shotiable

hey guys, i just had a question about flushing my mom's rav4's engine oil, i think after three years the engine's got really dirty, and its come to the point where when i change the oil, the new oil on the dipstick is still dark-ish black in color.
today i came from my local autozone and i asked for stuff to get rid of that blackness, and i got a can of K&W quick engine clean.

i just wanted to ask about what the autozone guy told me, he says that instead of using this stuff, i should mix in 1/2 quart of ATF into the engine because ATF is a detergent, run the engine for 5 mins, then change the oil.
do any of you guys know if this is safe for the engine? or if it actually works?
TIA

darkfx

I use that gunk motor flush stuff in my beater, seems to work okay. Its not reccommended for neglected engine b/c it works so well it can dislodge crap that can clog up your engine

xviper

Yes, I've used this trick with the ATF before. It also serves to make leaking seals swell up and eliminate some leaks.
This may be entirely normal for an older engine and you may be trying to fix something that isn't really in need of fixing. As long as the oil's been changed at the proper interval with the recommended oil and you can detect no sludge build-up under the valve cover by doing a scraping motion with your finger, don't worry about it.

Ek9

Oil has detergent in it too. Change the oil more often and I imagine it'll eventually clear up. Sounds like you been pushing the change interval and the engine'd sludged up. Some engines just naturally sludge up though particularly if you don't service the PCV system.

I've seen what darkfx is talking about. You can dislodge so much crap you plug the oil pickup and have to take the pan off. I ended up having to take the pan off twice for this.

shotiable

oh, its a decently new car, its actually my mom's 03 rav4. she drives nothing like me... so no pushing the engine too hard... i dont think theres any build up in the oil pan, we keep the intervals in check. every 3000 when it was in warranty, and then when it went out of warranty i started using mobil 1 5000 clean motor oil. so we changed the intervals to every 5000. now i just switched her over to 100% synthetic motor oil. its just been bothering me that the dipstick wont clear up like when i bring it to like jiffy lube or something...
so from what you guys are saying the ATF thing works... i'll go ahead and do it then.
thanks guys.

xviper

I don't think you really have a problem. What you see is likely very normal. It's your oil cleaning up the crap that gets in. You might want to change your air filter more often. If it were me, I wouldn't do anything at all with regards to flushing the engine. That might open up a can of worms that don't need to be opened.

shotiable

i prolly shouldnt then...
so what other side effects does flushing have?

RadioZero

i'd quit experimenting on mom's car before you mess it up.

just a thought.

INDYMAC

A lot of what you see in your fresh oil might be old oil that wasn't completely drained. If you are using Jiffey Lube, this could be the problem. They will get you in and out within 10 minutes whether your old oil has drained completely or not. Ask them to keep the drain plug out for awhile longer next time. Good luck.

SpitfireS

On BITOG I alwas read about Auto-RX.
Follow the Auto-RX instructions on how much to use and how long to use it.
http://www.auto-rx.com/index.html