Engine flush, worth doing or not?

[Audi Parts Guru]

Guys,

Has any of you ever done one of those engine oil flush treatments? If so, what were the results like?

In a nutshell, my car has over 200k on the clock now, and I'm thinking that the tappets and rings etc must have a fair bit of sludge in them

[K Simmonds]

I have used them a fair bit on Golf GTi's in the past and to be they do at least get rid of most the oil/carbon sludge that builds up on the inside of the rocker cover. It's hard to say how well they work overall on a complete motor without some sort of scientific research. I don't think they do any harm. An old mechanic I know used to use half a pint or so of paraffin as a flush.

[Jamo]

Don't do it, you don't know what will come lose and if any foreign body is loosened it could potentially block the oil feed to the turbo

[saltinot]

If the car sees regular oil changes and a flush has been done from time to time I think you are OK.

But if the car has never had it done it might not be a good idea as it could do as Jamo suggests.

I normally pour in .5 litre of automatic trans fluid in every couple of oil changes. ATF has a detergent quality that keeps things tidy inside. Helps keep my lifters clean on the high mileage motor.