ATF is a great fuel injector cleaner

Add about 2-3 oz ATF(automatic transmission fluid) to a gallon of GAS . It burns hotter and cleans the tip of the fuel injectors. $1.22 a quart at walmart. It works better than any of the off the shelf fuel injector cleaners .

Seafoam works good along with it through the intake.



[edit on 15-9-2005 by IXRAZORXI321]

Originally posted by IXRAZORXI321
Add about 2-3 oz to a gallon of automatic transmission fluid. It burns hotter and cleans the tip of the injector. $1.22 a quart at walmart better than any off the shelf stuff.

Seafoam works good along with it through the intake.

ATF is the commonly accepted abbreviation for Automatic Transmission Fluid.
Both in the auto industry and in the field.

Did you perhaps mean mix ATF into gasoline?

lol yes. I'll edit it to be more clear.



[edit on 15-9-2005 by IXRAZORXI321]

yes i have heard of many people who before they change their oil and put fresh motor oil in they will run the engine around with ATF in it for like 30 mins to clean the enigne out. if i recall correctly i think most modern Atf has detergents in to help keep the gum and worn off particles out of the transmissions hydrolic systems and stuff.

after you use seafoam, be sure to change your plugs, and oil filter.

i would put 1/3 into brake bppster line, (ive heard some like to put 1/3 in oil ) and 1/3 in gas.

also seafoam has a small reputaion of messing up cat, converters

Originally posted by iluvhonda
yes i have heard of many people who before they change their oil and put fresh motor oil in they will run the engine around with ATF in it for like 30 mins to clean the enigne out. if i recall correctly i think most modern Atf has detergents in to help keep the gum and worn off particles out of the transmissions hydrolic systems and stuff.

after you use seafoam, be sure to change your plugs, and oil filter.

i would put 1/3 into brake bppster line, (ive heard some like to put 1/3 in oil ) and 1/3 in gas.

also seafoam has a small reputaion of messing up cat, converters

I'm not sure what Seafoam is.


I will say, running straight ATF in an engine is not doing it any favors.
ATF is about a 7 wt oil viscosity-wise and the engine's bearings are going to take a beating driving around with ATF as their only protection.

Flushing an engine is not necessary.
Changing the oil at regular intervals will do what you want without resorting to methods from the past that were questionable at that time and today as well.
Today's engine oils have the needed additives for the protection you need.


Pouring a liquid - oil or not - down a brake booster line accomplishes what?

you add it to the gas. It cleans the fuel injecters and valves

Originally posted by Desert Dawg

Originally posted by iluvhonda

Pouring a liquid - oil or not - down a brake booster line accomplishes what?

it draws it right into the intake.

[edit on 10/15/05 by FredT]

Originally posted by IXRAZORXI321

Originally posted by Desert Dawg

Originally posted by iluvhonda

Pouring a liquid - oil or not - down a brake booster line accomplishes what?

it draws it right into the intake.

Kinda figured that.
Looks like you're trying to 'clean' valves?

ModEdit: Fixed quote boxes

[edit on 10/15/05 by FredT]

What I'm saying is my vehicles will start to lose power and idle erraticly every 10000 miles or so. I fill the tank and add a quart of Automatic Transmission fluid(dexron 3) to the gas. After that tank of gas is gone and I refill with gas my idle smooths out and all the power is back. My mechanic suggested this to me years ago and it works great.

Before that i was pouring in 5 dollar bottles of fuel injector cleaner that barely even helped. ATF is $1.22 at wal mart and it actully works.

[edit on 27-9-2005 by IXRAZORXI321]

www.seafoamsales.com...

having seen the insides of engines before and after using the product i can say it works very well.

you add it to the brake booster so it geta direct shot into the intake manifold.

There's a new fuel system cleaner from Chevron called Techron. It's supposed to be something entirely new (polyether amine (PEA)), for cleaning deposits out. Don't know yet, I haven't tried it. But I did buy some to try.
www.chevron.com...

