Engine Flush - What Do You Reckon?
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From: Old Codgers Home
Engine Flush - What Do You Reckon?
I used Flush once in my Calibra and wish I hadn't ...... tappets that had been silent became ticky.
I have 2 cars to give an oil change to .... no need to pop flush into the Scooby and won't (with 6 monthly changes)
But, whats your experience of the stuff? Been reading that you should do 2 oil changes after a flush to get the benefit (quite expensive with Fully Synthetic oil) ...........
The floor is open ...
Pete
I have 2 cars to give an oil change to .... no need to pop flush into the Scooby and won't (with 6 monthly changes)
But, whats your experience of the stuff? Been reading that you should do 2 oil changes after a flush to get the benefit (quite expensive with Fully Synthetic oil) ...........
The floor is open ...
Pete
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From: West Yorkshire
Don't !! (Do a search 
)
But just to add a recent experience to your request:
I occasionally help out at my mates garage/MOT station. On Saturday one of the local garages brought a Fiat Marea in for the MOT. Story goes that he'd had it in for a service and had used some engine flush in it. To cut a long story short after refilling with oil and starting the car it went bang!!
He'd ended up stripping the engine and to keep costs to a minimum as he was footing the bill he managed to get it running by changing the shells. However, while we were doing the CAT test which requires the car to be run at 2500-3000 rpm for about 30 seconds the engine started rattling although still ran. End result another strip down and crank regrind/ new shells!!
My mate on the other hand never uses flush and never has a problem.
Make your own decision from that story!!
Andy
)But just to add a recent experience to your request:
I occasionally help out at my mates garage/MOT station. On Saturday one of the local garages brought a Fiat Marea in for the MOT. Story goes that he'd had it in for a service and had used some engine flush in it. To cut a long story short after refilling with oil and starting the car it went bang!!
He'd ended up stripping the engine and to keep costs to a minimum as he was footing the bill he managed to get it running by changing the shells. However, while we were doing the CAT test which requires the car to be run at 2500-3000 rpm for about 30 seconds the engine started rattling although still ran. End result another strip down and crank regrind/ new shells!!
My mate on the other hand never uses flush and never has a problem.
Make your own decision from that story!!
Andy
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 38,078
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From: The hell where youth and laughter go
My (and shared) opinion:
Engines that fail after flushing would fail anyway...as there is an oil starvation/pressure problem or excessive wear problem already present. Concidence happens more often than you think, the flush maybe the last bit of icing on the cake, but without using flush it would still fail.
Reasons why you don't use it:
A well serviced car that uses good oil that is driven properly (not urban/short journeys and not thrashed round the lanes), will not have problems with any excessive build up of sludge and varnishes. So it doesn't need it.
A dirty engine, be it from bad maintainance, cheap oils, hard use or short/local use, or previous head gasket failure could potentially suffer from any eccessive sludge being loosened, then picked up and dumped in the oil filter, thus opening the bypass valve and feeding unfiltered crap straight to the bearings...bear in mind this is "gossip", proof is difficult to find
Sludge could still be loosened and picked up and overwhelm the filter in the exact same manner without using any flush - just by simply changing the oil and going for a blast.
Engines that fail after flushing would fail anyway...as there is an oil starvation/pressure problem or excessive wear problem already present. Concidence happens more often than you think, the flush maybe the last bit of icing on the cake, but without using flush it would still fail.
Reasons why you don't use it:
A well serviced car that uses good oil that is driven properly (not urban/short journeys and not thrashed round the lanes), will not have problems with any excessive build up of sludge and varnishes. So it doesn't need it.
A dirty engine, be it from bad maintainance, cheap oils, hard use or short/local use, or previous head gasket failure could potentially suffer from any eccessive sludge being loosened, then picked up and dumped in the oil filter, thus opening the bypass valve and feeding unfiltered crap straight to the bearings...bear in mind this is "gossip", proof is difficult to find
Sludge could still be loosened and picked up and overwhelm the filter in the exact same manner without using any flush - just by simply changing the oil and going for a blast.
Last edited by ALi-B; Feb 20, 2005 at 10:32 PM.
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From: Stockport Cheshire Xbox Gamertag: Scooby WRX SMACS Member
If you've been using a synthetic oil then you shouldn't need to do this as the oil has very high quality detergent addatives which are far more efficient than using a product that contains kerosene/paraffin.
Cheers
Simon
Cheers
Simon
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From: Maidenhead, Berkshire
My 2p worth
Morning all.
My MY00 Scoob is currently under a Proven warranty so won't be doing any oil changes myself for a while, but here's my oppinion on the matter... although specific to my MR2 Turbo...
It's not uncommon for people to reduce the frequency of 'book' oil changes based on their own preferences. I used to change the oil in my MR2 every 6,000 miles but since breaching 60,000 miles I've reduced this to every 3,000 miles. This takes into account not only the age of the engine but the load I'm placing on it and how dirty oil can get in a short space of time. Spy the oil pictured below which is jet black after just 3,000 miles (btw, I use M1 15W-50);
http://www.sopertek.co.uk/mr2/service/3000mileoil.jpg
I'm a fan of flushing agents as I'm confident such agents will help to remove sludge and other dirt deposits that build up in the engine, which if left to remain could cause potential problems like oil starvation if a blockage occurs.
Before filling with new oil I use an additive flush followed by a dedicated one. The results can be quite impressive -- the pictures below show the results of using a dedicated agent after an additive type was used (and the oil drained.) The dedicated agent was originally clear -- not quite the case after it's flushed through a drained engine!
http://www.sopertek.co.uk/mr2/service/newflush.jpg
http://www.sopertek.co.uk/mr2/servic...clearflush.jpg
Of course, there's a risk with flushing but one I'm prepared to take. Although there is an obvious benefit when flushing, small defects could also be exposed if sludge that was previously 'plugging' a crack is removed. Nature of the beast I'm afraid. If I'm honest though, I'd rather pay to have a leak fixed than perhaps more serious work after oil starvation.
Regards,
Jonts.
My MY00 Scoob is currently under a Proven warranty so won't be doing any oil changes myself for a while, but here's my oppinion on the matter... although specific to my MR2 Turbo...
It's not uncommon for people to reduce the frequency of 'book' oil changes based on their own preferences. I used to change the oil in my MR2 every 6,000 miles but since breaching 60,000 miles I've reduced this to every 3,000 miles. This takes into account not only the age of the engine but the load I'm placing on it and how dirty oil can get in a short space of time. Spy the oil pictured below which is jet black after just 3,000 miles (btw, I use M1 15W-50);
http://www.sopertek.co.uk/mr2/service/3000mileoil.jpg
I'm a fan of flushing agents as I'm confident such agents will help to remove sludge and other dirt deposits that build up in the engine, which if left to remain could cause potential problems like oil starvation if a blockage occurs.
Before filling with new oil I use an additive flush followed by a dedicated one. The results can be quite impressive -- the pictures below show the results of using a dedicated agent after an additive type was used (and the oil drained.) The dedicated agent was originally clear -- not quite the case after it's flushed through a drained engine!
http://www.sopertek.co.uk/mr2/service/newflush.jpg
http://www.sopertek.co.uk/mr2/servic...clearflush.jpg
Of course, there's a risk with flushing but one I'm prepared to take. Although there is an obvious benefit when flushing, small defects could also be exposed if sludge that was previously 'plugging' a crack is removed. Nature of the beast I'm afraid. If I'm honest though, I'd rather pay to have a leak fixed than perhaps more serious work after oil starvation.
Regards,
Jonts.
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