Diesel Oil to Clean Ecotec?

[LittleAlex]

Hi all,
just wondering whether anyone has used Diesel oil to clean out their engine? My Calais has done 175xxx km and the engine looks disgusting (had it apart a little while back) obviously not looked after prior to my ownership
Heard a lot of stories so I would like to know if anyone knows FOR SURE whether it will harm my car or if anyone has done it before.
Cheers

[VR_Acclaim]

heaps of people here do it to clean there motors out

[woteva]

Was also wondering if this was safe to do as well. My VR has over 250,000 on it now

How long do you drive around with the diesel oil in ??

heaps of people here do it to clean there motors out

Have you actually done it ??

[calais24/7]

I started a thread over on the "other forum" a few people said it works some didn't so i thought stuff it changed my oil and filter and put castrol gtx2 15w40 disiel oil into the old vl, i think ill leave it in for around 3thousand just to be safe, but so far driven for about two weeks and all seems to be well, touch wood i haven't just jinsked myself. It is supposed to work because of the cleaning agents in the diesil oil is better but who knows, and for the record my vl has 230 thou on the clock

[hako]

If you use engine oil designed for diesel engines containing high amounts of detergents in a high mileage engine, you risk dislodging carbon or combustion by products which can block the filter screen on the oil pickup tube. You are far better off just using a cheaper oil and change it every 3000km for a few cycles, then revert to the oil of your choice. This way, you will gradually get the engine clean without the risk of blocking the oil pickup. The other thing to consider is what you hope to achieve by getting the insides clean.
Most oils say on the label that they are also suited for light duty diesel engines......it's only specialist oils like Rimula that are specifically designed for heavy duty diesels.
Back a few years, people would fill with either kerosene or diesel fuel, idle the motor and then dump it. This flushed the engine but apparently sometimes caused major damage.
Engine flushes like the Nulon one which you add to the oil and idle for 15 mins seem to be the common method.

[LittleAlex]

The other thing to consider is what you hope to achieve by getting the insides clean.

I thought the cleaner an engine is, internally, the better...

[hako]

I thought the cleaner an engine is, internally, the better...

If you do regular oil changes you have no worries. If you don't as apparently has happened in your case (not your fault!), crud and sludge will build up and eventually block oil ways and other items like the tappets plus the oil pickup resulting in loss of lubrication and failure. If you try and dislodge all the built up sludge etc in one hit, you risk having it all floating around with the oil and then blocking oilways etc - this is why I reckon do a few oilchanges every 3000km or so to loosen/flush the sludge out. It's a bit like humans when they have crap that blocks the arteries - if it breaks off it then can block a vein or artery and cause a stroke - what they do then is try to slowly dissolve/break up the cholestrol so that it doesn't break off in big chunks. Same deal for your car.

To answer your question - yes it is better....but as outlined above, it should be done correctly otherwise you're better or leaving it full of crap that is stuck to the insides and 'stationery'

[LittleAlex]

If you do regular oil changes you have no worries. If you don't as apparently has happened in your case (not your fault!), crud and sludge will build up and eventually block oil ways and other items like the tappets plus the oil pickup resulting in loss of lubrication and failure. If you try and dislodge all the built up sludge etc in one hit, you risk having it all floating around with the oil and then blocking oilways etc - this is why I reckon do a few oilchanges every 3000km or so to loosen/flush the sludge out. It's a bit like humans when they have crap that blocks the arteries - if it breaks off it then can block a vein or artery and cause a stroke - what they do then is try to slowly dissolve/break up the cholestrol so that it doesn't break off in big chunks. Same deal for your car.

To answer your question - yes it is better....but as outlined above, it should be done correctly otherwise you're better or leaving it full of crap that is stuck to the insides and 'stationery'

oh ok cool...now that you put it that way

[sweefu]

street commodores mag did a thing a while ago, they strongly suggest using auto trans fluid to clean out your motor.

[wortus]

I came accross some Valvoline Super Diesel Plus so I contacted them to see if it would be OK to put into my Ecotech which runs on petrol only, they said that while it was technically feasable it was not recommended even for a low milage Ecotech engine that runs on petrol but OK if it was running on LPG.

From what I understand is that a further problem is that some of the additives used in some diesel oils (it more depends on what type of diesel engine it is for) can cause damage to a catalytic converter.

There are some oils that are suitable for mixed fleet and I would suggest trying those not a diesel oil that is specific for a diesel engine especially truck engines or an engine flush product. I wouldn't be using kerosene, diesel fuel or automatic transmission fluid uner any circumstance. I had an old Holden red 202 that was full of sludge once. It was because it had been neglected and the thermostat was missing. the sludge mostly deposits on the cooler parts of the engine for example the rockers and inside the rocker covers. I had to take the rocker covers and valve gear including push rods off and clean them up.

