so ive had a knock for a few too many months now. low on money as im 20 and only get a 15ish a year income so i decided to put in two quarts of auto transmission fluid with 3 more quarts of 20w50 castrol gtx. ran it for i think around 1000 miles. the knock btw is an at warm idle only knock. anyway it would go off and on, on way more of the time. so finally decided that i was startin to use too many miles with that fluid in there and changed back to the regular 10w30 valvoline maxlife synthetic i usually use. bam, gone! pretty much anyway. its ALOT quieter, and i actually feel like the engine runs and revs smoother now. to my understanding it was a lifter, not sure which cylinder as i am also not sure if it really was a lifter. just wanted to share the story

 

Uh, why would you put ATF in the engine? Seriously, why? And you wonder why you had knock?

 

This is a joke right?

haha

 

I've heard of people doing this to clean the inside of a engine out!!!! I would NEVER do it but I've heard the OLD TIMERS talk about it.

 

Yeah I've heard of it too along with guys putting a quart of kerosene in their engine and let it get washed out - I think that was a lot like the Rislone treatment they used to use. I might try it on an old, high-mileage car, but probably wouldnt need to do it on anything nice that's been well-maintained anyway. If it helped the guy wiith a stuck lifter and there wasn't any bad effects from it, then good for him. ATF is pretty good quality oil anyway.

 

also because atf is a detergent, i've also heard of it done, but don't think i'd recommend it or do it myself.

 

The "Ghetto flush"
I'd never do that to a car I owned or cared about, but I've seen it done
to Civics with 300k on the clock and not have any issues.

Running it as a lubricant though ....

 

yea as a lubricant but also with 3 other quarts of thicker oil as well. it is an old school trick and i now swear by it that it cleans/flushes just like seafoam, rislone, or w/e. rislone is actually really similar to atf. your supposed to put it like 2 quarts of it in, one quart of oil in and idle it for about 10 min then change oil. did that then added what i have previously stated and wha la. just a lil fyi it really does work, just not for all knock cases. im a happy man now and ill get the lifters swapped eventually, its fine for now. when i do so, maybe 1.6rr's and a cam etc will be thrown in

 

yup, it works really good too, but i would not use it long term like that. i have also seen it cause sludge to fall into the oil pan and clog the pickup tube

 

I have seen it done. Although I have heard to only run it for about 500 miles or less. Surpriseingly no problems with the engines after people have done that, alteast the ones i've seen.

 

Ive seen it done on trucks and all the oldtimers talk about it.

Ive usuually heard run 4qts of ATf and 1 of oil drive for 50 miles then drop to 3qts of ATF and 2 of oil drive 50 miles then step to 2qts and so on and so on.

I would never do it though

 

wow... I've heard of guys using high-detergent Diesel Engine Oil to "clean the pipes" but this is a bit more than I've ever consider.

glad you got it out of there...

 

Did this same thing to a beater Grand Prix I was driving 20 years ago. Didn't leave it in more than a week, drained it, put fresh oil in, drove another couple of days, drained it again, and more fresh oil. Worked for me. (lifter noise)

 

To be honest I wouldn't do it in a motor, but I did flush the power steering system out last weekend on my tahoe. I had a weird hard spot in my steering and couldn't pin point it so I talked to an older mechanic and he told me to unhook the return hose and run 3 or 4 quarts of atf through it then flush it out with power steering fluid. Then put in good power steering fluid with a conditioner and it works like new now. But like I said I wouldn't do it in a motor, mabye something like marvil mystery oil but not atf

Glad it worked for you though man

 

this rates right up there w/ putting sand in the intake box and then starting the car so you can get a do it yourself extrude hone.
i've done ATF in the spark plug hole to free a stuck cylinder on a 2 stroke but never in the crank case