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ATF added to oil


rangernoob

New Member
Joined
Jun 18, 2011
Messages
3
Vehicle Year
1986
Transmission
Manual
I just did the plenum gasket on my 86 and found a lot of gunk on every surface. I remember a friend telling me if i had this problem that i could add ATF to my oil run it for a while then chang the oil as normal and the gunk would be gone. Is there truth to this and if so what are the risks.
 
First of all you should have cleaned up the "gunk" before reassembly. I personally wouldn't do it. IMO ATF has no buisness inside an engine. Back years ago there was a product called Rislone that claimed would do the job but who knows.

To me the risk is breaking loose the crap and it then blocks the oil passages starving some critical area like main and rod bearings of oil or plugging up lifters etc.

Mechanical cleaning is the way to go before putting everything back together being very careful to not let the "gunk" fall down inside while cleaning. Scrappers, brushes and a strong shop vac.

Generally the gunk is caused by short trips where the engine doesn't get to full operating temperature and/or infrequent oil changes. It's the moisture in the oil from condensation that doesn't get "cooked" off by the engine not running at full operating temp.
 
ATF does not have any detergents, (at least, no more than regular motor oil) and will do nothing to clean the engine out. I would try to manually clean out as much as possible while you have the engine apart and then do a few fairly short oil change intervals.
 
Like everyone else has said...Mechanical (yourself) cleaning is the best way to go. Last thing you want is that junk plugging up a passage way.
 
You could get the engine motorvaced at a shop. I think its around 125, thats the next best thing to mechanical cleaning.
 
I used it on my 2.8 with no problems. Pour some ATF on your greasy hands and tell me what happens. Have you ever seen a gearbox with ATF full of gunk. If your worried about the journals getting plugged put a new cheap filter in for the treatment pour 1/2 a can of atf in and run it at medium speeds for about 100 miles drain it good and put fresh oil and filter in it. The major cause of gunk is lack of ventilation most people dont mess with the pcv valve until it is too late just change it with tuneups and the crankcase can breath properly. Make sure the breather filter is clean if you have one so there is no pressure neg or pos build up in the crankcase.
 
I used it on my 2.8 with no problems. Pour some ATF on your greasy hands and tell me what happens. Have you ever seen a gearbox with ATF full of gunk. If your worried about the journals getting plugged put a new cheap filter in for the treatment pour 1/2 a can of atf in and run it at medium speeds for about 100 miles drain it good and put fresh oil and filter in it. The major cause of gunk is lack of ventilation most people dont mess with the pcv valve until it is too late just change it with tuneups and the crankcase can breath properly. Make sure the breather filter is clean if you have one so there is no pressure neg or pos build up in the crankcase.

Agreed. I've been using ATF in my crankcase for years and never had bad luck with it. I don't run it for 100 miles, but just for about 10 minutes or so to let the engine oil heat up nicely. That's another thing a lot of people fail to do; make sure that the engine oil is nice and hot before changing it or you'll end up with a lot of sludge (hot oil carries away more debris).
 
I used it on my 2.8 with no problems. Pour some ATF on your greasy hands and tell me what happens.


Now try that with motor oil. You'll get the same results.

Have you ever seen a gearbox with ATF full of gunk. .

Of course a gearbox won't have any gunk in it. The gunk in an engine is from combustion byproducts. You're not burning gasoline in the gearbox. This is exactly why ATF has little detergents in it. It doesn't need them.
 
i tried the ATF trick last night before i changed my oil. i poured half a bottle in there and let it run for 5-10 minutes and then drained it. it looked about as dark and nasty as it usually does. i dont know if it did anything or not.

i've tried pouring seafoam in to clean it out as well, but couldnt tell if that did anything either.

i dont think there's as much "gunk" in engines as people think, either. when i tore down the 2.9 in my b2 (it had close to 200k when i took it out), it looked like metal that had a thin layer of oil covering it. maybe that's b/c the truck was taken care of, oil changed every 4000-ish miles, i dont know. it's the only engine i've ever removed and taken apart. but of course the pennzoil guys and mobil1 folks want you to think that your engine is step away from shutting down b/c of "sludge buildup", but i dont think that's the case....most of the time.

now, the upper and lower intake manifold, the top of the pistons, those were covered in carbon build-up (as mentioned above and as would be expected)
 
ATF does not have any detergents, (at least, no more than regular motor oil) and will do nothing to clean the engine out.
I'm not here to argue but you have that fact wrong. Most ATF's, especially Dexron, have more detergent additives in them than motor oil. Look it up. But I don't know if they are the 'right' detergents for use in an engine and I, personally, wouldn't use it for that but ATF does have detergent.
 
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I'm not here to argue but you have that fact wrong. Most ATF's, especially Dexron, have more detergent additives in them than motor oil. Look it up. But I don't know if they are the 'right' detergents for use in an engine and I, personally, wouldn't use it for that but ATF does have detergent.

No, they don't. Old ATFs like Type A had lots of detergents in them. Newer ATFs like Dexron don't. They do however have lots of dispersents, which are similar to detergents.
 
Well, we almost agree. They (newer ATF's) have what is referred to as a "detergent dispersant package". All that means is that it keeps the impurities/deposits/etc. in suspension.
 
y'all are both wrong, i tried washing a load of laundry with ATF this week and i broke the damn washer. plus, all my clothes are red and have wholes in them. wife is gonna be angry
 
i tried the ATF trick last night before i changed my oil. i poured half a bottle in there and let it run for 5-10 minutes and then drained it. it looked about as dark and nasty as it usually does. i dont know if it did anything or not.

i've tried pouring seafoam in to clean it out as well, but couldnt tell if that did anything either.

i dont think there's as much "gunk" in engines as people think, either. when i tore down the 2.9 in my b2 (it had close to 200k when i took it out), it looked like metal that had a thin layer of oil covering it. maybe that's b/c the truck was taken care of, oil changed every 4000-ish miles, i dont know. it's the only engine i've ever removed and taken apart. but of course the pennzoil guys and mobil1 folks want you to think that your engine is step away from shutting down b/c of "sludge buildup", but i dont think that's the case....most of the time.

now, the upper and lower intake manifold, the top of the pistons, those were covered in carbon build-up (as mentioned above and as would be expected)

Well I'd say you changed your oil ,the donor that I got a set of heads must of used "used oil at best",there was enough sludge to fill the bottom of the heads "valve covers "
 

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