Tiny bit of ATF fluid in the engine oil. Do I need a full flush?

[Bmsluite]

Alright so I was topping off my track car with oil after the race weekend.

Stupidly I grabbed an oil jug that I had drained atf power steering fluid into. Clean synthetic power steering fluid.

I then poured in maybe 2 tablespoons of ATF fluid into my oil fill before realizing it was red (racer, fast reaction times)

Anyways..... Should I just drain and fill the oil? What sucks is I have a giant oil cooler and I can never get allllll the oil out during a change.

Maybe it will just clean out some deposits a little bit?

Thoughts on some sort of bad chemical reactions or am I over reacting?

Just drain and fill and call it day....?

 

[kschachn]

It won’t do any cleaning and it won’t do any harm.

 

[Klutch9]

Don’t waste any oil by dumping it, just run it. The two are fully miscible.

 

[walterjay]

Not a problem. Knew a guy who liked to mix ATF into his oil. He never had a problem.

 

[burbguy82]

Wont hurt a thing, and unlike some I think it does help clean stuff out. If i had one fluid to take with me on a long expedition, it would be ATF.

 

[atikovi]

Isn't Marvel Mystery oil mostly ATF anyway?

 

[Bmsluite]

OK, thanks everyone! I'll just run it

 

[kschachn]

Wont hurt a thing, and unlike some I think it does help clean stuff out. If i had one fluid to take with me on a long expedition, it would be ATF.

Is user @MolaKule mistaken or uninformed?

Cure ticking lifters with ATF

ATF is a glorified hydraulic oil. It has no purpose being in an engine under any circumstances. Typical KV100 values for Dex VI is ~6 cSt which is equivalent to about a 0w-12 engine oil. MMO is 70% pale oil with small amounts of alcohol, naphtha, and chlorine. I'd pass. Detergents don't...

bobistheoilguy.com

 

[SC Maintenance]

Isn't Marvel Mystery oil mostly ATF anyway?

I think so. Way back I was told to pour a cup of ATF in with the oil if you had sticking hydraulic lifters. It seemed to work. Made them quieter anyway?

 

[Bottom_Feeder]

It's totaled.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

It's not a problem at all

 

[burbguy82]

Is user @MolaKule mistaken or uninformed?

Cure ticking lifters with ATF

ATF is a glorified hydraulic oil. It has no purpose being in an engine under any circumstances. Typical KV100 values for Dex VI is ~6 cSt which is equivalent to about a 0w-12 engine oil. MMO is 70% pale oil with small amounts of alcohol, naphtha, and chlorine. I'd pass. Detergents don't...

bobistheoilguy.com

Is your favorite food, salad?

I have no idea who @MolaKule is, nor do I care what his opinion is, on this subject, or why you are bringing his opinion up to me.

 

[kschachn]

Is your favorite food, salad?

I have no idea who @MolaKule is, nor do I care what his opinion is, on this subject, or why you are bringing his opinion up to me.

Makes sense, given some of the prior posts you've made.

 

[Astro14]

It won’t do any cleaning and it won’t do any harm.

This.

 

[Astro14]

Let’s slow down a bit.

@burbguy82 - you should care who @MolaKule is, not just because he is right, but because he has a PhD in this and works in the industry. Very few folks on here have his level of expertise.

ATF has no magical cleaning properties. It just doesn’t. Read the post linked above, along with the linked paper.

Here is another post of his explaining that:

Post in thread 'Engine oil flush treatments.'
https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/engine-oil-flush-treatments.307857/post-5396892

Part of why folks are seeing cleaning from HPL oils is the ester content. Since ATF hasn’t had esters for decades, ATF hasn’t been a cleaner since then…since they got rid of whale oil.

 

[burbguy82]

You should care who @MolaKule is, not just because he is right, but because he has a PhD in this ands works in the industry. Very few folks on here have his level of expertise.

Great. PhD. But that was not my point of the statement. Never interacted with him\her.

 

[kschachn]

Great. PhD. But that was not my point of the statement. Never interacted with him\her.

It's probably the highlighted part that is relevant, which is the difference between "can't understand" and "won't understand":

I have no idea who @MolaKule is, nor do I care what his opinion is, on this subject, or why you are bringing his opinion up to me.

 

[Astro14]

Great. PhD. But that was not my point of the statement. Never interacted with him\her.

I think my critical point is: read more. Seek out those who are experts, read what they have to say, before belittling their opinions.

Whether or not you’ve interacted with him, seems irrelevant. The fact is there are some very smart people on this forum, I think it’s reasonable to say that their expert and their field

Imagine you’re sitting at a bar, and you have some strongly held opinions on college basketball. You’re sharing them.

The guy next to you also has some opinions on coaching college basketball. You laugh at his opinions. “Why do I care what you think?” You say.

And the guy is Bobby Knight.

You have repeatedly claimed some thing that is not true, that ATF is a cleaner. It is not - plain and simple.

 

[nascarnation]

The ATF story goes back to the 1950s and 60s when GM Dexron used an additive of sperm whale oil which actually was a detergent. In 1972 that was prohibited by the Endangered Species Act and the additive pack was changed. It's impressive to me how a 50+ year old story can still be around today.

 

[thastinger]

Many moons ago, it was pretty common to put half a qt of tranny fluid in the oil and half a qt of oil in the tranny. It won't hurt a thing.