The other day I was piddling around in the shop and had about 2/3 (8 oz) of a bottle of Neutra sitting there and wanted the bottle to divide a big bottle of diesel fuel additive into "one shot" dosages. I got to thinking that one of my old gas tractors was about due for an oil change so I dumped that bottle into the sump.
This is a 1963 Case 830 4 Cylinder gasoline tractor. It has had regular oil changes with good quality dino 15w-40 its entire life and the oil was last changed late last summer with Rotella T 15w-40. To my knowledge it had never had an engine flush of any kind, and I know for a fact it has never had the valve cover off since new. The oil was a dark amber on the stick when I checked the oil before using it.
Anyways, I ran it to mix a 2 ton batch of feed and mow some roadsides, about 4-5 total hours of running, and then brought it back to the shop to drain the oil. As I pulled the plug, some oil got on my hands like usual, and when I rubbed my fingers together the oil was completely gritty with hard particles. This was a first for me in any application. I looked on the sides of the bucket where the oil had run down and there one could see gobs of sand-like particles adhering to the bucket. The oil was now as black as any I had ever seen come out of of any motor, diesel included, and blacker than anything I had ever witnessed coming out of a gas motor.
I went around and unscrewed the filter canister, curious about what I might find in it. Oil drained out, I looked into the canister, and the inside of it was completely covered in this same material! The pleats of the filter were also full of it. I always wipe down the filterhead, and as I went to do that I noticed sticky, sludgy stuff stuck around the ridge that separates the inlet/outlet on the filterhead, and upon rubbing my fingers on that, it was softer and disintegrated into a greaselike substance.
My wife was in the shop with me when I did this and she even came over to look because I was so fascinated by what I had found. She said it was "gross" and didn't know that kind of gunk could build up in even a well maintained engine.
I figured the Neutra would clean this engine up some, but I had no idea that only several hours worth of exposure to the solvents would loosen up so much stuff. I had never seen any grit or sludge evidence when changing the oil in this tractor before. I'm just glad I didn't run it for the 10-15 hours that would equate to the 500 miles suggested by Schaeffer's on the back of the bottle or I probably would have had a severely plugged filter!
I refilled it with Mystik 10w-30 HDEO and plan on running another Neutra flush for longer hours later this summer to really get it cleaned out. Will probably go 15 hours, with a filter change or at least inspection halfway through.
I guess I can safely say that Neutra is highly effective at loosening carbon and sludge deposits in old engines, even with just a few hours' use. I also have it in my 04 Dodge w/ Cummins and 04 Chevy 6.0L that are both approaching their oil change dates, but both of those should be relatively clean to begin with.
This is a 1963 Case 830 4 Cylinder gasoline tractor. It has had regular oil changes with good quality dino 15w-40 its entire life and the oil was last changed late last summer with Rotella T 15w-40. To my knowledge it had never had an engine flush of any kind, and I know for a fact it has never had the valve cover off since new. The oil was a dark amber on the stick when I checked the oil before using it.
Anyways, I ran it to mix a 2 ton batch of feed and mow some roadsides, about 4-5 total hours of running, and then brought it back to the shop to drain the oil. As I pulled the plug, some oil got on my hands like usual, and when I rubbed my fingers together the oil was completely gritty with hard particles. This was a first for me in any application. I looked on the sides of the bucket where the oil had run down and there one could see gobs of sand-like particles adhering to the bucket. The oil was now as black as any I had ever seen come out of of any motor, diesel included, and blacker than anything I had ever witnessed coming out of a gas motor.
I went around and unscrewed the filter canister, curious about what I might find in it. Oil drained out, I looked into the canister, and the inside of it was completely covered in this same material! The pleats of the filter were also full of it. I always wipe down the filterhead, and as I went to do that I noticed sticky, sludgy stuff stuck around the ridge that separates the inlet/outlet on the filterhead, and upon rubbing my fingers on that, it was softer and disintegrated into a greaselike substance.
My wife was in the shop with me when I did this and she even came over to look because I was so fascinated by what I had found. She said it was "gross" and didn't know that kind of gunk could build up in even a well maintained engine.
I figured the Neutra would clean this engine up some, but I had no idea that only several hours worth of exposure to the solvents would loosen up so much stuff. I had never seen any grit or sludge evidence when changing the oil in this tractor before. I'm just glad I didn't run it for the 10-15 hours that would equate to the 500 miles suggested by Schaeffer's on the back of the bottle or I probably would have had a severely plugged filter!
I refilled it with Mystik 10w-30 HDEO and plan on running another Neutra flush for longer hours later this summer to really get it cleaned out. Will probably go 15 hours, with a filter change or at least inspection halfway through.
I guess I can safely say that Neutra is highly effective at loosening carbon and sludge deposits in old engines, even with just a few hours' use. I also have it in my 04 Dodge w/ Cummins and 04 Chevy 6.0L that are both approaching their oil change dates, but both of those should be relatively clean to begin with.
