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Engine oil flush?????? RESTORE?????

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durbin99

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Anyone have any luck or experience using a engine oil flush before an oil change? There is this stuff called Pyroil made by Valvoline which you pour in your crankcase and run the engine at idle for 5 minutes. Immediately following, you are supposed to change your oil and filter. Is this just a scam or does this really clean your engine out?

Also, anyone ever Restore? I have heard nothing but good about this stuff, but is it just another waste of money?

Thanks for the input...

Brent
San Diego, CA
1983 K5 350, 700R4, 4WD
 
I used restore in my 318 and it blew the head gaskets within an hour.
I'm curious about the valvoline stuff, I got a bottle sitting in the garage. /forums/images/graemlins/thinking.gif
 
Restore scares me. Sometimes it works, sometimes I swear it makes it worse.

I'ved dumped a quart of ATF in the crankcase of many vehicles, that'll usually free anything up. It's a good way to get collapsed lifters to come back to life as well. But I wouldn't run it for longer than 15 minutes. It's not meant for the abuse of lubricating an engine.
 
That engine flush destroyed one of my motors, too. I wouldn't even use it in a lawnmower engine, personally. I think that's why the stuff is usually only about $1 a bottle.

Steven
 
i used restore in my s10, after that is was started burning more oil than normal and got graduly worse, but the compression was good /forums/images/graemlins/whistling.gif /forums/images/graemlins/whistling.gif
 
I once had a fuel pump bleed into the engine (old 2.5 4banger) and a carbon problem so bad I had little compression in any cylinder. I used restore, and did a couple initial oil changes and drove the car another 50,000 miles before selling it. It works for some things /forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gif
 
I used engine flush before in customers engines but its completely unecessary unless you have a very dirty engine. Make sure the engine is completely warmed up, add the flush, let it idle for a few minutes and drain the oil/change the filter. Change the oil and filter again in 200 miles or less to make sure all the solvent is out of the engine. Had a customer with an 80's Town Car with a 5.0L that demanded 1 qt ATF added to his crankcase at every oil change and he left it in there too. I wouldnt do it....

Never even heard of Restore unless you are talking about the stuff at Wal Mart or whatever, if its that stuff I wouldnt use it, if your rings or cylinders are worn you are gonna have to rebuild /forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gif
 
I think if your motor has lots of sludge and high miles your better off leaving well enough alone--as a parts counterman I heard many horror stories from customers putting Rislone,Marvel Hi-Rev engine flush,etc in an old motor(especially old tractors and antique cars that were run on non-detergent oil)and had rod bearings knocking,smokey exhaust--all that sludge was sealing all the leaky internals,and loosening it up sent it throughout the engine like a grinding compound.This often happens when synthetic oil is put in an old motor too.As for restore I used it once--never again.Lucky it was a junker that didnt matter if it worked or not.The label says"contains copper,silver.and lead particles--would you pour that into your motor on purpose??.It looks like aluminum paint--makes your oil look like you lost all your cam lobes.I've seen the inside of a motor that used restore,and it makes an awful mess in there.I guess its made to "put back"the sludge you flushed out in the first place! /forums/images/graemlins/thinking.gif.My 79 six cylinder has a valve cover full of a mayonaise looking sludge in it,I will pull the cover and clean the rockers and such manually,or with the air hose and a spray gun with diesel fuel,but no flushes--dont want all that crap going thru the whole motor.My dad used to tell me they would run the cars of old for 1/2 an hour with 4 qts of kerosene(idling at a standstill,of course)and said the cars never ran so good after---maybe if this was done at every oil change it's ok--but I wouldnt do it after 100,000 miles.And oil today is much better than the days of 30w non detergent!. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif
 
I have put that Restore stuff in my old Probe (I didn't buy it, it was free), with 150,000 miles on the engine I didn't give a crap. It helped increase my gas mileage which tells me it helped something. I wouldnt put it anything but a dying engine.
 
Engine oil additives are one of the biggest scams in auto parts.

TOTAL waste of your money.

Many do more harm than good.
 
what about lucas oil stabilizer? i've used it twice, and i noticed that the truck runs much more smoothly, and it feels a little more powerful, but thats just the butt-dyno, not too accurate. It definately helped knocks. gas mileage didnt change much.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Engine oil additives are one of the biggest scams in auto parts.

TOTAL waste of your money.
Many do more harm than good.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree with Tim 100% on this one. A mechanical problem in an engine is due to metal or bearing material being worn or bent beyond it's operating tolerances, how can anyone expect to repair it, by pouring some crap into their crankcase?
 
Right, pouring something in your crankcase isnt gonna repair worn metal but there are some good friction reducer "additives" out there that help minimize wear.
 
[ QUOTE ]
there are some good friction reducer "additives" out there that help minimize wear.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, and they are already in your oil in a quanity specified by the API. More isn't going to help.
 
You will find some guys thinks that the additives are great while some will think its all a scam. What I have found is, if you use it when you need to and for the exact purpose its made for, it will work, but they don't fix a problem, just makes the engine last a little longer. Now what I would say is don't use nothing unless its a last resort to try and postpone fixing the problem. I am by no way an expert on this stuff, but I do have over 30 years experience racing and building carb motors.
 
I have not used restore but have used risoline. Did its job too well. It cleaned out everything including all gaskets in the motor and everything began to leak bad. Don't use these things. If you change your oil when you need to, buildup wont be bad at all, even after a lot of miles. Keep good oil in it and change often!!! With good oil you don't need additives. I won't give the brand I use because people always have heated discussions over this but you get what you pay for. Choose for yourself from the major brands. Oh.. did I say change often.
 
Used the restore before, I had lots of problems with my engine after that. Ended up blowing head gasket, burnt up piston, destroyed heads. Not sayin it caused it but you never know. My Dad always told me to never buy that crap, just covering up a problem won't fix it. Just MO /forums/images/graemlins/whistling.gif
 
Some engine flushes actually recommend pulling the pan after running the product through in order to clean all the sludge out. In my opinion if your engine has that much crap in it, you'd be better off just pulling it and rebuilding. If the additive flushes that many particles loose, there is probably even more left in the nooks and crannies of the engine that are going to continue to make there way into places that you don't want them and do some damage. I believe BG engine flush is one that says to pull the pan.
 
I put restore in my 350, not long ago. because the valves were leaky.

The first thing it did was turn my oil black, from all the sludge. I changed the oil right after that and put another bottle in.

The results were mixed...the engine seemed stonger, but i noticed a bit more oil burning.

My opinion is its not worth it unless your planning just to limp your engine along until a rebuild.

like me
 
I wont say all additives are bad--my friend has used Lucas products at his shop often,and I will say that their suff really does work,especially the transmission treatment stuff,It solved a few fords that refused to shift into overdrive,even made a junker fairmont that wouldnt even move it was slipping so bad drive well enough to get its single mother owner to work and day care for 2 more months before it totally croaked!.Their motor oil treatment seems to work too,a vehicle with only 20 psi on the gauge went up to 35+,and no longer dropped to below 10 at idle.At least their products are 100%petroleum,not some synthetic miracle goo.Its probably the only brand I'd put in any of my own junks--I have used"Motor Medic"by solder seal and some of the other oil"thickeners"like STP or Bardahl,also that "Tufoil"teflon additive seemed to work.But theese are merely "crutches" ,not cures!.Nothing beats regular oil changes and proper maintenence--if you do that you wont need any of this "chemical warfare!" /forums/images/graemlins/rotfl.gif /forums/images/graemlins/deal.gif
 
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