Should You Flush Your Engine?
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 1 авг 2021
- The question, “should you flush your engine” recently came up after I inspected the salvage yard engine I just bought. Under the valve cover there was some sludge build up that I was concerned about. In this video I talk about my views on flushing engines and what to do if you have an engine similar to this one.
I hope you find the information helpful.
Thanks for watching!
#ETCG1Video #EngineFlush
Subscribe to my other channel EricTheCarGuy: ruclips.net/user/EricTheC...
Become a Premium Member of EricTheCarGuy.com: www.ericthecarguy.com/why-bec...
My Patreon Account: / ericthecarguy
The best place for answers to your automotive questions: www.ericthecarguy.com
EricTheCarGuy FAQ Page: www.ericthecarguy.com/faq/
Related Videos
2005 Honda Odyssey Give Away (Episode 7) Fixing it Forward: • 2005 Honda Odyssey Giv...
A Mechanics Worst Nightmare: • A Mechanics Worst Nigh...
Regular Oil vs Synthetic Oil: • Regular Oil vs Synthet...
Re: Regular Oil vs Synthetic Oil: • Re: Regular Oil vs Sy...
What Happens When You Don’t Change Your Oil: • What Happens When You ...
Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Oil But Were Afraid to Ask: • Everything You Always ...
Fixing it Forward Playlist: • Introducing Fixing it ...
**Answers to your automotive questions found here: www.ericthecarguy.com/faq
Social Network Links
Facebook: EricTheCarGu...
Twitter: / ericthecarguy
Instagram: / ericthecarguy
Wanna see more stuff like this from ETCG? Information on Premium Membership: www.ericthecarguy.com/premium...
Stay Dirty
ETCG1 
Авто/Мото
i do an engine flush once a year as a preventative maintenance. that being said i have a 79 volvo with almost 560k that ive owned for 30 years
Must be helping them nice
Do you still have this car😮🎉??
@@luismiguellopez3529 yes i still own it
my son now drives it with 610256 on the clock. he just drove to colorado from oregon and back with no issues.
You have just set my mind, i was just thinking of flushing before oil change, what you said completely clicked in, because my heart was all gunked up, the surgeon fitted a stent to clear the blockage, but in the process the gunk travelled through my pipes and caused a blockage in the main artery in my leg, all sorted !
now i flush my system regularly with Rum ;)
Thank you this video is really helping to me to understand that engine flushing is not required and can harm your car rather then helping the engine.
You said something that resonated with me. Back in ‘79/80 the very first shop I worked for, I mentioned that I wanted to flush my engine to clean it out. My boss looked at me and said that I might clean out anything that is keeping my engine from leaking in the first place. I eventually just pulled the pan, cleaned it and replaced the oil pump. All my oil changes afterwards were clean. Your advice kept me from making that mistake this weekend with a VVT engine. Thanks!
I'm so sorry this happened to you and her. You worked so hard on that and did so many test drives and nothing happened and then this. :(
My hats off to you Eric for sticking with your commitment. Good man
Personal experience from a 2005 Colorado I had. It had oil burning issues from lots of awful buy here pay here ownership and PCV issues they were already known for. I changed the oil religiously at 2-3k intervals and this slowly fixed the oil burning issues over about 15k and I never had to purchase the expensive valve cover with integrated PCV and the i5 ran like a top.
Thank you Eric! This is great information. I suspected flashing and you have confirmed this for me. A greatly needed video!
Aw man, all that work. Hopefully the salvage engine has better luck. I guess the plus side is we get more content🤷♂️
I completely believe what you said about finding sludge that was a mold of gunk under the valve covers because it happened to me. Back in the early 70s, I bought a used Mercury Cougar with, if I remember correctly, a 251 c.i. engine. I had no idea who owed it previously or how it was taken care of. I went to change the oil and it wouldn't accept anywhere near the oil expected oil capacity. So I took off the valve covers and what I found was amazing. There were perfect sludge molds with "Ford" imbossed in the surface from the raised letters on valve covers. They looked just like black Jello molds. Then I took removed the pan and it was half filled with sludge. I'm amazed I even had oil pressure. Of course, I cleaned everything up and I think I ran an engine flush but I got rid of that car as fast as possible. It's amazing how some people don't seem to know that you have to maintain cars.
Oh, they know. They just literally don't care at all. To a non enthusiast, if the car physically cranks & starts, it doesn't need anything.
OMG, what a case of the worst luck with the Odyssey. I have never flushed an engine. My practice has been to change oil in all the vehicles I have ever owned at roughly 3,000 to 5,000 miles. Recently, after watching a good RUclips comparison on oils I bought Amsoil's full synthetic oil and their filter for my 2019 Mazda CX-5. The tab for the filter, five quarts of oil and shipping was $85. I do not put a lot of miles on my vehicles, and am planning to go 12,000 miles before I change this oil. That will be the longest I've ever gone between oil changes on any car I've owned or that my family has owned and I helped maintain. I plan to monitor the oil level closely, top it off if for some reason it drops, and will change it when I hit the 12k mark.
Since the Amsoil comparison I've watched some other RUclipsrs and am now convinced that if I change my oil on a reasonable, regular basis I do not need to buy the most expensive synthetic oil and filter. It's a waste of money. Basically, I'm getting back to my old practice, but just using synthetic oil instead.
I don't think any of us would argue that regular oil and filter changes is the best way to get the maximum life out of an engine.
