Sup I'm fabio... has anyone ever...(ATF in place of motor oil)

[Fabio]

Has anyone ever heard of putting Automatic tranny fluid into an ea81 subaru? I have a friend Matt (superrallyroo) who was having major problems with ticking in his hatch back. I knew of a solution that works in bigger engines. We changed oil and added 1 quart of dexron 3 and magically the ticking went away and the car had more power and everything. Later on Matt found out that there was a lifter nut and lock washer in the oil pan! And it was still managing to mask the sound of the mad ticking. It also prevented it from loosing all power on the freeway and making a horrible Pu pu noise. So has anyone ever done this? Can think of any possible ill effects later down the road? It was either do this or swap engines because the problem still came back even after we put the bolt and washer on the lifter and had it readjusted. And changed oil yet again. All the oil changes was because the oil was lost on the freeway thanks to stupid PAP. Anyway ya it worked woo hoo.

[SuperRallyRoo]

Yay i'm glad this post got up. So yes as he stated, does anyone know if the atf is going to effect my engine in any way? Like eat oil seals or something?

[calebz]

I'v edone it in a number of different cars.. I do it to my EA82T at every oil change.. about 5-6 days before I change the oil, I drain about a quart out and refill with dexron. Then do the oil change like normal.. has helped quite a lot with lifer tick.

 

Dexron ATF won't do any damage to your motor if mixed with the regular oil.. Its just lightweight oil with a high detergent content.

[MorganM]

I'm pretty skeptical about funny things like this. There was obviously a problem. ATF in the crank case didnt fix it. It simply masked the issue untill the real problem was discoverd. As noted it wont really damage anything but is it really better than using something meant to go in your oil? I'd rather use a cleaning product already noted as safe to put into your oil (like SeaFoam) then 'well i heard from this dude you can pour ATF in!' to clean out dirty lifters

[GeneralDisorder]

Using ATF as an engine flush has been a "backyard" mechanic trick since shortly after the beggining of time. Do an internet search and I'm sure you will come up with tons of arguments for or against it. My opinion is in line with Caleb's - it's a light detergent oil a lot like MMO or Seafoam. Using it has basically the same effect. I personally use MMO, and occasionally Seafoam for things like this, but the difference is probably negligable.

 

GD

[Caboobaroo]

Just don't run more than a quart or so, ATF doesn't lubricate the cylinder walls as well as motor oil, but mixed in wiht regular oil you are fine. I have heard filling your crankcase with ATF and idling it for 10 minutes or so does a good job of cleaning all the gunk out of your enigine, but I have also heard that if your engine is totally gunktified, it will break all that stuff free at once, which will clog your oil filter, and then the rest of that crap will go throuigh the bearings and wipe them out, so from what I've been told only do it if you are planning on rebuilding the motor, and want to get as much sludge free from inside as possible.

 

 

Dammit Russ, LOG OUT WHEN YOU ARE DONE USING THE BOARD AT MY HOUSE

[oddcomp]

lets see atf

from what i know it makes the seals swell up so they seal once again <actual additive in it for that purpose so your auto box doesn't leak all over >

 

yes it breaks up crud yes said crud will kill off a filter

 

another less known option is to drain the oil out and belive it or not fill it with diesel and run it at a idle for a few minutes just don't rev it alot or put driving stress on the motor

drain it

add cheap oil run it again

drain that and put your good oil in

yes i have actually done this to a 80ish chevy hmm dam can't remeber oh wait

it was a CITATION gah with a 2.5 l motor ran much better afterwords

 

like many others i use a quart of marvel mystery oil in place of one quart oil

at oil changes