Is this BAD advice about oil pumps?

[radarcontact]

Hi,
I was researching on the web about clogged oil pump screens, pumps, etc. I came across these two answers on how to resolve the prob without having to drop the oil pan (PITA, and trying to avoid it). These responses seem very sketchy at best. Anyone have a comment as to whether these methods would be safe and might possibly work? (The first one doesn't seem too bad...):

"Technican: Hi; You can try this and about 70% of the time it does. Empty out all the oil and reinstall the drain plug. Fill up the oil pan with a gallon of mineral spirits. " DO NOT START THE ENGINE ". Let sit overnight. Drain all the mineral spirits from it. Buy about two quarts of real cheap oil. Pour it in and let sit for about 1 hour. Drain it again. Put your regular oil in and let idle for about 1 hour. If this does not fix it you will have to pull the motor and replace the pump and screen. . "
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"Technican: there is a way of cleaning out your oil cooling system that works well put in a gallon of diesel fuel in the engine and run your car for a half hour.this will thin the oil out and clear the portsI know this will do the trick you should never have to pull the oil pump. I hope this helps"

 

[kunar]

filling it with a solvent and letting it soak should be no problem at all... i wouldnt run the engine however. adding a little diesel or atf to your oil and running it for a short time should be okay though.

 

[kimcrwbr1]

I would try putting some a cup or two of ATF it is a high detergent oil in there and run it at low speeds until the engine gets warm. Yea maybe soaking the screen with solvent will dissolve the crud and I have heard of running deisel oil in a engine you want to sell to temporarily quiet it but is way to thin to run the motor in my opinion. add the atf with oil in the engine and dont over fill it. I wonder if you can blast some air backward from the filter hole to break the clot loose with the oil drained and look for shavings in the oil you drained.

 

[8sechonda]

the diesel fuel added to ur oil does well in cleaning ur engine not sure about the oil screen, i didnt notice if my oil pressure got better or not when i did my 87 like that.
when i did my truck i drained out (guess) two quarts of oil and then put in half a quart of fuel. ran it for till it got to operating temp. then let it sit few minutes and drain.

the mineral spirits ive heard of too but never tried,.

 

[exbass94]

ATF is NOT high detergent and won't do anything to clear anything up. Why would any oil company add detergents to ATF? Transmissions don't have to deal with any nasty combustion byproducts like engines and motor oil do. Adding ATF to clear up sludge is an old wive's tale.

 

[pillen140]

A gallon of anything seems a little much.

 

[Spitfire1975]

I was told once to drain the oil, remove the distributor (I believe) and pour a couple gallons of diesel down the distributor hole. Do not run the engine at all, drain the diesel, refill with oil, run it a short time, drain the oil and then refill. Supposedly this will "backflush" the screen on the oil pickup.

I brought it up once before on here, but didn't get any real solid answers about whether or not it would work and I haven't done it myself.

 

[F150hybred]

Letting the engine soak in solvents (of some form) will most likely break down MOST of the sludge. Like I said, MOST. As was said in an earlier reply, do not... DO NOT run the engine with the solvent in the pan. The solvent will only dissolve sludge in areas where it can flow... so anything past the oil pump won't likely see any solvent. Hell, you could fill the engine to the top of the fill cap and have no issues... so long as you drain it off and fill with oil and install a new filter.
I say, give it a try.

 

[adsm08]

ATF is NOT high detergent and won't do anything to clear anything up. Why would any oil company add detergents to ATF? Transmissions don't have to deal with any nasty combustion byproducts like engines and motor oil do. Adding ATF to clear up sludge is an old wive's tale.

And just what do you base that on? ATF is mostly mineral spirits and is VERY high detergent. In the 4 years since I started Auto tech school my hands have never been cleaner than when I do transmission work. It grabs the dirty and grime and crap and pulls it out of all the ridges and such of your skin. The stuff that is in the solvent in parts cleaner tanks is pretty much thin ATF.

TO THE OP:

The first idea is probably pretty good. I'd try that before pulling the pan, but I'd stay away from the second idea. If you to decide to try that I wouldn't use as much as he said to and I'd get the engine warm first. I used to do that on my mom's old car, I'd get it hot, add some ATF and then drive down and get oil and filter and drive back and change it.

 

[exbass94]

And just what do you base that on? ATF is mostly mineral spirits and is VERY high detergent. In the 4 years since I started Auto tech school my hands have never been cleaner than when I do transmission work. It grabs the dirty and grime and crap and pulls it out of all the ridges and such of your skin. The stuff that is in the solvent in parts cleaner tanks is pretty much thin ATF.

I get my info from tribologists and others who work in the oil industry. ATF is fewer detergents than motor oils. Some good reads:
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=68220

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=729051&page=5

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1830693&page=1

 

[Psychopete]

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1830693&page=1

Wow, I had no idea we had an oil lab.. lol

 

[r1hatman]

Why not use Sea foam, it is safe in the oil and a great engine/ parts cleaner.

 

[snoopdoggie]

The degree to which it is clogged is the question. I pulled a pump off a 2.3 that a hammer and chisel would have had to been used to remove the buildup. No solvent would have had much effect. And this was my vehicle that had the oil changed every 3 to 5 thousand miles. It did however, have nearly 300,000 miles on it at the time.

 

[adsm08]

I get my info from tribologists and others who work in the oil industry. ATF is fewer detergents than motor oils. Some good reads:
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=68220

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=729051&page=5

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1830693&page=1

It has fewer detergents ADDED because the mineral oils themselves that comprise the lubricant portion of the fluid are a fairly good cleaning agent by themselves.


Here is a challenge for you. Go out and work on the truck, get your hands, arms, etc all nice and nasty and dirty so that even after you wash up with gojo all the little ridges on your fingers and palms are still visible and black.

Then dip them in some warm ATF and wipe them off with a rag. Go try it, she what happens.

 

[AllanD]

so e lube oils will actually turn into "jelly" (more like choclate pudding) and I've found that marvel mystery oil is just about a "magic bullet" to turn that nasty stuff back into liquid so you can get it out of the engine.

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