Shariff
New Member
Hi I have VP D2 55 engine, I was thinking to use an engine flush fluid mixed with old engine oil. Has any have any recommendations, experience any issues. Would it do any harm to the engine.
Engine flush
- Thread starter Shariff
- Start date
RichardS
N/A
I assume that you are thinking of mixing flushing oil with old engine oil and running the engine for a while with that combination?
Provided the old oil is not full of metal swarf I can see it would do any harm ..... but I can't see that it would do any good either.
If you search for "flushing oil" on these forums you will find plenty of advice ....... but, in summary, it probably comes down to flushing oil being a waste of time and money unless you think your sump is full of gunge which won't come out, in which case you would be better removing the engine/sump and cleaning properly rather than stirring up the gunge with high detergent flushing oil.
Richard
Provided the old oil is not full of metal swarf I can see it would do any harm ..... but I can't see that it would do any good either.
If you search for "flushing oil" on these forums you will find plenty of advice ....... but, in summary, it probably comes down to flushing oil being a waste of time and money unless you think your sump is full of gunge which won't come out, in which case you would be better removing the engine/sump and cleaning properly rather than stirring up the gunge with high detergent flushing oil.
Richard
vyv_cox
Well-Known Member
Drain the old oil with the engine hot, after running, preferably under power, for half an hour. That will be just as effective as a low-viscosity flushing oil with no risk to bearings and other components. Adding Wynn's Engine Flush or something similar beforehand is cheap enough, £5.99 at one website, but I cannot see it achieving anything that a standard drain will not.
omega2
Well-Known Member
yes it will make the engine sound like a bag of spanners do not do it!
vyv_cox
Well-Known Member
I assume that's with the very low viscosity flushing oil? At one time it used to be recommended that ordinary oil be diluted 50/50 with paraffin for flushing but there were dire warnings (with which I totally agree) against running under load. Having seen the results on bearings of running with low viscosity oils I agree with you.
Shariff
New Member
Many thanks for your good advice
Jim@sea
Well-Known Member
I am a great believer in using flushing oil, in the early 60's most garages did it when servicing although oil then was not the high detergent stuff you get these days and the majority of cars and trucks were petrol anyway. in the 80's at my garage we used to service some very high mileage cars and in particular some Fords were known to have the Overhead Camshaft fail due to the oil supply lines getting blocked up. The remedy was to run the engine until hot, drain the oil, fill with flushing oil and let the engine tick over for an hour and then drain that out.
And a couple of years ago I bought an old MX5 which had a noisy Cam Follower. I cured it by leaving the engine ticking over for a hour with flushing oil in it.
You can still buy Flushing Oil in 4 litre Containers. I used to buy it from Maccess until they closed down. I dont like the Wynns stuff as its a shortcut. Because engines are so expensive to repair with any boat I buy I make sure the inside of the engine is totally clean and all the oil is getting where it should. If I cant find any flushing oil I just buy the thinnest oil I can find on a Supermarket Shelf and flush the engine with that. sometimes if an oil filter is cheap I will replace the oil filter before putting the flushing oil in and then put another one in when finished and re-filling with the final oil.
And a couple of years ago I bought an old MX5 which had a noisy Cam Follower. I cured it by leaving the engine ticking over for a hour with flushing oil in it.
You can still buy Flushing Oil in 4 litre Containers. I used to buy it from Maccess until they closed down. I dont like the Wynns stuff as its a shortcut. Because engines are so expensive to repair with any boat I buy I make sure the inside of the engine is totally clean and all the oil is getting where it should. If I cant find any flushing oil I just buy the thinnest oil I can find on a Supermarket Shelf and flush the engine with that. sometimes if an oil filter is cheap I will replace the oil filter before putting the flushing oil in and then put another one in when finished and re-filling with the final oil.
Robert Wilson
Well-Known Member
I like that advice, but with Khamsin out of the water I would not be able to run under load.
What, if truly any, harm might I do to the engine if run for half an hour (or thereabouts) without load on engine, gearbox, shaft, bearings etc?
I'd really rather drain the oil before putting back into the water, which may well be 2017.
