Add diesel to oil for change?

Discussion in 'General Motoring' started by Richard, Apr 6, 2005.

  1. Richard

    Richard Guest

    Is this okay to do???

    Easy Flushes When Changing Oil
    Drain out about one quart of oil. Replace that quart of oil with a quart of diesel. Run the engine (in place) for 3 minutes. Do NOT drive the car with the diluted oil in it. The diesel will help clean out passages in the head and will make the oil the thinner, so more comes out quicker when draining, bringing with it any dirt and grime. We have done this on our farm for over 50 years. My dad showed me how to do this growing up, and we now have 260,000 miles on our 94 Ford Crown Victoria with no engine wear (burning oil) and the engine has never been taken apart. Particulates that get trapped in passageways break free sooner or later!

    http://www.ehow.com/how_11_change-motor-oil.html
     
    Richard, Apr 6, 2005
    #1
  2. Richard

    John S. Guest

    260,000 miles on a modern car is a pretty low hurdle these days. My
    son will not give up his Camry with 260,000 miles and one daughter has
    a Volvo with 250,000 miles. Both engines are running strong because
    all maintenance has been kept up and the oil changed every 3,000 miles.

    A solution like the one proposed might loosen some crud at point a and
    fill an orofice in point b. If you feel the need to flush the engine,
    be sure to do it early in the life of the car and regularly by someone
    with the proper equipment. I would not start flushing the lubricating
    system of a car as an antidote for years of deferred maintenance.
     
    John S., Apr 6, 2005
    #2
  3. Richard

    y_p_w Guest

    quart of diesel. Run the engine (in place) for 3 minutes. Do NOT drive
    the car with the diluted oil in it. The diesel will help clean out
    passages in the head and will make the oil the thinner, so more comes
    out quicker when draining, bringing with it any dirt and grime. We have
    done this on our farm for over 50 years. My dad showed me how to do
    this growing up, and we now have 260,000 miles on our 94 Ford Crown
    Victoria with no engine wear (burning oil) and the engine has never
    been taken apart. Particulates that get trapped in passageways break
    free sooner or later! I personally wouldn't do it. However - it doesn't seem that much
    different than commercially available kerosene-based engine flushes.
    I'm kind of wary about this simply because there's going to be some
    residual fuel left in the oil.
     
    y_p_w, Apr 6, 2005
    #3
  4. Richard

    ed Guest

    only problem I have with this is how do you insure that you get all of this thinned out liquid before putting in new oil? Will it dry up before you put in the new oil, or what? Sludge reduction is a good thing but I guess there would be no sludge if oil got changed regularly. (regular oil we're talking here)

    I just warm the engine and drain the old stuff when its good and runny then use an extra quart of new oil to wash things out before putting in all new. Just my preference.

    just me talking.....
    ..
     
    ed, Apr 6, 2005
    #4
  5. <flush instructions snipped>

    This begs the question: "why?" If regular oil changes are done, modern
    engines go 300,000 miles and more. Usually by that time enough other
    problems take the car off the road. Even if the flushing extended the life,
    in most situations the life would never be used.

    -David
     
    David Teichholtz, Apr 7, 2005
    #5
  6. Richard

    Jim, N2VX Guest

    ....

    Lets see - What are the lubricating properties of diesel? Good luck!
     
    Jim, N2VX, Apr 7, 2005
    #6
  7. Richard

    Nate Nagel Guest

    It's actually a fairly good lubricant, but doesn't have the viscosity of
    motor oil so won't protect an engine as well under load. I don't see an
    issue with doing what the OP suggests (running at idle,) as long as the
    engine is in good condition. Of course, if it were in good condition,
    you wouldn't be considering flushing it now would you? Catch-22!

    nate
     
    Nate Nagel, Apr 7, 2005
    #7
  8. Richard

    rudyxhiebert Guest

    There's better options that are made for that, why take a chance on
    something that could be the beginning of the end for this car! You can
    get an engine flush for a heack of a lot less that what it would cost
    to redo an engine that still sounds good.
    If you're not going to change over to synthetic, why bother even with
    the diesel flush?
     
    rudyxhiebert, Apr 7, 2005
    #8
  9. Richard

    Jan Kalin Guest

    It would have to be, considering that high pressure diesel fuel pumps are
    lubricated by it!
     
