Wilkinsons oil

plastic soul said:

is flushing worth it?
what do you use?

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yes flushing is worth it, i use Wynns. i also flush through with fresh oil, but hey i get as much 5w 30 as i want for free

I wouldnt use engine flush if it was free and came with a years supply of beer.

2 reasons -

Most contain kerosene or similar and you wont get it all out so it starts breaking down the fresh oil you put in.

It can dislodge years of old crap thats built up in areas which can then get lodged somewhere else like in an oil gallery.

If you want to flush the engine buy some cheap oil, stick it in before changing the filter, run the engine up to temp then dump it. Change filter and put in good oil.

Fur Trapper said:

James use the quote button you forgot how to use it????????????
It took me awhile to realize you brits don't drive much.Before I retired was changing oil in one truck every 7-8 weeks So it takes a bit to get used to some one only driving 6-8000 miles a year

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Lol I did 3k miles last year run out of time for mush else. Other years its been 12-20K miles and serviced 3 times. thats engine and ALL oils. out of that 3 K miles 1.5-2K was probably offroad in comps when its taken a beating possibly got hotter than road use and generally been abused to hell the odd greenlane and rescue trip.

Tuskenraider said:

I wouldnt use engine flush if it was free and came with a years supply of beer.

2 reasons -

Most contain kerosene or similar and you wont get it all out so it starts breaking down the fresh oil you put in.

It can dislodge years of old crap thats built up in areas which can then get lodged somewhere else like in an oil gallery.

If you want to flush the engine buy some cheap oil, stick it in before changing the filter, run the engine up to temp then dump it. Change filter and put in good oil.

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So you didn't read my post properly then, i said i use 5w 30 to also flush the engine as i get it for free. I also have a strong magnet from a stereo speaker stuck to the underneath of the sump to catch any debris

gil said:

So you didn't read my post properly then, i said i use 5w 30 to also flush the engine as i get it for free. I also have a strong magnet from a stereo speaker stuck to the underneath of the sump to catch any debris

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Yes i did read it properly as you said you use Wynns although flushing it with oil afterwards will help.

And the debris isnt going to stick to a magnet if its solidified oil

Are we in agreement that sticking a magnet on the sump is a good idea? Will give it a go if so, can't be sure how long it would last on there though!

Mr Noisy said:

Are we in agreement that sticking a magnet on the sump is a good idea? Will give it a go if so, can't be sure how long it would last on there though!

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One off a speaker won't get knocked off very easy

Mr Noisy said:

Are we in agreement that sticking a magnet on the sump is a good idea? Will give it a go if so, can't be sure how long it would last on there though!

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Waste of time IMO, anything bigger than a grain of sand will be picked up by the filter. You get magnetic gearbox plugs because they dont have a filter so if you needed one on the engine you would have one.

Tuskenraider said:

Waste of time IMO, anything bigger than a grain of sand will be picked up by the filter. You get magnetic gearbox plugs because they dont have a filter so if you needed one on the engine you would have one.

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Ah ha, good thinking. That's answered then!

jamesmartin said:

i remember asking engineers from lr in the 90s why they used castrol gtx i believe at the time ,they said it was just the best deal ,that particular oil at the time never seemed to have enough detergent ,and engines were filthy compared to farmers vehicles that had used other oils

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*
as were talking oils here from back in the days,
(early 1970`s to late 1980`s)
I only used castrol GTX plus good old STP additive...
I built & raced short circuit race engines for "PRI" rules.
normaly the 2litre pinto, but did crossflows and V6 essex engines.
In bangers there was no radiator, only a water tank,
so the engines started from midly warm,
then to hot, then to bioling hot, then to boiling its guts out, at very high revs, with tricked up cams, head/valves & carbs..

very rairly did they ever let go with STP reinforced GTX lubing them.
at the time we never had semi or full synthectics, but Castrol did some straight vegetable castrol R 30 and R40 grades, that never mixed with anything else!
With the grandad of hot rodders (Barry Lee-superstar then)
came a Castrol 351, but not quite sure what that was, but expensive!

My old option was as good as I could get to use for me at the time.

To pay for my racing I was a "part time" mobile mechanic,
but I still used oils "borrowed" from my main employer, a good engineering company, so i used good hydrulic oils for flushing at each oil change for customers.......

Then time rolled foreward into what we have now,
just about more options than shopping in Tescos.

So, I guess its time for my 200 doosel oil change soon,
and wilkinsons looks good to me I guess..

sorry about the long story, its the way me ma put me hat on!....:doh:

It was a good read. My dad always bangs on about when he used to put R in his rally cars, mk1 & 2 escorts, he said the smell was lovely, it used to gum up and wouldn't mix, but by Jove it was a good racing oil.

