My car hasn't been serviced for a while so I was thinking of going through and flushing the engine oil, radiator, brake fluid, power steering and possibly fuel lines if it's not too complicated.

Would I need to buy more than 1 bottle of engine oil if replacing it, and what brand/type of oil would you guys recommend for a TF 3.0L that's done over 250,000kms?

Also is it possible/difficult to flush out the power steering fluid? Is there any articles on the net anywhere that shows how to do it? (I haven't been able to find any)

I am also thinking of replacing the brake pads but don't really have the funds to machine the rotors for a couple of weeks, will it really be a bad thing if I just replaced the pads and replaced the rotors in a few weeks?

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks

re flushing the engine oil -

buy one 5L bottle of good oil to top the motor back up with when you flushed it, and go buy a woolies special (NOT homebrand tho!!) 2L bottle to pour through the motor...
leave the sump drain bolt out obv to let it all drain thru. top up with clean good oil and off you go.

fuel lines dont essentially get flushed - you just change the in-line filters where applicable, as they are ment to catch all the crap in the lines..

when i changed my oil last, i put Shell helix in (in a yellow bottle... i know that much!) dont know its weight etc so i cant help ya on that one.
others will be able to recomend a weight of oil to ue im sure.

hope thats helped out somewhat

ok, for the oil flush i reccomend using a nulon oil flush additive, 1 bottle will do a service, some guys use diesel as well but i havent tried it, as for your PS fluid no point in flushing it because i dont think you can as it has no bleeding nipple from what ive seen, as for oil use a castrol edge 5w-30 which is factory fill or a Penrite HPR 15 (15w-60).

just thought of something,
if the cars got a LOT of sludge in the sump (ie really old bad oil.....) a cup of kero in the oil filler will break it all down for ya and let it flush on out. But from the sounds of it, yours isnt that bad?
do NOT start the car with kero in the sump unless you want to strip the bearings out and do other damage...

im not a person that likes adding things to the oil like oil flush treatments etc... much prefer to clean it rather than add additives...
EDIT - since your flushing the oil, make sure you put a nice new oil filter on there too, as it will still be holding onto some of the old cruddy oil.

ok, for the oil flush i reccomend using a nulon oil flush additive, 1 bottle will do a service, some guys use diesel as well but i havent tried it, as for your PS fluid no point in flushing it because i dont think you can as it has no bleeding nipple from what ive seen, as for oil use a castrol edge 5w-30 which is factory fill or a Penrite HPR 15 (15w-60).

i wouldn't use 5w-30 oil for a car thats done over 250,000km, that would be too thin, i'd try an oil thats 15w-** and if its not loosing oil or burning oil then stick to it, if it does that then try a 20w-** oil.

i wouldn't use 5w-30 oil for a car thats done over 250,000km, that would be too thin, i'd try the Penrite 15w-** and if its not loosing oil or burning oil then stick to it, if it does that then try a 20w-** oil.

Exactly right. 5w-30 is far to thin for a Mitsubishi engine. You need a thicker oil, as that motor would be regarded as a "high mileage" engine.

In regards to the power steering fluid flush, its really not necessary unless you've contaminated the system. But for others that may be reading:

-Undo oil return line from rack, secure end above height of reservoir
-Place pan to catch oil
-Open reservoir, have someone watch the reservoir is you can't see it yourself
-Start motor, immediately go full lock on the wheel
-Stop motor when reservoir gets close to empty
-Fill reservoir back up with fresh fluid
-Start motor, immediately go full lock on the wheel
-Stop motor when reservoir gets close to empty
-Connect return line back to rack
-Fill reservoir back to full
-Remove EFI fuse (or anything other connection that will allow the motor to crank, but not start)
-Go full lock on the wheel, and crank motor 4-5 times
-Go full lock in the opposite direction, crank motor 4-5 times
-Repeat a few times, and top reservoir back up to "FULL"
-Replace lid and EFI fuse
-Smile, have a Coke, and shut the f*ck up. lol

You need to have the undone hose above the height of the reservoir otherwise it will just drain out of the reservoir too quickly.

Regarding the fuel system, its much safer to have a professional flush your fuel lines, as free flowing fuel anywhere near a motor is an explosion waiting to happen.

I use the 5w30 aswell, and my KJ has well over 200,000 on it, anything thicker and I notice a considerable drop in power/willingness to rev.

when i had my 67500km service at Alan Mance, i requested full synthetic, and i got Mobil 1 5w-30 on the receipt, just had the 75000km service done on tuesday and requested full synthetic again, this time i got Mobil 1 10w-30 on my receipt... dunno why, but we'll see how my consumption goes. The car always feels free-er after an oil change anyway, so i don't have a base to compare for the time being, but have always been a fan of the Mobil 1 5w-** oils, used to run the 5w-50 in my TF with 186000km when i sold it.

Exactly right. 5w-30 is far to thin for a Mitsubishi engine. You need a thicker oil, as that motor would be regarded as a "high mileage" engine.


it would depend on the motor really, some our company cars have 300+ on them (mostly BF falcons and VZ/VE commo's) we use 5w/30 in all of them no noises, no oil consumption at all, they run just as tight as they did brand new, and 5w-30 IS the factory fill for the 3rd gen v6 a simple search will show you that, i would only be going a thicker oil if it is starting to get noisey on startup for if it is using oil.

Ive seen people use a 20w in the 6g72 S2 and 6g74 before (i sell oil among other things for a living) and thats how top end noise starts and also the chance of spinning a big end bearing increase when cold as the oil cannot make it through the journals as it will be too thick.

sorry to hijack the thread, but Wait let me get this right? i should be using 5w-30? its currently using 10w-40, would thinner oil minimise the chance of lifter noise? as since ive used 10w-40, ive noticed lifter noise but before that nothing, are these linked in anyway?

Thanks for the advice. I went a bought the HPR15 oil and the oil flush but whoever put the sump plug on last time did it up so tight that I couldn't get it off. I didn't realise that until after I put the nulon oil flush stuff through and let the engine idle for 20 mins then worked out after 2 hours of trying and rounding off a couple of the corners on the plug that she wasn't going to come out.

I haven't driven her since because I am worried that the oil flush stuck in there will do some damage if I drive her round and it circulates. Can anyone confirm that this is the case? I plan to give it another go tonight removing the plug and if I can't I'll take her in to a mechanic tomorrow arvo and get them to get it off.