[VS_Pete_1]

Once a year I buy some cheap oil 4l is enough for a flush 20W/50.
Drain old oil put cheap oil in idle till fans come on drop oil.
Put new filter on, new sump plug washer, good oil. clean as. 5000k oil and filter changes after that.
I don`t like the idea of diesel oil.

[Brett_jjj]

I know a guy whose missus topped up their oil in their VSV6.She got the oils mixed up and used diesel oil instead of the proper oil.The engine seized up half an hour later.It was a fairly new engine too.I wouldnt like to try running it in my VS.An engine that has regular oil changes with quality oil wont build up sludge anyway.My engine is as clean as inside under the rocker covers etc and has done about 150,000 km since it was rebuilt.I change my oil and filter every 5000 km.I use penrite HPR30 oil.But as mentioned above,just use some cheap 20W-50 oil to flush out a dirty sludgey engine.

[calais24/7]

That is true, the problem is that none of us here have neglected our engines and servicing its all down to previous owners.

[QldKev]

I know a guy whose missus topped up their oil in their VSV6.She got the oils mixed up and used diesel oil instead of the proper oil.The engine seized up half an hour later.It was a fairly new engine too.I wouldnt like to try running it in my VS.An engine that has regular oil changes with quality oil wont build up sludge anyway.My engine is as clean as inside under the rocker covers etc and has done about 150,000 km since it was rebuilt.I change my oil and filter every 5000 km.I use penrite HPR30 oil.But as mentioned above,just use some cheap 20W-50 oil to flush out a dirty sludgey engine.

Somehow I really doubt that just a top up of diesel engine oil could seize an engine in half an hour, especially in a fairly new engine. I think something else would have been going on here.

Also you may find that penrite HPR30, although a good base oil does have very limited detergents and if used long term on normal street car has been know to suffer the dreaded 'sludge', but if you change your oil every 5,000km you should be ok.

I would recommend a decent brand oil additive for cleaning, eg Nulon. The idea is here to dislodge sludge and then break it down into finer particles so it can be held by the detergents within the oil without blocking passage ways.

[Brett_jjj]

There was nothing wrong with the engine before she topped the oil up.Apparently it just had a leaking rocker cover and needed to be topped up every now and then.The engine had around 50,000 k's on it.Id been in the car a couple of times and it ran normally.There was certainly no odd noises or anything like that coming from the engine.After it seized ,the engine was removed .The main bearings had the guts torn out of em and had spun around the crankshaft..These people just putt around,they just drive normally, so it wasnt caused from big revs or anything like that.

[moff_man]

im running 15w40 valvoline diesel extra at the moment. due for an oil change soon will be running 20w50 again till it goes black again than diesel oil again.

older Hyundai's run diesel oil in my opinion diesel oil is just as good as petrol oil.

[hako]

I always buy the cheapest oil and have done so for the last 7 years and 160,000 km of ownership. She's now at 260,000km and still uses no oil between changes. Oil is usually a mid brown colour when changed and never black. To be honest I've also never changed the sump plug gasket. I change oil and filter every 6 months and have no sludge problems with inside of oil fill cap clean as a baby's bum. Maybe I've been lucky but the point I'm trying to make is that using quality oils is not necessarily a guarantee of long engine life...it's regularly changing the oil that ensures it can do it's job.

[VS_Pete_1]

I changed my oil once and the sump plug gasket leaked so I just put a new one on now.

[VrWagz1]

I have done v6 mitsubishi engines by just adding a 600mm coke bottle of deisel into the oil and go for a quick run (10min) then dump the oil and replace. Replace again in 1000k's.
I personally wouldnt do it to my own car, i think its way to risky.

[hako]

I have done v6 mitsubishi engines by just adding a 600mm coke bottle of deisel into the oil and go for a quick run (10min) then dump the oil and replace. Replace again in 1000k's.
I personally wouldnt do it to my own car, i think its way to risky.

Do you mean diesel fuel or diesel oil?

[VrWagz1]

diesel fuel hako.

[vn_v6]

oil is oil, it lubricates, in high performance applications you may stuff it up due to high temps not matching viscosity or something, but if you dont hammer it, dont have heaps of sludge, and your engine isnt on the way out, its far better then doing what your last owner did and not change it at all, i do it, my father does, so yeah, one story of engines destroying itself, who knows, maybe she poured sand in there? or it was diesel, or wd40, or petrol, who knows, no solid proof except proof that is positive