Good old days I guess

castrol gtx was **** in landies though

jamesmartin said:

castrol gtx was **** in landies though

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Yeh its not an oil for everything as it is,
been reading on a yank site about 351,
apparently it was a modified doosel oil?

*
* yeah Mr Noisey,
the nearest you can get now for smell is a good fully synthetic 2 stroke oil,
we use it in our scooters,
well, the "quicker" ones.

follow a line on nice tricked up scoots and you will smell it!...

ask mr nigbo about it....

Ive used the Wilkinsons 10w40 semi synthetic in my 300 its only a couple of quid more than the mineral and its a B3 oil. I understand its made by Comma and they also supply some of the big supermarkets. Go on..........push the boat out

Tuskenraider said:

I wouldnt use engine flush if it was free and came with a years supply of beer.

2 reasons -

Most contain kerosene or similar and you wont get it all out so it starts breaking down the fresh oil you put in.

It can dislodge years of old crap thats built up in areas which can then get lodged somewhere else like in an oil gallery.

If you want to flush the engine buy some cheap oil, stick it in before changing the filter, run the engine up to temp then dump it. Change filter and put in good oil.

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I've heard very persuasive arguments for and against using engine flush.
Yes flush uses a solvent to break down oil, but then you get a solvent added to your oil every time you start a tdi - diesel.... a small amount will get past the rings.
Also, you can't flush out all of the solvent but you do drain in the region of 95%
Of the remaining 5% of say 300ml that 15ml isn't going to break down a lot of oil especially when you consider it's mixed at ~400:1
There is the potential for dislodged sludge to move, but it is unlikely to find it's way to an oil gallery - to do so it's got to go via an oil drain (typically 5mm dia or more) through the sump, through then the strainer, then the pump then the filter.. a filter will not pass an object anywhere near the size of a grain of sand by the way, a full flow filter will separate down to microns. ( bypass filters are a different matter entirely)

If you're using a cheap oil, that will contaminate the fresh oil just as easily as a flush would and, well you're using it for the same job - to flush the oil...

Having said that, I don't use flush or cheap oil in my tuned MX-5 for 2 reasons

Whilst it's unlikely, there is still the (very small) chance damage could be incurred from dislodged detritus and the solvent in flush has the (slight) potential to cause accelerated wear of the oil.

I change the oil at least every 3000 miles and have since I built the engine so there should be no need to use a flush in the first place.



At Ferrari we used to use flush at every oil change..

When it comes to a customer's vehicle I give them the option of a flush but detail the pros and cons beforehand...

A decent flush tends to be good at freeing sticking hydraulic lifters.

I would say the ideal way to use flush would be to: -
drain and refill the engine, add the flush, run the engine for half an hour, drain and refill with fresh oil, run the engine for another half an hour then drain and refill with your preferred oil (replacing the filter with each change)
The downside, as always, is cost.

if you use a heavy enough detergent oil in the first place you dont need to flush as engine never gets any build up ,my experience as engine builder

from my expereince flushing an old engine causes more probs.Got better results by if the car was new doing a couple of oil changes after short milage,then doing the normal x amount of mile changes.

I'd agree with both above posts in that prevention is certainly far better than cure....

I've never had to rebuild a Ferrari engine due to oil system issues, even with regular use of a flush, admittedly I've also never see a Ferrari engine neglected to the point whereby burned oil is allowed to collect in cam covers etc in quantity...

I'd say that flush is useful for freeing sticking hydraulic lifters, but it isn't a cure-all. If your engine is so dirty that you feel you need to use it for general cleaning, you're probably at the stage where a rebuild is a good idea.

yeah but your talking ferrari engines money and more money,I'm talking every day motors most of my mechanical work has been done on taxi's(28 yrs working on them) princess's ambassidors mariners cavaliers carltons omegas plus a few fx4's and metro cabs.with the moon and back mileages.When you get them change the oil and after a few thousand do it again, then after a few thousand again, then change every 6 months(taxi plate time!).The old man has always did it this way and has many a 300,000 motor it's only driver abuse that has let him down.

thought it was mine! said:

yeah but your talking ferrari engines money and more money,I'm talking every day motors most of my mechanical work has been done on taxi's(28 yrs working on them) princess's ambassidors mariners cavaliers carltons omegas plus a few fx4's and metro cabs.with the moon and back mileages.When you get them change the oil and after a few thousand do it again, then after a few thousand again, then change every 6 months(taxi plate time!).The old man has always did it this way and has many a 300,000 motor it's only driver abuse that has let him down.

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So we're agreeing that frequent oil changes are a good thing then....