153,000 miles on my perfectly clean engine. *HOW DID I DO THIS?* It's a 2012 Ford Focus (manual trans) and I have always changed my oil at the correct interval, usually 3,000 - 3,800 miles (Ford recommends 5,000). At 90,000 miles I started using High Mileage oil. At 120,000 miles I started using Marvel Mystery Oil with every other oil change. My upper cylinder head has *always* been perfectly clean. The only thing that changed was the FIRST TIME I used Marvel Mystery Oil in the crankcase my fuel mileage jumped 4 - 5 mpg in both winter and summer. I am now averaging 37 - 40 mpg in MIXED driving in the summer, and 32 - 36 in the winter (NE Ohio). I only decided to use MMO because of its historical reputation, and loyalty among old timers. I am now a believer. The immediate result, EVEN IN A CLEAN ENGINE, is astounding. It still runs like new as well. I completely believe if you buy a car new, or even with 16,000 miles on it like I did, there is NO REASON to have a sludged up engine.
I have flushed engines in the past but they already had some issues. You made some very good points. I have a 1995 Tahoe with a 5.7 ltr. It was using almost 3 qts. of oil between oils changes. Had 198k miles. It also needed an oil pan gasket so I decided to do kerosene and ATF flush prior to removing the oil pan. It was nasty in the pan and oil pickup screen. The engine now has 252k miles and only uses 1/2 qt between oil changes. I guess my luck is a little better than yours. Good video.
Thanks for the tip Eric 👍 I recently watched an interview with the makers of Red Line and the guy recommended the same thing. Instead he performed multiple oil changes with conventional oil (non-Redline) to let the detergents do some 'gentle' cleaning until the drained oil cleaned up somewhat.
Odd they said that. I've heard it said that the group V base of Redline makes it one of the best cleaning oils on the market, much better than group III or IV oils.
A mechanic told me the best way to flush an engine is with regular oil, replace it after 1000km a few times and let the included cleaning agents slowly clean it out - he does this with highly sludged engines that customers bring in having not changed the oil in a long time, and it takes about 5-6 changes to clean it out to a reasonable standard.
My parents had a 1993 camry. Those 4 cylinder engines were notorious for sludging up. I added 1 quart of oil and the rest was diesel-idled the car for 10 min, drained it and added oil with one quart of diesel-idled again for 10 min. Each time using a new filter. Finally, I filled it with oil and and the top end clatter was gone and the oil pressure was back to normal at idle. That saved the car. Wouldn’t do it on a modern car though.
I've change my oil every 3 months or 3,000 miles for the last 20 years on my Xterra.
The last couple of years I've been adding the recommended amount of MMO with the oil and filter changes.
Haven't had any issue, but then again the internals were extremely clean even after 20 years
From what I have read on the trusty internet MMO is mostly Kerosene (it was mentioned in the video that kerosene is old school engine flush). That being said I usually will remove enough oil and use MMO about 500 miles before an oil change BUT only on my older cars that do not have any Variable valve timing or such, wouldn't dare put it in any newer (2003+) cars. Also I put some MMO in the gas on occasion, but looking up the octane of Kerosene (15) i've started to put in octane booster when I put any in the gas.
@@presidentpoopypants1448 Interesting .... I've actually been running I believe 20% in my crankcase full time. My engine doesn't have VVT so there is no issue with that.
I also add MMO to the fuel every other fill up. If I remember correctly there was a Chrysler, early to mid 60's (1964?)that came equipped with a MMO injection pump plumbed into the carb/ intake.
Scotty Kilmer recommends AT-205 for leaks, going to try it out for some engine oil leaks I have
Eric, whilst I don't disagree with you about super sludged up engines, I've had good experiences reducing oil consumption by doing a flush. It's important to do it methodically, I always run the flush with FRESH oil. That means, 1. Do an oil change, drive the car a bit. 2. Do the flush oil change. 3. Do another final oil change after 500 miles. Doing this on a few Toyotas has reduced oil consumption and improved compression (tested) which has stayed healthy by follow up with 5k oil changed. Most people don't do all of this before and after flushing so maybe don't get all the benefits. Sure it carries some risk, but if you do it this way it's pretty low. I've tried LiquiMoly and SeaFoam.
How was the liqui Molly
@@righteous_entertainment8539 Good stuff.
just deal with the oil consumption. it's probably less than all those quarts / gallons of oils during your flush procedure. Not efficient at all...and very wasteful.
@@biz4twobiz463 dismantling an engine puts the car out of use for several hours and days, it's not really wasteful since it's just an extra oil change to reduce oil use in the long term which can cause more damage to the catalytic converter and you run the risk of running out of oil if you forget a top up.
I was thinking the same thing, it shouldn't hurt to do the flush with fresh oil just like doing two oil changes at a time. If the motor blows up then, I'd say it had preexisting problems.
I am driving a 2006 nissan sentra 1.8L with 230K. I just did an engine flush last week. The next day, I took off to Mexico, which is a 10 hour drive from my house. My car performed well. I noticed my gas mileage went up and the motor felt smoother
You're a lot more convincing to NOT flush motors than Scotty's video on same subject, thanks. Yes, I am a kerosene flusher from way back but that was WAY back in 60's. Today's motors with tight tolerences probably shouldn't be flushed, agreed.
I feel for you, man...I also was the recipient of bad news after a repair and had to own the problem. As far as motor flushing goes, I have never had a bad result by doing this. It's never a one-off procedure though. My daughter was given a 1999 Accord from her aunt who was moving from Brooklyn, NY to Sacramento, CA. The car only had 72K miles on it, but these were primarily NYC street miles, very little highway miles. Also it looked as though the oil was never changed periodically. Needless to say the stuff sorta oozed out.
One day the car started bucking on her and threw a CEL. It turned out the VTEC screen was clogged with gunk. I DID the engine flush, changed the oil, ran it for 1000 miles, ran another flush, changed the oil again and replaced the VTEC screen and gasket. She's put more than 40K miles on it since then, but I religiously changed the oil every 5000 miles with hi-mileage oil AFTER a five minute motor flush. I check and clean the VTEC screen each time.
