Never heard of this, but I saw Disco Mike's explanation of it...seems worth doing after 50,000 miles. Any specific brand or link you can recommend for this?

 

You should be able to search this or other forums for the safest way to do this......which involves replacing the engine oil with ATF and stationary idling of the engine for ashort period of time.

One thing that I'd suggest doing (that may or may not be in the instructions you find) is replacing your oil filter BEFORE and afterthe flush. Reason being, if the ATF does it's job, it'll free up some carbon deposits and gunk. If you do this procedurewith anoil filter that you've already been using for an extended period of time, it may already have a fair amount of depris in it (in other words, not a lot of capacity left to catch the debris released by the ATF). The more the filter gets plugged up with crap, the more you're at risk for debris-filled oil being bypassed and running through the engine. For the same reason, you obviouslywant to replace it after the procedure.

You have to drain the engine oil before putting the ATF in anyway....so for an extra few bucks for a second filter, it's worth it.

 

Sorry, I missed your message, I have been out all day.
If you still have any questions get back to me. I think the other post may have answered your questions.
Mike

 

Mike,
any specific brand you use? Any risks w/ this, obviously being a different viscosity and not intended for this purpose? I have a moderate amount of mechanical knowledge but by no means a master mechanic, and never heard of this before. Just want to be sure before I give it a go. My engine runs smooth and strong, however there is some moderate valve-tap at startup which may be resolved by this.

Thanks for any tips you can give,
J

 

J, I pulled the following step-by-stepfrom apost on a BMW forum that I belong to. NOTE: quantities listed are for a 4.4 BMW V8. When doing this, the amount of ATFyou use should be whatever thevehicle's specified oil capacity is(in the case of your Disco, about 6 quarts).

Here's the post, hope it helps...............

You can try the following...it will surely clean up all internal wear surfaces. This advice was directly from Service Manager & Concurred by BMW directly.

1. Warm-up engine and drain oil and replace filter.
2. Replace drained engine oil with 8 quarts of clean "transmission fluid" ....yes transmission fluid. REMEMBER tranny fluid is a lubricant as well as a detergent; this should break down years of sludge build-up, etc.
3. Start car idle for 10 minutes at about 1,500 rpm (NO HIGHER)!!!
4. Shut car and let rest for 5 minutes.
5. Repeat step #3 and #4 two more times.
6. Drain all fluids from crankcase and dispose of filter. Notice the color and opacity of the "what was once RED" fluid which is now black as night.
7. Procede with a fresh oil filter and 8 fresh quarts of synthetic.
8. I would reduce the interval of your next oil change by 50%; and repeat the above procedure. This time you should notice that the "Red" fluid going into the crankcase....should come out closer to its original color. Remember, the only way to see if this has effectively worked is by replacing the oil filter before running the tranny fluid; that way you are getting a realistic read on just how clean the system is running; the reuse of the "oil" filter will leave 1/2 to 3/4 quart of dirty oil to mix with the clear red fluid....you get the idea.
9. The detergent action of the tranny fluid will break-down all oil residue, sludge, junk and oil-burnished parts of the engine.
10. And this is safe for all the engine seals as well.

11. REMEMBER: YOU ARE NOT DRIVING THE CAR UNDER LOAD....YOU ARE ONLY IDLING @ 1500 rpm!

 

Is this similar to using AutoRX? Can anyone compare the results of their flush vs. this one?

 

The use of a crank case full of ATF is a much quicker, better cleaning process then buying someting of the shelf.
The only down side to this process is, if your engine is reall full of sludge, you can drop cheucks of sludge into the crank case that are to hard or large to disolve quickly. If that were the case, you might want to remove the oil pan, clean everything out and tighten, clean and inspect your oil pick up tube.
Mike

 

Auto-rx all the way. I have had great results with it. It cleaned my wife's 96 Outback with 100K miles and sealed the cam and main seal leaks. It works slooooowly. Liquifies the sludege and there is no chance of a piece breaking off and clogging pickups or passageways. Using it in my 02 Disco now. On the first rinse phase and have completely stopped the rear main seal leakage. Still a little weepage around the front cover gasket, but it won't help gaskets. 2,000 miles into the rinse and still at the same level on the dipstick. No more spots all over the driveway. I had pictures up on their forums of my filters before they took the forum section down. Check out the bobistheoiluy forums as there are a lot of great posts and pic's in the additive section on auto-rx.

John

 

Those are exactly what I was looking for, and found some similar instructions as well. Everyone varies as far as idling time, restarting, etc. but the general principle seems the same. Thanks alot for all the feedback, gonna give it a shot hopefully this weekend!