Ever heard of engine flushing?  You aren’t alone if you haven’t.  It’s important to be knowledgeable about and here’s why.  If we could have it our way, the innards of our engines would be spotless, letting the lubricating oil film on the cylinder walls, the valve train, in the bearings, etc. do its job effortlessly.  But, we all know this world is far from perfect and our engines are fighting a constant battle against dust and debris, sludge, and metallic particlulate that occur naturally when an engine is operating.  To get a good idea of the destruction that can be done from high velocity grit and dust in the air, imagine doing some serious sandblasting (I suggest you have a really good air filter).

The other problem inside engines is the tendency for oils to varnish and sludge as they are aged in your engines environment.  The sludge and varnish cause hot spots to develop over time from restricted oil flow.  Component failure and excessive wear inside your engine are imminent when oil flow is restricted.  Hot spots will rob an engine of performance and cause even more oil breakdown.

To counteract the hot spot problem and get rid of all that varnish, sludge and particulate that’s accumulated (causing your engine to lose performance and unnecessary wear) you can run an engine flush through your engine.  It is a similar concept to turpentine where a strong solvent is introduced to the engine hot.  The sludgy deposits dissolve as the solvent circulates through the engine with the oil.

Depending on which product you use, the process is going to differ.  I usually do a 20 minute flush right before I change my oil and that’s a pretty common method.  With the engine hot  I add about 12 fl oz of solution.  Then, I restart the engine and let it idle for the next 20 minutes.  It is very important that you do not drive the vehicle around and actually the load the engine. You’re likely to cause engine damage if you drive while the solvent is in your engine because your oil isn’t going to be lubricating your engine like it would be any other time.

After 20 minutes of idle time I shut the engine down and drain the oil into the oil pan and perform a normal oil change using AMSOIL 5W-30 full synthetic.  My engines stay clean this way.

Keeping the sludge and varnish to a minimum in your engine will keep your valves operating and sealing well, they will keep the piston rings floating properly to minimize blow by and will promote lower operating temperatures.  When all these elements come together your engine is pumping out some killer horsepower and you’ll be getting excellent mileage.