The last few times the VTEC screen was pretty clear. So I think I'm done flushing, but will stick with the high-mileage oil changes. Yeah, it's a pain, but I think I brought this engine a longer life than it would have had if it stayed in Brooklyn.
I like to use marvel mystery oil about 30 miles before the oil change. It lightly cleans from my experience. Great in the gas too. You have to look at the condition of the engine too. Borescope down the dip stick tube. In the valve covers and anywhere it will fit to see if there's large deposits of goo. I think a flush with an external high capacity filter might be ok.
I had a 1993 Jeep Cherokee 4.0 with 130K. It had a lifter that became noisy so I used Marvel Mystery oil. I ran it for about 100 miles and it fixed the noisy lifter. I had a 1998 Jeep Cherokee that ran Amsoil in and sold it with about 100k on it. The lady that bought it still has me change her oil. I did and Amsoil flush and kept using Amsoil oil. The Jeep is still running good.
Really good advice, and I can see your genuine. All the best from Steve in the UK
Sound advice Eric. Was thinking about doing an engine flush on my 99 Camaro SS 6sp with 85k original miles but I'm glad I caught your video. Also, I couldn't help but notice how clean your shop is. This tells me a lot about you and the way you go about your business. Good luck and I look forward to viewing more of your auto videos in the near future.
ME TOO I WAS THINKING OF DOING THE SAME I ASKED THIS QUESTION AND THIS VIDEO LOOKED LIKE THE RIGHT ONE I LIKE THIS GUY HES COOL FUNNY AND DOWN TO EARTH MY KIND OF PERSON
It's exactly as you said - you need to be very mindful of a lot of factors if you're thinking about doing an engine oil flush. Older engines that don't have any fancy controls that can get clogged or damaged are fine. But something like this, you definitely need to think twice. In cases like this, it might be better to just change the oil VERY frequently and religiously. Fresh clean oil can sometimes help to wash away sludge and buildup, rather than attacking it directly and immediately with an engine flush treatment.
As someone who have worked in auto parts in almost 6 years, in Sweden tho so maybe not 100% applicable to US.
The only mineral or standard oils I've seen on the shelves in my stores have been 15w-50, 20w-50 or straight SAE50. It is only sold to customers with say 60s or 70s or older cars basically.
All other oils say 5w-40 down to 0w-20 and everything in between them are synthetic because those are the only oils that meets the OEM requirements.
Its the only oil our proffesional customers buy and therefore the oil that ends up in most normal peoples cars, since most people dont do work on their own cars. I think people almost only use synthetic due to the improved cold starts aswell since it gets colder than -30C /-22F pretty much every winter.
We almost only carry synthetic, because 95% of our customers will not buy anything else.
There are no advantages to run non-syntheric oil in pretty much any engine since the 90s anyways, synthetics are just objectivly better. Better lubrication, longer life and less carbon deposits. And in modern engines with DPF its even more important to run the correct oil, since the wrong oils deposits can clog up the DPF over time, and the money saved on cheaper oil for a few years does not equal a new DPF, not by a long shot.
My only personal experiences with oil flush is that it got rid of our Citroen C4s problem with misfires during some accelerations, if i recall correctly it was a direct injection gasoline engine, so it never got the cleaning effects of gasoline on the back of the intake valves so it built up some carbon there.
When a customer asks about it I always make sure they know the risk of flushing old crap into the oil pick-up and potentially damaging the engine. It might result in me not selling as much of that product, but it builds a more trusting relationship with the customer most of the time and I value that more than a $15 sale.
I've never had a customer return and complain that their engine broke, but I've also not had anyone come back and say it did wonders either. I think it is because people here are often very good at chaning the oil on time and also since almost everyone runs synthetic it is much less carbon deposits building up in the engines anyways.
I've done two engine flushes, had no issues. I was also prepped to change the rear main seal as well as the front seal.
I’ve flushed 100’s of engines, a clean engine is a happy engine. That being said, yes bad things can happen, but a sludged up engine isn’t a happy engine.
The key is maintenance from the get go.
I flushed engine on my old car and just like eric cloged up oul screen and starved engine of oil and destroy crank, main and big eng bearings.
How many of those flushes did you follow up on over the life of the engine?
gunk in engine relatively stays put, releasing it may cause even more problems like clogging pickup screen, unless you take oil pan off and clean pickup screen and what else you can i wouldn't risk it, my two cents.
@@jimmybob6740 only one, car was 32 years old when I bought it. It was project car. Engine is currently in parts waits to be reassembled
@@lordred7462Then do your research. I think its because it ran with non synthetic mineral oil, its whole live. You could have even destroyed it by using cheap semi synthetic oil, wich would clean it to death. Old engine should always stay with its old oil. Only after rebuilt a change to semi or full synth can be done.
No good deed goes unpunished
I swear my GM truck whispers that to me every time im under her 😂
You should flush if you do change your oil enough.
Exactly what I wanted to hear. It just confirmed what I was thinking. Thank you.
No problem finding conventional oil. Castrol GTX, Valvoline Conventional, Pennzoil, etc. 5 litre jugs on sale sometimes for $13.00. It's SN Plus rated and light-years better than conventionals used to be.
My 62 352 ford has sludge and ive been slowly getting it out with marvel mystery oil every oil change.
I'm currently on vehicle number 10 (7 years later) on using marvel mystery oil through the crank case with each oil change (1/2 the recommended amounts) and the results each time have been nothing short of amazing.
Each vehicle over 150000 miles. Each one has stopped burning oil between changes.
MMOIL seems to be safe and effective if used correctly. Many vids by experts explain better than I can.
You can safely use a solvent product in that type of engine. In later engines, I wouldn't. Not in any from this century. You would get the same results just changing the oil. All modern oil are semisynthetic to a degree even in the label doesn't say so.
