O.K., guys. I am ready to pour in the bottle of Amsoil engine flush before
I change over to synthetic and on the back of the bottle it reads "DRAIN 16 OZ. OF OIL FROM THE CRANKCASE". What is the best way to do that without making a mess? It also states to change the oil filter but I can't see 16 oz. of oil there and why would I want to waste a new filter on dirty oil.

What I also don't understand is that people talk of oil consumption. I have had mine since new. It now has 56k miles on it and still burns no oil. The people who do have oil consumption must have engines with problems. I have never heard of this before. Just my observation.

Just be glad that your car doesn't leak or consume any oil. A large majority of 850 Turbo owners have some form of consumption or leaking. Just go to your local Volvo dealership and ask around. If you've been running conventional oil all this time, and you if Pennzoil is any good, I'm willing to bet you'll develop atleast some leaking.

My car for the most part is dealer maintained. I do what I can. I have never heard of what you've said before. I've rebuilt engines. I run Valvoline now and ran quaker state prior. The car has 56k miles on it and runs great. I had one leak one time and it was due to a rubber hose attached to the oil cooler that was leaking. It was an easy fix, and that was 15000 miles ago.

I guess I am glad that I haven't run into that problem yet.

Question: Why do you need to flush the engine before changing to synthetic motor oil? I recently changed to Valvoline pure synthetic and I didn't flush the oil first. I simply changed it as normal.

Why the hype about using flush before using this oil I don't understand? Seems like a waste of money unless your engine has been abused.

As mentioned numerous times in this thread, as well as on this board, as well as many automotive boards like this, it is NOT needed. It is simply good maintenance.

Why the hype? Because with a car like the 850 which is known for oil leaks, primarily caused by gumming up for various components such as the PCV, and oil passages, especially to the turbo, it is simply preventative maintenance. At about $5 a flush, plus oil and a filter, I think it's worth it. Hey, if you don't, tempt fate.

It's kinda funny, but I have owned Volvo's since 1994, have them dealer serviced regularly, and have never heard of them being prone to oil leaks. My brother owned the 740 series prior to that, is a dealer mechanic and never once mentioned the problem to me. Being on this board is the first I have heard of it.

The instruction to drain 16 oz of oil is jus to prevent over filling. As I doubt you are close enough to exceed 7 quarts in your engine by adding just 16 oz, I wouldn't worry about it. Furthermore, it's not just 16 oz of oil in the filter that you lose when you remove the oil filter. You also lose a little oil right out of the nozzle. All together, that comes out to about 16 oz, so don't sweat it.

Why would you want to waste a new filter on dirty oil? You don't!!! And you aren't. By the time you need an oil change, your filter is beyond dirty, and practically clogged. When you put in a good engine flush like AMSOIL's, it will loosen SO much gunk, that what often ends up happening is the filter gets fuly clogged, and the by-pass valve opens up. So basically, all the gunk you've loosened up will now be circulating through your engine unfiltered, which is a REALLY bad thing to do, especially when you think about all those small oil passages.

I've heard some cases where lazy/cheap/unknowledgeable people with not so clean engines, used good flushes without changing their oil filter first, and causing more problems with their engines then had they not done anything at all.

I haven't picked up the flush yet, but how many miles is recommended for doing the flush? Or let the engine run/idle for x minutes then dump, change filter (again) and fill back up with 6 qts of synthetic????

Ken

Just follow the instructions on the bottle. Do NOT drive the car with engine flush in the crankcase. It changes the viscosity of the oil such that it is no longer able to withstand load. RPM's are fine, just no load. Which is why almost all flushes recommend idling the car for 5-20 minutes (depending on manufacturer), some recommending fast/high idle, of about 1500-2500rpm. And do NOT just simply top up with 6 quarts if you have a turbo. Drain the oil cooler as well, meaning you should top up with 7 quarts.

either that or a sacrificial oil change after the flush to clean out the rest of the flush chemicals fromt he system, I woiuldn't want to run my car with a buch of engine flush treated oil mixed in with the new oil

Yes excellent point! Get the old oil out of the lines and cooler - I like to use some low pressure air to push the oil out.

But isn't the oil cooler thermostatically controlled (I know it is on the RWD cars) - so during the idle period used for Amsoil flush, would the oil be circulating in the cooler?
--
www.fidalgo.net/~brook4

As perfectly stated by others just slap a cheapie new oil filter on. This will not only catch the flushed crap better, no sense in flushing out a dirty filter that is easily changeable. Can't think of a good analogy - but essentially the oil filter is a disposible item, why clean it?

Check my web site for a super duper flush procedure designed for high milers.

