Re: Engine Flush, cooling system flush

[Scott Fisher <sfisher71@domain.elided>]

--- BrianPal10@domain.elided wrote:
> Today I took my Alfa in for an oil change.  They
> asked me if I wanted a 
> "upgraded" oil change, which included running the
> engine with some treatment 
> before filling it with new oil.  Since I had never
> heard of this, I opted 
> against it.  Just wondering if any of you knew what
> it was about.  Is it 
> beneficial and/or safe for Alfas?

Probably no; probably yes.  That is, if you're as
careful with oil changes as I remember you to be,
Brian, there's probably no benefit to running the
oil-system cleaner.  The idea is to remove varnish,
baked-on gunk, and other unsavory stuff from the
inside of an engine; it's basically a very light motor
oil with a high detergent compound and (possibly) some
solvents designed to clean the passages inside your
engine.  Preventing these is better than repairing
them -- in fact, prevention is better than repair in
almost any category (as I constantly remind myself
when I go to the gym -- if I'd kept at this ten years
ago, I wouldn't have to work so hard to get *back*
into shape...)

> Sort of on the same topic, I do my cooling systems
> flushes myself.  I heard 
> once that cooling system flush detergent can be
> harmful to the engine, so I 
> just flush with distilled water, run the engine,
> then refill with 50/50 mix.  
> Is this the best method?

The owner's manual that came with my '74 suggests
making a strong solution of baking soda and flushing
the cooling system with that.  A little quick armchair
chemical analysis suggests that this would be to
neutralize any acidity in the system and not dissolve
the aluminum (which is very sensitive to acid).

The last commercial cooling system cleaner I used
(Prestone, marked as safe for aluminum) was nothing
but sodium hypochlorite -- the same stuff you use to
get your laundry whiter, brighter (but not necessarily
smelling springtime fresh): household bleach, in a
higher concentration.  Also heavily alkaline, but with
the highly active chemical chlorine instead of carbon
as the other main part of the sodium compound. 
(Anyone whose professional or educational background
exceeds my knowledge -- which is that copper, silver,
and gold all line up on top of each other in the
periodic table -- is welcome to expound on other
differential characteristics of the two compounds.)

A box of Arm and Hammer is inexpensive enough that
I'll almost certainly use that when I flush my cooling
system this spring -- with luck when I install some
kind of electric cooling fan before the AROO track day
in (gack!) four weeks.

Best,

--Scott Fisher
  Tualatin, Oregon

.
Yahoo! Sports - Coverage of the 2002 Olympic Games
http://sports.yahoo.com

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