Ever heard of this before

[t3intercooled]

I just wanted to check and see if anyone has either tried this or if they have heard of it being done. A mechanic I know stated that the smoke out of my tailpipes smells like oil.

He said to drain the oil and fill it with ATF becuase of the detergents in it to basically do a re break in on my motor and try to seal anything up. He said run it at operating temps for about 15 - 20 minutes and drain and refill with oil. Said I should notice a difference in the amount of smoke within 50-100 miles if it worked.

Anyone heard of this procedure? Just don't wanna ruin anything.....

 

[49-blues]

Never.

 

[SS_Sean]

I think you better find another mechanic and another friend!!
That's the wackiest idea I have heard of in a long time...

 

[t3intercooled]

Hmmm... I have been calling around to various mechanic shops and they all reccommend the same thing.....

 

[cool 84]

I don't believe ATF has more detergents than modern motor oil. ATF is usually close to a 10W..... a little on the thin side for our motors.

A friend of mine took his Typhoon to a Jiffy lube place for a transmission flush. They pulled the oil cooler lines instead and filled the motor full of ATF. The next day it had a bad rod knock and that's how we found the ATF in the engine.

If you decide to go ahead with it, let it idle, don't put any load on the motor.

 

[nos487]

Trans. fluid has more detergents, but I do not know about running in engine for any amount of time. Back in the old days when building motors guys would wipe down cylinder walls with trans. fluid to clean them. Also has anybody seen a transmission guys hands they are usally clean.

 

[stan9898]

I've seen someone pour it down a carburetor ,while the engine was running to un-stick rings and valves in an old engine thats been sitting up for a while, but never seen it run for oil,I know alot of guys break thier engines in with Rotella.

 

[Rodney87GN]

I've heard of putting about a quart of ATF to help with sticking lifters, but not to replace all your motor oil.

 

[TryMeGT]

Trans. fluid has more detergents, but I do not know about running in engine for any amount of time. Back in the old days when building motors guys would wipe down cylinder walls with trans. fluid to clean them. Also has anybody seen a transmission guys hands they are usally clean.

Use fresh motor oil or tranny fluid straight to get off the grime then rinse:biggrin:

Back in the day when I worked at a very busy auto parts store, the old timers would use tranny fluid down the carb to re seal rings, free stuck internal parts and stop smoke. They would also put it or oil in the gas tank for similar reasons. Never tried any of the methods myself, it appears to a band aid to fill in scratches or fix other internal problems.

 

[TurboTnZ06]

I've heard of 1 qt ATF, 4 qts oil to clean hyd lifters, but that's all I've heard.

 

[usetaboost]

YUP. Heard one quart for 15 min. of idling and dump. Seafoam sounds like a better alternative though.

 

[corsair231]

Could it be possible that it is the turbo and not the engine that's causing the smoke?

 

[t3intercooled]

Could it be possible that it is the turbo and not the engine that's causing the smoke?

I don't believe it is. It was smoking before my new turbo and the new ball bearing turbo has a restrictor on it so its not getting to much flow....

 

[notacarlo]

I think what everyone is trying to say is that if this worked.....everyone would be doing it and there would be an overwhelming "yes...do it".

Personally.....I wouldn't recommend it. Identify the problem and fix it. No bandaids on these 20+ year old motors.

 

[usetaboost]

If it was me I'd be pulling the uppipe and see if there's oil in it, pull the line off the pcv valve and valve itself and clean it, and pull the DP off the turbo and see if there's oil there. I don't understand the ATF in the motor. POSSIBLY to clean it up a bit but to make it stop smoking? Hell I shoulda poured some in my turbo.

 

[charlief1]

You need to find out what's causing the smoke first. 1 qt might be ok on a low mileage engine but 5?? That's nucking futs! Another old trick is to run water into the intake to blow the carbon out of the engine, then use about a table spoon of bonamy cleaner into the engine while running. It's also called ring seating materal by cat diesel. Then follow with water again to "blow out" the bonamy. Works on N/A motors pretty good but sounds nuts.

 

[manmotorsports]

oil smoke

like i read in some of your replies always check the pcv hose for oil inside, pull all six plugs and see if one is more oily than another check compression leak down on all cylinders, its probaly coming from heads valve guides, i would add a little atf to fight carbon but not fill my motor with atf thats for transmissions, not engines, it would be nice to know miles when it puffs etc, ive been playing with these cars since the early 90's ive been 9.6 at 148 in my gn

 

[usetaboost]

My friend bought a plain jane 83 camaro with a feedback 305. Ran like a john deer. Then next week he brought it over and it was running 95% better. He said his dad had him floor it while he ran the hose down the carb. Said a sh!tload of black smoke came out for like 2 minutes. You should try it J/K

 

[wile87]

i have done that BUT you have to let car sit and idle DO not drive. when i worked as a boat mechanic in skokie,il we used atf to "fog" engines for winter storage as atf leaves a film unlike oil if you want to clean up your engine internals i would NOT use motor flushes they do and will eat seals and gaskets add qrt atf drive for while and change oil as usual.

 

[Razor]

This reminds me of the use of "Mystery Oil"