So dont know what I was thinking and just got suckered into doing a motor flush. I had passed 3000 miles since my last oil change and started to get worried so as I did an oil change I got duped into doing an motor flush. So after everything was said and done I decided to research what it was and found out that it wasn't a good idea.

How worried should I be? I have
A 2005 Honda accord with 62k miles on it.

 

Are we talking about some light solvent installed instead of oil or added to oil to "dissolve nasty carbon build-up"?

Usually, they only run the engine a few minutes to circulate the solvent and then drain/install new oil.

It's not good and wont' do much/anything (not enough exposure time), but probably won't damage the engine. Lesson Learned, shops are apt to sell services you don't need. Some examples are injector cleaning, transmission flushes, coolant system flushes. Funny they don't usually offer to flush what really could be beneficial; brake fluid and PS fluid.

good luck

 

What exactly constitutes a "motor flush"? At best, you just wasted the money. I can guess that it's a high-profit procedure that goes something like this...

1- Warm up the car, ready for oil change.
2- Pour the "flush" stuff into the crankcase. It costs about $5 at most stores.
3- Idle the engine for 10 minutes or whatever the instructions say.
4- Drain the oil & replace the filter & pour in the new oil.

I've done that to friends cars when their engine & oil looks real dirty. If you change your oil regularly there's no need.

If I were you, I'd do your next oil change a bit early. No need to panic & change it now.

 

I don't quite know what the guy did, he ran a machine that made pumping noises and the car was off for the ten minutes. He tricked me by showing me the oil that was in my engine tank , which was black! And stated if I don't get a flush the fresh oil I put in now would become just as black in a matter of 2-3 days! He charged me 99$ to turn on a gimmick huh?

 

Lets give him the benefit of the doubt & say that machine was actually circulating oil & rinsing out your pan. Yes, there's a quart or so that doesn't drain out, so it makes your new oil black before long. Not necessarily a bad thing because it still might be doing it's job. But for a lot less than $99 you can change your own oil 3 times in the span of 2 or 3 weeks & clean it out that way.

Now that it's clean, keep up with your oil changes. But for a 2005 Accord, 3k miles is pretty short. Your owner's manual probably calls for 10k miles.

 

There is a product that goes by the name 19 MINUTE Flush sold at all AutoZones and it's used just before they drain the oil afyer they let it run for (you guessed it ) 10 Mins..