• When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

ATF flush for the crankcase??

When i was young I worked at a chrysler dealership when a old car came in on trade with a good body and noisy lifters , we would check adjustment , then put new lite oil with 2 quarts of trans fluid one of the salesmen drove it for a while 7 out of 10 times it did the job . but the cause was almost always negelect of oil changes. . and yes sometimes pull the lifters and take them apart and clean . And dont forget org trans fluid i belive up untill late 60s was whale oil with red dye .
 
I did this in my old Mitsu 3.0 that was a sludge engine. Mopar mech told me to drain oil, put 4qts of oil and 1 of trans fluid in it...run it for about 500-1,000mile, drain it all out, refill with regular oil....did a great job. Did it again about 6 months later and when the time came to rebuild it, the engine looked like new inside.
 
Back in the day we would use Rislone, a couple or three quarts and run the engine for awhile. Like stated previously, it did loosen up some sludge in a 258 that wasn't getting any top end lubrication and resulted in a bad rod knock. It really cleaned out the sludge on a high mileage engine. (Don't know if this is the same product as back then.)

shopping (3).jpg
 
it just don’t seem logical to me to sent a contaminate thru your engine , it can’t be good for the bearings , how do you get it all out ? seems to me the sludge i see in high mileage engines is gritty baked gack ! i’d prefer not to send it into the lubrication system . jmho……
 
I’ll be banished for this but here goes, when learning cars and engines from my dad in 1972, I had done this to 2 engines that were sludged up, a 260 Ford and a 327 Chevy.
Dad instructed me to drain off 2 qts of oil and put in 2 qts of Kerosene, and let it idle for an hour, and he said “DO NOT REV THE MOTOR KID”!
Well at the time it worked and the crap that came out was unbelievable, reminds me of now if you ever took Fleet before a colonoscopy.
Took 3 or 4 oil changes till it came out clean.
The 327 is what we then stuffed into a 71 crap Vega, but it never failed and ran strong.
Can’t attest to its trial in an engine today, just an old time experience.
we did the same thing back in the day.
 
Just thought of this.
In researching and learning about motor oils over the years, I believe diesel oils have a higher detergent level.
You might try running Rotella for a while.
That would be with out any risk.
And there's the "zinc" thing?
 
I've heard of people doing this over the years but is it good, bad or indifferent? Thinking about trying it in the beater 95 Dakota....no better test mule than this thing. It developed a lifter tic a couple of days ago that came on a bit slow and got louder the next time I fired it up but so far it's not getting any louder. Still seems to be hitting ok on all 6. Can't remember the last time to change oil but it's purdy dirty.
Doesn’t the radio work?
 
You should look at something specifically made for the problem. Like BG MOA and EPR. It's about $30.




 
Motor Medic Motor Flush, almost found on every auto parts store in quarts, I have used probably a hundred times. I have never used it to clean out a motor, more to keep it clean.
I suspect it is primarily off road red dye diesel fuel, that costs more that 4 times what I pay for it at the pump. No matter what detergents it might or may not have, it is relative to motor oil a solvent. and that alone is useful at oil drains.
You want to flush a motor out of dirty oil, after a long open drain plug period, dump in a gallon of new thin mixed cheap oil with some diesel fuel, and then let that wash out any left-over oil and allow to fully drain.
Pretty much what I did only with ATF that was sitting on the shelf and I knew I wouldn't be using it for anything else. Didn't have any diesel or cheap oil.
When i was young I worked at a chrysler dealership when a old car came in on trade with a good body and noisy lifters , we would check adjustment , then put new lite oil with 2 quarts of trans fluid one of the salesmen drove it for a while 7 out of 10 times it did the job . but the cause was almost always negelect of oil changes. . and yes sometimes pull the lifters and take them apart and clean . And dont forget org trans fluid i belive up untill late 60s was whale oil with red dye .
Nothing much here anymore as far as fluids go from back then....
it just don’t seem logical to me to sent a contaminate thru your engine , it can’t be good for the bearings , how do you get it all out ? seems to me the sludge i see in high mileage engines is gritty baked gack ! i’d prefer not to send it into the lubrication system . jmho……
Thought about that too but don't think this engine has the gritty baked stuff.....
Just thought of this.
In researching and learning about motor oils over the years, I believe diesel oils have a higher detergent level.
You might try running Rotella for a while.
That would be with out any risk.
And there's the "zinc" thing?
Been running Rotella in this thing for a very long time. Before I bought a diesel pickup in the early 2000's was running XD-3 from Exxon....the X in XD stands for Exxon Diesel and the 3 is 30w.
You should look at something specifically made for the problem. Like BG MOA and EPR. It's about $30.





Too late lol....and so far the tapping is gone. Started it up a bit ago and moved it out of the way.
 
This reminds me of the time I pulled the intake off a buddy's 351 Windsor and it looked like somebody dumped a bag of charcoal in there. You couldn't even see the lifters the pushrods were so surrounded by that crap.
 
This reminds me of the time I pulled the intake off a buddy's 351 Windsor and it looked like somebody dumped a bag of charcoal in there. You couldn't even see the lifters the pushrods were so surrounded by that crap.
I rebuilt an engine for a guy at work that was like that. Asked him what kind of oil he use....Amelie...then ask how often he changed it and he said every 3k miles. Told him he needed to use something else and then showed him the push rods. It was a GM engine and the push rods were totally clogged. Had to buy new ones because the crap had hardened!
Seafoam OG works good for what you're trying to achieve.
Will probably pull the VC's off soon because the gaskets are leaking and that will tell me how bad things are inside but this thing got regular oil changes up until a year a go or so. Mainly wanted to clean out the old oil and is why I did the flush.....and so far the tapping lifter is quiet.
 
3.9s are also known for broken valve springs and broken exhaust manifold hardware which causes a leaking gasket. Both will have the ticking noise.
 
kerosine being used was always known to me as a "Jamaican oil flush" and usually on diesels running SAE40! your never going to get that stuff hot and thinned out unless your working the motor!
the oil that comes out of an old mack could be substituted for black ink in your pen, even after a 52Ltr. oil change oil still black! after jamaican treatment it would be light brown!
 
3.9s are also known for broken valve springs and broken exhaust manifold hardware which causes a leaking gasket. Both will have the ticking noise.
Well, the lifter noise is gone and I checked the exhaust manifolds etc and all that looks fine. As it is right now, it's running just like it has since I got it in 98.....dad bought the thing new in 95. I know about the intake problems and heads cracking etc but so far, none of that seems to be wrong. The noise was definitely lifter/rocker noise.....
 
If I recall correctly those 3.9 timing chains would finally get enough slack to rattle on the cover.
 
If I recall correctly those 3.9 timing chains would finally get enough slack to rattle on the cover.
Yes they would.
I think in 96 they added an automatic tensioner in the timing chain setup.
I changed mine and installed the tensioner.
 
If you haven't yet, go down this rabbit hole at Project Farm. No better testimonial for Sea Foam. I've used it on autos, motorcycles, lawn equipment, and generators - all suffering from various forms of neglect. I recommend it highly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agAWXnT4-EQ

OTOH, if you have ATF just clogging up a shelf, why not?
 
On a couple occasions I've completely substituted the oil for tranny fluid and let the vehicle idle for an hour or more to help clean the motor. And it does clean it. Never had an issue.
 
Auto Transport Service
Back
Top