Preventive Maintenance, Part 3

This time round, it's all about keeping your lubricating system clean, which I think is the second most important thing for a healthy engine.



Back to square one, engines lose power over time and some drivers may or may not realise it. They also increase in fuel consumption, etc.


WHY?
Sludge, varnish, gunk, carbon are all produced along the combustion process of an engine. You lose power over time from carrying sludge and an increase in friction. And when that happens, your fuel consumption increases.

You may also get little little micro particles that somehow magically bypassed the oil filter running around the engine causing microscopic scratches and damages onto your cylinder walls and bearings. You may also get sticky valves, jammed piston compression and oil rings and engine hesitation. Not to mention stucked hydraulic lifters too.

And THIS, is how a gunked up engine looks like, taken from pakwheels.com. A BMW engine that probably sticks to the 15,000km OCI.



.......................


Scary isn't it?





Many people would go by the statement :

"I don't believe in engine flushing. I rather take it all out and clean it."

There are probably only two possibilites for the above statement to be implemented into their heads :

- They tried a flush, so strong that it screwed up the oil seals, caused compression loss, caused smoke, caused oil loss, and caused engine seizing. Sad but true.

- They never tried.

Well, there are two kinds of flushes in the market :

Normal off the shelf engine flush - Flush that does nothing but more harm to your engine as per the above "possibility". These flushes have super high solvent/detergent and is a big no-no for your engine. Affordable to the oblivious.

A good, proper flush - a flush that restores engine compression, effectively removing gunk not my letting it all just fall off, but slowly melting it, using it to seal, prime and cover most or all microscopic imperfections in the engine, yet being harmless to oil seals. Pricey to the oblivious, worth the money to those who tried and those who believe in it.

Much said, the above has already stated why I would believe in an engine flush and started sourcing for a good one two years back. Done selling more than 1,000 bottles in three years with promises of a cleaner, meatier and more powerful engine, the flush has done it's talking in the long run.



Pros of a Good Flush :
- Cheap

 Cons of a Bad Flush :
- Corroded oil seals resulting in engine leakage
- Compression loss
- Increased oil(engine oil) consumption
- Power loss
- Clogged in certain parts of engine(very little possibility)
- Car cannot be driven when flush is in the engine



Pros from a Good Flush :
- Restored engine compression (comp test can be done before and after)
- Reduced fuel consumption and oil consumption(if any)
- Sludge got rid of the correct way
- Car can, and safe to be driven when flush is still in the engine
- Car feels lighter and smoother
- Engine operates more quietly
- Have certain endorsement from TUV RUF ROHS, etc.



Method of Flushing
There are a couple of ways to flush an engine as per below :

HD40 oil
This can be found in spare part shops at less than RM200.00 for a 5US gallon aka 18litre can. They are monograde oils if I am not mistaken. High detergency, cleans effectively.
You can either do an oil change without changing the filter and let idle for 15-30mins and drain it out. You will notice that the oil drained out will still be dirty. Repeat process several times until the oil drained out is of the same color as when it was initially put in. It is black the first time it's because the current oil is contaminated with what's left in the system after the initial drain before flushing.
Alternatively, you can pour in a bottle of good flush on the first or last change. Another way will also be to drive with the hd40 oil for a fair amount of kilometres and drain out.









Machine Flush
I've seen this in several shops before. I'm not sure how it works but I'm pretty sure it's done with the engine not running. Pressurized and detergent would be the keyword here. Detergent in from the oil filling area, I'm not sure out from where. No comments on this.







Pour your own flush in
Pour a good flush in, let it do it's work while you drive the car. Do use the cheapo ones as they only spell disaster. You have to give the good flush some time to do it's work too, so please bear in mind on not to drain it out too fast.

Drain the oil, swap your oil filter and use your desired oil.






Threebond Engine Conditioner
 Threebond? Why threebond? You may ask. I've came across cars with excessive blowby but no compression loss. Can't blame valve seals as the result of thorough diagnostic shows symptoms of problems within the short block.

We are talking about stick or jammed oil rings on the piston. They no longer expand and scrape oil due to sludge, probably.

Threebond will be used to fill up all combustion chamber, soaked, and cranked to free up the oil rings. This method is used because threebond is known to be way stronger in removing dirt and grime compared to real good engine flushes, where they are only used to restore compression, not 101% clean the engine, but just... clean enough. A seller that tells you his flush can 100% clean your engine is pure bollocks.




You obviously want to know the result of spraying threebond into your combustion chamber letting it soak down into the lubricating system, right?

