I tried the search but did not see it.
Need to flush a 2005 3.5 litre v/6 in a dodge mini van.
Thanks a lot!
Need to flush a 2005 3.5 litre v/6 in a dodge mini van.
Thanks a lot!
What's the best engine oil flush?
- Thread starter callbay
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Noise in the engine that sounds like a lifter not getting enough oil. I don't have any history of the vehicle but the oil is very dirty. Thought I'd try the easiest thing first. New oil, filter, and engine flush in case it's just something blocking an oil passage.
Thanks.
Thanks.
I'm sure if I'm off base here someone will correct me, but I think almost all motor oils contain some kind of detergent...is that correct? I don't trust engine flushes as I don't believe they are good at all at lubricating, and most of them thin your oil terribly...I would recommend just doing several frequent oil changes and just use the cheapest oil you can find. Maybe do 2 or 3 changes at like 1000 mile intervals. This should do a pretty good job of flushing it out without damaging the engine. Does your oil come out real dirty when you do your normal oil changes?
Don't know anything about the oil as I was just given the van after someone passed away. 138,000 miles and it looks like it was not well taken care of.
Sorry, it's a 3.8.
Any suggestions??
Any suggestions??
Originally Posted By: callbay
Sorry, it's a 3.8.
Any suggestions??
Kreen or MMO, lots of info about them in the oil additive section.
Sorry, it's a 3.8.
Any suggestions??
Kreen or MMO, lots of info about them in the oil additive section.
Maybe run a quart of MMO for a week before a change, then just use PYB or equivalent?
You're going to get 20 different answers to this...
You're going to get 20 different answers to this...
Don't use a flush. you may end up blocking an oil passage. Cleaning an engines internals is best done slowly. Use a good conventional and say a purolator classic, or some filter thats not too expensive. change filter often say 1000 miles. Pennzoil yellow bottle, mobil clean, Probably any sn oil will work.
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Originally Posted By: spasm3
Don't use a flush. you may end up blocking an oil passage. Cleaning an engines internals is best done slowly. Use a good conventional and say a purolator classic, or some filter thats not too expensive. change filter often say 1000 miles. Pennzoil yellow bottle, mobil clean, Probably any sn oil will work.
I don't think shorter conventional dino OCI's will do much. I posted pictures of 3.1L Buick engine that was very well maintained with 3K dino OCI's and was loaded up with varnish, and had less than 100K miles on it. It saw PYB, Mobil, and other top brand dino oil. I agree that a flush is not a good idea, but to properly clean an engine with unknown history more than dino oil is needed. JMO
Don't use a flush. you may end up blocking an oil passage. Cleaning an engines internals is best done slowly. Use a good conventional and say a purolator classic, or some filter thats not too expensive. change filter often say 1000 miles. Pennzoil yellow bottle, mobil clean, Probably any sn oil will work.
I don't think shorter conventional dino OCI's will do much. I posted pictures of 3.1L Buick engine that was very well maintained with 3K dino OCI's and was loaded up with varnish, and had less than 100K miles on it. It saw PYB, Mobil, and other top brand dino oil. I agree that a flush is not a good idea, but to properly clean an engine with unknown history more than dino oil is needed. JMO
Slow and steady as to not cause yourself more problems is the underlying idea.
If you don't know the history, you don't want to dislodge junk rapidly.
You are getting good ideas above, just don't jump into it and expect a miracle cure overnight.
There are LOTS of posts on Kreen, MMO, etc...
If you don't know the history, you don't want to dislodge junk rapidly.
You are getting good ideas above, just don't jump into it and expect a miracle cure overnight.
There are LOTS of posts on Kreen, MMO, etc...
Auto-RX took care of a lifter tick on my car. I feel it is the best stuff out there. My thoughts are engine oils won't clean severe sludge. Good luck
Personally on a unknown engine with unknown history all I'd do IS shorter NORMAL OCIs with whatever is recommended (I think in that engine is 5w-20 conventional) and see what happens.
The oil in there may be wrong/old/?? and getting it back to a normal maintenance schedule may be all it needs. I would be VERY concerned with anything other than safe and cause some leaks or damage.