To answer another caller's question, from my several years of experience the flush really helps in the oil consumption department. What?? (you say)

In higher mileage, dirty engines when changing over to synthetic oil, the oil consumption rate can temporarily go up. Sometimes quite surprisingly. What happens, is indeed the synthetic oil starts cleaning the petroleum oil gunk out - this junk, when cleaned, it goes into the oil and very often escapes the oil rings and is combusted along with some of the synthetic oil. The flush accelerates the cleaning and hence cuts back on this oil usage. I know it sounds weird...but I and many others have seen this happen. It's pretty interesting when the oil consumption period stops....it just stops. Period.

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www.fidalgo.net/~brook4

When I bought my S70 T5, It had 37,000 miles on it, and had always been serviced by our local Volvo dealer, who used Castrol Syntec since new. Since I’m an Amsoil guy, of course I changed the oil as soon as I got the car. I used the Amsoil engine flush, and filled the motor with 100% synthetic 10W-30. I was shocked. For the first 1000 miles, I burned almost 1 quart of oil. After that, oil consumption ceased; I haven’t had to add a drop in the last 5,000 miles. This is a very interesting phenomenon. I’ve heard of this, but until now, hadn’t actually experienced it.

On another note, When I switched my Jeep Grand Cherokee over to Amsoil at about 50,000 miles, I first drained the oil, then changed the filter (to a cheap filter), installed new conventional oil with the Amsoil Engine Flush. Did the flush, and was amazed at how much gunk was flushed out of the motor. My newly installed cheap conventional oil looked like it had 5000 miles on it within 20 minutes! I then proceeded to drain the oil, and switched to Amsoil oil and a new SDF filter.

"DIRECTIONS: Check the oil level. If level is at nor near the full line, drain approximately one pint from the crankcase. Changing the oil filter will also reduce the oil volume sufficiently. (A clean filter provides better filtration of the contaminants freed by the Engine Flush)."

Easiest way---cold engine, take off old filter, put on cheapie new filter.
Warm engine, put flush in, fast idle for 15 min or so. Dump old oil and filter, install new.

The process is relatively easy to do. I think it is important to "flush" out all the old "crud, gunk, build-up"; whatever you want to call it, before installing the nice clean Amsoil. Here's the easy process:

1. Before you start, have on hand - Amsoil engine flush, Amsoil SDF Oil Filter, Amsoil Oil, a cheap new filter (I used NAPA Gold Oil Filter) & rags
2. drive around for 15 min to get everything warmed up
3. Park the car up on ramps
4. Remove the old oil filter (be careful, it and the oil is very hot) - allow to drain slightly from the filter area.
5. Install the cheap new filter (not the Amsoil SDF!!)
6. Add Amsoil Engine Flush via the Oil fill cap, back off the ramps and allow to run for the suggested 20min @ idle.
7. When done put car back up on ramps
8. Remove the Oil Filler Cap, remove the oil drain plug & drain old fluid, remove "cheap new filter" (now filled with "crud, gunk, build-up")
9. I would suggest draining the oil cooler as well - I refer you to Bay 13 on Volvospeed.com for instructions - it is really easy. Besides no reason to mix the dirty oil remaining in there with the new stuff your putting in.
10. Hook up oil cooler again, install Amsoil SDF oil filter, replace oil plug and torque to correct value
11. Pour in 5 qts of New Amsoil Oil - reverse car off ramps - allow to sit - then check oil level - add to correct level (approx 7 qts)
12. Take old oil to Autozone for recycling (PLEASE!!!)

You're done!!

Best of Luck Andrew T. Watson

I switched to synthetic without engine flush after I got my car about 8 months ago. I have changed the oil twice and put on about 6000 miles on the car. It seems there is no problem so far. Can anyone tell why it is important to do a engine flush before the change-over? What's the drawback if the engine flush is not being done before the switch? Thanks in advance.

PG
1995 Volvo 850
80K

The basic premise is this...If the dino oil was abused by being left in too long or using low quality, it could have built up sludge in certain areas of your engine (like the oil pan). If you switch to synthetic, the detergents and additives are stronger and will "wash" your engine free of this sludge. Since that isn't really the desired purpose of the oil, some feel that these flush products can take care of this process. I don't suppose they hurt, but I've never really been convinced how benefitical this is (but I did do it on mine). If you know that the oil was changed frequently, there was a good quality of dino oil used (ie. castrol) then I wouldn't sweat it. Either way, you have gone through enough synth to probably have done this an more.

db

Thanks for your info.

I believe that my car's previous owner only changed the oil when 10k miles service was performed. As to the quality of oil, it should be ok since the services were done by Volvo dealers. My question is: will it be beneficial if I do an engine flush at this point or before next oil change? Thanks again.

PG

It is beneficial to do it every couple of oil changes, but not necessary by any means.

Just one note, Mobil 1 tri-synthetic is known to get some what thick (almost like a thin jelly) when mixed with many other engine oils. And engine flushes thin out the oil, so you get more of the old oil out of your engine. So if you are switchin to or from Mobil 1, I would highly recommend it.