That absolutely sucks that the van came back. I know this must really bug you considering all the work you’ve put into the vehicle to help a person in need.
I had good luck flushing my old GM 3100 years ago. Now I own an 08 accord that has a K24 with a quarter of a million miles on it. You just confirmed my worst fears about flushing that engine. Thank you for that Eric. Also, I went to walmart to get oil for my next oil change and wouldn't you know it? Barely any conventional oil. It was all either synthetic blends or full synthetic.
Huge difference between heavy sludge and using a flush to just clean those actuators and solenoids and oil passageways in a VVT system, amongst other things
The only time we ever talked about flushing an engine when I worked in a shop, was when one came in with so much sludge it came out in chunks. We agreed that a flush would be more problems, the only options were leave it and work it out with oil changes, or take it all apart and clean everything manually. At that point it's only a few steps shy of an engine rebuild, not what the customer wanted to hear. If I remember correctly, the engine ended up being replaced because the VVT kept failing, for obvious reasons.
Didn't think about this, but this may explain how I blew up my 340 Wildcat all those years ago. Had the car for a couple of years before I took off the valve covers. Lots of gunk, so I flushed it with transmission fluid. A month later I noticed a tickticktick and before I could investigate, an end cap came apart and sent a connecting rod through the side of the block. There were words said and tears shed. Never thought to look at the oil pump pickup.
Yeah cant do it to an old engine only modern cars
I killed my old transmission by changing the fluid. Somehow in all my amateur auto mechanic learning curve I missed the memo on how I was supposed to maintain it. So with new fluid, stuff came free and the thing died. Sold my old car for scrap in a hurry. Lesson learned! Maintain, and don't believe 'em when they say it's a "lifetime fluid". They mean they want your car to die in X years so you'll get another one.
I had horrible sludge on my Nissan frontier v6. It was unbelievable when I removed the valve covers. I just left the valve covers off and pressure washed the rockers as good as I could and spray the 0° nozzle down the holes etc. Drained the oil and refilled it and it's been good for 5 years now. People think I'm crazy but I recommend everyone to do it. As long as you drain the oil it's fine
Can I get a step by step
The only things I ever flush are toilets and cooling systems.
That’s a good one 😂
Yup, and even then I've seen and heard of water pumps that start leaking a little while afterwards. Seems like that debris always needs somewhere to go. It's still worth doing, but IMHO a new water pump should be factored into the cost of a coolant flush.
As for engines the only flush I use is good oil and 4oz of Marvel Mystery Oil for a slower, gentler cleaning. It's worked for me so far.
Just wait until you try colon blow
please.... toilets auto flush if they get filled enough
LOl
I feel so bad for both of you. That stinks. I’m sure it will all work out in the end. :)
My brother used to work at an Audi dealership and cars would come in with motors that were caked with sludge. They had these mystery unmarked drums that they would pour through the engine, 3 passed and the motors would be spotless on the inside. They never had a problem with cars coming back, that stuff must have dissolved the sludge or something.
Thx for clearing that up , honda civic with 330,000 on it with very infrequent oil changes has a oil leak from the front crank seal but apart from that it runs great, still has the original factory clutch in it too.
In my case works pretty dam good, I used liquid molly twice, so two flushes. It was a 2001 silverado with 5.3 the worse lifters noise ever, after those two flush and good synthetic oil the change was day and night. The noise disappear and oil pressure over 40 psi warm, it did work for me. But you guys know, every engine is a different world.
I run synthetic in my tdi for years. Had to replace the oil pan and was no sludge at all. Took the head off a few years latter and same no sludge and clean up top. Now in my case I always used synthetic, changed oil all the time, I commonly run my engine for 3+ hours straight at least 4 times a month. 250,000km
My heart sank into my shoes when you said it blew up. I have the same EXACT fears when I do rebuilds. Worst absolute feeling.
Hi there. I just discovered your channel. You have some wonderful content. In regards to oil flushes, in the 36 years of driving different vehicles, I have NEVER used oil flush additives. Many years ago, an old Mechanic explained to me the consequences of using oil flush. This is the exact same advice you have just given to all your viewers. When I purchase a vehicle (second hand mostly) I change the oil and drive it for approx 300km, (186 miles) until the oil becomes dirty. Then I change both the oil and the oil filter. Sometimes I've had to change the oil about 5 times until the oil becomes clean. Finally I regularly change the oil every 5000km (3106 miles) with a good quality synthetic oil.
I've had my accord 08 v6 since day one I always change my oil every two thousand miles and the is clean inside
Best engine flush is cheap oil, good filter change it every 500-1000 miles. Done it with several cars, had great luck with it. You can also add 1/2 at of atf in the oil.
Also cleaning the valve cover and oil pan off the engine is a good move if the engine is out.
You can get conventional T4 almost anywhere. It's most likely because you wanted 20 weight.
This sounds like the safest way to flush.
Good advice but the ATF engine flush myth really needs to die already. ATF is made out of the same base oils as engine oil but actually contains much less detergents than engine oil does because it doesn't have to deal with the massive amounts of carbon and soot found in engines since transmissions don't have combustion occurring inside of them. Don't believe me? Ask any oil manufacturer or look at virgin oil analysis results and compare it to ATF.
@@averyalexander2303 Its not that it has more detergents, it's that it has less total dissolved solids. If you are short changing the oil, adding in the atf lets the oil pick up more deposits.
Thanks, Eric well done. I was a few hrs to fuck up my engine with Penrite engine flush. Keep up the good work. Cheers
Changed my VCM, I have backup screens, thankfully I'm prepared for this. Heck, today I sanded down the clutch plate on the AC motor and reinstalled it after cleaning the contacts too. These concerns are valid, but some of us learn from wise people like yourself so we can avoid the mines. Thank you for your knowledge.
