment with little or no results (good or bad)...I'm planning on trying again and increasing the concentration.

Can anyone chime in as to what's in this engine flush?
 
I'll say JB - you had some nasties residing in the recesses. There is nothing in Amsoil flush "designed to turn black and look like it did something."
smile.gif
That's a first!

Old oxidized oil more than likely. I would have changed filters, but that's just me.

You just flushed/drained oil and tarry substances from non-moving parts, more than likely.

How does the oil look now?
 
Pablo, That seems like a very thorough procedure. I like it. Is the modification of Auto-Rx's instructions based on common sense (nothing wrong with that!), or research/experimentation?

A point for clarification, too:

Do you put in the full 12 ounce bottle even in a 4 cylinder engine, where the Auto-Rx instructions only call for 8 oz.?

I may give that a try on my Toyota this year.
 
Up to you. According to Frank it shouldn't hurt anything, but he says it won't clean much better than 8 oz. I have my doubts, but it's his juice. He always says calculate it by oil capacity, which makes most sense. I just think a bit more won't hurt......
 
Pablo, I did a little experiment. I used 2 quarts of Power Service Diesel Lube Extender wich is a 50-60 weight GI heavily additized with ZN,CA,PHOS and two qurts of Walmart 10W30. I did not do this in the hope it would clean anything. I simply wanted to see how thick I could go before I noticed the drag from the viscosity on the engine. Let me tell you that while the engine starts right up and idles just fine you can notice the drag as soon as you start to drive it. It definately has made the engine slugish! I have no intension of leaveing tht much GI oil in my sump very long!!!!! It has made my engine insanely quite though. You can not hear any engine noise even with the windo down and radio and ac turned off. Going down the road no matter what the RPM's you can not hear any engine noise just transmission noise!
 
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