flushing engine oil

[bigtimegearhead]

When it comes to cleaning the oil system in my other cars I normally add a quart of trans fluid to the oil and run the car for about a day or two. I have also been using seafoam cause that stuff works awesome. I'm a little worried about doing this same thing on the talon becasue of the turbo. Do I have anything to really worry about or can I add a can of seafoam and drive the car real easy for a day then do the oil change??? What do you guys think???

 

[1983gsp]

OK, step outside of the box. Atf keeps transmissions alive for over 60k miles per oil change. The trans takes the abuse everyday without a hitch. Bearings, planetary gear sets, differential, clutch bands, drums and every other load bearing moving part. The only "dirty" trans I've seen is where it grenades itself from abuse and neglect. Taken care of the inside looks as clean as a whistle. Why? Atf is a high detergent oil.

My dsm developed the "tick". I reused my stock lifters and didn't clean them on reinstall....yeah I know...sue me. But I drained all my oil and refilled with Atf. 15 min later of easy no boost driving the tick disappeared. I drained the Atf, put 3 quarts of 30 weight non detergent oil and idled for 5 min to flush the Atf. Then did a regular oil change. 1 year later and its still silent. This isn't the first car I've did this too. Nissan hard body had the same tick. Repeated the procedure above and same result.

Atf in the engine isn't some voodoo witchcraft. Its additive package is there to survive long interval change in a transmission and is one of the best for cleaning deposits in an engine.

Another case in point. 82 rx7, engine is locked up. Carbon deposits behind the apex seals will not allow the seal to compress and allow the rotor to make its happy trochoidial path around the housing. Pull the plugs and squirt some Atf in the chamber. Pour some down its gullet and squirt some in the exhaust port. Come back a day later and rock the e-shaft back and forth for about 10 min after a 24 hr soak. Engine rotated kinda hard then easily.

Installed the plugs and fired it up. Still runs to this day. (For all you rotorheads, a redline a day keeps the mechanic away) its not recommended for the average idiot who never follows instructions and cannot practice restraint with the gas pedal to do this procedure. Yes, CATASTROPHIC FAILURE CAN AND WILL HAPPEN IF NOT DONE PROPERLY AND WITH COMMON SENSE.

Done properly, its a good method for cleaning your engine.

 

[ed1380]

I don't think that the math works like that. 10-30 isn't just 15-40 that is diluted with a solvent. There are alot of other things at work in the oil that determine it's ability to be pressurized and lubricate. You guys can go ahead and flush your engines. I will just keep changing the oil and filters in my 180k mile vehicle. The first and last time that i ran a product like this i spun a bearing the very next day.

If you spun a bearing then you had other issues creeping up, and it would have happened sooner or later. My dad used straight diesel when he's needed to. At idle there's not much pressure on the bearings.

 

[bryanwheat]

If you spun a bearing then you had other issues creeping up, and it would have happened sooner or later. My dad used straight diesel when he's needed to. At idle there's not much pressure on the bearings.

IF you feel the need to clean the inside of your engine that's fine with me. I prefer to do what has worked for hundreds of thousands of miles for me.

 

[Leonthefaded]

I still don't understand the reason behind using seafoam every 2 oil changes, can someone please clarify?

Look I use mobile1 10w-40 full synthetic in all three of my vehicles. My truck I change when my truck tells me too. The srt4 gets an oil change every 5000 miles or when during my fluid checks I feel it is time todo it, my gsx will be the same way. I change the oil filters every 12000 miles. All the used vehicles I've gone through in the last year I've performed an engine flush with seafoam and never had a problem.

 

[Bud92gsx]

I still don't understand the reason behind using seafoam every 2 oil changes, can someone please clarify?

Look I use mobile1 10w-40 full synthetic in all three of my vehicles. My truck I change when my truck tells me too. The srt4 gets an oil change every 5000 miles or when during my fluid checks I feel it is time todo it, my gsx will be the same way. I change the oil filters every 12000 miles. All the used vehicles I've gone through in the last year I've performed an engine flush with seafoam and never had a problem.

You change oil filters every 12000 miles.Umm, that's pretty frequent filter change isn't it.

I have like 100 miles on mine, and it's getting changed, flushed ,and seafoamed.

 

[ed1380]

IF you feel the need to clean the inside of your engine that's fine with me. I prefer to do what has worked for hundreds of thousands of miles for me.

I don't do this on any scheduled basis. Only if a car has sludge buildup. I bet that a piece of sludge broke off and clogged one of your oil galleys.

Another thing that was brought to my attention by my father, was that mixing different brand oils may cause a reaction that increases sludge.

 

[bryanwheat]

That piece of sludge has to go thru the oil pickup screen, oil pump, and oil filter before if get's there. When you "clean" the engine than you are putting all that in the pan at once. Sludge is caused from not changing your oil, some oil's will add a brown film inside the engine, buy they do not cause sludge.

 

[Leonthefaded]

You change oil filters every 12000 miles.Umm, that's pretty frequent filter change isn't it.

I have like 100 miles on mine, and it's getting changed, flushed ,and seafoamed.

Not at all

As far as engine sludge is concerned I've never encountered a peice of sludge that seemed as serious as what its been made out to be, but there are plenty of years of automotive stuff to come where I might just encounter such a peice of sludge.

 

[Chrispy0530]

Maybe you used the seafoam too often and that's what did your engine in?

Why do you use seafoam every 2 oil changes?

The user error I speak of can only be ideas I may have about the situation. Just my 2 cents really. But I doubt seafoam caused your rod knock. If you had a logger running maybe you should examine it and what your engine was doing before the rod knock occured.

It was my very first time using seafoam on my previous motor. Never before had I used it. Tune was spot on, and never picked up any counts of knock on ECMlink.

Now, with my current motor I do seafoam treatment on the 3rd oil change. Just none added to the crank case, and I haven't had a problem. Happy with what the product does.

 

[bigtimegearhead]

I've been using ATF since before I could drive. It works beautiful and has been around for at least 50 years, it is a old school trick. I love seafoam and use it all the time, clean motors, injectors, i've even put it in a spray bottle and sprayed it on to use as a parts cleaner. My motor only has around 70,000 but previous oil change intervals is unknown. It also has been sitting for about a year with me starting it every 2 months or so. So I want to do a general flush for the new summer, oil, fuel, coolant and decarbon it (seafoam/vacum port) I just wasn't sure about using what with a turbo. Whether I do ATF or Seafoam I just put the car around and stay out of the boost.