    Jan Kalin, Apr 7, 2005
    #9
  10. Richard

    Oppie Guest

    Is this okay to do???

    I usually use something like rislone engine flush every few oil changes
    http://www.rislone.com/products.htm

    On occasion, I just add a quart of kerosene instead. Run the engine to get
    it warm, add the kerosene and idle for 5 minutes before draining. Be sure to
    change the filter. Seems to keep it nicely clean.
     
    Oppie, Apr 7, 2005
    #10
  11. Richard

    N8N Guest

    A lot of posters over at bobistheoilguy seem to like a product called
    Auto-RX, personally I've never tried it, but they rave about it. Their
    web site looks mildly snake-oily, but on the other hand I've never seen
    a bad review of it. I may try it myself in my '55 as it is fairly
    clean inside but I would like it to be cleaner.

    nate
     
    N8N, Apr 7, 2005
    #11
  12. Richard

    Steve Guest

    I agree.
    And by "modern" you mean 1960 and later. What has really improved are
    the oils- you couldn't run a 1966 engine 9000 miles between changes on
    1966 motor oil, but you sure can do that with the same engine on modern
    oils. And it'll last as long as any 2005 engine given the same care too.

    The only thing that should ever be put in the crankcase is OIL, in my
    opinion. As a last resort to save a badly sludged engine, I have
    carefully flushed the crankcase with kerosene (NOT with the engine
    running!), refilled with cheap oil and a new filter, run it for 10
    minutes, and then changed the oil and filter and replaced with good oil.
    But I'd never do that on an engine that wasn't doomed if I did nothing.

    FWIW- the "doomed" engine survived and has run another 30,000 miles or
    so and now has 210,000 miles.
     
    Steve, Apr 7, 2005
    #12
  13. Mentioning "on the farm" does remind me of the things we've done in the past
    on my dad, grandpa, and uncles farms. Using kerosene or diesel fuel (either
    one) was a regular practice. Running it very long at all really wasn't, but
    you can flush out quite bit of varnish, particulates, etc. doing just that.
    Combined with regular maintenance, it works out quite well. Running
    straight 30 weight for a short time afterwards (50 in big engines) provided
    for the removal of what was left (flush and waste product alike.) The
    technique is old, tried, and true! AND, recommended by companies such as
    Cummins, Detroit, and Volvo in their engines for many years. We ran our
    turbo diesels with the governors wide open for years; providing regular
    maintenance and flushes as part of this.
    On a gasoline engine, it may be better recommended to use something like
    mineral oil or a drain through of mineral spirits while the engine is still
    warm. Possibly let it run for a couple of minutes. But, be warned!
    Passenger vehicle engines are flimsy, when compared to big diesels. Don't
    overdo it!
     
    hoosier_drifter, Apr 12, 2005
    #13
  14. Richard

    rich Guest

    I'd personaly be affraid to "wash" out as much oil as I could from my
    engine.

    It's well known that most engine wear happens durring start up because
    the oil has settled at the bottom of the pan and then takes a few
    moments to get to where it's needed.

    Even after the engine is shut down and the oil has drained, there is
    still an oil film on the engine internals. WITH this film wear happens
    on start up. Why would anyone want to strip this protective coating
    away and then start the car?

    Forget the kerosene and the motor flush, ignore the high priced oils
    (unless you car was designed to use them) and Slick 50's, turn off the
    infomercials pouring sand into engines.

    Just change yout oil and filter often.

