Nah it didn't just kidding Just wanted to let you know I tried that bit w/ the tranny fluid in with the oil and the car seems to feel a bit smoother, cleaner, and healthier. Hope it did something good

 

I have heard from several people that Marvel Mystery Oil = ATF.

 

I've used ATF. Only instead of just running the car, I replaced the last quart and drove it for 600 miles. It quieted down nicely with no ill side effects.

 

I've never heard of this. What exactly do u do and what are the advantages of it?

 

whoa? atf in the oil? please explain

 

ATF in the oil? more details please?

 

The idea is to remove any old varnish/sludge that may have built up over time.

 

And to expose 100 oil leaks that the "sludge" was holding shut in our mighty thirdgens...


It's a nice trick that works well..

 

ATF is full of detergents. The detergents clean. You'll still have 4 - 4.5 quarts of oil in your car which is enough to safely drive.
I've done it as have many of my friends with nothing ill to say about it. It did a good job of quieting down the lifter tick that we all had.

 

Viper-Cide,

I'm glad it worked out for you. Now all you have to do is keep clean oil and a good filter installed and the engine should continue to clean itself.

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As for the rest of you,

ATF=OIL. Do you think that the transmission would last long without lubrication?

Yes, the detergent properties of ATF will strip away varnish like a big, bad dog. I've quieted several engines that way - even some with apparent rod/main bearing knock. And I'm not the only "old fart" that has used this successfully.

If it exposes a leak, that's only because the leak was already there. If you ignored the leak(s) until it sludged over and stopped dripping, that was your choice. Just like synthetic lubricants, diesel/jet fuel (kerosene), or Dex-Cool, the transmission oil will not create any leaks, but it will surely find the ones that were neglected.

I'm not sure what the basis of Marvel Mystery Oil might truly be - it's a mystery. That's why I won't use it. It's probably a highly refined petroleum (like kerosene) with some inconsequential proprietary additives to make it patentable - Kinda like Dura-Lube and all the other snake oils on the market. Maiden Oil, now THERE'S something completely different...

 

Exactly what should've been happening to the car before I received it in such condition that it required a cleaning.
People need to start taking better care of their cars.

 

Wow, neat trick, never heard of it.

Would switching to synthetic oil have the same effect though?

 

Yeah only slower. That's what I'm doing with an 86 cavalier that I got from my grandma. All clean now. It's back to dino juice on the next change.

 

Well - I have heard about this before, and it seems to be safe while proving to work for many. However, I can't help but think it isnt very thorough and an actual 'motor-vac' chemical treatment would be the real way to go about something like that.

 

we run kerosean through our parts trucks for a little while(no driving on the road) just a few minutes, and it does the trick but like he said ATF does the same thing...

 

So what exaclty do you do with the ATF??? Do you put a quart in your oil, run it, then drain. Then chang the oil??? I'm up for a oil change by tomorrow and would like to try a good flush.

 

I drove mine with 1 quart added to the oil for 600 miles before I drained.

 

Tranny fluid has no detergents in it. It does have a high solvet
value though. Much like solvent in a parts washer. It is designed
that way to keep clutches from varnishing and glazing over.

I have used it in a ratio of 3 quarts of straight 30 and 2 quarts
of tranny fluid before and put 1000 miles on a few cars with no
problems.

Also works good to fix sticky valves. Might be tough on a tune port
engine though. With a carbed engine slowly pour a quart down
the carb while at 1500rpm. It will get to the valve stems and work
it's way up the guides and clean them out.

 

i heard of one guy using brake fluid down the carb for a top end cleaning. Would this be just effective?

 

Yea, brake fluid would be more effective than tranny fluid.
It is almost a pure solvent. Never run it in the crank-case
though, it will break down the oil and take stuff out, like
bearings and rings and really important stuff.

 

I have used this method many times to free up sticky lifters and clean motors but it is not without risk. If you put tranny fluid into a high miles motor that is dirty nasty ugly inside, it will break all of that crap loose, plug your filter, open the bypass and circulate it thru your motor. Instant kaboom. First car I ever blew up was a 400 pontiac back in the mid 70s that I did exactly this to. It ran about 5 minutes and started knockin.
Todays oils dont normally leave the sludge in motors that oils used to, but I always look under the oil cap real good before I dump tranny fluid in it. A motor that had the oil changes neglected by a prior owner could be a bomb waiting to go off and the tranny fluid is the lit fuse.
Roy