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Re: Question about cleaning engines?

To: Randall Young <Ryoung@navcomtech.com>
Subject: Re: Question about cleaning engines?
From: "Michael D. Porter" <mporter@zianet.com>
Date: Sat, 06 Sep 2003 18:49:19 -0600
Randall Young wrote:

>>Rislone is another oil additive designed to perform the same function,
> 
> 
> Just for giggles, I dumped a quart of Rislone into a very high mileage car
> engine a couple of years ago, to see what would happen.  No noticeable
> difference, until the crankshaft snapped about 2 weeks later.
> 
> I don't plan to repeat the experiment !

Probably a good thing not to do, Randall. (!)

It's funny--I've only had instance where I felt that an engine flush was the 
best course of action. At the time, I had a 
sister-in-law who bought a $50 junker (back in the mid-`70s, when there were 
such things as running $50 junkers), an 
early `60s Plymouth Fury with a small 8-cylinder. She was really worried about 
a big expense because the engine was so 
noisy. From the sound of it, all the lifters had collapsed and frozen, and 
while it was family, I just didn't have the 
money for charity work.

I got a quart can of Motor Medic flush and the directions said, "for very 
gummed up engines, hold throttle open at about 
2500 rpm and slowly pour contents into carburetor. Do not let engine stall and 
keep engine operating for a minimum of 
one-half hour after treatment." So, in for a penny, in for a pound. Managed to 
keep the engine going and got the whole 
quart in.

In about two minutes, the lifters started to quiet down, and in about ten 
minutes, they were making no noise at all. 
It's sort of counter-intuitive, pushing all that stuff down the carb to fix 
lifters, but what I think happens is that a 
lot of it goes past the rings and into the crankcase, and the vapors circulate 
throughout the engine, but there's not 
enough getting into the oil to badly dilute it. Most of it does go out the 
tailpipe--there was a huge blue cloud behind 
the car--no problems with mosquitoes for a long time after that.

The key to this stuff working, I believe, is not that it's made of ATF, or 
kerosene, #1 diesel or whatever--any light 
oil is going to get into places where heavier oil can't and provide some 
lubrication. The important thing for the stuff 
to work are the sort of additives in it. To actually do some cleaning, it has 
to have a high level of detergent, and it 
has to have enough emulsifiers in it to keep the crud in suspension so the 
filter can pick it up. Otherwise, the junk 
just settles to the bottom of the sump where it clogs the screen.

The additional proviso is that none of this stuff should be used in any engine 
made to run with non-detergent oil.

And, certainly, after any sort of treatment, there ought to be an immediate oil 
& filter change.

Just one instance, in my case, and it worked. The engine ran pretty well for 
the several months she had the car, until 
she'd saved enough money for better wheels.

Cheers.

-- 
Michael D. Porter
Roswell, NM
[mailto:mporter@zianet.com]

Never let anyone drive you crazy when you know it's within walking distance.

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