engine flush?

[mal]

Sorry if this has been covered before

is it adviseable to run an engine flush thru before changing the oil? its my first turbo car, or will it damage anything? to say the old oil is black is an understatement, any advice appreciated

[Tony Donovan]

Best not risk it, Mate.. Try draining whilst as warm as poss. to get as much crud out as you can, fit a Toyota filter and only run the new oil for a few K before changing it and the filter again (a lot of the residual crud will have been washed loose due to the action of the fresh oil, and caught by it).

I'd suggest doing the whole thing at least twice - fiddly and expensive, but safer! :)

[Nodalmighty]

Best not risk it, Mate.. Try draining whilst as warm as poss. to get as much crud out as you can, fit a Toyota filter and only run the new oil for a few K before changing it and the filter again (a lot of the residual crud will have been washed loose due to the action of the fresh oil, and caught by it).

I'd suggest doing the whole thing at least twice - fiddly and expensive, but safer! :)

I did the latter and blew my engine up. :crybaby: The crud blocks the strainer in the sump before the filter gets any sort of chance to do it's job.

Running a decent flush solution thourgh an engine does no harm as long as it's suitable for alloy heads and of a known reputable brand.

Because my engine now has 85mm forged low compression pistons the clearances permit at least 1 litre of oil to be consumed per 1K miles so my oil is always fresh. :)

Nod.

[mal]

Hmmm , got a couple of cans of WYNNS was gonna run them thru if it was ok, before i changed the oil and filter

[darket69]

If the engines not all sludgy inside just drain the oil and fill with new .. dont mess about with engine flushes . mostly they do more harm than good and you can end up spinning a bearing .. and if the engine is really sludgy the only thing that will really clean it quickly would be a strip and really nasty chemical agents and it would have only got like that from some sevre abuse.

I'v flushed badly sluged engines before a strip and have never seen it make any difference . all it is is a basic light oil like parafin with a few basic and usually non existant additives,, there is nothing magical about an engine flush that will break down 15 years of carbon etc no mater what the tin says..

The best way is the tried and tested method of regular oil and filter changes (every 2000-3000 oil and filter) and youll find this does a much better job of slowly breaking deposites down in an engine and is far safer!

[imoyes]

I'd go with Darket and Tony. I hate putting "stuff" in my oil.

Thing is, if you're gonna change your oil a lot, until the crap is mostly out, you can use cheap crappy oil (as long as it's the right grade). I'd stick with the OEM filter though.

Rather than stick to the 2,000 to 3,000 miles thing I'd be temped to change it, at least at first, as soon as it looks really dirty.

I wouldn't go with the "change it after a good thrash" advice until you've done it the first couple of times though, just in case there's too much muck sloshing about to cope with a good thrash.