Engine flush treatment

[Bigmike62]

Greetings Gents.. 

I'd like some opinions please on useing an engine flush treatment before every oil service..

I have since owning my 09' Presara, at each oil service, twice a year, put penrite engine flush through the motor..

however, I've been warned twice now, these last 2 services not to use it. Ruins the seals I was told on each occassion..

however, on the bottle of engine flush it says" no solvents". I'd like to know if any of you guys use an engine flush and what your opinions are on useing them..am I damaging my motor..??

TIA..👍

 

Edited December 13, 2023 by Bigmike62

[Tony Prodigy]

Hey Big Mike. How you doing buddy ?

Opinions on whether to use engine flush can be divided.

Engine flush was primarily designed for those people who don't service their engines regularly and hence have sludge and other contamination build up. Engine flush in this case would be recommended so the sludge doesn't compound over time and cause premature failure of vital engine components.

If your engine has been serviced regularly, using the correct weight oil and a high quality fully synthetic, then my answer would be not to use engine flush because you'd really have nothing to flush.

If the oil is changed regularly at low intervals, you'll not even really have any varnish or sludge, so I think it's not necessary to keep flushing. The oil does the cleaning for you in the meantime.
You say, twice a year ? If I had to, I'd probably just do one per year or every 2nd or 3rd oil change.

What happens is, the engine flush thins the oil down as it sloshes around and when you drain the oil, you still have residual "thinned oil" which is also discoloured from the cleaning process, remain inside those nooks and crannies in the engine.
This residual oil will then mix in with the new oil and will degrade it almost immediately. Not by much but enough to see a discolouration.
You'll probably see the colour of the oil change in a day or two after the service has been done.

How do I know this ? Because the mechanic who used to do my dad's Aurion, used to upsell him engine flush each service and after checking his service reports, I could see he took proper advantage of a man who has near to zero knowledge on the subject. Dad's Aurion was practically brand new and didn't need engine flush. Said mechanic just wanted to milk more money out of him for the business. He took him to town on a few occasions and I insisted he stop taking the car there. I decided to take over his car servicing up to the time they moved North.

What I observed in his oil when I did the oil change, was how brown the oil looked and how thin it was too. It intrigued me as to why it was like this because the oil in my car never came out this way even after 10K of usage. Then I remembered "Engine Flush". That was my aha moment.

After draining it, I jacked the car up as high as I could and let it down several times to get as much of the old stuff out as possible. Probably got as much as 500ml extra over just draining the engine with on a level plain.

So, I'm in two minds in using the stuff. I have a couple of bottles of engine flush myself and have never used them as yet. Not sure If I will to be honest. I'll wait and see how things go. I do plan to keep my Aurion for as long as humanly possible, so they may come into play at some point in the future. But for now, my engine has done nearly 160K and it's still minty inside. Not a hint of sludge or varnish. Thank you Nulon Full Synthetic 5W-30 oil..

 

[Bigmike62]

Tony Prodigy...

Hi mate...and thanks for your detailed opinion on this issue I've raised. Your insight is what I needed. You put forward an intelligent argument for not useing engine flush, particularly if the servicing has been up to scratch..my 09' presara was serviced properly before my buying it, according to the log book..no idea what oil was used though..

I'll go with your advice and stop useing it I think..It is overkill I guess and also detrimental to the quality of the new oil being put in. I will of course continue to change my oil every 6 months , and continue to use penrite 5W30 full synthetic.. 

Cheers..👍😁

[Tony Prodigy]

My Pleasure mate. Just keep up your routine scheduled maintenance and you'll have no issues.

That's why they call it preventative maintenance I guess. Just like when you had the water pump replaced before it failed. That's a good move because the 40 series had the older style, prone to failure water pumps and they became a ticking time bomb. They fixed that with the 50 series, which Is why I'm not particularly worried about mine failing any time soon despite the 160K on it. It's all pretty much still original. I keep an eye out on the weep hole and as soon as I see a weep, it'll be changed out.

I've got a nice little order of parts in the pipeline coming from Amayama too. I'll post up when they arrive. Just some refresher parts..

