Truck is 04 with 151k on it. Engine is from a junk yard with 70k on it. FULL of sludge. (dealer replaced engine after i bought it because of timing issues). I recently had the knocking sound checked out by a ford mechanic. i knew it was probably cam phasers and he confirmed it. Repair was denied under my warranty because there was sludge in the engine!

Ended up calling the dealer and they took the truck to there ****ty shop to get the repairs done. Its still not fixed and still knocks like a MO FO.

Anyways, back to the point, i want to get rid of this sewage pit i have under the hood. I read all the threads i could find on here about sludge. Some people say use AutoRX before oil change or a few other things.

A guy i work with said to put a quart of trans fluid in, let it idle, change oil. Are these newer engines to new to be doing something like that? If i go with AutoRX to do a flush before the oil change, will there be a chance ill loosen stuff up and cause problems? (clogged VCT's, or cats or other engine problems?)

I use Valvoline full synth, every 3k miles, motorcraft filter. I know changing the oil will slowly clean it but i dont like knowing my engine has 80000 tons of sludge in it.

Any tips, suggestions or tricks would be helpful! Thanks

 

The trans fluid method worked well for push rod engines but I wouldnt do it to an overhead cam engine especially one with VCT and the oil is used by the timing chan tensioners and all. I would probably go with auto RX the safest bet. Dont expect it to clean the engine overnight. I'd probably buy a case of it and run it constantly for a year or so.. Solvent based cleaners work to good breaking things loose to fast and they end up in the VCT stuff and the tensioners.. same deal with trans fluid.

 

If you use AutoRX, follow the directions on the website EXACTLY. You can't use synthetic oil with it.