Is An Engine Flush Necessary?

[Mistermena]

Engine flushes are generally unnecessary unless there is a problem like gunk or debris build up.

If the car is maintained and serviced regularly it should never need one!

Regular oil changes are especially important for us Diesel Yaris owners as the oil has to work harder than in petrol cars and we have chain cams which are lubricated by that same oil!

I agree that is so important to have regular oil change interval with cars that have timing chains. The T-180's also have the same chain driven cams found on some Avensis, Rav's ect (2-AD power units) which use the oil for lubrication. I had an Audi A6 3.2 (Quad cam V6 32 valve) that had a timing chain failure. The cost of replacing that engine was £12776...

If I may go slightly off the Yaris subject a bit. £13k for a new engine is some nose bleed, to say the least. Did you get any warning before the chain failed (e.g. rattling from cold etc)? I dread to think what the cost of a new 4.2 litre V8 would be in my RS4 if the timing chain failed.

Fortunatley for me this happened to the previous owner of the car. I bought it from auction when the car had only done 200 miles on the new engine. I called Stoke Audi(Where the car came from and had all warranty work done) to find out the history, and they'd informed me of the new engine and given me a print out of all the warranty work that had been done on the car. Its a mad price for an engine. I paid far less than that for the car. Wish I still had it now as it was one of the best (And sounding) cars I've ever owned...

Btw... You've got one of my all time fav engines! Gis us a go my mate

[acetip]

Engine flushes are generally unnecessary unless there is a problem like gunk or debris build up.

If the car is maintained and serviced regularly it should never need one!

Regular oil changes are especially important for us Diesel Yaris owners as the oil has to work harder than in petrol cars and we have chain cams which are lubricated by that same oil!

I agree that is so important to have regular oil change interval with cars that have timing chains. The T-180's also have the same chain driven cams found on some Avensis, Rav's ect (2-AD power units) which use the oil for lubrication. I had an Audi A6 3.2 (Quad cam V6 32 valve) that had a timing chain failure. The cost of replacing that engine was £12776...

If I may go slightly off the Yaris subject a bit. £13k for a new engine is some nose bleed, to say the least. Did you get any warning before the chain failed (e.g. rattling from cold etc)? I dread to think what the cost of a new 4.2 litre V8 would be in my RS4 if the timing chain failed.

its rare for a chain to fail, even more so if the engine has reguler services.auto tensioners

sometimes give trouble.think of motor cycle drive chains even when not lubricated through neglect.

they very seldom fail.a car timing chain is constantly lubricated.not saying it does not happen.but compared to a timing belt which even when changed at the correct miliage have in many cases snapped.a chain should last the life of an engine without any need for attention

[RS4]

Engine flushes are generally unnecessary unless there is a problem like gunk or debris build up.

If the car is maintained and serviced regularly it should never need one!

Regular oil changes are especially important for us Diesel Yaris owners as the oil has to work harder than in petrol cars and we have chain cams which are lubricated by that same oil!

I agree that is so important to have regular oil change interval with cars that have timing chains. The T-180's also have the same chain driven cams found on some Avensis, Rav's ect (2-AD power units) which use the oil for lubrication. I had an Audi A6 3.2 (Quad cam V6 32 valve) that had a timing chain failure. The cost of replacing that engine was £12776...

If I may go slightly off the Yaris subject a bit. £13k for a new engine is some nose bleed, to say the least. Did you get any warning before the chain failed (e.g. rattling from cold etc)? I dread to think what the cost of a new 4.2 litre V8 would be in my RS4 if the timing chain failed.

Fortunatley for me this happened to the previous owner of the car. I bought it from auction when the car had only done 200 miles on the new engine. I called Stoke Audi(Where the car came from and had all warranty work done) to find out the history, and they'd informed me of the new engine and given me a print out of all the warranty work that had been done on the car. Its a mad price for an engine. I paid far less than that for the car. Wish I still had it now as it was one of the best (And sounding) cars I've ever owned...

Btw... You've got one of my all time fav engines! Gis us a go my mate

Yes, the V8 in the RS4 is a good engine and sounds nice as its a cross plane V8. It sounds like an American muscle car or NASCAR on the over run!

[corradovr6]

instead of an engine flush, i would drain the old oil, refill run the car for half an hour, drain, change the filter and an refill again with fresh oil. As good as is needed I too am a bit wary of engine flushes

[Madasafish]

For all those advocating synthetic oil, you may be interested in the following court case.

http://www.pecuniary.com/newsletters/syntheticsdefined.html

Basically Mobil accused Castrol of degrading the word "synthetic" and lost.

So basically sythetic can be good oil or not so good oil....

[Chefslot]

Sorry to revive a old thread, but..... My Yaris 2sz fe engine (57plate) has a stretched timing chain, I know this from the scope signals. When I brought it I looked at the service docs and it all looked within range, my dumb ***** noticed that it was within the mileage and didn't think about which ever one comes first, so every year or every so many miles it should have had a service, and it was done by mileage (50,000) to my recent horror. So even if the chain was a recall problem Toyota will say it never had a oil and filter change every year. I did phone up but they want it in for inspection, so they will tell me what i all ready know for a charge and then say can we have a look at the S/H book. 

I'm kind of anti additives and especially reading the thread, the argument of newer oils have there own additives and there should be no need for this holds up strongly. But just to clarify giving my situation, do you think it will be best to do the chain change and after inspecting the items decide then to do a flush after fitting the new chain and checking for varnished oil parts, or to carry on with the regular yearly changes cleaning our the system bit by bit?     

[scannerman]

I've got a 1.3 petrol, now at 100K miles. A little while ago I noticed that the Oil light was staying on for a period of 5 or so seconds on startup and I thought it sounded a bit 'tappety'.

Decided to do an Engine flush as I had nothing to lose, might have been a blocked or restricted oil way. Anyway it solved the problems, it runs as should and the oil light goes out as soon as it fires.