Questions and Answers
Cleaned To Death
Q. I had the dealer do an engine flush with the Billstein flushing system on my 1992 Dodge Stealth Turbo (120,000 miles). After the flush the engine ran for a minute before seizing. The autopsy (Billstein's insurance rep) claimed the valve springs came off and caused the problem.
The whole episode has cost me $23,000 (rebuild top, New dual turbos after top rebuild due to turbo seal failure, new block due to low oil pressure after top rebuild and turbo change, rental cars for six months etc.)
Have you ever heard of problems with these flushing machine. I understand that the manufacturers don't endorse them. I also heard that as turbos run hotter there is more caked on sludge that the flush machines don't completely clean and get deposited all over the engine.
A. You sure did open a can of worms here. I don't know why the dealer suggested an engine flush, but I live by the credo; "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
I don't know which car makers do or don't endorse engine flushing, but I personally do not. A lot of times they do cause more harm then good, especially on older engines.
Turbos run very hot, often in excess of 1,000 degrees, because they are driven by exhaust gas directly from the exhaust manifold. When they are running, they keep, relatively speaking, cool. But when the engine is turned off they heat soak and get hotter before they cool down. Now since the oil is no longer circulating, it gets heated to the point where it "cokes" out. In other words the solids in the oil bake out and form a hard crust on the turbo bearings and turbo oil passages. I tell all of my turbo customers to let the engine idle for a minute or two before shutting the engine down to let the turbo cool off. This goes a long way to cutting down the coking problem.
Now this is a contributing factor to what happened to your engine, but not the whole cause. When you flush out an engine the crud and garbage dissolve. But large chunks also break off and these chunks can clog oil passages and cut off oil flow. That is what probably did your engine in.
Personally I don't buy the "valve springs came off and caused the problem" story. I don't see how valve springs can just come off. If he had said that to me, I would have said "show me." My personal opinion is that he shifted the blame from his companies process to something else so they wouldn't have to pay for your damage. But then again, that's my opinion.