Is there any way of "loading" the shaft with "a belt and weights", or some other such Heath Robinson method?
lw395
Well-Known Member
Laying up for possibly a whole season, I'd just make sure the engine had new, clean, good quality oil in it.
Running the engine ashore can be very risky if you don't have a good cradle, it will vibrate chocks out.
Not sure it's even a good idea on a bilge keeler, that vibration can't be doing anything much good.
I'm sceptical of flushing oils and would want to run the motor properly up to temperature soon after using it.
It shouldn't be necessary anyway, if you've been using a half-decent oil with modern detergent in it.
Some engines, in some boats, it's possible to remove the sump and clean it out, in situ. I did that on my 1GM. Found a few lumps of sealant etc.
Running the engine ashore can be very risky if you don't have a good cradle, it will vibrate chocks out.
Not sure it's even a good idea on a bilge keeler, that vibration can't be doing anything much good.
I'm sceptical of flushing oils and would want to run the motor properly up to temperature soon after using it.
It shouldn't be necessary anyway, if you've been using a half-decent oil with modern detergent in it.
Some engines, in some boats, it's possible to remove the sump and clean it out, in situ. I did that on my 1GM. Found a few lumps of sealant etc.
RichardS
N/A
I know this has rather been done-to-death over the years, but there is absolutely no reason why an engine which has been properly serviced with modern oil and filters would have any crud which could get past the filter and block any oilways. Using flushing oil in such an engine is a waste of time and money.
I have removed sumps from many engines over the years and one or two of those were from engines which had not been serviced properly (or at all!). It's not very common these days because oils are so much better and synthetic oils virtually immune, but those mis-treated engines had a layer of thick sludge several mm thick lining the bottom of the sump.
This thick goo, the consistency of raw window putty, is mainly mineral oil which has broken down into carbon through burning. I do not believe that flushing oil would shift this sludge and, even if it did, I definitely would not want that stuff being "re-dissolved" and circulated around my engine. The only safe way to solve such a build-up is to remove the sump.
On every properly serviced engine I have stripped in the last 20 years the sump (and engine innards generally) has merely shown the metal to be stained brown which is not a problem. Even the brown staining can be avoided if synthetic oil has been used .... but that's a different thread!
Richard
I have removed sumps from many engines over the years and one or two of those were from engines which had not been serviced properly (or at all!). It's not very common these days because oils are so much better and synthetic oils virtually immune, but those mis-treated engines had a layer of thick sludge several mm thick lining the bottom of the sump.
This thick goo, the consistency of raw window putty, is mainly mineral oil which has broken down into carbon through burning. I do not believe that flushing oil would shift this sludge and, even if it did, I definitely would not want that stuff being "re-dissolved" and circulated around my engine. The only safe way to solve such a build-up is to remove the sump.
On every properly serviced engine I have stripped in the last 20 years the sump (and engine innards generally) has merely shown the metal to be stained brown which is not a problem. Even the brown staining can be avoided if synthetic oil has been used .... but that's a different thread!
Richard
omega2
Well-Known Member
I know this has rather been done-to-death over the years, but there is absolutely no reason why an engine which has been properly serviced with modern oil and filters would have any crud which could get past the filter and block any oilways. Using flushing oil in such an engine is a waste of time and money.
I have removed sumps from many engines over the years and one or two of those were from engines which had not been serviced properly (or at all!). It's not very common these days because oils are so much better and synthetic oils virtually immune, but those mis-treated engines had a layer of thick sludge several mm thick lining the bottom of the sump.
This thick goo, the consistency of raw window putty, is mainly mineral oil which has broken down into carbon through burning. I do not believe that flushing oil would shift this sludge and, even if it did, I definitely would not want that stuff being "re-dissolved" and circulated around my engine. The only safe way to solve such a build-up is to remove the sump.
On every properly serviced engine I have stripped in the last 20 years the sump (and engine innards generally) has merely shown the metal to be stained brown which is not a problem. Even the brown staining can be avoided if synthetic oil has been used .... but that's a different thread!
Richard
+1, and our old Fords do not use "modern" oils.
