Engine flush

The friction between metal parts causes wear and tear. Engine oil keeps such wear and tear to a minimum as it reduces friction. This is why you are required to change engine oil at regular intervals as it gets saturated with metallic particles.  

Engine oil is drained from the engine and replaced with new engine oil. However, when an engine is not serviced regularly metallic particles mix with engine oil form 'sludge'. The sludge can get left behind despite draining the engine oil. Sludge hampers engine performance and increases engine wear and tear. 

Engine flush is a technique of using appropriate chemicals to remove the accumulated sludge from an engine. It is not a decarbonising agent and is meant to give the internals of an engine a bath to drain the sludge. There are many brands of engine flush solutions. Different brands require different amounts of engine cleansing flush to be mixed with engine oil according to the size of the engine. 

Once the engine flush solution is poured into the engine, the engine needs to be idled for a period of time. Different engine flush solutions require the engine to be idled for different amounts of time. Do not rev the engine when engine flush chemicals are mixed with the engine oil. 

After the engine has been idled with the engine flush solution for the specified period of time, turn off the engine and drain the oil. Make sure the oil filter is changed before refilling the engine with fresh engine oil. 

The downside to engine oil flush is that chemicals in the engine oil flush corrode the rubber seals of the engine, making them loose over time. Expert mechanics do not recommend engine oil flush till an engine has clocked a lot of kilometres. Intervals between engine flush should be considerable as frequent engine flushing will result in premature wearing out of the rubber engine seals. 

If a vehicle is regularly serviced and the engine oil changed periodically, there is no need for an engine flush until the engine has clocked a considerable number of kilometres (approximately 80,000-1,00,000km). 

The price of engine flush solutions varies from brand to brand. Some of the best brands for engine flush solutions are 3M, AMSOIL and Motul. Prices for engine flush solutions range from Rs 350 onwards.