I've used it as a last measure a few times - once I had a Subaru 2.2 that had a sticky valve (and like 270k), I figured before tearing into the thing I'd try engine flush. Followed the instructions exactly, and it resolved the issue! But I agree, it's very likely to get cause debris to get caught in the pickup or somewhere else and cause oil starvation.
This is a great comment to read! My housemate has a Subaru box engine full of gunk and has taken to a few mechanics have said theyd NEED to take the engine out.
I was thinking the same thing as a last ditch effort before they scrap it.
I have never felt the need for an engine flush. I change my oil on time like clock work. The guys at the oil change places try to upsell you on engine flushes. Clean oil=clean engine!
99% there. I do think that a periodic cleaner application or a single 90-100K MI flush is an idea worth exploring for some vehicles/situations.
I've been doing my own oil changes since 1974. Never have done an engine flush, never will.
Only once I went 6k oil change only cause I went on a long trip and racked some mileage up coming home but nothing bad happened cause I check the oil regularly levels condition smell colour all that. But I always do 5k oil changes engines been running great
@@ryans413 If you do mainly highway driving, you don't have to change the oil as often. Stop and go traffic is what really wears out the oil.
@@seeya205 this right here is what most ppl don’t get and they see oil labels stating 10k or 20k miles. stop and go traffic is considered severe conditions but ppl would rather save the couple of $50-60 oil changes a year than just spend the money and have a good running car for a long time but like to cry on online that there vehicle is a POS when it’s them that are to blame.
This video is good advice for people that properly maintain there vehicles, but for those of us that buy used vehicles and they turn out to have been improperly maintained, proper flushes designed by people that know engines have their place IF you know the risks and account for them.
At the Infiniti dealership that I worked in we pushed oil changes every 3750 miles no matter the driving conditions. When a customer showed up and his oil hadn't been changed for 7500 miles (which the owners manual recommended). we were told to upsell an engine flush to the customer because of sludge buildup! Price $150.00 I couldn't go along with the program and consequently was given a large amount of warranty squeak/rattle and other nice warranty work. Gotta love the dealership!!
Modern detergent oils are designed to break down sludge and varnish while keeping it suspended in the oil. It breaks things down slowly over time allowing the oil filter to do its job capturing the contaminants. And just like Eric said, modern oil already does everything you need it to do. All these flushes, oil treatments, and stabilizers are quite litterally engineered into our modern oils. Half the reason I quit working at a car dealership was all the bs services I was supposed to push.
Only "engine flush" I ever did was on a 3.4L V6 in a 94 camaro. Oil was THICK. So, I pulled the engine, took everything off minus the oil pan and rotating assembly, put it in the back of the truck and went to the car wash. Power washed everything out until it was brand new looking. Then, just to make sure, I soaked it in purple power for three more days and washed it off again. Never had an issue after lol.
I've got a 2007 CR-V and just peaking in the filler cap, I can see the buildup, I suppose from previous neglect. Only owned the vehicle for the last 20k miles, but it's closing in on 210k miles, and it runs great, in spite of the sludge and deposits. Yeah, I'm tempted to flush it, but I keep asking myself why borrow trouble with it running so well. I think I'll take Eric's advice and just keep changing it with quality oil in regular intervals. Hopefully I'll get another 50k miles out of it!
I have never used an engine oil flush product mostly because I am fanatical about maintenance. A few months ago I replaced the valve cover gasket on my 160k mile 2003 Mini Cooper which I’ve owned since new and personally done about 97.5% of all the maintenance and repairs in its life. The valve train on that engine was immaculate, shiny clean. It’s always had full synthetic oil changes with genuine Mini oil filters at about 10k mile intervals.
With some sticky lifters on and MX5/Miata, I used some engine flush fluid - filled it up, went for a gental drive down the motorway, got it nice and warm. Dropped the oil and it cleared the hyro lifters out. Never had that issue again. I wouldnt recoommend it though. Just change it more frequently.
Honestly if you want those suckers clean the best way is to remove them and soak them in carb cleaner for a few days. That will get all the old oil out 100% but it's a huge pain in the ass. Have to remove cover, cams, cam shafts, timing belt, CAS in some cases.
@@hellishinc Aint nobody got time for that :D
He needs some milk!
I have a sticky lifter on my late 80s Mazda making noise if the cars parked for a couple days. I'd say a flush could be helpful if the engine is pretty clean to begin with, and to flush it all out with fresh oil and filter
@@Zipppyart a flush likely won't fix the lifter tick if it's using hydraulic lifters. Regular oil changes can reduce it over time but the intake/out holes on the lifters are so small that you really need to take them out and clean them by hand to be effective. Google pictures of them. The intake holes on them are maybe .6mm wide.
@@Zipppyart That was my situation - clean engine, lots of oil changes - jut wanted to try to get that tap away completely - just one of two were sticking for a few seconds after start up. Give it a go.
Mine was on a 1997 mx5
The Russians use some stuff called "dimexid", I think it's DMSO in USA; it's like acetone on steroids, it will dissolve carbon on a piston in minutes with zero effort. The only downside of using it - it will also dissolve paint, so you'd have to know your engine pretty well to prevent peeling paint from the oil bath and whatnot.
I've got the same van. Mine is an '05 EX model. It's been plagued with the dreaded cat code for many years and the engine vibrates noticeably when the VCM kicks in. She's at 305k miles now and I'm looking to keep her going for as long as we can. After watching this van's fixing it forward series I'm pretty convinced I need to just go ahead and replace my cats. I too considered the VCMuzzler but I have shied away from it and I think your experience reinforces my decision not to install one. Now I'm considering replacing engine mounts in the upcoming timing belt/water pump service that I need to do soon. Thanks for all you do Eric and keep up the good work!
