Flushing oil, generally no need.

[rtbcomp]

A friend of mine used to run a decent car and an old banger, he changed the oil regularly on the good car and put the used oil into the banger.

 

[the snooper]

A friend of mine used to run a decent car and an old banger, he changed the oil regularly on the good car and put the used oil into the banger.

that's tight

 

[bigbadbugga]

On my transverse A series engined car I tend to dump the old oil, fill up with supermarket cheapy and drive it for a couple of days before dumping the oil, changing the filter and refilling with the decent stuff that will look after my gearbox for the next 5000 miles.

This is exactly how I do the MK2 golf, only I change the filter too for the cheap oil flush and put a new filter on with the proper oil change too. I run it about 200 miles with the cheap oil in too, making sure it gets a really good motorway run in too to get upto full temp.

The car only does about 2k max per year now as I drive a modern golf as a daily. That gets serviced at a VW specialist as the oil is nearly £60 a gallon to buy , but they do the service for £99+vat

 

[zzr1200]

This is exactly how I do the MK2 golf, only I change the filter too for the cheap oil flush and put a new filter on with the proper oil change too. I run it about 200 miles with the cheap oil in too, making sure it gets a really good motorway run in too to get upto full temp.

The car only does about 2k max per year now as I drive a modern golf as a daily. That gets serviced at a VW specialist as the oil is nearly £60 a gallon to buy , but they do the service for £99+vat

And I'II bet they don't use the 60 quid a gallon oil, on the 99+vat all in jobbie.

It'll probably be bulk buy fleet oil grade...

 

[bigbadbugga]

And I'II bet they don't use the 60 quid a gallon oil, on the 99+vat all in jobbie.

It'll probably be bulk buy fleet oil grade...

The oil they use comes straight from VW, as do all their parts. I checked.

 

[zzr1200]

I checked.

Who with, the dealer themselves???

 

[brightspark]

The oil they use comes straight from VW, as do all their parts. I checked.

and they will pay nowhere near that cost for the oil .thats the main stealer retail price. it will be just fully synthetic oil from the oil company with there logo stamped on the drum

 

[zzr1200]

It'll be delivered in 1000 ltr pallet tanks or by tanker pumped into a bulk storage tank, the only bit VW will supply is the oil spec, the main dealer will order it by spec direct from an fuel/oil distributor.

Even then the dealer will order the cheapest specified oil possible to maximize profits...

 

[normspanners]

On an old engine that has been neglected removing the sump and scraping/washing out the crud is all that needs to be done.

Not always an easy job especially on 4x4s etc
The biggest problem with a lot of sumps now is the drain is on the side or has a longer bottom boss that leave a large amount of oil and crud in the sump which then mixes with the new oil making it black immediately, or also with the new style self draining filters draining into the sump after the sump plug has been replaced ,
I have used cheap oil in engines £3 litre , ones that had not been serviced for 25-30K and ran them for half an hour, lightly idling, just to lessen that dirtying effect, then re changed with the correct oil.

 

[Bill Edwards]

No, it may not be an easy job (you can't drain it all out as you've just explained) but actually removing the sump altogether does allow you to wash it out and end up with a clean sump that leaves the oil clean!

 

[awemawson]

But there are many nooks and crannies that you will not get at without a total engine strip down. The sump may account for the majority of the crud, but by no means all of it.

 

[normspanners]

I stripped a 1200 tc corsa engine down a little while ago, when I removed the cam cover I could not see the cams it was like a sand castle the exact shape of the inside of the cam cover (not in sand obviously) but in thick black crud.
A lot of this is caused by the engines not running hot enough, quick enough, and condensation forming on cold areas, also when the oil is foamed up by being flung around, hot oil can de-air ate its self easier and lose the foam, which then gets 'cooked' when the engine gets to temp.

 

[MattF]

More good will be done by simply changing the oil more often - reduce the service intervals slightly.
On an old engine that has been neglected removing the sump and scraping/washing out the crud is all that needs to be done.
Any crud left in the engine is safer left undisturbed.

Frequent oil and filter changes are what I go with. Approx. every 5000km's. Worrying too much and dropping the sump ain't really necessary. After a few changes, most of the crap in there will have worked its way out.

 

[super noob]

Flushing oil should not be used on anything with hydraulic tappets, if you want to flush the system buy some economy 20-50 and flush it through with that for 3 minutes of running or something like that then drop and change the oil and filter again

Its only about £7 a 5L bottle so its how I do my engines

 

[Bill Edwards]

But there are many nooks and crannies that you will not get at without a total engine strip down. The sump may account for the majority of the crud, but by no means all of it.

And that stuff is safer left where it is. Any attempt to loosen it (short of removing the engine and giving a proper clean as part of a full overhaul) runs the risk of moving well stuck stuff that wasn't actually having any effect on anything to where it may block something important - oilways, jets etc.
Cleaning the sump is a safe way to get rid of the sludge that instantly contaminates new oil and it gets 95% of the bad stuff out, the remainder is best left undisturbed.

 

[zardoz]

The oil they use comes straight from VW, as do all their parts. I checked.

A garage i used to work at told everyone they used castrol, but just hand pumped oil from the cheap and cheerful drum in the back. We had one guy bring his own expensive Alfa Romeo oil in and that went in the bosses boot. As far as I can tell this was pretty much the norm in garages up and down the land, dont kid yourselves that its any different now.

 

[rtbcomp]

^^

Same with battery top-up water, straight from the cold tap

 

[normspanners]

As far as I can tell this was pretty much the norm in garages up and down the land,

how did I get roped into this???

 

[AndyStobbs]

I get my oils from vauxhalls, I'm in the trade club which helps. Find them pretty much the best prices of all, and one would like to think its decent oil.

 

[brightspark]

I get my oils from vauxhalls, I'm in the trade club which helps. Find them pretty much the best prices of all, and one would like to think its decent oil.

it probably is quality but as said the cans come with there name printed on them .