Oil Cleaning service/flush BS or Legit?

I went to one of those quick oil service places this morning. I like the places for the quick and effecient oil changes, although to me it seems they are always trying to sell you some extra service. So I tend not to believe them with most of them.

Today they said there was sludge in my oil and that I needed to pay $70 for a complete oil cleaning/flush. I declined this for the time being, but wanted to know if this is something actually needed now and again. Can you purchase something on your own or must this be done by a shop.

Anyone know about this?

Car has 95K miles is an Acura RSX (2002)

Thanks

 

ignore this post.

 

I would not say it was BS, but, you can buy this engine sludge cleaner at the stores for around $35-40. They put this in the motor prior to draining oil, run the motor for a few minutes, then drain and replace oil. It does help.

 

Well, it's really not worth the liability for a shop to POP YOUR HOOD for $20 +/-
I'm not kidding, really it's not

So I agree that one almost should be skeptical of any additional work they find you need
It's the only way they recoup the loss on the cheapo oil change

Do you have sludge?
You could

If the car has had it's oil changed every 3K, most likely not
(Though Fram Filters can allow this)

You can get a can/bottle of "Gunk" brand engine flush for $3 at the local Job Lot store
I've had it work wonders

But, keep in mind, if the sludge and other minute particles are actually "filling" the tired, old, worn, gaskets and keeping them from leaking, they could leak when that flush is run through
*This would be on an older engine with iffy or bad maintenance scheduling, not on a well maintained engine

 

I tend to agree with the other 2 respondants. There are many flushing type chem's available at any store that sells oil. I would look for one that does allow driving after putting it into your engine (some of them do not recommend driving once they are put in due to the fact they break down the oil to such an extent it cannot perform as needed and by loading an engine (driving) it can actually cause damage).

Put it in some time before you have the oil changed so it has time to work.

You should also consider more frequent oil changes to prevent sludge to start with and then a flush would be an unneccessary effort.


slikshift; what's with the Fram filter thing? What have you heard/seen?

 

How do they know there's sludge in your oil?.

 

I'll send you a PM nap

 

Well thanks for the posts guys, I used to change the oil every 3k, but once I hit about 60K I started having it done every 4-5k miles. The last time I had the oil changed was at the dealership, and I know they usually use lesser quality oil. Not saying that is what happened, but I have a friend that works at an Acura dealer and he says the use the cheaper oil.

I will definitly pick up some oil cleaner/treatment at an auto shop and use it before the next oil change like some of you suggested.


Slickshift - I can understand you being wary of the places. I am more wary of dealerships than a place that makes their entire business on quick oil changes. IF they suck at it, they would not be in business. Whenever I go to a dealer I always seem to develop a new problem shortly after getting my car back, so stay away from them. Changing the oil on my own is just more trouble than it is worth more often then not, do not have the time or facilities for it.

As for how they claim there was sludge, they said a little could be seen on the dipstick and some in the filter. I could have requested to see it, but just declined the service.


Again thanks all for the info.