safe, effective, engine flush/cleaner?

[Johnny248]

We have an '08 2.5l Beetle with ~160k on it. Car was purchased used from the original VW selling dealer. It was maintained there and according to the history, had it's oil changes done around 10k from new up until it was traded in at the dealer. My GF may have not been great at servicing the car for the last 60k that she has owned it, or the original 10k intervals were not ideal from my visual. I replaced the PCV diaphragm which developed a tear in it, and you can see into the rocker cover a little bit behind the diaphragm. It defiantly shows some sludge in there. More so than I prefer. I don't know how common this is with the 5 cyl engines, but I was thinking about running some sort of flush through it before the oil gets changed. I'm sure this will cause debate, but is there any easy, effective, and more than anything else safe product to use?

I was planning on running some "flush" , drain and replace filer, fill with some cheap oil for about 1000k, and changing again with the normal oil and filter .

 

[xxch4osxx]

Amsoil has a detergent based flush that would probably help in your case.

 

[krismoriah72]

https://gumout.com/multi-system-tune-up/

They are also a site sponsor.

 

[jk_636]

5 minute motor flush

 

[newtoncd8]

I know that Auto-RX is kind of taboo on this site, but BITOGers used to look to it for a good cleaning, albeit it takes a bit longer (i.e. a full oil change) ... Not a produce endorsement, just another option to look at as you research products.

 

[4wheeldog]

Originally Posted By: Johnny248
I was planning on running some "flush" , drain and replace filer, fill with some cheap oil for about 1000k, and changing again with the normal oil and filter .


You might want to rethink that million mile OCI. I know what you meant, but....Just sayin'.

 

[sicko]

Are you sure you want to use a flush, and not just do it slowly using something like M1 or PP with shorter 5k-7k OCIs? Both have shown to be good at cleaning, so it might be worth trying.

In the past people on here have liked Auto-RX, there now seems to be some level of backlash. I can't really comment one way or another on it.

Marvel Mystery Oil (MMO) seems to be another one people on here use. Some people add it in near the end of their OCI, and some people replace up to a full quart of oil with MMO when doing an oil change. Read through the posts on the site to see if that's something you'd like to use.

The third one I've heard spoken about on here is Kreen. I don't know much about it, I don't even think it has any type of usage instructions, so people are basically just figuring out how to use it on their own. But supposedly it does some crazy good stuff. I just don't know about a product working as quickly as some people have mentioned, there's no such thing as a free lunch so I'm left wondering what you're sacrificing in order to get quick results.


If I was going to do something on my vehicle, I'd probably start off with MMO. It's cheap, readily available, and people have been using it for so long that I wouldn't be worried about it doing harm.

 

[4wheeldog]

I actually question how much harm the amount of sludge you are seeing actually causes. I know we all like squeaky clean engine internals, but some varnish and a bit of buildup on internal parts does little to effect the performance of the engine.

All that said, in the bad old days, when sludge could actually be so bad that nothing came out the drainhole, even with oil to full on the dipstick, Rislone did a credible job of getting the nasty black stuff moving.

But if I were you, I would just shorten up the OCIs, maybe a couple of 5k ones, then not worry so much. The car will probably die of something else, anyway.

 

[AdRock]

One thing to ponder.

On the F150 I have I ran some MMO in with the oil for the first few OCI's. It did start cleaning things. However, it had some crud in there that I didn't know about and as it cleaned it knocked stuff into the pan. Then clogged the oil pickup and ruined the engine.

So if there's anything that won't dissolve that could be loosened and end up in the pan I'd be weary of doing any major cleaning other than getting in there and manually scraping it out.

 

[jfking106]

Marvel Mystery oil does the same thing, and is much cheaper.

 

[Johnny248]

Originally Posted By: 4wheeldog
Originally Posted By: Johnny248
I was planning on running some "flush" , drain and replace filer, fill with some cheap oil for about 1000k, and changing again with the normal oil and filter .


You might want to rethink that million mile OCI. I know what you meant, but....Just sayin'.


Lol oops

 

[Johnny248]

As far as using some sort of better cleaning oil, the engine uses 5w40 and PP or something like that isn't really available. I was looking st the Amsoil product, and I might try that. The Gumout product has PEA which I'm not sure if that helps in the crank case or not. Never looked into Marvel, but always just thought of it as some snake oil. Never been attracted to products that say use it everywhere. And those 5mim flushes seem to be just some kerosene or solvent which doesn't seem ideal. At this point I'm leaving toward the Amsoil or Gumout Multi System, but again - similar to 5 min flush as far as some solvents?

 

[Clevy]

mmo and seafoam are safe bets. They can be used at any point during the interval. The solvent flashes off leaving just the carrier oil behind.
Kreen,berrymans chemtool and 5 minute flush type products are much stronger. Follow the directions to the letter with those.
Rislone is a multi function product meant for use for the entire interval.
Molekule has suggested rislone before so if it's something he approves of that in itself speaks volumes to me.
Depending on short intervals to clean an engine with significant deposits doesn't make any sense to me. It'll take as long to clean as it did to accumulate the sludge therefore I feel like it's an effort in futility.
I'd try rislone first using a known cleaning oil or hdeo a grade thicker than specified because the rislone will thin the oil somewhat,running a slightly shorter interval. At the intervals end I'd use a 5 minute flush type product.
Then run an interval with no additives and monitor oil condition and colour then decide if you want to try again.
Jmo

 

[Oro_O]

The comment by AdRock is valuable. There was a post here about two month ago from a VW owner who nearly lost his because of a blocked pick up tube - he kept getting inexplicable OP warning lights. Fortunately he shut it down and investigated throughly, and when pulling the pan found the screen clogged.

I don't know if VWs have this issue more often, but the make reminded me of his story. If that car was used for a lot of short hops in that cold climate, it's worth bearing that in mind.

 

[DoubleWasp]

Another great product. This is Molakule's report, as I understand: http://www.lcdinc.com/tests_dyson.php

I'm just beginning to use LC20, so I don't have results myself yet, but this report and testing is compelling enough to me.

 

[Virtuoso]

I personally wouldn't run any engine flush.

If the car runs good and makes no abnormal noises (not that a flush would change those), why fix what isn't broken?

Any quality oil at a reasonable OCI will at least stop the formation of sludge and perhaps even slowly clean it up.

IMHO the only time a quick fix works 100% is if you're opening up the motor to manually clean it out.

 

[Lubener]

Do a couple frequent oil changes. Running a flush can dislodge some crud and block an oil passage.

 

[Olas]

If you're concerned that diSlodge crud may block the pickup, do a hot drain and refill right upto the brim with diesel fuel. Don't run the engine just let it sit overnight.

Drain that, and them start on the 3k/miles OCI.

 

[Doog]

I would use a synthetic oil and add 1/2 quart of rislone to your oil change and just run it 4-5000 miles. It will gently clean your engine. Do this for at least 4-5 oil changes. That said, PP by itself is a real good engine cleaner with an OCI of 5000 miles.

 

[hattaresguy]

If it runs good just shorten the OCI for awhile and it will clean it out slowly.

I'm not a fan of motor flush's unless the engine had no oil pressure than they are a good last effort before pulling it apart.