Engine Flush?

[AlexDOHC]

Well i need to do an oil change on my MB6 since its been sitting for 6+ months with very very little use, so i was thinking about using an engine flush additive to get rid of the old s**tey oil

is it worth it or will it damage my engine?

Cheers

[spudley1988]

When i stuck the engine into mine mate I flushed it as it'd been sitting for a while. IMO its worth it as it noticably cleared gunk away when i dumped the oil out.

[NIKH25]

It's not recommended to use additives in these engines mate, if you want to flush it get a couple of litres of cheap oil pop that in, run it for a little bit then drain it again, fill it with good oil.

[WilkesyMB6]

It's not recommended to use additives in these engines mate, if you want to flush it get a couple of litres of cheap oil pop that in, run it for a little bit then drain it again, fill it with good oil.

I was just going to say the same!

[Nav]

TERRACLEAN... Google it.. it seems good... never used it..but my mate is planning to use it on his Pulsar VZ-R ... let you know how it went..

[philgor]

TERRACLEAN... Google it.. it seems good... never used it..but my mate is planning to use it on his Pulsar VZ-R ... let you know how it went..

the garage i worked at had these people come round, and gave us a demo on a mk4 1.6 8v astra with 130k on the clock, did an emmison's test on it came back with about 30ppm of hc in the exhaust, put the car on the machine, and it drove like it had 30k on the clock, no sluggishness, and a couple of week's later he said that his fuel bill had gone down aswell. on a high mileage motor, get it done and an engine service aswell. and the c's dropped to about 4ppm which is bloody good...

we also had a demo on the diesel version aswell, not good, it reduced the smoke emmision's but that's about it, mpg down, it felt sharper but it was also a lot noiser, so we declined the derv version.

it seem's to be a hit, and i want to get mine done, but time and money, a treatment is about 80-100 but if your saving a £10 a week in fuel it'll soon pay for it's self.

but it's still no excuse for poor maintainice.

what i want to do is take it for a terraclean and then drop the oil take it for a run and then drop the oil again and put the good stuff in, swap all the filter's..

[Guest]

Terraclean process is independant of oil system so will not get rid of your old oil etc. it works on cleaning the inlet/exhaust tract of the vehicle, To flush an engine effectively it is best to drop all the old oil out and run with some cheap nasty oil for a few hours (or however long you decide) and then drop and fill with fresh quality oil and a new filter, ATF is amazing for flushing engines as it contains many detergents for keeping auto transmission clean and working effectively

[KieranEG6]

Have seen that about the ATF being used quite a bit these days.

MX5 Guys tend to use every flush, clean, treatment around just to try and get rid of HLA rattle (different situation but same concept)

Me personaly dont like the Idea of these engine oil flushes or treatments. If you have seen what can build up inside an engine then you will know why. Generally carbon build up doesn't do much harm if your car is regularly serviced. If its been sat for a while then only thing you will be worried about is a bit of excess condensation/ water build up in the oil. If you throw in a load of loosening agents that will disturb what harmless carbon there is, then that loose, bitty carbon is now floating about your oil system, pumps, small oil ways etc, and is now allot more likely to do more harm than before.

First thing I do with any new car I have just bought or one that I have thats been sat, is change the oil for a some cheap stuff. Generally as thin as the engine specs/guide lines allow. Little trick I have learned, what I class as a mini flush, before putting the sump plug back in, poor 500ml-1Ltr of new oil in and watch it come out black at the bottom, this will pick up crap left in the bottom of the sump that sits too low to drain in the first go. Then Sump plug in an run the Cheapo oil for a few days/week or so. Then change it out for your prefered brand and grade.

Actually tempted to try an ATF/ Engine oil mix as a tame type of flush to see what it does on one of my cars. But wouldn't do it on an engine I was counting on or just spent a load of money on.

Personally only ever see 2 situations where engine flushes/ Oil system treatments are ok.

1- If the engine has had a flush every service since factory and is serviced regularly, As it should be spotless inside anyway. The flush shouldn't do any harm.

2- If the engine is a high miler with minimal service record, is running crappy and the flush would be a last resort to bring the engine back to life before considering a rebuild.