Remember it took some time to get to 138,000 miles and 8 years.*IF* there is a problem you are not going to fix it in a few months with a bottle of anything.
JMO.. Bill
The oil in there may be wrong/old/?? and getting it back to a normal maintenance schedule may be all it needs. I would be VERY concerned with anything other than safe and cause some leaks or damage.
Remember it took some time to get to 138,000 miles and 8 years.*IF* there is a problem you are not going to fix it in a few months with a bottle of anything.
JMO.. Bill
I would personally drop a pan and inspect inside. If lots of sludge, clean manually and proceed with caution with slow cleaning like people posted above. If clean, then flush should not be an issue. Kreen is the strongest possible cleaning/flushing agent.
Hello, Expanding on what Bill in Utah just said...since you don't know what the heck is in there, start with a simple oil change. Can't go wrong! The only anecdotal data I can give you is that my sister's second hand, 4.0 liter Jeep drained fairly dark oil when the time came for her first oil change. That would've been @~70K. I went with jug dino and saw the oil get cleaner over 3 or 4 oil changes using 3K OCIs. I rolled into factory recommended 5K OCIs using the same stuff and never looked back. I opened the valve cover to replace the gasket and everything was super clean. Try just running your engine on new oil first-perhaps a cheaper synthetic. Good luck Kira
I also recommend you inspect the block before deciding to use any type of cleaner. If you can't see anything from the oil filler hole, you're going to have to dig further to get some into.
A second option before pulling the valve cover or oil pan is to remove the oil filter and inspect the area inside. If there is serious discoloring in this high oil flow area, you bet your buns there is some build up / sludge elsewhere in the block.
Inspect the block and report back. Then once we have more information about the actual condition inside the engine, better suggestions can be given.
A second option before pulling the valve cover or oil pan is to remove the oil filter and inspect the area inside. If there is serious discoloring in this high oil flow area, you bet your buns there is some build up / sludge elsewhere in the block.
Inspect the block and report back. Then once we have more information about the actual condition inside the engine, better suggestions can be given.
This kind of sounds like an old mechanics tale, but years ago I would replace one of the regular motor oil qts with a qt of Marvel Mystery Oil at an oil change, then run it the full OCI and then do a regular oil change. The MMO thins the oil, but it has excellent lube qualities so it won't do damage. I normally only did it once right after I'd buy a used car. The last few cars I've had where pretty clean...the oils today do a better job of keeping engines clean so I haven't had to use the MMO in quite a while, but I'd still use it if I needed it....
I went to Wal-mart and got a 5 quart bottle of SuperTec 5-20 oil and a cheap Fram filter as they did not have a Purolator Classic in the size I needed for the mini-van. I changed it cold so I did not have to start it with the old oil. The old stuff was pretty bad. I put some of it in a glass container and it stuck to the wall of the container with a thick coating. The filter was a Champion brand cheap filter that looked like the old Wal-Mart Super Tec's. It is about an inch shorter than even the Fram is. Don't know how many miles were on the oil.
It did not seem to help when I started it with the new oil and I let it sit there and warm up which did not help either.
It was strange that the knocking would sometimes almost go away and often changed its sound. I called the widow of the owner and she said they drove it a week with the knock and then parked it. If only they had changed the oil more often.
The noise seems to be in the top of the engine. Does this sound like a lifter gone bad?
What would you recommend doing at this point?
Thanks a ton.
It did not seem to help when I started it with the new oil and I let it sit there and warm up which did not help either.
It was strange that the knocking would sometimes almost go away and often changed its sound. I called the widow of the owner and she said they drove it a week with the knock and then parked it. If only they had changed the oil more often.
The noise seems to be in the top of the engine. Does this sound like a lifter gone bad?
What would you recommend doing at this point?
Thanks a ton.
For what it's worth, I put a little Seafoam (maybe 1/5th of a can) in the crankcase of an old VW whose oil pressure warning light kept going on randomly while driving. Afterwards the oil got a bit darker, but the light never went on again. Maybe it just cleaned off the sensor, who knows.
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