Oil flushing

darkdonz

Wrench Pro
Points
21
Location
England,Southampton
Car
Audi A4 1.8T
do any of you guys do the whole engine flush with an additive, standard oil, new filter then drain off the standard withe all the sludge, replace that filter with a fresh one then fill up a gane with a high grade oil? and could any one tell me the revs and length of time to hold them for to do a flush on a turbo'd petrol engine please.
 
Re: Oilman - sump plugs

do any of you guys do the whole engine flush with an additive, standard oil, new filter then drain off the standard withe all the sludge, replace that filter with a fresh one then fill up a gane with a high grade oil? and could any one tell me the revs and length of time to hold them for to do a flush on a turbo'd petrol engine please.

I've never gone that far but then I've not yet had a sludged up car.

As for revs and for how long it depends on the type of flush. Some are very aggressive, others (and I'm thinking of Millers' here) are very gentle indeed. If I must answer the revs thing then no more than 1500rpm and 15 minutes perhaps.

Don't ever load the engine when you're flushing it. By which I mean don't drive the car apart from a few yards onto the ramp if necessary.

Do you need to flush it at all? Is there an oil related problem? If not, then don't do so is my advice.

Something many people suggest is using a diesel specific oil (make sure though it still has an API SL rating and that the SAE grading is suitable) for the first change in 2nd user car with some gaps in the service history. You can safely drive on this for a couple of thousand miles (or more, to be honest) and then drain and refill with the oil of your choice.

Diesel oil is quite high in detergency and will shift varnish and general 'gunk'
without the aggressive 15 minutes running that the solvent based flush additives will subject the engine to. Of course if it's not there to shift then nothing will change anyway. But you won't do any harm to your engine. I would suggest though that you use a decent synthetic diesel oil, none of this Halfords own brand mineral stock.
 
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The only time i'd use a flush in on a recently aquired car if there is evidence of sludge build up. Other than that a regular oil change shedule should obviate the need to use a flush.
 
I use a flush every other change,

in fact my car is due a change so I could do a piece on it, plus I do need a new oil sump as well,

(mine has a dent in it :S but it's not leaking)
 
only got the thing a week ago and i got to order front control kit both rear trailing arms,and a set of coilovers bit gutted really but there you go all that after the flush i guess, oh and the dreaded cam belt kit!!!
 
That's a good price really, I've been quoted well over £300 for mine to be done, I can see why though when I did it myself, it's a right pain...
 
Well here's an IMPORTANT add in. I tend to do the fush thing each service. Mainly due to the fact that the fuel quality in Australia sucks (so carbon deposits build up fast in the oil). I could go into depth on why it is poor quality but that's another thread
(in short the Australian companies buy up bulk at a very cheap price all the solvents they use to clean out pipe lines which deliver fuels and other chemicals used in the US. I went to a seminar on small engines once for a company I worked for).
MOST IMPORTANT BIT OF INFO IS:
Did you know to only use the genuine oil fiter of which ever car make you have.
Reason being that after independant testing carried out by a Car Magazine it was found that ALL after market brands including the most popular brands like RYCO (that some people even think to be the genuine part) are poorly manufacture and in most cases the internal filter cartridge paper is cut to an incorrect size and crammed in to the cannister which can cause loss of oil pressure right from the start of the oil and filter service/change. I went and bought the original GM oil filter for my VS holden commodore as I had noticed the lifters noise when first starting the car and also at idle.
As soon as the genuine filter was on the problem was gone too. This was with a service I had just done so it still had same oil in it, I only changed the filter. They cut through the different filter brands to compare. I will only use a thinner synthetic Oil at 5W30 0r 10W30. It gives a noticeable perfomance improvement over the old 25W50 idea that many people think is the norm. Hope this bit of info give someone the heads up.
 
I do oil and filter every four months,a bit excessive but i get no sludge,i think regular changes will cut down sludge build up!.
 
20w/50 is long gone I thought! Certainly in the UK now it's only sold for 1970's and 1980's classics. Though I bet some older drivers still think thicker is better.
 
Every other oil change i made was with engine flush. I know there is no sludge, but I do it just for preventing.
Therefore can not tell if you can clean already sluged engine.
As metioned above, i believe it is enough to use decent oil and change it regularly as well as the filters and your engine should be clean forever.
I use Liqui Molly and I don't rev the engine nor i drive it. Just let it run in place for 5-10 minutes and poor the oil out.
If anybody got academic or lab experience with engine flush product i am eager to read and learn!
During the MOT in Croatia they take the meassure of carbon particles in egsaust gases. For my engine it is good when you got under 2,0 "something", my remaped engine shows regularly 0,8 even after decat.
 
