Donne Trav

Has anyone had the occassion to use any of the detergent/cleaning
oils? If so, how long do you run this oil--a few minutes or is mileage
involved. I have 75,000+ miles and it seems as though with each oil
change (every 3000 or so) the oil appears to be dirtier. Although I'm
past do this time, maybe a couple hundred miles. THANKS

larrymcgraw

I would discourage you from using anything but your usual (hopefully synthetic) quality motor oil, unless you are having other issues. 75K is not a lot of miles anymore, and dirty oil is probably just a sign that your current oil is doing its job.

PLRX

Mobil 1 is a detergent oil.

How do I know? Last year I put one of the catalyst bolts in oil and it cleaned the sh*t out of it.

Stick with Mobil 1. Members say you could use a quart of automatic transmission oil or ATF in the engine but, I've never done it.

Muffin

Use what your owners manual says to use. Can't go wrong that way.

c4cruiser

Almost all modern motor oils (dino and synthetics) contain detergents. There are some oils that are non-detergent and are clearly marked as such.

A full-synthetic does an excellent job of keeping the oil passages clean and they provide excellent lubrication for moving parts.

Your 94 came with Mobil-1 as the factory fill, as did all LT1-powered C4's and all C5's and C6's use Mobil-1 full synthetic.

Changing oil every 3000 miles while using synthetics may be overkill as good synthetics can easily go 5000 miles. Use a good quality oil filter at each oil change and you should have no problems at all. The oil that is being drained after the interval period should be dirty to the extent that is is not as clean as when it went in. I don't think you have any problems.

olcrusty

Feedbach
I own a shop, and have heard this same thing. What they are talking about is; Transmission fluid is a very high detergent oil, and by adding some (such as a half of a quart) to the engine oil will clean sticking lifters, and make an engine run better. Rather than doing this, I would suggest (if you are going to do this anyway) purchase some stuff called "Risilone" from the parts store, and follow the instructions on the bottle. This is some very good stuff, and I have used it on many occasions with good results. Transmission fluid will do the same thing, and may even be cheaper, but somehow I wouldn't feel good about using it in the engine. One must be careful as to what they put into the engine now days, and especially pay attention to the fact it may not do too well with your sensors. If you use anything, make sure it is something made for the job, or you could do more harm than good.
Part 2:
It's funny everyone on here has been voted bad answers, how can that be? Someone must know what they are talking about, or else they wouldn't waste their time answering these questions. Transmission fluid WILL NOT harm your engine, but running this fluid "only" might. I haven't seen one single engine damaged by using a high detergent lubricant in small quanitites. I have a vehicle with 250,000 miles on it, and it still runs good, so somewhere along the line I must have done something right. I change the oil every 3,000 miles, and if it startes making any valve noise, I will put something in it (probably Risilone) to free up the lifters & rings. Both of them will stick some when they get a lot of miles on them. If I were you, I would stick with people who are real mechanics, and use products on the market that are designed to do the job. Take advise from people who know, and have experience, not from some guy who used to work for some dealer in town. We all know dealers are out to make all the money they can, and will tell you that you need everything done to your vehicle, when it only needs the oil changed. No one gave me my certification, and I have to pass a test each year to maintain my certification, so people who work on their wifes car in the back yard on week-ends, doesn't hardly meet the criteria to be a real mechanic. You asked a question, and got some good honest answers, so no one cares if you vote for someone who is the brother of a cousin who used to work at a dealership years ago, but it would make sense to take advice from experienced people who take time to answer questions to help you. For the people who "claim" transmission fluid harms engines, what web page is the proof on? That's right; there is none.
Glad to help out, Good Luck!!!
Source(s):
Certified Master Mechanic, Shop Owner, 40 yrs. experience.

if you are using a heavier viscosity oil than what the factory recommends, transmission fluid will change the viscosity to a lighter state and the engine will use less power to turn itself. this is why you feel it runs better. it has more power to use elsewhere. but no, its not good for the engine mixed with xmission fluid. it will cause carbon build up and harden seals and who knows what.

Found on internet, take it for what it is worth.

Olcrusty

RetiredSFC 97

I use, and have always used, what my owner manuals say. They have recommended oil change intervals depending on driving habits and that is what I go by. The only time I deviate from this is on the vette. I will not let mine go past 4000 or 6 months, usually 6 months as I don't ever put 8K a year on the vette. hell I don't even put 8k a year on my Dodge Ram. But I do very little stop and go traffic. All my trips are at least 20 miles on the open highway.

As stated above most all oils have some detergent in them to include Mobil1

Steve20

ATF is about a 5 to 7W oil, and does NOT contain detergents



Steve

olcrusty

Beg to differ but ATF does contain detergents, Just search the internet to disprove me.

