When reading about oil and changing oil on the internet, I stumbled accross this:

Drain out about one quart of oil. Replace that quart of oil with a quart of diesel. Run the engine (in place) for 3 minutes. Do NOT drive the car with the diluted oil in it. The diesel will help clean out passages in the head and will make the oil the thinner, so more comes out quicker when draining, bringing with it any dirt and grime. We have done this on our farm for over 50 years. My dad showed me how to do this growing up, and we now have 260,000 miles on our 94 Ford Crown Victoria with no engine wear (burning oil) and the engine has never been taken apart. Particulates that get trapped in passageways break free sooner or later!


Does that really work? More like, is that really not BAD for the engine?

 

I have heard that you can use ATF to do the same thing

 

exactly, diesel would work too cause of the low flash point

 

I put diesel in my washing machine once to help clean out the left over fabric softener.

JUST KIDDING!

I don't see why you couldn't put a little in there...

 

some argue that cleaning an engine too much might open up holes or gaps that were plugged by sludge, therefore causing a problem.

I do not know enough about engines to say one or the other.