Using oil flush and cleaning oil pickup on VE SV6 questions

[Anthony .]

Hi all,
I am planning to give my VE SV6 an engine flush using Penrite oil flush solution.
Like mentioned in other posts, car has 207xxx on the odometer.
I plan to get her as clean and running smooth as possible.

Is the oil pickup located on top of the sump? If so, how should I go about cleaning it as best as possible?

I also plan on running some injector cleaner through the engine. Do you recommend doing this after the oil replacement, or before the oil replacement, for best results?

Cheers

 

[Skylarking]

If your engine is caked up with oil crud, and you loosen it with some oil flush, it may cause more issues than solutions.

Oil flush is a good solution (in search of a problem) if used at every oil change from new but it’s not recommended by the manufacturer (waste of money). It’s definitely not a great idea if used for the first time at 207,000kms… But then again if you change your oil at shorter intervals than the manufacturer recommends, you don’t really need to use oil flush in any case as the engine insides would be clean.

As for location of things, the sump is at the bottom of the engine and the oil reservoir lives within it. The oil pump pick up obviously has to sit within the oil reservoir (sump) and it has a screen filter which can get gunked up if many oil changes have been skipped. The only way to clean it is to remove the sump and pick up tube mechanically clean it out of the vehicle.

Really, if you are concerned about engine internal condition, take off a rocker cover and have a look, if it’s nice and golden, she’s sweet (and oil flush should be ok to use). But if it’s black as with thick congealed oily gunk under there, we’ll Id definitely stay away from oil flush.

As for fuel injector cleaner, best to do an oil change after, as some brands recommend. In fact I use a double dose of injector cleaner and do it one petrol tank before I changed the oil (but that was after a bout of fuel contamination) Injector cleaner should be safe to use in all cases

 

[vr304]

Lucas injector cleaner/upper cylinder lube is very good you can use it all the time, I add a dose off it in my tank every time I put petrol in my cars if you buy the 1 quart (946ml) it lasts for ages as you don’t need to put much of it in

 

[Anthony .]

Cheers all.
Since I am unsure if the flush has been used in the 207xxx.
What is I use half the bottle per oil change just to slightly loosen the crud.

If I find the rocker cover area to be caked with sludge or crud. Should I manually try to clean it or just do multiple oil changes and a flush to get the crap out?

Cheers

 

[losh1971]

If going to the effort of removing any engine covers then best to clean them right up before refitting them.

 

[Fu Manchu]

When ever I do an oil change I get some fresh oil down the pick up in the oil filter. Flows back through and clears the screen of any potential schmutz. I also drop ½ litre of oil through to clear the sump of old oil.

When I tip it through the filter pickup, clean oil can be seen to come out the drain hole.

 

[Anthony .]

If going to the effort of removing any engine covers then best to clean them right up

Cheers. Are you referring to the covers or the internals of the motor as well?
If so, how would you clean the covers and internals? Toothbrush with metho or brake cleaner?

 

[losh1971]

Metho won't mix with oil, kerosene will, so will brake cleaner but kerosene is cheaper. Paint brush is the go.

 

[Anthony .]

Metho won't mix with oil, kerosene will, so will brake cleaner but kerosene is cheaper. Paint brush is the go.

Cool. So all the grit and **** in on the internals should just go to the sump after using kero and the paint brush? Doesn’t matter if it spreads around the motor when wiping.

After wiping and before reassembly, should I cover the internals with engine oil?

Sorry for all these questions. They may sound dumb but I have never cleaned rockers or internals

 

[Skylarking]

The rocker cover can be cleaned away from the car without issue, obviously. But I’d not get into cleaning the rockers and top of head itself when the rocker covers are off. If the rockers themselves are really caked up, you’ve likely got other issues so it’s something to look at and assess what you may need to do next. If they are not caked up, I’d then consider oil flush before and oil change.

So if/when you take the rocker covers off, take a pic and post here. Someone may be able to advise the next step.

Just be cautious with tooth brushes and other such things as they can loose their bristles. And you don’t really want that stuff going down into the engine…

Also, if you are cleaning with kero, just be cautious with the fumes so do it outside or in a well ventilated area… Oh, and even though kero is safer than petrol (never use petrol) I’d still not smoke while you’re cleaning You’d be surprised what nicotine advices do