[form406]

i was in line at autozone and i heard the clerk behind the counter telling this guy to put a quart of tranny fluid in his oil to quiet his hydraulic lifters...should i report him for for spewing horrid advice or am i missing something here? ive heard of using it to clean a gunked engine thats been sitting awhile, but to run the car continuously with it? ill admit i was quietly aghast while listening to this...

[stevep]

Marvel Mystery Oil is what he should have said, but he has probably never heard of it.
But I have heard people say to put a little ATF in the oil for lifter noise. Did he tell him to drive it for a little while and drain it out?

[1970GTOs]

I remember back in the early 80's this guy put Trans fluid in the engine and what happened is the pick up screen got clogged up and it messed up the engine or that's what I heard I wonder how true that was? I guess it broke a lot of crude off the engine for that to happen maybe.

[1967Clone]

Modern ATf has friction modifiers. Friction modifiers are abrasive. Not a good thing IMO.

[Jeff Walker]

Yeah I have heard it done before. From what I heard ATF is a very high detergent oil so it may be helpful if you have noisy lifters on an old engine.

[ta man]

I used to use it on engines of unknown history.Pour it in ahead of an oil change drive it a little while.Helps clean the engine out well.Now I just use a good brand of engine flush.

[gtofreek]

I used it many times in the past with nothing but good luck but nowdays I use Marvel Mystery oil. Both will clean very well with no issues. I have left ATF in for as long as 500 miles. Ever seen a dirty transmission inside? They stay real clean. The ATF or Marvel will loosen the crud causing the lifters to stick, so it quiets them down.

[Kitch428m21]

Dealerships use a lot of 'BG' products. Their "MOA" is nothing but high detergent concentrate ATF oil additive.

[Half-Inch Stud]

ATF has a lower flash & ash temperature thatn motr oil. That ATF will coke-up the upper CYL walls,rings etc.

[track73]

I had a 455 that would hardly run because of the lifters colapsing or stuck. The engine made terrible lifter noise. After a quart of Marvel Mystery Oil all was good. Stuff was magic.

[Paul E]

Some people will use tranny fliud to pour down the carb while the engine is running to fog the engine. This will clean the carbon out of the combustion chambers off the valves and the top compression ring.

It is better to use Sea Foam which is designed to do this. This will not fix a stuck lifter, but many of the noises and problems that are called a "stuck lifter"

Paul

[ANDYA]

Years ago I bought a qt. can of Liquid Wrench. On the back it said you could pour 8oz. into the crankcase to free up a stuck lifter but I never tried it. I have used Marvel Mystery and it seemed to work.

An old time mechanic once told me an "old trick". He said he would drain the oil on a noisy/gunked-up engine and fill the crankcase with kerosine. Then he would start the engine and run it for 30 sec., shut it off and drain it out. He said you would see all kinds of goop come out with the kerosine. Then he would put in fresh oil, start up the engine and claimed it would run nice and quiet. He said in that 30 sec. the kerosine would work itself into the lifters but not hurt the bearings. I would like to see that but I'm not trying it on any of my engines.

[rcread]

Originally Posted by ANDYA

An old time mechanic once told me an "old trick". He said he would drain the oil on a noisy/gunked-up engine and fill the crankcase with kerosine. Then he would start the engine and run it for 30 sec., shut it off and drain it out. He said you would see all kinds of goop come out with the kerosine. Then he would put in fresh oil, start up the engine and claimed it would run nice and quiet. He said in that 30 sec. the kerosine would work itself into the lifters but not hurt the bearings. I would like to see that but I'm not trying it on any of my engines.

I have a 305 in my '78 Firebird. I'd be willing to try this and other crazy experiments on it until it blows up. The 'bird is getting a 455 and I've got no other use for this engine. Not sure what I'm going to do with 5 quarts of kerosine once I'm done.

[Schurkey]

Originally Posted by 1967Clone

Modern ATf has friction modifiers. Friction modifiers are abrasive. Not a good thing IMO.

So the bushings and roller bearings in the transmission are destroyed by ATF too?

[sleepy]

Buy a can of motor flush and a gallon of diesel OR kerosene and smell both. Motor flush is nothing more than kerosene. Ad a quart and run it for 5-10 minutes then change the oil.

[Don 79 TA]

my dad and i used to use it as a way to clean the motor between changes
used to pour in 1/2-1 quart bottles, run it a little, and change oil
used to do it alot, and the motors lasted forever

personally, i'd use Marvel. that stuff is flat out awesome
i remember using it in the gas tank as well, and it did help the old cars with gas mileage
we did it on long trips

since i use synthetic oils, i don't bother, other than an occasional motor flush. again great results with that too

imagine the guy had a solid cam and was getting adives to make it quieter...
quiet honestly... i remember back in the days the auto parts guys were knowledgable, someone as a kid i looked up to...
now-a-days.... seems like experience and knowledge is gone... if it's not in the 'puter they have no idea....
same goes for wheel aligners now-a-days too
ohhhhh well
the world is still turning

[1967Clone]

Originally Posted by Schurkey

So the bushings and roller bearings in the transmission are destroyed by ATF too?

Did I say that? I KNOW for a fact it will do a number on diesel injectors, that's what I based my statement on.

[sleepy]

Originally Posted by 1967Clone

Did I say that? I KNOW for a fact it will do a number on diesel injectors, that's what I based my statement on.

I don't know about your little pickup injectors but my semi has 900,000 miles on it with the same injectors. The only injector problems in all those miles using ATF were two broken plunger springs and they are on the outside of the injectors.

[1967Clone]

Originally Posted by sleepy

I don't know about your little pickup injectors but my semi has 900,000 miles on it with the same injectors. The only injector problems in all those miles using ATF were two broken plunger springs and they are on the outside of the injectors.

Sorry, I missed where this was a discussion about big rigs.

[sleepy]

Originally Posted by 1967Clone

Sorry, I missed where this was a discussion about big rigs.

Did you miss the part about putting it in the oil and not the fuel tank too?