Sage advice even on an old 70’s or 80’s engine. A hard flush breaks all that crud loose and goes STRAIGHT to the pickup tube and plugs it. Restricting oil flow to any part of the engine is a death sentence. Peace
Oh man, that's unfortunate that the engine blew up so quickly after all that work :/ Hopefully the replacement engine will last as long as the Van itself.
At first I thought this video was maybe made when the Fixing it Forward Odyssey was still under repairs and not given away yet.
That sucks 10 times! You're a good guy, Eric. I'm sure you'll have better luck with this engine.
Thanks again Eric. I recently bought my daughter a buick encore with the 1.4l engine. Had a tick and was sure it wasn’t lifters when I bought it, so of course I youtubed it. Sure enough I found a guy showing how the cam chain guide gets loose. So I pulled the valve cover and found the same problem.
Found quite sludgy and was looking for a flushing agent on here when I run one your vid. Totally makes sense to me what you described. And with what I’ve read about these engines since I bought this thing 😳 I don’t want to tempt fate.
Thanks again. And take care.
I switched to synthetic for my daily driver a year or two ago, kept my eyes open for leaks in case sludge was helping the gaskets, all good.
I wouldn't do an engine flush unless I'm doing a full teardown, and even then...the engine is in pieces, just clean up as you go.
What I found I did exactly this switched or forced to switch to synthetic oils like Eric is saying , and had a few extra leaks when did.
I put in a quart of Royal Purple in change, someone on YT called “project Farm” said to add that, I did and leaks almost all stopped for some reason.
Just my experience.
My camry engine was filled with gunk from a previous owner that rarely changed the oil ,the whole top end ticked like crazy. I used nulons oil flush, changed the oil twice after 2 heat cycles and the inside of the engine was immaculate and it never ticks. That was 200 thousand kms ago
I think in some circumstances the right product can do the trick, but I feel there is always a lot of luck involved as well, especially with an engine as fouled as yours had been.
@@andrewcz8871 aslong as it gets drained while the engines still hot i think you're pretty safe. Ive only ever done it with ironblock Toyota's tho so maybe that has something to do with it?
I think it depends on if you have vehicle with all these additional little screens. I've dumped sea-foam in and done an oil change a day or two later with no issue. However had no indication of sludge anyways, so probably wasn't doing much. I see Eric's POV, however I think one could either run the high-mileage oil and do more oil changes, or simply add a much smaller amount than recommended of sea-foam and do similar. Key is probably not to try and get a lot of gunk out at once.
Dad was a mechanic, and I remember him telling me they'd run kerosene and rev it till the headers were red hot before changing. Don't think I'll try that with a newer vehicle, however would be fun if someone on YT would test it on a sludged up engine.
@@boots7859 yeah my grandfather is a mechanic and he would put atf in the engine and rev it hard give her the old Italian tune up and a quick oil change they were golden. Oil flushes didnt exist in my grandfathers time tho lol
@Shutbyotch yep my camrys a 2001 the best model in my opinion, the last good camry
Sorry to hear about the engine. I hope the newer one works out because you were doing a good thing with giving that away.
I literally clicked on a video from you today because its my Birthday. Thanks Eric!!!!
Happy Birthday!
I flushed my engine once almost 20 years ago and it ruined the engine. I would never recommend an engine flush. The best is to use good oil and change it frequently.
This is similar to running Seafoam through engines with high miles. If you're gonna do it then do it from the beginning on a clean engine to keep it clean.
At the very least, don't try to flush an engine with such bad markers. Flushing with Liqui Moly or whatever one uses is a preventative maintenance thing, not a cure.
i dont like adding thinned out ATF to my engine oil
@@mcf3778 is that what seafoam is?
I have to admit, I did have positive experiences with a motor flush. I pulled the valve cover on my recently purchased BMW M50TU to rebuild the Vanos a few years back to discover the previous owner had obviously not been a fan of regular oil changes. What I found on the head look like someone had pulled the oil cap and spooned potting soil into the engine. I made the mistake of trying to scrap as much “crud” off the metal and lift it out with a shop vac, but the only way to do that well was to literally disassemble everything off the head. Deciding that just wasn’t practical, I did the best I could with a drinking straw connected to the end of the shop vac hose. The result looked good, but when all the work was complete and the engine was running again, I discovered that enough sludge material was remaining in the crankcase that it was making its way to the hydraulic lifters and periodical (but frequently) causing them to collapse and creating an engine “tick”. I decided to try the engine flush out of desperation. The can stated that the flush should be added and the car driven. I wasn’t comfortable driving the car with oil “watered down” by what in all rights seemed to be red diesel fuel; so I settled for adding the flush and just raising the engine to a fast idle until it was up to full operating temperature plus about 20 minutes of additional run time before shutting it down, draining the crankcase, and changing the oil and filter (using synthetic blend). I had one, short occasion of a lifter tick but since then, no more. The oil has been changed every 3k since and the problem seems resolved. Yes, my mistake was ever trying to scrap out the sludge in the first place and I was very lucky to have made the recovery. I would probably suggest that flushing is best left for older engines and I would probably drop the oil pan and valve covers afterward and check everything. Also, I believe that the flush itself can potentially damage engine seals and cause new oil leaks. I can’t say I would never flush another engine again (as a matter of fact, I have successfully flushed a few sludgy small engines since) but please go into it understand the possible risks. My other car has had 3k oil changes since new with no sludge now at 200,000 miles. Regular fluid changes and reasonable driving habits ARE the life of your car, IMHO.
I’ve done a flush like 2 months later-and developed an engine knock. Mind you it was a brand new rebuild with performance bottom end weisco black skirt pistons and Manley beam Tuff rods with high performance king bearings, with less than 7,500k miles on the build.
