I go along with what "The Weezle" said , in person i've seen the same thing happen to alot of my buds cars and trucks , i'd say its a NO/NO .

 

That kind of problem is why the flush cans tell you to pull the pan after running flush through on extremely dirty engines.

 

BlueRanger94 that would be the right thing to do , if you pull the pan first then you might not need the flash, ?

 

did you ever try the autorx?

 

...what Flash said...

 

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TNT, I backed what you said from the first time I read it. I know you are correct here, and "The Weezle's" response was icing on the cake of the matter.
Too many people think 10 minute or similar flushes instantly give engines a "miracle cure" and a clean, like new inside. The FACT of the matter, engine flush chemicals break up, and wash out important lubricating oils off of main bearings, crankshafts, and other parts on the bottom the the engine. What people forget is those flushes then begin to dissolve, soften, and loosen sludge, varnish, and other deposits inside the heads, camshaft areas, and valvetrain areas. THOSE DEPOSITS ARE NOT IMMEDIATELY REMOVED, DISSOLVED, AND FLUSHED THROUGH THE OIL PAN, AS HARMLESS, BLACK OILS. What occurs is 50-100 miles doen the road, those deposits then loosen, drop, blocking oil passages, galleries, oil screens ect. That causes engines problems, and could cause complete engine failure. It's very possible.
What I would do with an neglected engine, is simply move up my oil change intervals. Change oil and filter. Drive 150-200 miles. Change oil and filter again. Drive 150-200 miles. Make sure PCV valve is working, and freeway drives of 20 miles or more at 60-70 MPH are observed. Change oil and filter again. This procedure will clean an engine in a much safer manner. I would even use a quart of MMO or Rislone, but change oil and filter every 200 miles or so, for the first 1500 miles. After that you can go to a regular 5,000 mi. OCI.
What I would do. Kerosene flushes, ect, I never liked, although none of my vehicles ever had a sludge problem as I changed oil and filter like clockwork on anything I owned.
ED

 

Yes I did. I ran the first treatment on Durablend, then the rinse, second treatment and second rinse on Citgo Ultralife. Other than gloppy stuff in the filter I don't notice any difference. Looking down the filler neck, it looks about the same as before. After the two ARX treatments and rinses, I ran an 800 mile extra rinse on Quaker State oil, adding some Schaeffer's Neutra toward the end. Still don't see any difference. Maybe my engine was just too dirty.

 

This is an extreme case -- a complete neglect, and you could have had problems even without the engine flush. In any case, while the leak at the rear main seal can be ignored, you should've stopped at the first sign of oil pressure troubles. That may have saved the engine from the near total destruction, though I believe it was probably in a sad shape even when you got it.

IMHO, these flushes can be somewhat useful under many circumstances, though I guess if an engine is really badly sludged up, it should be preceded by valve cover and oil pan removal, and some cleaning there beforehand.

 

It's hard to validate the AutoRX stories, because you need to have taken the engine apart before running it to really tell how sludged up the engine is, then put it back together sludged up and run it and then take it apart again. I have taken apart old engines that ran nothing but old dino oil and there was little to nothing built up.

It's all marketing and folklore folks.

 

One only need to pull the valve cover to get a good idea on what's in there.

 

You can say that about any engine flush. Same thing goes for other products, such as fuel injection system cleaner. That alone doesn't make them all "folk lore".