to flush or not to flush

[Jasinex]

hey man,

working in the car industry... im pretty sure every car ever made has got to this sorta milage and started to smoke n burn oil. to be honest.. its not worth spending the money on a rebuild unless your car is in dire straits or you would never be able to afford something else if it eventually died... if we were all made of money go for it..... but were not. for the most point.. change filters put in an engine oil flush to remove the crap. replace oil with a 20w 50.. many different brands avail.. and slap on some new filters and if u like use the oil stabaliser by moreys. tappits usualy are a sign of low oil. or a blockage in the oil gallareis .. the engine flush should help. and take it on a long drive... prob like 45 mins freeway driving either way.

using excess oil on idle is common for older cars and its not somethign to make yourself worry about.. cars are cars

and it will drive its self another 100,000 km if u change oil n keep regular mainetnace... but by then youll prob be driving something new n improved and woulda wasted your cash

jason

[Roughasguts]

Hi Creel, mate when is the smoke happening? If it's on start up and a little when idling then a heap on acceleration, then your valve stem seals have gone rock hard and letting oil down in to your cylinders.

Anyway thats a pretty cheap fix all you need is the rocker gasket and valve stem seal kit, (VRS set) and a compressor! any Mechanic can do it in a few hours.

All you do is screw the air hose in the spark plug hole when the piston is TDC on the valve you are working on, that stops the valves from falling down in to the cylinder. Then compress the valve spring remove the colletts, pull out the old hard rubber seal and replace with the new re assemble and your done.

I did a Cordia Turbo 12 years ago and that's all it was that was causing the smoke those bloody valve stem seals.

Anyway I also have a NJ Paj with 250k's on it and it can also blow some smoke on start up, mind you that's with the 10/40 castrol Mag as well. Thinking of going back to 20/50 Haveline.

[Spaniard_King]

I use to run a quality 10w 30 SJ rated oil in my 96 pajero it also suffered from tappet rattle until I changed up to 15w 40. No tappet issues then.

[oldboot]

I've always owned high milage vehicles ( bangers, bombs wrecks) and have from time to time let the oil change period go a bit too long.

I have had good results flushing with cheapish oil......The KMX stuff from kmart is fine for that purpose.
I drain the oil and change the filter then run on that oil for a week or so including some long runs, then change oil an filter again.
For some time the oil in my L300 would not stay clean for very long after an oil change so I gave it a flush as above... much better.

I have also had good results with oil additives over the years....some of them are not worth the trouble... but I have had good results from the nulon products.... their worn engine treatment is worth a look.

Their engine tune up treatment certainly de rattled the tappets in my falcon.

Be well aware that these treatments will liberate quite a lot of crap from in your engine which will end up in your oil.......so the oil will get dirty very quicly if you havnet been using one previously.....keep the oil change period shortish for a couple of changes..........changing the filter alone afer a few weeks is also a reasonable thing to do.

Also dont forget to replace the coolant in your radiator... most of the coolants only have a 12 to 24 month service life....after that they change from being a corrosion inhibiter to being corrosive ( they are chemicaly spent).
I flush my radiator and run on clean water for a day or so before putting in new coolant too.

Some vehicles seem to be happier in a specific oil or viscosity range.

cheers

[CreelReaper]

Well the jobs done and man didn't she smoke for a while after letting her sit for a few minutes just idling....... white smoke and quite a lot of it.
Took it for a run and you could definitely tell she is running quieter after 10 minutes or so. Must have taken a few k's to work the oil around.
Ended up using a 15/40 with oil stabilizer. I'll let you know how she goes after getting stuck in the next corro drive traffic debbacle.
One good point I noted is that there was no gunge or filings around the sump plug.

Cheers all and thanks,

Shane