Turned out to be spun rods bearings on 2 rod/crank journals with spun bearing damage.
And worst of all happened when I was deciding on relocating to Florida with the vehicle packed and ready. Whilst the engine failing leaving the border of my home state New Jersey.
That’s my Last time doing an engine flush. I flushed it with the used engine oil first then followed the directions like so.
Run no more than 5 mins at idle, instruction stated do not drive the vehicle or run the liquid more than stated. I followed as stated drained and filled with new fluid. Done, so like a month later started developing an intermittent tap in the engine.
Then like a knock just about when the day the engine decided to go on me.
So like then said again yea, that’s pretty much my last time doing a flush. Wish I had seen this video then.
This popped up in my suggestions, right as I've been thinking about using a flush on my Volvo... Weird. Anyways, I called a shop that specializes in Volvos and asked them what can be done for excessive oil consumption (Volvo inline 6 engines run forever, but they drink a quart of oil every thousand in the process) and the shop foreman's answer surprised me: Liqui Moly engine flush, then an oil change replacing 20% of system capacity with Lucas oil stabilizer. He said they had a Mini in the shop that ate a quart every 700 miles. By doing this procedure, it slowed down the consumption to a much more forgivable quart every 2500 miles.
Glad i found this comment... I too have an inline-6 Volvo that i believe is sludgy: it idled a Huge amount last winter; now less power or knocks under load. Did you do what they said? I am considering the engine flush soon....
@@georgehofgren6123 Yes! I am happy to report that the consumption slowed similarly. Still burns oil, but it's nothing like it was.
Change the oil+filter once a week,for a while. It's worked well for me. Good old Valvoline 10W-30 is still on the shelves here,and is what I usually use.
I thought Castrol GTX (green bottle) is pretty much dinosaur oil. I think the proportion is more general oil than synthetic.
You must have a lot of money to burn.
IF someone wants to buy used cheap potentially neglected car/engine, and wants to clean all passages inside engine but without potentially clogs some tiny passages with agresive engine flush, I think that is the best gentle way to clean engine inside.
P.S.
I just use (yesterday) cheap monograde SAE 30.
How many oil change you done?
Another way to test engine flush would be a before and after compression test. The low tension rings used in modern gas engines routinely become stuck in the piston groove. We have used BG 109 engine performance restoration for over 20 years. After using flush before and after compression tests always show improvement. We recommend BG109 to every dexos gm product we service. Many many dexos era gm vehicles suffer from extreme oil consumption.
Trans fluid does wonders before a oil change. Had a old 350 with sludge. Ran out of oil and had to limp it home with transmission fluid. Engine was spotless after a few oil changes when the engine was parted out in running condition. Sludge was discovered when a Elderbrock intake was installed with new valve cover gaskets. When the intake was removed, the lifter valley and cylinder looked brand new, but coated in oil.
Last time I engine flushed, kerosene, was my 318 dodge truck. Nixon was in office. Today? Not a chance.
I've found conventional 10w30 for my Saab 900 at Walmart. Maybe because lawnmowers typically use 10w30 😂
That’s what I was thinking, he’s talking about lawnmower oil!
Walmart usually has at least supertech and qs conventional
I believe they use SAE30 Oil that is not 10W30. Most likely using 10w30 in lawnmower won't damage it but using SAE30 in your engine that requires 10w30 may cause issues.
One of the comments made me member berries. Back in 1990 I picked up a somewhat rare Mercury Black Magic Capri.
Did a drive from WNY to RI to visit a friend, and of course on the way back I really opened it up to 110-120.
Half-way back blew a head gasket and had to limp back hitting every exit to add water.
Got home, and my Dad who was a pro mechanic helped me pull the heads off. I remember those heads and top-end were sparkling clean, almost like new. Funny thing is I now work at a GM powertrain factory and what I see daily is what I member my engine insides looked like. I like sea-foam, and have 'foamed' a couple of my vehicles, including adding it to my oil, with no problems. I think there are probably far fewer problems with sludged up engines in this day and age generally, and for most of the regulars who watch Eric. If you know some youngster who just bought a car from a lot, provinence unknown, then yes I would definately suggest they just use oil high-mileage oil. For most people who get regular O/C's at 3-7k miles, I really doubt there are going to be many problems with sea-foam/MM Oil at 1/2 recommended levels and a few additional O/C's over the course of a year.
Even better than high mileage oil is putting diesel oil in a gasoline engine. Cleans it up real good.
Eric I have always run 1 quart of diesel fuel inside pf the engine just before the oil change. Drain 1 quart oil out, fill. one quart Diesel back in. Run the engine for twenty minutes at 2500 RPM, and drain oil. Keeps the engine lubricated and clean. Never a single issue.
how do you only drain 1 qt
@@mcf3778 Measure it out into a designated Oil Only measuring cup by inserting my easy drain hose into a the drain valve. Less mess then removing and always reinstalling a drain plug!
I've used high mileage oil for seven years. My engine has never been cleaner. Recommend Castrol High Mileage.
Yeah, same here. I go back and forth between penzoil and castrol. Neither stays on the shelf long
Same here in south Africa... citi golf drivers we use shell helix 10w40 or castrol gtx 20w50
Ive flushed a few engines. Always 50/50 kerosene/oil. Always let idle for 30-45 minutes. Dump the oil and change the filter. Add cheap oil and filter. Drive it around the block. Dump the oil and filter. Add good oil and good filter. Never had a problem.
My thought is that if you want to go over and above the regular oil change regimen. Short cycle an oil change at like 30,000 mile intervals. Change your oil and filter, then drive it normally through a tank of gas. Change it again. That should pick up a lot of the remnants naturally left over with all your other oil changes.
