New oil as flush pre new-fill.

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Friends, How do you feel about using 5 quarts of any grade of STP Oil + 1 quart of Mystery Marvel Fluid with a new filter as a FLUSH. I'd idle the Jeep (w 200,000 miles) for 6 hours, hence, as per the govts' calculations, have theoretically 'driven' it 300 miles. Id dump it and put in some real primo stuff, such as M1, PP, Motul, Redline, or Royal Purple. I'd use STP because its $3.99 a qt, and would be less w my military discount.

The Jeep has a 6 quart sump. I understand as per the other threads here, "engine flush" are semi-dangerous, and better left alone. I am aware 'a good oil and proper maintenance' keep an engine clean enough but I wanted to put the question to you - most of whom are people I rely on. (I'm looking at you DemarPaint...) Thank you all.

-A
 
I purchased an S80 Volvo T6 model that was a grocery getter with very low miles, 4 years in svc.

The effects of short trips and normal oci left things less than ideal.

My strategy: drive it, drive it more but only with top rated syn, real syn.

After 10K or 15k miles, 2 or 3 oci, the abnormally dirty engine was running very nicely. Cleaning takes time.
 
Are you having issues? Have you pulled the valve cover and know it's gummed up? If not, don't fret. Just run something like M1, PP, PU, etc for whatever the severe service is in the owner's manual. PP is like $20/5qts at many places right now, I think M1 still has a rebate going on (check the stores it works at on their website), NAPA may or may not still have a syn sale going on...

It's not like an engine magically is ruined at 200K miles unless it was treated terribly as far as maintenance goes.
 
^May 31 was the last day to qualify for the Mobil rebate. Next one should be in a few months in the fall.
 
Simply driving with a good HDEO or synthetic oil is not really going to clean a dirty engine; I've been trying for years. While everyone jaw-bones it to death, I have seen any real evidence of it working.

Engine flushes are not iffy if you do them sanely. Yours is certainly ok, perhaps overly cautious. You could simply drive with that combination 500 miles and dump it. MMO at 20% of the sump volume (5:1) won't thin your oil that much, and this is what many people do, and the manufacturer recommends.

Static flushes (just idling vs. driving with it in the oil system) are typically with thinner solvents or a much higher quantity of solvent. I did one recently with 50% fresh Chevron 10w-40 and 50% Kerosene (this has been a Mercedes factory method in the past; it is not dangerous or kooky). I 9dled it for 15 minutes four times with a few hours of cool-down in between. Then filled with M1 10w-40 HM and a PureOne filter. This appeared to be more effective than four years of running it with HDEO and PP.
 
I would not do that myself. I would change the oil and put in some Pennzoil in yellow bottle and run it for 3k miles for 2-3 oil changes. This oil seems to clean up engines somewhat and is not expensive and you will get use out of the oil instead of just idling the engine and dumping good oil.

If the engine is really dirty it will take quite a while to clean up anyway. 6 hours of idling would not accomplish that in my opinion.
 
Originally Posted By: ARMY_Guy
Friends, How do you feel about using 5 quarts of any grade of STP Oil + 1 quart of Mystery Marvel Fluid with a new filter as a FLUSH. I'd idle the Jeep (w 200,000 miles) for 6 hours, hence, as per the govts' calculations, have theoretically 'driven' it 300 miles. Id dump it and put in some real primo stuff, such as M1, PP, Motul, Redline, or Royal Purple. I'd use STP because its $3.99 a qt, and would be less w my military discount.

The Jeep has a 6 quart sump. I understand as per the other threads here, "engine flush" are semi-dangerous, and better left alone. I am aware 'a good oil and proper maintenance' keep an engine clean enough but I wanted to put the question to you - most of whom are people I rely on. (I'm looking at you DemarPaint...) Thank you all.

-A


Since you asked. I don't think 6 hours idling is enough to do any cleaning with MMO. If you want to idle for 6 hours try Kreen. Or you could wait until the winter use the STP oil with a quart of MMO and drive for 3000 miles, then change over to the "primo stuff."
 
What says there is any issue? I'd consider a cheap hdeo first I think, skip any adds unless there really is some unresolved issue you can't get past.

If the engine is running well, I'm not seeing any compelling reason to do this. The 6hr idle time is also terribly frightening...

