Hey everyone I am looking for some input. I was speaking to an old school mec. who hold me about a good trick to clean deposits off higher mileage engines. His instructions were to drain out all your oil, leave the filter on and add 3 quarts of kerosene and 1 quart of ATF. Then start the car and let it idle for five to ten mins. Then shout the car off and drain out kerosene mixture and complete you oil change as normal. This should break up all build-up and carbon off the engine. I know kerosene has a small amount of lubricant in it, so it should be alright if the motor is just idling. I believe this would work great if you have an old V8 you wanted to clean up but i wonder if our engines are to complex for this trick to work. Has any one heard of this, have tried this, or have any ideas about how well this will work? I am considering trying it out on my 150,000 mile 30DE. Input???

 

My experience as a Tech has helped me to understand not let 'old skool mecs' touch new cars. Generally they dont realize how significant some of the changes have been to newer motors. Of course it depends on the mechanic too. If he knows his newer stuff, alright, cool.. I'm sure it would work on an old 350 or 305 or something but personally I wouldn't do this to my car. When I change my oil I go to the parts store and get a can of system clean or something like that.. you put it in the old oil before you change it while its still in the motor and let the car idle for 5 min. then you drain your oil and do your oil change. this way is much safer i think since you dont have to worry about burning out your bearings or anything else.

just my oppinion

 

I understand where you comeing from, i am kinda on the fence about the idea. it seems to make since and i can't seem to think of anything in particular that could get damaged, but thats why i am asking in case i am over looking something. i know you can get system clean, but this sounds like it would do a much better job, that is if it's safe.

 

don't do this. it will kill your bearings and other moving/sliding parts. there are other safer methods to clean build up.

here's the point - your engine relies on the film strength and AW additives (such as Zinc) in motor oil to prevent excess wear. if you dilute with that much kerosene your engine will be unprotected, and any amount of running will cause seriously elevated wear. your bearings will actually breach the normal lubricating layer and metal-metal contact will happen. likewise with other moving parts.

also - if you have excessive sludge or build up, the kerosene may break it loose and cause it to clog oil journals and passageways, thereby starving your engine of critical lubrication afterwards.

also - the ATF thing is really just an urban legend nowadays. it used to be that ATF had very high levels of detergents that would aid in cleaning (but not in only 5 minutes). in modern ATF those detergent levels are actually lower than motor oil, so there is no cleaning benefit to ATF.

instead, try a heavy duty diesel motor oil with extra detergents along with a product such as LC20, which is a mild 20wt solvent/lubricant. or you can try a product called Auto-Rx, which is safe and has many followers - I personally cannot endorse or discredit it, but I would use it before kerosene.

 

This is the type of inside i was looking for, do you know where i am find products listed above. Are they commonly found at parts stores? also i looking to replace spark plugs with this oil change, does any one know of a slightly hotter plug i can run, with my new infector setup i always smell fuel in the exhaust, so i am looking to burn it up am maybe make a little more power.

 

Yep, sky jumper is right


Is your engine real dirty or anything?

Google Auto-rx and you'll find it, its excellent stuff, i just did my auto tranny and it shifts so quick now i love it, my engine is already spotless or else id do that too

 

I don't imagine my engine is to bad i am really big on maintenance. But the engine does have 150,000 miles on it, and i do drive it like it's stolen. so it's time to really give it a good tune up before the summer months

 

LC20 can only be bought online from LubeControl... http://www.lubecontrol.com/lube.htm

auto-rx also on the web. don't have the link handy.

a good, cheap HDEO is rotella T synthetic 5W40. I think you can get it in gallon jugs at walmart for about $12. the LC20 will thin it out a bit, but you can run a 40wt anyway.

 

The old trick I heard of was diesel fuel (higher octane, so it won't combust from engine operating temp) and cheap oil, and it was about 2-3 minutes definitely not 8 minutes because then you really risk destroying bearings. You can try it in a 50/50 ratio, it should work wonders for an older engine if you dont over do it. When you're done, flush the system with just oil, run it for 8-10 minutes. Then drain that and put some 10w30 synthetic (the good stuff)

Personally... I ran some auto-rx in my engine and I noticed some results after two cycles as directed before swapping to full synthetic. I can't really say how effective it was, some people swear by it, but I think the synthetic did all the work... I would check my PCV valve and TB for gunk to decide whether to flush the engine. Good luck.

 

Except diesel fuel isn't rated in octane, it's rated in cetane...

 

This is true, but regardless of that measurement unit scale, it is a much more stable compound that combusts under extreme compression beyond that of a gasoline engine's internal conditions, and that was the point I was trying to make...