engine flushing

gazza

///Member
Good morning fanatics

hope all is well.
2 questions.
what is the best way to flush my motor on the e46. What engine flush should I use?
and the same for the power steering system.....
 

DieselFan

Honorary ///Member
Liquimoly engine flush there is no flush for the power steering fluid afaik besides draining and refilling.
 

gazza

///Member
Ok cool. How much flush do I need. And I drain oil. Add flush and run the motor for a few mins?
 

Sankekur

///Member
Why do you want to flush the engine?

Powersteering should not need a flush, unless you did something really wrong.
 

DieselFan

Honorary ///Member
What Daniel said.

Just read the instructions on the flush.

My 330d gets flushed every oil service.
 

netercol

New member
just remember that flushing a badly maintained engine (not necessarily under your ownership) could turn out to be a very very bad idea..

you risk loosening crud built up over years and totally blocking the lube system.. i have seen engines fail catastrophically after a flush.

just a different opinion..
 

Hobbs

Member
netercol said:
just remember that flushing a badly maintained engine (not necessarily under your ownership) could turn out to be a very very bad idea..

you risk loosening crud built up over years and totally blocking the lube system.. i have seen engines fail catastrophically after a flush.

just a different opinion..
I can agree with you with you on this one, had personal experience with that.

If the car hasn't been maintained well or if you unsure of previous maintenance history I wouldn't flush the motor.. Just my 2c tho.
 

danieljames

Active member
Caddy101 said:
:fencelook:

How often should an engine be flushed?
Well if you know it's clean internally then like dieselfan said......He does his with every oil change. But then it also depends on the quality of the oil you're using and how often you do an oil change
 

gazza

///Member
Well the car was standing for a while due to the gearbox now that's been repaired but having issues with it going into soft cock I mean limp mode I'm doing a service and a few other little bits here and there but the oil is bad, got some sludge and ja poor little car needs some tlc....... Even the ate is filthy so sorting all problems out one at a time.

If doing a flush is not good, what would be best to sort this out?
 

DieselFan

Honorary ///Member
gazza said:
Well the car was standing for a while due to the gearbox now that's been repaired but having issues with it going into soft cock I mean limp mode I'm doing a service and a few other little bits here and there but the oil is bad, got some sludge and ja poor little car needs some tlc....... Even the ate is filthy so sorting all problems out one at a time.

If doing a flush is not good, what would be best to sort this out?
Maybe half a bottle of flush on each service? I dunno I would flush it but that's just me.

I don't think engine flushes are that abrasive.
 

Mohammed@Auto X-cessorize

BMWFanatics Advertiser
Official Advertiser
DieselFan said:
gazza said:
Well the car was standing for a while due to the gearbox now that's been repaired but having issues with it going into soft cock I mean limp mode I'm doing a service and a few other little bits here and there but the oil is bad, got some sludge and ja poor little car needs some tlc....... Even the ate is filthy so sorting all problems out one at a time.

If doing a flush is not good, what would be best to sort this out?
Maybe half a bottle of flush on each service? I dunno I would flush it but that's just me.

I don't think engine flushes are that abrasive.

:withStu: on this one..... i also flush all on every oil change using liqui moly engine flush plus..
 

Sankekur

///Member
gazza said:
Well the car was standing for a while due to the gearbox now that's been repaired but having issues with it going into soft cock I mean limp mode I'm doing a service and a few other little bits here and there but the oil is bad, got some sludge and ja poor little car needs some tlc....... Even the ate is filthy so sorting all problems out one at a time.

If doing a flush is not good, what would be best to sort this out?

Personally I would not bother with an engine flush, I highly doubt the effectiveness of it, rather run shorter service intervals. If you want you can also add some ATF to the engine oil around 1000km before servicing this should also help to clean the motor. This is a gradual way of cleaning the motor.....if you are in more of a hurry you can use diesel instead, which works faster, but has more risk associated with it.

That said if it has sludge beyond a certain point I would not really bother, the only way to clean from there is to strip and clean manually.
 

vimal32

New member
I flush the engine with each service too on my E90.
Learnt the hard way with sludge and blocked CCV on my E46,

Dont know if flushing at each service will help with this or not, but hey its worth a try and its only a few bucks in comparison with the pain of a blocked oil separator :smashScreen:
 

netercol

New member
the point is simply that if you start with a clean engine, a new car or a overhauled engine, condition KNOWN, then a flush with every service is a good idea..

if you have a engine that you dont know how it was treated before you got it, you are simply courting disaster with a aggressive flush (such as diesel) , a less aggressive flush can go either way..

i have also seen older engines start to use oil after being flushed.. the oil control rings being freed from carbon buildup, flex more again and cannot control oil on the worn cylinder walls anymore..
 

Gordvisr

Well-known member
Some input for flushing, non flushing, i am driving a 1994 Opel kadett 20is since 2002, unfortunately in the same year i lost the motor and had to replace it with an import motor, long story short, this engine gets an oil change within 10000 km, if you should open up this motor to work on it, only engine cleaner and eveything is clean , no oil carbon or nothing, never used engine flush, to scared to use it.

on the other side i bought a complete 200is kadett that was accident damage.
i have removed the head on that motor ( i wanted ) to use on mine for a while, the carbon build up is close to 1mm if not more, it took me a day to clean and still it was not clean, this motor was never serviced, oil was only added when showing low and three times it overheated. ( this will kill a motor if using flush and it comes off, its hard and brittle will defenately block something somewhere )

so to say the least, flushing or no flushing if your motor gets a regular oil service, you should not worry about carbon build up inside the engine except if your rings or sleeves are a bit worn and your combustion chamber gas push back into the sump.
 
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