All the best to you Big Mike 

[campbeam]

In my stash of products I had previously located a bottle of the Penrite Engine Flush so decided to use it for the engine oil change on the weekend. Odometer reading was 256,415 Kms and last oil change was 01.10.2023 for a road trip 10.10.2023 of 2500+ Kms.

Used engine oil [at operating temperature] and filter cartridge was replaced with a flushing oil and a cleaned used filter cartridge. The engine was idled for 10 minutes. This flushing oil and filter cartridge were then replaced with new cheap engine oil, the Penrite Engine Flush product and another cleaned used filter cartridge. Engine was idled again for 10 minutes. After this engine oil was emptied and a new oil filter cartridge fitted, I then poured more new cheap oil to help flush out any residual oil. Finally filled the engine with new quality full synthetic oil.

Photo shows 1. the used engine oil [done 3700 kms] 2. oil after the engine flush with the Penrite Flush product 3. New cheap oil poured through the engine.

Basically demonstrating that for an engine with known oil sludge that the Penrite Flush Product works. Still wondering if it is better than using diesel as a flushing agent.

Pho

[KAA]

Thanks Ashley for the update on Mr Sludgy, I feel personally yes a dedicated engine flush may be worth a try for a while mate. Looking at the end results it obviously did do a good job. Then again your battle over this time has also helped a lot to reduce that sludge you have been fighting so hard.

Look after yourself and love and hugs to you and your beloved for Christmas and may 2024 be an awesome year with that sludge gone.

KAA

[TRD_Aurion]

Thanks Ash for your write up. I decided to get some oil flush today and will follow a similar method. I’ve bought the Nulon ultimate oil flush, which apparently is soap based rather than solvent. We’ll see how it goes.

im not sure how ‘sludgey’ my engine is, but can see a lot of varnish when looking through oil fill hole. 

[campbeam]

23 minutes ago, TRD_Aurion said:

im not sure how ‘sludgey’ my engine is, but can see a lot of varnish when looking through oil fill hole. 

A decent indicator is the amount of sludge particles caught in the element of the oil filter cartridge. A further indicator is the amount of sludge particles in the bottom of the oil drain pan.

[TRD_Aurion]

Arhh awesome I’ll make sure to check the filter. I do the regular 5000km oil changes, don’t remember seeing sludge particles per se. Thankyou kindly. Quick question Ash, I remember in your oil sludge thread using mention using diesel as a flush. Is this diesel fuel or oil designed for Diesel engines? Do you completely empty the engine and refill with 6 litres of diesel? 

[campbeam]

8 hours ago, TRD_Aurion said:

using diesel as a flush. Is this diesel fuel or oil designed for Diesel engines? Do you completely empty the engine and refill with 6 litres of diesel? 

I use diesel fuel as a flush. I drain the engine oil [including the oil filter cartridge] and refill with 5-6 litres of diesel then idle engine for approx. 10 minutes. Surprising how dirty that diesel will become after cleaning the engine internals. Drain the diesel. If you want to be OCD etc, do another flush with either diesel or a cheap engine oil.

Drain and refill with a quality known brand full synthetic oil and a new oil filter cartridge.

Payoff for this extra time and effort is that you know that all of the previous used oil has been removed so not immediately contaminating the new oil.

Stay with the old school approach and change your oil more often.

With turbo or supercharged engines, be very aware that the engine oil additives take a pounding so quality oil selection and oil change interval are highly important.

[Graham1943]

Oil flush

I have Lc200 year 2008 I have never used oil flush in 280,000 ks as it has been serviced at the correct intervals and using the recommended oil. Approximately 6 months ago I noticed a ticking noise on warmup and remained until reaching the correct engine temperature. 

I have done some research and it was suggested that there are filters inside the rocker covers and they are prone to blockage “sludge”, blocking oil from reaching some of the tappets. I believe the front tappets mainly.

This means removing both rocker cover and clean the filters (BIG JOB) expensive job.

After talking to a mechanic (personal friend) he suggested trying oil flush first, this was carried out with great success, the ticking noise was greatly reduced.

For how long, time will tell I guess.