I started using synthetic Amsoil in the mid 90’s and other guys would laugh at me, I would just say try it once and you will never go back. You are right, it’s so hard to find regular oil now.
It seems every oil and auto maker has decided that synthetic oil isn’t stupid after all!
I went with Motul 8100 and Motul Specific VW 508 for 100% synthetic oil just because I can get it on Amazon and other websites for a good price in 5 liter jugs.
Millers do regular oils?
OR ITS BECAUSE OF BIDENS NEW OIL HATING AGENDA LOL FUNNY ISNT IT A DINOSAUR HATING ON DINOSAURS LOL I LOVE OIL
Only flush an engine if you are willing to remove the oil pan a few times and change the oil and filters 4 or 5 times before driving...
Can you elaborate?
@@inglouriousmofo That's already pretty elaborate lol
@@brandonvanevery5878 not really, why would someone do that?
@@inglouriousmofo to get the junk out... All of that junk has to go through the system. If you stay on top of it you can clean it up, but if it's your daily driver you probably end up cratering it.
Always been afraid to use the motor oil flush, thank you for verifying my fear, easier to just take it apart and clean it.
I think the best thing is doing a few short oil changes. Like do a couple at 500mile intervals, then a couple at 1000 mile intervals, then see what it looks like after that.
Must be one of those US - EU differences. I've flushed many engines, my friends done that too, never had any issues, everything worked better than before the flush, especially on diesel engines, they really love a good flush. Just get the engine warm, puth the flush in, run the engine for 10-15 minutes on idle, and make an oil and filter change, and Your TDI, JTD, or HDI will run smooth like butter.
How did the everything work 'better' after the flush! You suddenly got anther 10 BHP did you. Stop talking garbage.
@@orsoncart9441 KKL cable and Multiecuscan for jtd engines, You can monitor monitor any parameter You want, like temp hysteresis. Don't be a smartass if You haven't done real ecu analysis.
@@provostkhot As I said talking internet rubbish.
Flushing slowly definitely seems like a better way to go.
I tried that.... I might have to call a plumber
Worked on my Ranger. Slow steady Seafoam, less than the bottle called for, before oil changes and then midway between them.
Over the years I have flushed a few of my engines at milestones (e.g. 100k miles) but generally it is not necessary in an engine that has received regular maintenance with quality oils & fluids. I have never had a problem when doing these few flushes. But of course I have heard the horror stories about clogged oil pickup screens, etc.
Add MMO fifty or so miles before changing your oil and it will thin it nicely and your engine oil will drain more gunk.
Do this every oil change and it will keep it clean enough.
AND use synthetic oil.
From my all of 6 months experience at Goofy lube. I found out that all oils that are conventional weight are only in five / ten weight in 30 or 40 as in 5w_30 or 10w_40... From my experience all 5w_20 is made in a synthetic blend because of the weight property! At least that's how my boss explained it to me!
yep, Semi-Syn is a wide range from 99%Dyno to 99%Syn, all it needs is a few ounces of Syn, and then it is able to be called Semi-syn.
Read and get to understand the data sheets of the oil. You'll find out there's a lot more quality differences.
I've only ever seen straight mineral oil available from 15w 40 to 20w 50 and up in recent years. Not to detract from full synthetic oils, they're great, but I just like the smell of semi-synthetic best.. that aroma, mmm, bellissimo.
5w-20 comes in conventional, but you are correct about 0 winter weights being semi-synthetic and full synthetic
Sounds like your WALLET got “Flushed”.-Sorry to hear this.
Ya My 1991 Honda accord I took the vlv lid off, and had similar type solid hard-pak, all on top.
So I took a shop vacuum and chiseled it off and vacuumed it out into the NOW oil soaked destroyed shop vac.
Got a lot out yet really was in vain attempt to right the wrong there.
I’m with ya, if YOUR UNDER VLV COVER is this way, you will send the CARBON CHUNKS thru your bearings and oil pump - BAD REALLY BAD IDEA!!!
Just LEAVE IT!!!
I learned in the 70’s to change oil / filter on scheduled and when did the engines ran and wore very very LONG lives.
[Failure story] I bought a car with ~90K miles on it. I use really high quality oils and quickly developed a valve cover leak. I replaced the valve cover gasket and noticed a ton of sludge (my thought was that my clean oil removed some sludge and started the leak in the first place). Ran an engine flush... and within 5K miles the engine threw a bearing. Now I'm back in the engine, the valve cover is back off. Sure there is less sludge, but one of the oil drain passages (diameter of a pencil) in the head was completely blocked. I will never use them again. My advice, use a high quality oil, do frequent oil changes(~5k miles), and the sludge should slowly work its way out (and if it doesn't, then that may be okay, too). That sludge didn't get there over night... no sense in being in a rush to get rid of it. There's a saying in the salt water aquarium hobby "only bad things happen quickly"... take your time, take it slow, use a high quality oil, change it every ~5K miles, and trust the process.
Thanks for the video. Years ago friend gave me a similar explanation of why flushing an engine could be bad. I kinda believed him, but now that I hear it from an actual mechanic Ii feel better about taking his advice.
I used to work at a Euro shop and we sold flushes with every oil change. Never saw a problem caused by it. I’ve done a flush every other oil change on all of my Hondas (2 D series and 1 L Series). That said, none of them were filled with sludge/carbon.
What brand of flush did your workshop use?
@@hellohello8556 I believe it was called Motor Medic? It wasn’t anything fancy at all, you could buy it at Autozone. Basically Kerosene and some detergents from what I gather. Never once had it cause a problem. That said, I DO NOT recommend using anything that is meant to swell seals to stop oil leaks. I’ve literally seen those “fixes in a bottle” push out crank seals.
@@IAMJAKETRIMBLE thanks for answering my question. Hae a good day. 👍