If you really have the itch, add the mmo or kreen at the end on a regular OCI, and just drive very light until the engine is up to temp, then drain thoroughly. That's enough to solvate and loosen any big/loose dirt in there. You can go longer, but again I'd want a compelling reason before exposing the engine to solvents for longer.

If you think things are that bad, I'd skip goofing with adds, and drop the pan and pull the valve cover.
 
Pull the valve cover and check things out. Auto-Rx or Kreen would be additives I would consider. But I would probably just use PP and keep the OCI at 5000.

Some amount of sludge is not a big deal. If the engine is running fine now then you just need to make sure the sludge is on a downward trend not upward. Running PP or M1 will do that unless there are engine issues.
 
Originally Posted By: ARMY_Guy
Friends, How do you feel about using 5 quarts of any grade of STP Oil + 1 quart of Mystery Marvel Fluid with a new filter as a FLUSH. I'd idle the Jeep (w 200,000 miles) for 6 hours, hence, as per the govts' calculations, have theoretically 'driven' it 300 miles. Id dump it and put in some real primo stuff, such as M1, PP, Motul, Redline, or Royal Purple. I'd use STP because its $3.99 a qt, and would be less w my military discount.

The Jeep has a 6 quart sump. I understand as per the other threads here, "engine flush" are semi-dangerous, and better left alone. I am aware 'a good oil and proper maintenance' keep an engine clean enough but I wanted to put the question to you - most of whom are people I rely on. (I'm looking at you DemarPaint...) Thank you all.

-A


From your sig it looks like you are using 0w40 already. No need for all the hullabaloo, just continue with a solid 0w40 synthetic!
 
Originally Posted By: JXW
I purchased an S80 Volvo T6 model that was a grocery getter with very low miles, 4 years in svc.

The effects of short trips and normal oci left things less than ideal.

My strategy: drive it, drive it more but only with top rated syn, real syn.

After 10K or 15k miles, 2 or 3 oci, the abnormally dirty engine was running very nicely. Cleaning takes time.


Great advice.

A high quality oil and filter, run at an appropriate interval, is the only "flush" most engines need.
 
Originally Posted By: ARMY_Guy
Friends, How do you feel about using 5 quarts of any grade of STP Oil + 1 quart of Mystery Marvel Fluid with a new filter as a FLUSH. I'd idle the Jeep (w 200,000 miles) for 6 hours, hence, as per the govts' calculations, have theoretically 'driven' it 300 miles. Id dump it and put in some real primo stuff, such as M1, PP, Motul, Redline, or Royal Purple. I'd use STP because its $3.99 a qt, and would be less w my military discount.

The Jeep has a 6 quart sump. I understand as per the other threads here, "engine flush" are semi-dangerous, and better left alone. I am aware 'a good oil and proper maintenance' keep an engine clean enough but I wanted to put the question to you - most of whom are people I rely on. (I'm looking at you DemarPaint...) Thank you all.

-A


First of all don't use brake fluid or ATF as a flush as some might suggest, as there is a chance they might damage the protective anti-wear layer deposited by the old oil or harm the oil seals.

Using a drive around flush additive with a badly sludged engine can be risky as it might block the oil filter or even the oil pump intake screen. There is a risk with any type of flush additive that you might make an existing oil leak worse, this is due to the false oil seal effect, where the sludge helps a worn oil seal function.

If you want to use a flush additive it's safer to use one designed for use at idle only. Both Liqui Moly and Amsoil make good idle use flush additives for use just before an oil and filter change. The engine only needs to idle for 10 or 15 mins, so even if the filter blocked they won't cause any real damage.

This is the PDS of the flush additive I use:
https://pim.liqui-moly.de/pidoc/P000624/...voiladb=web.nsf

If you do have any oil leaks then avoid the flush additives, switch to an oil that cleans well (Mobil 0w40, Penn Ultra or a major brand HM oil) and do a few short OCI's, say 3000 miles. That should help clean out any sludge, although it's not as effective at removing varnish deposits as a flush.
 
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Having drained the old stuff, fill it to the brim with diesel and leave it for 24 hours, drain the nastiest blackest gunk you ever saw, refill with good oil and carry on with your life.
 
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