Motor Oil Flush? (2AZ-FE)

[sundarpn]

My 2002 XLE just crossed 94K and also due for an oil change.

I was thinking about doing a motor flush. Thoughts? Any good flushing additives? Thx

I do have seafoam lying around, but I am apprehensive about adding that 1/3 to motor oil. (Run it for 3-4 mins and then drain. If I do this should my next oil change be quicker?)

[joshuaboston]

Originally Posted by sundarpn

My 2002 XLE just crossed 94K and also due for an oil change.

I was thinking about doing a motor flush. Thoughts? Any good flushing additives? Thx

I do have seafoam lying around, but I am apprehensive about adding that 1/3 to motor oil. (Run it for 3-4 mins and then drain. If I do this should my next oil change be quicker?)

I used gunk motor flush and blew my engine within 5 hours of use. I will never use this product or any product of this type again. But I do use…. techron fuel system cleaner every six months and I do like Lucus motor oil stabilizer.. but this is usually used when you are noticing that your car is burning oil.

[sundarpn]

Originally Posted by joshuaboston

I used gunk motor flush and blew my engine within 5 hours of use. I will never use this product or any product of this type again. But I do use…. techron fuel system cleaner every six months and I do like Lucus motor oil stabilizer.. but this is usually used when you are noticing that your car is burning oil.

Wow scary . I'll just stick to using decent oil.

[gdanaher]

Before putting anything into the engine, take the time to remove the valve cover and see what the inside looks like. Have a couple cans of spray carb cleaner before doing this, and maybe a new valve cover gasket as well. The old one will be hard and brittle and likely to want to leak later when you put the cover back on. Clean the inside of the cover. It will have a lot of carbon crud on it but look for sludging that might be more common elsewhere in the engine. If you have much crud on the cams then spraying the cleaner on these areas is also in order and let it all drain to the pan. Drain the oil, replace the plug, and slowly pour a quart or two of clean kerosene over the valve train, allowing it to drain to the pan. Drain the kerosene and if you have some more, repeat the process. The kerosene coming will look dirty and may carry some sludge. Let the kerosene sit in the oil sump long enough to dissolve the crud and let it drain as well. Replace the valve cover with the new gasket, add the correct grade of oil and filter and drive. Change the filter in 500 miles and top off the oil.

[PhatRoyale]

That's the best choice. Most oils nowadays offer sufficient additive packages built in, just change your oil at regularly schedule intervals and you'll be fine.

Maybe they should rename their product to Junk instead of Gunk.

[89molavi]

With regular oil changes your engine would run more than 200KM. Now if you want to mess with it, you could. If you have some sludge, just do a few short interval oil changes. I used to do the techron in the gas tank too. It seems like the gasoline has enough detergents so it is a waste of money, never had a fuel injector issue anyways.

[joshuaboston]

Originally Posted by 89molavi

With regular oil changes your engine would run more than 200KM. Now if you want to mess with it, you could. If you have some sludge, just do a few short interval oil changes. I used to do the techron in the gas tank too. It seems like the gasoline has enough detergents so it is a waste of money, never had a fuel injector issue anyways.

That's cause you use Techron...

My engine failed... I was a loyal Mobil 1 Synth gold cap (good for 15,000 miles). Changed my oil every 3-5K!!!

My car was a 2000 Celica, had the piston ring problem from factory, was buring oil like no tomorrow, tried the gunk and BOOM, engine failed. Milage was at 125Kmiles when engine failed.

[Glenn8963]

i guess i need to know, why would anyone even want to flush an engine in the first place..?? you will NEVER remove all the crap in the 5 to 10 minutes of flushing in the first place. have any of you guys seen that ford commercial with Mike Rowe looking at a sludged up engine..??
the only thing that could ever really clean a sludged up engine would be a complete disassemble, then acid dip for a few hours to literally eat away the sludge. then a good steam cleaning.

what you have the chance of happening using such products is having the oil filter break loose inside from the harmful chemicals and jamming up the tiny oil galleries. then you run the chance of even MORE engine noise since over the years you have bearing wear and the sludge (even if you have any) is actually coating the loose parts. once cleaned, they will chatter and clatter away like crazy.

unless your car is incredibly SLOOOW at draining the oil when HOT then you don't really have to worry about sludge. you do know of course then BEST time to drain the oil is when the car has been fully warmed up, like say a 20 mile ride...???

you could be asking for more problems doing an engine flush. as mentioned regular oil changes with a good quality oil or synthetic should be your way to go. in fact, for all of us.

[catric69]

I'm using Mobil clean 5000 at my next oil change. I read UOA's about the MC5000 and it will last well past the 5000 miles without any issues. Also, MC5000 has a lot of detergent/additives that will do what you want. No need to flush and waste money.

[gdanaher]

The best way to clean an engine over time is to add ATF to the engine oil. Don't laugh. This is an old trick that works. Buy a case of oil filters and instead of filling the crank case fully with engine oil, leave off about 3 cups and add 3/4 quart of ATF. ATF is very detergent and will clean out the engine. Change the filter every 500 miles and add a little of both oils back to maintain the ratio.