Should Motorist Be Advised To Flush Or Not To Flush Their Engine
Mechanics should know about this subject well. But the problem is, not many advocate it to their clients. There must be a good reason for it.
As a 12 or 13 years old, while in lower secondary classes, I already knew about “flushing”. My late father was a lorry driver. While tinkering around his Bedford, father would explain mechanical things about cars and lorries to me. Young as I was then, such stories really interested me.
As the Driving School Malaysia Blog enters into its 10 months of existence, I have been contemplating about this topic very deeply.
Should this subject be broached or otherwise?
My personal opinion tells me that it should.
Therefore, after much serious considerations, with regards to the pros and cons of flushing an engine, this subject has thus been selected as a topic for my short article today.
Young drivers today might not know about flushing. Permit me therefore, to explain the meaning of this word. To flush an engine means to clean up the internal parts of an engine.
How do we do that?
Many drivers change their engine oil at 5000 or 10000 km duration. It is believed, frequent changes of the engine oil and oil filters augur well for the engine itself.
But the engine itself becomes dirty and clogged up with sludge as time goes by. Engine parts such as valves, connecting rods and piston rings to name but a few, needs to be serviced periodically to. In fact, carrying out a task of flushing the engine, especially older car, should do the vehicle a lot of good.
However, new engines are in perfect running condition. As such, it is not recommended this job to be performed on them.
Furthermore, new cars are still under warranty. If anything is found to be wrong with your new vehicles, talk to your car sales person. He will certainly be able to advise you what to do.
How does one go about flushing an engine?
If you need any help, seek your mechanic’s advice. The steps are as follows:
1) Drain engine oil as usual.
2) Change oil filter as you normally do during an oil change.
3) Either purchase flushing liquid which is available commercially or,
4) You can use diesel. Normally most larger c.c. cars require approximately 4 liters for its engine capacity. After filling the diesel into the engine, start and allow the engine to idle for 5 minutes.
You are advised not to accelerate at all. Allow the engine to roll on its own. Remember, revving the engine might cause damage to the internal parts.
At the end of the 5 minutes duration, stop the engine running. Drain out the diesel oil. Change a new oil filter. Insert new engine oil amounting to 4 – 4 ½ liters into the engine.
The flushing process would most probably have cleaned away sludge and other sediments present in the engine. The engine will nor have become cleaner and lighter. The engine furthermore would now appear to be more powerful.
With new oil and its viscosity being better, you car should ideally run smoother than ever before. Add in a further bottle of X1R or Slick and it should even make your vehicle run better.
There is however present 2 schools of thought pertaining to flushing of engines. One school adamantly is against it being done. On the other hand, the other seems to be for it.
As owner of your car, you are the one who makes the final decision. Use your communication skill and talk to your personal mechanic nicely and seek his opinion. Weigh the pros and cons. The decision is yours actually. To flush or not to flush, that is the question.
Mechanics, most of them, would rather prefer that you overhaul or do an overhead ring job rather than flush your engine. The former is more costly to undergo, but it brings a bigger profit to the mechanic.
To flush an engine takes a lesser time to perform and less profit to the mechanic. As a mechanic, which of the above would you recommend to your potential client?
Few mechanics nowadays talk about it to their potential customers. They would rather that this subject be not brought up at all completely. The reason is very obvious.
when you say diesel do u mean diesel fuel or diesel engine oil? is diesel fuel safe? wont it ignite under the pressure or the heat of the engine? is it also safe for turbocharged cars?
When I wrote about flushing, diesel was quoted as a means of consolidating my article. I was talking about the era of 1950s and early 1960s. Today, with modern technology available, flushing agents are available in most spare parts shops costing only a few ringgit. As such, you should not resort to using diesel.
When flushing engines with diesel, it should be advised that the process of flushing should only be left to experienced mechanics who will know the proper steps to follow.