I should point out that the better brands of gasoline do a good job of holding deposits down compared to cheap gasoline. Plus a few of the better brands are starting to use the PEA additives. Although I suspect the main reason why is that more PEA can be added than was practical with the old PBA additives. www.findarticles.com...

BTW, I wouldn't drive with ATF in the oil. Just let it idle in the driveway for a while, and drain it. Don't stress it out while it's removing goop from the inside of your engine. The old practice was to add a quart or two to your oil just before your oil change.

For your fuel system, both Ford and Chevy sell a "top end cleaner", that is just about the best thing around to use. It goes in the fuel line, in place of the fuel. People hang it up like an IV bag, and idle it till it's done. It wasn't created for fuel injection.

I have no idea what ATF does to a modern fuel injected engine. I actually like carburetors...

[edit on 14-10-2005 by ZPE StarPilot]

how does atf efect new car warranty?

I know automatic transmission fluid will burn hotter, but it also releases a great deal of toxic smoke. Here's a trick from an old school mechanic, works to clean valves and intake manifold.
Put some distilled water in a glass bottle, we used to use a Coke bottle, but now they are all plastic, be sure to use only glass. Run the engine at about 1500 RPMs, you can do this with a wooden clothes line clip, use half of it to wedge into the throttle cable hookup. Slowly trickle the water into the throttle body with the engine running, and you will see a lot of steam coming out the tail pipe. This method will steam clean your intake, vales, and plugs. For cleaning those pesky fuel injectors, use Gumout or a similar brand of injector cleaner. This stuff does leave deposits on the plugs, so change them after you run the car for awhile. What I do is install a cheap set of plugs for the cleaning process, then put my good Bosch plugs back in later.

Yeah. Cleaning your fuel injector regularly will give smoother engine response and a quick throttle also. Gasoline can also be a good fuel injector cleaner.

Im a huge fan of seafoam, been using it in all my cars for years.

This is my Lincoln at the track, racing with 170k miles on the motor.
Used Seafoam in the gas tank, and into the intake. it is awesome stuff.

ive studied tons of auto mechanics for years now. dont use ATF so much, as it can/will end up in the oil, at least for us stop n go trafficers. PLus it might end up in the catalyc converter as well. it wont harm it, but ends up in places where it shouldnt. In engine oil, it might tamper with the chemistry of the oil. ATF is oil but minus the dertergency and has a much lower flash and pour point than engine oil.
The best all the oile ngineers rant about, is Redline. its pricey but a little goes a long ways. it contains an ingridient called PEA (poly something another). PEA is a synthetic lab made chemical that actually cleans carbon off the combustion chamber, valves ect.
Chevron techron has about 30-40%. redline is around 50-60% of PEA> and theirs gumout regaine(gold bottle), it has about 40-50% thats what most like. the other stuff on the shelves, are all mostly just kerosine with minimal PEA= waist of money.
what you do, is add an entire bottle to half a tank of gas, then run it empty. refill and change your oil and sprak plugs after.
hope this info helps!

Draining some oil (about 1QT) from the crankcase then fill back up with generic ATF, Dex/Merc III or Type F, and run for a while and that should get a some of the sludge loosened up. Also, up to 1/2QT in the crankcase per 4 quarts of regular engine oil will help keep it clean without adversely affecting the viscosity of your oil particularly if you're running a 15wXX or higher; mind you that ATF operates in the transmission where it sees relatively high pressures, operates at temperatures exceeding those most engines' oil sees and sees very high sheer forces / friction from the clutch packs within the transmission.

Adding it to the fuel system is a possibility however I would probably suggest diesel instead of ATF as diesel is actually meant to be burned and at 1oz per 2-3 gallons will be nearly as effective without the smoke. Seafoam also is recommended by many too. All three are hydrocarbon compounds that can damage a catalytic converter and poison lambda / oxygen sensors.

Streaming or fine-mist spraying (preferred) water into the intake is also a highly recommended thing to do but I do know of people that have damaged their engines by doing it. The water droplets change to steam in the engine and 'blast' the carbon off of parts but if the dislodged carbon is large it can cause damage to an exhaust valve, turbo charger and the steam can cause rapid failure of the converter.