    It's that simple.
     
    rich, Apr 12, 2005
    #14
  15. Really, I'm not suggesting you start it. Just warm it up a little bit
    first, then let the thinner/clearer liquid run through it top to bottom and
    out of the pan. The straight weight oil then is used as the clean out,
    washing away the unwanted fluids and nasty stuff. Running your engine on
    anything that can be used to clean paint brushes....yeah, that's obviously
    bad. This process dissolves the sludge build up in the lines, heads, and
    pan for the most part. Rings, seals, bearings, and high friction zones are
    better left alone. And, as for high priced oils (synthetics;) They work
    well in pretty much any engine, so long as you have cared for it well before
    making the change and have let it break in properly. Otherwise, you may
    risk opening up places in you engine for oil to seep through that you never
    would of discovered otherwise. (Not a high mileage decision)
     
    hoosier_drifter, Apr 12, 2005
    #15
  16. Richard

    rich Guest

    Even with pouring "something" into a warm engine only to let it drain
    right out, I just dont see the point.

    If you have a "V" type engine block, unless you have a filler cap on
    either valve cover, you're only getting one cyl. bank. Even on an
    in-line set up you have no way of getting a fluid dispersed into the
    engine. Gravity will take it down the path of least resistance.

    With the oil bath you mentioned, ("The straight weight oil then is used
    as the clean out, washing away the unwanted fluids and nasty stuff.")
    The cleaning fluid should be so diluted by then that any cleaning
    properties would be greatly diminished. If not, you're talking about
    dangerously decreased lubrication.

    All possible damage questions aside, I just dont see the point of all
    the extra effort.
    Changing your oil like you should seems the only solution.


    A side note, from what I've read about synth. oil, there doesnt seem to
    be a need for the extra cost of using it. Unless your car sees extreme
    driving conditions, ie racing or severe towing, the new dino oils fit
    the bill completely. And at a much more reasonable price.
    recomends synth oil is the Corvete. Thats because many people WILL race
    them. The synth oil can take the high heat.

    For your Chevette, the dino oils out now are much better then they were
    when your car was new.
     
    rich, Apr 12, 2005
    #16
  17. Ahhh - the Chevette...How long before Chevy "re-introduces" that name on a
    new line? :) As a teen, we used to have a ball with Chevettes. I had one
    friend who changed out the engine mounts and put a Buick V-6 in it, Then,
    not to be outdone, his friend modified the whole front end (suspension, and
    extended it) to accommodate a 350 V-8. The V-6 won in a race as the 350
    was just too difficult to control, but it was fun to play around...the good
    ol days....
     
    Scott MacIntyre, Apr 12, 2005
    #17
  18. Yeah, I had an 81' Chevette-litte ugly yellow one. Ran the 'living hell'
    out of it. Replaced the engine @ 180K miles with a slightly beefed up 2.5
    out of a Fiero and an S-10 tranny. Was actually pretty quick. Friend of
    mine made use of a 2.8 Fiero GT motor in his and ran some good numbers at
    the strip, but I never made it that far.
    The good ole days! If only Detroit could make RWD small cars again; how
    much fun they would be with an Ecotec!
     
    hoosier_drifter, Apr 12, 2005
    #18
  19. Yeah, but then we'd have the "hump" again in the middle!! Didn't care up
    front, but as a teen in a car full of teens, you never wanted to end up in
    the middle in the back... :)

    My sister had a '80 auto and I remember she used to bring it up to school
    and back (upstate NY from Long Island) twice a year, and she'd have to get
    it up to about 75-80 going down the hills on route 17, so she'd only slow
    down to about 45 with it floored making it up the next one... :)
     
    Scott MacIntyre, Apr 12, 2005
    #19
  20. It's probably okay, but with today's detergent gasolines it provides no
    advantage. It's no better or worse than a commercial oil or gasoline
    additive, which are also unnecessary.
     
    Steven M. Scharf, Apr 14, 2005
    #20
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