So i was standing in line at Kragen to buy a case of oil (almost as bad as being in line at the DMV, but with more cursing)... and the guy in front of me was taking FOREVER yelling at the cashier about god knows what. anyway to calm myself i picked up the first bottle on the stand nearby and started reading. It was a bottle of "Engine Flush" which you dump into your engine and let it idle for 5 minutes before changing your oil. I was on my way back home to do an oil change on my miata so i thought what the hell... lets give it a go. Long story short, i used it before my oil change and my oil came out PITCH BLACK. I guess it did its job. Filled-er back up and off i went. The engine seemed more responsive, revved smoother, stopped my lifters from clicking away etc... so either it worked or i just BELIEVE it did.

Either way, now I want to give it a go on my FD which blows some smoke at startup and at high RPM's... but i have a couple concerns: 1. getting this stuff trapped in my oil coolers/turbos and having it circulate around for the next 3000 miles. 2. possibly doing some harm to the OMP lines?? anyone used this or have any knowledge about using this on an FD? The oiling system is much more complex than my miatas so i wanted to get some opinions first. looking forward to your thoughts. -heath

 

I would avoid it personaly-
The ILSAC And API standards require modern engine oil to have certain amounts of detergents in them. Think to your self, inless youve been overheating and not changing your oil that often there arent (I know I might get my head chopped off) contaminites in the oil effectings its effacacy.

Not to mention the what it might due to the oil seals. It will also be floating around due the large quanitity of oil in the oil coolers.

I say if you really want to waste your money just buy some cheep oil and change it on a short interval. Ive also heard of people using HD Diesel oil to help too but for the same reasons I wouldn't support that. That should give you your desired cleaning.

Go buy yourself some good syntetic ( not starting THAT debate either) oil and call it a day. I personally use Mobil 1 and hasn't let me down.

 

I've heard over and over again not to use engine flush. Short interval oil changes will do just fine IMO. Thats what I do

 

Why would you even consider dumping something like that into ANY car without researching it first? Not a good idea at all.

BTW, when was the last time you changed the oil on a car when it wasn't black

 

no i mean BLACK haha. like black hole black ive never seen oil come out of a car looking like that so i can only assume its cleaning all of the oil passageways etc. all i know is, i dumped it in.... let it run for 5 minutes and drained it. garbage came out, and the car ran better. seems like it would work for the rotary as well but i would want to get all of it out somehow, which is a problem caused by having an oil cooler. unless it has a corossive property that could eat away at something in the engine i dont really see any harm in trying it myself. everyone seems to be quite against it, but im still wondering what leads you guys to feel that way.

 

I mean it's your car; i guess you can pretty much do what you feel is right. I've just seen too many rotorheads mention that its not good so i stick with what information i find. I've used it in my sr240sx before and it worked great with no issues but its also a totally different type of engine. i guess try it and let us know how everything turns out in the end

 

I have used engine flush on a rotary on several occasions, notably after I first buy them. due to the oil cooling system i useually do it like this when I buy a roatray powered car

first oil change: put in flush, run for prescribed time limit, flush, fill with very cheap 10w30 run for 30 minutes, drain and then fill with the good stuff and change filter at this time.

the stuff that comes out is incredible and I always flush agian with the cheap oil so I do not have to worry about contaminents from the flush.

kenn

 

So what about the cheap stuff staying in the oil coolers? Why does everyone recommend going against this process?

 

yeah i agree... i was disgusted with what came out of my motor when i flushed it. ill take some pics of what comes out, its really bad. as far as flushing with an extra round of oil before the oil change, honestly its like a one time thing (i wouldnt plan on doing this often) so even if i use "good" oil its only a few quarts wasted. what are you guys using royal purple or some exclusive motor oil with gold flakes? i just use my good old 20w50 castrol GTX .

 

Haha I have redneck freinds that dump a cup or so of kerosene in before an oil change, much like engine flush. They swear by it. Maybe Ill try it.............












(jk)

 

I would think that using this on a high-mileage piston engine that had a bit of ring wear and was suffering some blow-by, causing the oil to become more contaminated, wouldn't be that big of a deal.
I wouldn't use it on a rotary mainly due to the oil injection pump, lines, and injectors.

 

Castol GTX 10w30 never had any problems here.

 

I used it here and there on all my family's piston engines, bmw's and miata's. and it works great. (K&W Brand) i dont' see why'd it's be bad for a rotary if you let it idle with no load. there will still be oil coming in just a little thin which is why i wouldn't go drive it or rev it. and like the above post. if you'r worrieda b out residue buy so super tech 10w30 to flush it out with . then put your choice. at the dealer here we have a oil flush machine that has a really nice filter that you by pass your oil filter. then when your done and dump the oil you can send air pressure through the oil filter housing down the whole engine to push all the last bit a oil possible. did this to a few cars and it get all the **** out. especially those of you running premix i dont' see a problem for ya'll. and if you run omp. i'd think it's help to ungunk and clean out the omp lines and pump itself. just my .02



Los

 

so do you believe its corosive to the plastic parts, or will make them brittle or something? id be worried about dislodging particles and sending them through the pump/lines/injectors and having them get STUCK somewhere.

at the same time, my motor is old, tired, and blowing smoke at startup and high RPM's so i dont have TOO much to loose. im just worried about clogging my OMP or injectors and not knowing about it.

 

I'd be dubious of the benefits based just on the darker look of the oil alone. Color me cynical, but it could just be something in the flush that's designed to turn darker with heat. It'd be interesting to send in samples for analysis before and after the addition of the flush, just to see what real differences there are.

 

I fail to see the point of doing this when rotaries do not have oil-related failures.

 

If your engine is old and tired, then why bother doing this? I just don't see any benefit. What do you hope to achieve? It seems to me that the potential problems far outweigh the potential gains.

 

hopefully to stop the smoking :starts dreaming: haha

 

Works fantastic on mazda mx5/miata's as we use it on services to reduce the ticking assosiated with the mx5/miata engine, In seven years we have seen nothing but good results.

Would not recomend it for a rotary because of its characteristics.

 

It wont clog as it thins the oil by adding deturgents.

 

Some of those products say not to use on rotary or turbo charged engines. Do the sea foam clean through the manifold. That gets results.

 

there is no warning like that, however id seriously question if some of these companies even know WHAT a rotary is haha. and whats this sea-foam clean? im not sure if youre talking about the water/oil mixture or a product if its a product, is it a good alternative to zest-fully clean? sorry i couldnt stop myself.... i just pictured a sudsy motor dancing in a waterfall

 

IMO, I don't see the Engine Flush solving the problems you are experiencing. Aside from that, I don't really see a problem running it on a rotary as long as you make sure whatever brand you pick is rubber safe (i.e. to make sure it doesn't damage any rubber seals).

 

Sea Foam Auto Marine Cleaner

 

ok so i just called valvoline and you can *NOT* use engine flush on an FD. they said that "the apex seals are not compatable" whatever they meant by that. either way, i guess i wont be using it afterall.