Here in the USA the engines were only speced for dino oil unlike from what I
heard for the euro engines which used synthetic. Along with owners who don't
change their oil.

"Iain Miller" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Juey Ong" > wrote in message
> news
>> When I bring my 98 Passat Wagon in for service, the dealer tries to sell
>> me an "Engline Flush". Best I can tell from the literature is that it
>> uses some 3M product that's supposed to flush out "gunk" from the engine.
>>
>> Question is: is it worth the US$65 or so they're charging and how often
>> is an engine flush necessary?
>
> If its a 1.8T DON'T do it. These engines are prone to sludging -
> particularly in the USA. For some reason we don't seem to see much of it
> in Europe - not sure why. If you use a standard type flush on this engine
> (and a number of others) what can happen is that big lumps of crap get
> dislodged very quickly which can then block oilways, filters & worse still
> the oil pump pickup screen in the sump with obvious consequences..
>
> If you want to run any kind of de-sludger/flush then the best stuff around
> is probably Auto-RX (www.auto-rx.com). This has been quite widely used on
> 1.8Ts with great success - it involves a 2 stage process over about 3000
> miles & works slowly but seemingly very effectively without the risk of
> blockages etc. Hop on over to www.clubb5.com & read the forums for
> accounts of people using it. Also read "Bob is the oil guy" at
> http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/
>
> The problem with the 1.8Ts is that they have a relatively small oil
> capacity & so the oil has to work quite hard. More so again because its a
> Turbo. You can help your engine a lot by making sure you let it run at
> idle for a minute or so before you switch it off to let the turbo cool
> down a bit - particularly if you have been driving quite hard just prior
> to parking up. If you don't do this there is a risk that the oil that's
> left in the turbo at switch-off literally cooks down into a nasty black
> gunk.
>
> In the US VW has now put out a TSB mandating the use of Synthetic oil and
> a much bigger oil filter (in fact the one that goes on the deisel
> engines!). Ask your dealer about it & if they don't know about it then
> find another dealer!
>
> HTH
>
> I.
>