Hi Zwaf, there seems to be various schools of thought on whether to flush or not to flush an engine :blink: There are arguments in both camps as to what is the best method to adopt. My garage chaps say NO! If you do feel the need to flush then use cheap mineral oil for a while then replace both oil and filter with quality items.

I personally prefer the frequent oil change method of quality oil every time.

I change my oil and filter 3 times a year and no problems at all. Like you, if someone comes up with a positive reason for and a suitable flushing product, I would always be interested to investigate this further ;)

@ Customcreations, thanks for the write up, an interesting read.
 
Hi T9! :)
We do understand each other! Me to are thinking that regular oil change (and other including stuff) is enough. I do it my way because fuel in my country is of doubtfull quality** and I knew that car will belong to me for a long long time.
Dont use mineral oil because my pumpe duese injectors are (reportedly) sensitive about oil gradation.

**Off topic, but to make my statement clear: Not so long ago BMW and Renault refused to sell their modern diesel engines in Croatian market because of low quality diesel fuel here. Now the fuel is better and those engines are available here, but suspicion remained in our heads.
 
I use a spare clean filter and cheap oil between the service for a week or so.
As I had mensioned fuel is bad and carbon builds up.
It suits me well.

I will always lift the oil cap and check before buying a car too. A simple way to see if its neglected or not. Even if the owners HAVE always taken it for a regular "SERVICE".
I know what the car shops are like. I worked in one.
As well as a car yard!!!
 
I just ran a a can of oil flush through the FTO cause it has noisy tappets when cold. Changed the oil & filter. No change!

I guess the tappets need adjusting.
 
I just ran a a can of oil flush through the FTO cause it has noisy tappets when cold. Changed the oil & filter. No change!

I guess the tappets need adjusting.

Have you used the genuine filter for the car or aftermarket?
MUST go for the genuine. There's an independant study on oil filters and what brands ar OK.
All aftermarket brands were dodgy and blocking oil flow!!!
Genuine brands were the Go. May have already mensioned it earlier in the post. Had same happening with my car and just changing the filter to genuine fixed it. I will never buy after market oil filter again!

What oil you using
 
I just walked into my shop & ask for a new filter for a 1994 FTO GR/GX ect. He looks it up on his computer & grabs it off the shelf. Its a bosch.

I loads multiple filters for the same car & have been presented with different one's each time so I think they're mostly generic.

Oil is Castrol magnetic 10w40.
 
I just walked into my shop & ask for a new filter for a 1994 FTO GR/GX ect. He looks it up on his computer & grabs it off the shelf. Its a bosch.

I loads multiple filters for the same car & have been presented with different one's each time so I think they're mostly generic.

Oil is Castrol magnetic 10w40.

I would go 5w30 synthetic. I'm not a fan of the magnatec.
I did try it once.
Found the best for power+ smooth through the rev range with no "flat spots" was 5W30. I have castrol Edge at the moment but it's getting stupidly expensive so I'm gonna try the Nulon brand which is around $35 instead of now $65+ for the EDGE range.
It is a 10W30 though so we'll see what its like.
With Castrol magnatec I found it slaved the engine more due to it's thickness (possibly). If you want protction to the crank and cylenders/ bores etc I'd put in a bottle of Nulon E30 if it's available to you. It cost's a bit but has a long life (80,000km or so, does get effected by oil changes) It adds PTFE to the engine. PTFE's good for the gearbox too. Nluon G70. for gearboxes and transmissions. Makes a huge difference to the gearchanges. Manual or Auto.
They did test and drove the car (holden V8??) from Adelaide to Sydney??
with no oil. just the treatment added. Was still fine after!!!!.
I've just added the G70 treatment to my gearbow that I've just rebuilt.
Not an exaggeration to say there was a MASSIVE difference.
I'm not trying to promote these products by the way. Just what I've found to work.
I would definately try changing to the genuine filter. Wat did the generic cost??
Here the genuine filter (from Holden in my case) was only around $12.
It really made the difference with the engine lifter noises that were previously anoying me. (Still to put the E30 in but I have a bottle waiting)
 

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