Have you heard of engine flushing? Maybe you haven’t. Here’s why it is important to learn about. In an ideal world the insides of our engines would stay perfectly clean allowing the lubricating oil film on the cylinder walls, on the valve train, in the bearings etc to perform perfectly. The reality is the insides of our engine are under constant attack from dust, debris, sludge and metallic particulate from engine produced from normal engine wear. If you have ever done any sandblasting then you have a good idea of the damage that can be done from high velocity dust and grit in the air (so have a really good air filter).
The other problem inside engines is the tendency for oils to varnish and sludge as they are aged in your engines environment. Overtime and depending on the engine this can build up enough to restrict oil flow and to cause hot spots in the engine. Restricted oil flow can result in excessive wear and component failure inside the engine. Hot spots will rob an engine of performance and cause even more oil breakdown.
What you can do is run an engine flush through your engine. It removes the accumulated sludge, varnish, and particulate that will rob you of engine performance and wear your engine out. It is a similar concept to turpentine where a strong solvent is introduced to the engine hot. The solvent circulates around the engine with the oil and dissolves away the deposits.
How you do it depends on the product you use. A common method that I employ is a 20 minute engine flush I perform right before my oil change. With the engine hot I add about 12 fl oz of solution. I restart the engine and allow it to idle for 20 minutes. It is very important that you do not drive the vehicle around and actually the load the engine. The lubricating properties of the motor oil are not as good when the solvent is present and you do not want to cause engine damage.
After 20 minutes of idle time I shut the engine down and drain the oil into the oil pan and perform a normal oil change using AMSOIL 5W-30 full synthetic. That is how I keep my engines clean.
Keeping the sludge and varnish to a minimum in your engine will keep your valves operating and sealing well, they will keep the piston rings floating properly to minimize blow by and will promote lower operating temperatures. All this keeps your engine pumping out the most horsepower at the best fuel economy.
Find out which oil you should be using with the best motor oil review comparison guide.
Jesse
