Anyone out there ever use a diy engine oil kit or something of that nature like a radiator flush kit, but for oil?

 

You mean changing your oil...?...?

 

Oh yeah; simple, get some seafoam, or marvel mystery oil, follow instructions for oil. Basically add the stuff to your oil, then run it for about 50 to 100 miles, no more, then do an oil/filter change; it will be full of crud, there is also another product that does the same thing, can't remember the name, but comes in a big silver oil sized can. Someone else here, has said to add i think tranny fluid or brake fluid, another guy said an old time mechanic use to swear by adding a can of Coke, But i will go with my suggestions; I don't know for sure about the others.

Also , if you had a leak or leaks, but because of over time, and junk being in there, and sealing up these small leaks, when you do this, you are probably going to reopen those small leakages.

 

500 or so before your oil change, drain a 1/2 to 1 quart of oil, top up with ATF. Drive until your next change. Drain, change filter, fill with oil. Can also replace 1/4 quart of oil with ATF at every oil change in lieu of using motor oil for every change and draining some oil prior to the oil change.
Can also add 1/4-1/2 cup ATF to the gas tank.

Costs less than seafoam and is not a solvent.

 

Seafoam, though I love it, does cost now; 10 bucks a can in most places.
So then Mr. Abe, if not a solvent, just how does atf work?
Also I don't consider seafoam a solvent, it is basically made of 3 petroleum components.

 

I use ATF, cause I'm that cool.

 

so you guys that use atf, do this in a daily driver with how many miles on it? this is the first time hearing atf in the cranck case, just seems weird, is all.

i have a 93 4x4 with 175k on it that isn't road legal (plates) that i tool up the road ever week or so, my 19 yo is interested in it and since the oil hasn't been changed for 3 or so uhm, don't laugh, yrs, i think it'll need a flush. prob only had 100 miles or less on it though.

what about clogging thefilter with the it breaks loose and blocking a channel, do i need to worry about this?

 

thanks for the info guys! think i'll go the seafoam route. my neighbor swears by the stuff and he's really old, so he must be right! LOL!

 

So where do you find dextron? I dont recall ever seeing it at any of the parts stores..

 

 

Dextron is ATF

 

I don't think I'd worry too much about the fact that the oil has just been in there for a few years, it didn't get driven all that much, so it's not like you had 5,000 mile oil sitting in there for 3 years.

If you wanted to, you could just do an oil change, run it for 1K miles, do another and so on, like 3 times.


If you want to clean the engine internals and do a good decarb on it, there is a treatment called Auto RX. It is a light cleaner that you put in your oil and run for 2,500 miles, then change it out. It is not a harsh solvent and when it loosens up carbon inside the engine, it does it slowly as to not have any heavy clumps of debris floating around your engine that will clog something up. It suspends the small particles so they can be caught by your filter.

Check out bobistheoilguy.com and you will see countless things on this product. The guys on this site are border line insane about all forms of lubrication, not much you can't find out about oils, all types, on there, and a lot of stuff you had no idea about and maybe didn't want to know. You will see a lot of experiments with Auto RX, from regular people who do these things for a hobby....they love oils and additives. Supposed to be really great stuff.

I have heard the Sea Foam and ATF things too, never tried either so I can't say, but seems like others have gotten good results with them.

 

x2 on the AutoRx. Been using it for four years now. Does an amazing job on the engine. Stopped multiple oil leaks on a 95 4runner with 198000, and cleaned the crankcase and valve covers too. Restored an oil sludge problem in a 99 Mercedes ML320 as well. Great stuff!!

 

Before you decide to "flush" your engine oil system, you might ask yourself "what is it that I hope to accomplish?" and "what will be flushed, and where will it go?". Unless you have a specific problem that "flushing" will correct--and I can't think of any problems that "flushing" could correct, but lots of problems "flushing" could cause--maybe its not a good idea.

On the other hand, provided the engine isn't badly sludged, and that "flushing" could make you feel better about your engine, like some people feel better after taking a purgative, then probably no harm would be done.

Auto Rx. I used it in my '72 Plymouth; as directed. I had a lifter tapping intermittently. No change. About 9 months after the AutoRx I had the valve covers off and the rockers arms and shaft were coated with varnish as they would be after 200,000 miles of normal use and regular oil and filter changes. Normal and completely harmless. In other words the AutoRx didn't accomplish anything except lighten my wallet a few bucks. No harm done, and positive benefit of reinforcing what I knew: these things are "snake-oil".

Haha back in the fifties Bardahl used to sponsor an indy car. Bardahl's still around. New generations of suckers born every minute, just Like P.T. Barnum said. I like the one that had the cartoon about vanquishing "Blacky Carbon, Gummy Rings, Sticky Lifters"...bad guys all and enemies of your engine. I don't rmember which of the snakeoils it was that was the foe of those bad guys. Rislone, Bardahl, STP, MotorHoney...etc.etc. one of those or some other.

Bob is the oil guy: "The guys on this site are border line insane about all forms of lubrication"...actually make that nut-cases, cranks, and crackpots.

All just my $0.02 after about 50 years of observation.

 

my opinion is to stay away from sea foam. solvents don't do well for gaskets. think of ATF as a thin engine oil with tons of soaps. ive used ATF several times in other vehicles and it works wonders, for me at least. I've never used it in my 94 v6 runner, but i use Rotella-T 15w-40. I have never had cleaner oil after 3000 miles. If you decide to FLUSH your engine, dont be surprised if you clog something. Sometimes, all the crap in the motor keeps everything from falling apart. A gradual cleaning might be the best option. Put a .5 quart of ATF in the crankcase, run it for 10 minutes, drain the oil, change the filter, put at least a descent oil in, repeat after 1500 miles. Do that a few times, and see what you think. You might not have any results, you might be very impressed. But the same is true with any flush. Its a crap shoot with high mileage engines.

 

You would think I wouldve made the connection... blonde moment!

 

ATF is a 30 weight of oil, I drain about a litre of oil out of my truck, replace it with a litre of ATF, then drive about 100 km's or so. Then I drain it all. The engine gets squeaky clean.

 

I don't see how seafoam is a cleaning agent/solvent at all, it is made from only 3 ingredients which all come from petroleum. And I have used seafoam on all 3 of my vehicles, and they run perfect, and just had a guy at work, who was throwing codes , use it on his 1999 chevy s/10. I believe they were either o2 sensor, or CAT related.
We seafoamed his truck, codes went away, he went and passed inspections.

I won't disagree with ATF either, I have not used it, but I know a ton of dudes here have. I do have a question though; I have wondered, after using ATF in the crankcase, do you ever get any new leaks or leakage, that you did not have before? You know how tranny shops say never to totally and thorougly clean out your tranny of all deposits; because some are filling little nooks and crannies, and tiny holes. And that if you clean all that stuff out, then you will start to get some tranny leakage. I am wondering if the ATF cleaning does the same thing?

 

another dude I knew, swore by an old dude telling him, he used Coke for the same thing... I don't have the guts to try that...

 

oh god, coke in the crank case? *shudder*