Can anyone tell me how I can flush gunge from my engine without dismantling it? I was thinking of filling it with trps and cranking it for a while.

Sounds pretty wild I know, but its done 100k and probably needs it...

Its a Ford 2.0l DOHC jobbie, and it hasn't got any ancilliaries attached (apart from the starter & gearbox) - its just sitting in the chassis at the mo'

Cheers

JonB

you can buy "engine flush" from Halfords not sure who makes it though, add when warm run then empty contents replace with new oil, works a treat. cost about £10.

Buy the same stuff at your local factors, it only costs £5!

they run ok on "Jizer" for a couple o mins, just don't rev the balls off it......

Even if it has done 100k, if the oil has been changed regularly, there wont be a problem. I would only recommend using flushing oil as a last resort, because it is impossible to get every last drop out again.
Try running the engine on quality oil recommended for a diesel engine, as the oil supposedly has a higher proportion of detergent added to keep the inherently dirtier motors clean inside.

Disclaimer: I was given this info from a chappie who is in the motor oil manufactering industry. I've seen this trick work on yukky CVH engines, but if you do go ahead and try it, you are on your own.......

Cheers, Stu.

I'd take the sump pan off and clean that out - there will almost certainly be loads of sh*te in the bottom of that which you don't want a flushing agent distributing round your engine. Then I would go to a motor factors and buy some cheap oil ( you'll probably get 2 oil changes worth for about a tenner ) and change it and the filter after say 20 miles of the engine running at it's normal operating temperature and again at about 100 miles then put some decent oil back in it and you should be ok......

From a personal note I tend to be against using engine cleaning agents. Consider an engine that has been running for 100K and there is a sludge build up around the journals on the crank shaft. If the engine has had a hard life and those journals are worn, then the sludge is quite often the only thing preserving oil pressure by controlling the flow of oil out of the side of the journal. Remove this sludge and goodbye oil pressure. A far better method would be very regular oil & filter changes, using (sorry about this if any of you have anything against brands in particular) Castrol Magnatec. I would use the 10/40. I personally am a motor mech and I do not like fixing a car unless its broken. At the moment I am running (1 for me) a sierra 2.0is C reg about 150K and (1 for wife) a Granada 2.0iGhia (both pinto's) Greg about (estimate due to now on second replacement speedo) 300K. both of these have give excelent service in view of the hard life they are currently suffering. (Ok so I generally top up the oil when the oil pressure light comes on.) In the next couple of weeks I shall be changing the lump in the Granada cos the the cam has finally started to rattle and the oil consumption due to wear on the rings is increasing but at 300K what do you expect. Oh I do use magnatec and the oil is still coming out (what there is when I do an oil change) fairly clean & I still have good oil pressure.

Basic rule of motor vehicle maintenance - "If it ain't broke DON'T fix it"


Enjoy.

& if you feel that you HAVE to take the sump off, then at least slap a set of shells and an oil pump in it, at least that way you know the oil pressure will be ok.

[Edited on 25/3/03 by jollygreengiant]

Take a look at www.ccengines.co.uk/forte.htm, we use this stuff all the time to flush engines wnem servicing them, it does remove carbon deposits very well but as said before it is best to remove the sump after to clean out the crud, it costs £10.76+vat for motor flush, they also do lots of other products for flushing cooling systems etc.

john

I'm completely with the Jolly Big Green bloke on this one and would never use a flushing agent on a engine. Either you do a job properly or don't bother and 'flushing' anything isn't doing it properly.

I you have decent access I would still suggest taking the sump off and cleaning out all the sh*te that you'll inevitably find in the bottom - you can tell an awful lot about the health of an engine from what's lurking in the sump eg metal swarf (and I would definitely find stuff like that before you start flushing rather than after for obvious reasons btw). Mind you throwing in a new set of shells needs a fair amount of experience to do properly and involves taking most of the engine apart........

Dave

Who while recently rebuiding an engine for someone who bought it from a company that has BIG adverts in the kit car press discovered std. shells on a +10 thou crank..mmmmm

Hi Jon, i agree with dave, dont, use flushing oil you will unleash a million little demons into your engine that have been tucked away in all the corners and traps in your motor, if you want to clean it strip it.cheers davef.