Olcrusty

dpd3672

I usually do a flush on my engines every 50-75k miles with transmission fluid and kerosene that I read about on the Miata forums, recommended by (and named after) a member there, 2Twisty. You're not running the motor hard, just idling it for a half hour to an hour and letting the high detergent transmission fluid break up and dissolve the sludge and deposits in the motor. Then you drain the trans fluid and run kerosene through the motor to rinse it out, and let the kerosene evaporate.

I've had the valve cover off of my Miata a few times, and the difference before and after is pretty easy to see (sadly, no pictures). I change my oil regularly, and use good quality stuff (synthetic for the last couple years, but dino every 3,000 miles before that), but there was still a yellow discoloration (varnish) on most of the internals, and sludge in the nooks and crannies and corners. This flush got rid of almost all of the bad, and left the internals looking like new.

Miatas are prone to lifter ticking due to sludge in the hydrolic lifters, and a good flush usually cleans them out. I haven't done this on the Corvette yet, but plan to with my next oil change, since it's at 80,000 miles and I've never had it hurt anything yet. The procedure is explained in this link:

http://forum.miata.net/vb/showthread...ight=HLA+noise

Couple of interesting links on synthetic oils:

http://neptune.spacebears.com/cars/s.../oil-life.html

http://www.mobil1.co.nz/performance/miles.aspx

Cliffs:

If the maintenance was good for the life of your car, a motor flush and/or high detergent motor oils may be overkill, although it won't hurt anything and may actually help somewhat. If nothing else, it'll give you some placebo performance (hell, my car feels faster when I wash it, haha) and peace of mind.

mcnulty95

I've used Seafoam with good results.

Donne Trav

Great information. I was kind of curious, so I thought I should ask you all once again. Thanks Alot

TGReaper

I have never used ATF in the crankcase but it works well in fuel tanks ( one litre / 400 litres) to clean and lube fuel injectors.
Wife and I have too many vehicles to keep clean oil in so we use just one oil,synthetic 0-40 diesel oil covers all the bases.(two diesel trucks, one Miata, one Corvette, one Toyota 4 Runner.
C4

azrocketman

Running kerosene in lieu of oil, even at idle, is one of the worst things you can do to a modern engine. You will have a nice clean engine when you prematurely replace bearings, rings, and other moving parts. Other than cosmetics, a yellow/brown varnish on non-wearing areas and minor deposits in no-flow areas are not going to hurt engine operation, either longevity or performance. Changing the oil at 3000-5000 mile intervals with a good quality SM rated oil of the proper viscosity is all that is needed to adequately lubricate the Corvette engines for normal street use (including putting your foot into it occasionally).

Steve

dpd3672

I didn't and don't recommend running the engine with kerosene in the crankcase at all. It's just an optional step after the motor has been run with ATF fluid to flush out the remaining ATF fluid. This step can be skipped, and the process suggests draining the kerosene out of the motor and letting it evaporate for an hour or so before adding motor oil and starting it up.

Most of the kerosene drains out of the drain plug, what little is left evaporates.

And yes, I do realize that "ATF fluid" is a redundant term, sorry.

M.J.L.

Synthetic will clean out all the garbage. Ask me how I know.

pologreen1

I would use sea foam and your recommended oil.

Wathen1955

Great info

I'm an old fart @ 54, and I had a 1971 El Camino with a 350 that I sold in 1995. I had the car since 1976 when it had only 50,000 miles on it. When I changed the oil, I always substituted one quart of oil with one quart of ATF (4 quarts of regular oil 1 quart of ATF). At 220,000 miles, I had to replace a head gasket, because coolant was leaking into #1 cylinder. I expected the worst with that many miles - valve job etc., but the mechanic called me the next day and wanted to know what I was doing to the engine. He stated that he could not believe how clean it was with no carbon build up. Note that this car was running leaded gas until the mid 80's. So all he did was to replace the gasket and put the heads back on. After this, I finally sold the car with over 300,000 miles on her, because the head gasket needed to be replaced again. Since I have a family of 5, I decided to let her go, but it was still running great.

In my vette, I've noticed that I hear a what sounds like a sticky lifter after start up. It's really noticeable during the morning when its cold. If I let the vette sit and warm up for 1-2 minutes instead of taking off right away, I do not hear the lifter. My vette is due for an oil change since it has a little over 5,000 miles and its been almost a year. I'm planning on running one quart of ATF with Mobil 1.

I currently also have a 2001 Ford F150 Crew Cab with a 4.7L, and its been running with one quart of ATF for 2 years now.

samsonb

Any idea why the head gaskets needed to be replaced so soon on that car?

oschlomer

I have used SEAFOAM as a gas additive on all my vehicles and my boat and it works great. Are you saying that it can be used in the crankcase as well? If so how much?