I would not ad ATF to engine oil! remember, ATF is oil, but minus the cleaning agents, and not as much zddp. zddp, is zinc* Zinc, is what gives oil its extra sliding and lubrication. If you look at the grade of oil onback of the bottle, in the starsymbol, today its SM. 10 years ago, its SL..SL had extra zddp. Since about 2004, the oil companys substituted zinc with calcium, focusing more on sludge and engine cleaning, sacrificing some lubrication propertys* by comparison, the first grade of oil, was SA..and that was bascially just 'pennsylvania crude' with no additives or polymers...polymers ( a plastic) is what gives oil its 5w or 10W pour points. meaning, the lower the W grade, the slightly thinner it is. in the 40's n 50's, it was common for someone to run outside in winter, with some kerosine, to help thin the oil out and crank the engine over.
Today, theve replaced that with polymers. What i like to use, is MMO(marvel mystery oil) comes in a red container. You use about 4 ozs. per 10 gallons. Belive me! in 7 degree weather, engine cranks over like a hot knife through butter
Some like to run a quart inplace of engine oil..it can be dojne but for no more than 500-800 miles, then you drain n refill with fresh new oil. It is a mild cleaner, but has been known to clean out the crud in the pistons, piston rings ect. Its a super librication oil* and way safer than ATF. ATF does not have a smuch zddp at all, hence forth, less frcition modofiers, at least to use in engine oil. in the gas its ok..but rememeber, as long as well all a waiste spark interface engine aka sprak plugs n gasoline, if you do shrot stop driving that not good for oil or gas, your gas consumption goes way up quickly. PLus it takes engine oil about 8 full miles to fully warm up, whcih means doing alot of stop n go allows alot of carbopn to build up over time. Oil was desigend to be used n pushed, the highway* but most of us do not drive undeer those idealisitc conditions, which is why 3-4 month oil changes regardless of mileage, is recommeneded. not driving,, 3,000 miles in 3 or 4 months, nor allowing oil to reach full operating temperature, means all the unburnt fuel that found its way into the psitons, is not being bruned off and out the tailpipe*
i learned all this, from bobistheoilguy.com its free membership and anything yuo ever wanted to research, learn know, including the use of ATF is free for view

reply to post by ziggy1706


If you learned all that from bobistheoilguy.com, you weren't paying attention. He recommends not using any additives in engine oil. Visit link for photos. And, I know he's discussing Lucas but MMO is similar.

Now we add Lucas to the Delo 400.
WOW!, It even makes a good motor oil foam up! I know, there's no gears in a motor... Really? what about the oil pump? It's gear driven, also pumps with gears.

Anyhow, using ATF is not primarily about 'cleaning' but more about dispersing contaminants, keeping paraffins and other similar compounds in suspension instead of allowing it to congeal into sludge in the bottom of the engine. However, I will say that ATF does have detergents in it, just not like engine oil; ever been inside an automatic transmission? They stay pretty darned clean.

Tjat is what he, bob recommends. ive seent hat demonstration many many times. that was regarding LUcas. the lucas oil treatment is NOT something i would add, but i have used thier gas lubricant for few years now, without any negative side effects, oustide of faster startups.
Thier are many different companys out thier, making completely different formualtions than lucas, so some are good, like valvoline oil treatment. IF yuo can find it, part number 067 i belive it is, it haas a very good does of zddp in it, and a good amount of Molybdenum* moly, is also in complete vitamin packs. it serves as a shield in the oil. Havoline oil has lots of it, and redline synthetic has TONS of it. but moly, will posion the catalyc converter, so for economic cars, it would be overkill. its border line of posioning the CAT in redline.
oil treatments should be used sparingly, with the exception of valvoline engine treatment. the STP stuff was found to be oil thickenner iwth not much of anything in it really. again, as a slow moderate cleaning, the marvel mystery oil should work wonders, as a 500-800 mile substitute/quart*