 Engine was cranked without the spark plugs and this box was put on top of the valve cover. These are the results.

 All four cylinders. Of course, engine oil was immediately changed after that due to dilution and loss of oil pressure as the threebond thinned out the engine oil after doing it's work. This was realized in advanced and professionally handled so it's not "not a good thing, don't do it!"






Resultwise? The engine somehow became way lighter and I had 15% savings on fuel consumption. No kidding.

Last but not least, for the still-non-believers. Strip the entire engine down at your cost and clean part by part, or at least try sticking a toothbrush in. HOWEVER, keep in mind that only a handful of mechanics know how to use a plastic gauge along with an engine rebuild.







BEFORE AND AFTER

As per above picture, one is before and one is after an engine flush/cleanup. Usually if it sludges up till it's this bad, we give the non believers the benefit of the doubt by stripping the whole engine down. It will be a thoroughly long process to flush the above gunk out. Picture above is just as a reference, no offense guys.

Of course, you have to also take into consideration on what kind of engine oil are you running on for the past X amount of years. The above pics are probably due to extended OCI, cheap oil, etc.

Now, you all may ask what flush am I personally using and selling. Please read below :

Lambda Oil Primer. This particular flush is endorsed by TUV, ROHS and VAG. It slowly melts deposit and primes the engine for engine compression restoration. End users are welcomed to do a compression test before and after the flush is used.

Recommended dosage for our local market is a 125ml bottle for cars below 2000cc and 250ml for cars that are 2000cc above. Applicable for both petrol and diesel engines. One of the best premium flush I've ever used.

Price is RM50.00/125ml and RM95.00/250ml. You can get it HERE. Pricing, availability, packages, location for COD and REVIEWS are all in the said link :). The frequency of this product is to be used after every 20,000km.


The below function of this product is taken from http://www.ruf-lambda.de/eng_version/l_produkte/tank_otto.htm

OIL PRIMER

---

Effective cleaning of oil and lubrication systems prevents problems associated with the build-up of dirt and deposits whilst ensuring optimal combustion, substantially lower emissions, and reduced environmental impact.
What it does
Cleans oil and lubrication systems thoroughly and with long-lasting effect. After treatment you will have clean oil in a clean engine for hundreds of miles.
Product description
Specialised cleaner for engine lubrication systems, transmissions, and differentials. Contains a lubricant which protects mechanical parts during the cleaning process.
Deposits removed
Build-ups of combustion residue, light and heavy carbon deposits, dirt from ageing motor oil, and metal particles which result from engine wear.
Suitable engine and transmission types
All types of modern or older petrol and Diesel engines whether lubricated with mineral-based, semi-synthetic or fully-synthetic motor oil. Suitable for manual transmissions and differentials. Also very well suited to industrial gearboxes.
Areas treated
Sump
Oil strainers
Camshaft
Turbocharger
Cylinder liners
Piston rings
Valve oil seals
Hydraulic tappets
As well as all surfaces which come into contact with the cleaning agent without being under oil-pump pressure.
© LAMBDA-RUF
 

 

















Areas the product treats:


Oil pick up assembly
All lubricated surfaces where oil circulates under pressure.
Cylinder liners
Oil lines and galleries




Oil Sump Area
Turbocharger Bearing Area
Camshaft and Cams
Oil Pump
Mechanical and Hydraulic Valve Lifters
Piston rings and their seats
Valve Trains
Bearings

Types of deposits:

Soft/hard carbon, tars, varnishes, lacquers, sludge, acid corrosion and condensates.




Another alternative, expensive method is to keep your engine oil as clean as possible by placing a super strong magnet onto the oil filter. No, we are not talking about cheap wussy looking oil sump magnets what are not strong enough to resist oil-flow and pressure.

THIS, is what I am talking about :

 Filtermag. One of the best filter magnet's I've ever, and still am using. Comes in various sizes and even for auto transmission. This item is no longer available for sale.

 The top area has no magnetic force just in case you have an alternator or compressor on the other side of the oil filter











Brute force, not easy to come off due to it's 200+ pounds of pulling force!

 Inside. It's neodymium.

A cut-out filter with the magnet still on. These are micro metal particles. Some are so fine that they are finer than the engine oil itself, or your hair for that matter. If these cant go through your oil filter, your engine oil can't.

Having this magnet, it is said that your engine oil gets dirtier at a lower rate due to less dirt suspension in the oil.







This is another long post. Time to call it a day.


Thanks for reading guys! Do come back soon for posts on fuel system cleaning!