I saw it done as a kid, I read about it 50 years later on the World Wide Web. It has got to be Gospel.
I don't care if it rains or freezes---------

 

Just to add something a 180 degrees to the subject, I was told by an old time engine rebuilder about a trick to sell a car that burned oil and smoked. He to use non-detergent oil in engine. He said for the short term the non-detergent oil would allow gunk to plug up the loose areas of the engine and stop it from smoking, for a while at least, so you can sell a car. Kind of like using saw dust in the differential for a short term fix to snug up the worn gears.

Both ideas are very devious and I wouldn't do it because I don't like getting screwed and I don't like screwing others. But still a trick from the old timers that aren't around any more.

 

GOOD POST RICK !!!!! that's the kind I like... lots of detail and suporting information... good job

later
john

 

I've been known to use Berryman B-12 Chemtool in the gas, and on occasion, in the oil immediately before changing the oil (Like, five minutes before!) I found out the hard way that there is such a thing as "too much of a good thing" when I poured, I think, two 16 oz. cans of it into the (ten gallon) tank in a '68 VW Squargreback I used to drive. It cleaned the crud out of the fuel system, all right!!!! ALL of the varnish that had collected on the inside of the fuel tank broke loose and thoroughly plugged the fuel pickup. The car stopped dead about three miles from work, so I had to bum a ride from a fellow employee who saw me with my head under the tailgate (Remember: The engine was in the back.) To get home, I ran a line into a one-gallon fuel can, thankful that the electric fuel pump was near the engine and not in the tank.

Back to the ATF subject: In the old days Chevies used Type A or Dexron and Ford used Type F fluid. That "F" stood for "friction," and it was necessary on Ford transmissions because Ford used a different philosophy in their transmission designs than Chevy, and the fluid required an element that provided the necessary friction in the right places for a happy transmission.

I am not making this up. I learned it in transmission class!

The upshot was that Type A or Dexron spelled death for a Ford tranny, but a quart or two of Type F in a Chevy tranny would firm up the shift a little in the ol' slushbox. Ford used to specifiy Type A in their power steering pumps, so I suspect that there was indeed something abrasive (?) in Type F that didn't belong in a power steering pump.

If I were to use transmission fluid to clean an engine, I think I'd stick with Dexron. Or, I'd use a better grade of oil and save myself some trouble down the pike.