Diesel Engine Internal Clean - up?

ScottFromNZ · Post by **ScottFromNZ** » 12 Sep 2004, 07:14

I am reluctant to use engine flushing products in my engine in case they cause a leak or cause some dirt to be redistributed and block an oilway or similar. Has anyone tried to gently clean the inside of their diesel engine by changing the oil every, say, 1000 miles for a few oil changes or is it just a waste of time and money. If I change my oil and filter it is pitch black again in about 100 miles. I realise that this is normal for a diesel, but as it is my first diesel car I am struggling to accept that my nice clean oil gets dirty so damn quickly!

jeremy · Post by **jeremy** » 12 Sep 2004, 13:02

Total waste of money! Diesel oils are specially formulated to cope with carbon and are heavily laden with detergents to prevent sludging. As a matter of interest if you search this site you will find that there are practically no postings concerning oil pressure or bearing or even piston/ring problems with diesel engines, the problems being timing belt changes, head gaskets / overheating and injection pumps.
How long are you intending to keep the car anyway?
jeremy

bxbodger · Post by **bxbodger** » 12 Sep 2004, 14:40

You are suffering from diesel culture shock[:0]!-they all do it!
My wifes (admittedly 03 plate)Kia petrol car oil stays spotless between changes-mine, on the other hand,in my diesel BX is black by the time I get home from work the day after a change.

bikeboyz · Post by **bikeboyz** » 12 Sep 2004, 20:00

If your worried, you would probably do more good by wipping off the sump and cleaning out all the sh*t that will have lined the bottom of the sump. Depends where your drain plug is I suppose. Take a look all along the breather hoses for the white mayonaise looking stuff and in the rocker cover, typical from short stop start journeys only. At the end of the day use a good semi synth diesel specific oil and it will do the rest.

Stuart McB · Post by **Stuart McB** » 13 Sep 2004, 00:56

Yep oil turned black wih in a 100 miles on my old ZX td. It ran fine so never realy worried about it. Only car that didn't run like this was a works hire car (VX Astra) with only 1k on the clock but hey that just means abuse me, dosen't it?

ScottFromNZ · Post by **ScottFromNZ** » 13 Sep 2004, 01:30

Thanks for your replies, people. I will stop being bothered and just stick with changing my oil and filter regularly at about 5 - 6000 km's - about 6 months for me as I have 2 other cars to use so the Citroen doesn't do a big mileage.