Friends Car Vandalized

I have a friend who just found out that a teenager at his school vandalized his car. This punk poured a whole quart of engine flush in my friends motor last week "Or so he has been bragging" My friend has been driving his car like normal, it is a new 2006 Chevy AVEO his Dad bought him. My friend is afraid to take it to a garage or tell his Dad. Will driving around with this engine flush in his car damage anything? If so, should he and I change the oil ourselves and say nothing about it?

I have a friend who just found out that a teenager at his school vandalized his car. This punk poured a whole quart of engine flush in my friends motor last week "Or so he has been bragging" My friend has been driving his car like normal, it is a new 2006 Chevy AVEO his Dad bought him. My friend is afraid to take it to a garage or tell his Dad. Will driving around with this engine flush in his car damage anything? If so, should he and I change the oil ourselves and say nothing about it?

engine flush is to remove any residue from inside I believe. Did he run the car since then? I would do the oil change anyway. No use risking running it.

where did this happen, how the hell did this 'punk' open the hood?

he has to do an oil change ASAP...
like NOW, if he wants to avoid any serious damage.

engine flush basically thins the oil a lot (in addition to cleaning the engine) and if you leave it in, it will screw up the engine.

he has to do an oil change ASAP...
like NOW, if he wants to avoid any serious damage.

engine flush basically thins the oil a lot (in addition to cleaning the engine) and if you leave it in, it will screw up the engine.

That's if it actually happened, but how did he get access to the car in the first place?

I guess he got under the hood because my friend left the car unlocked. We think he did this while my friend was in the movies but we are not sure. Now, we have to find a way to get the oil changed without our parents finding out. The oil was just changed so it will look bad. How long can he drive the car without damage? What kind of damage will occur? Is it certain to damage the engine? If engine flush damages an engine why would anyone ever put it in the engine to start with?

Does it break the oil vescosity down? Is that where the danger is or is there more that can be damaged by the flush it's self. By the way, we plan to kick the crap out of him first chance we get.

Sorry for all of the questions. We are not mechanics by no stretch of the imagination and we do not question your advice. We just want to know exactly what this flush can do so we can look for signs.

Some how we wil get the oil changed but I am not sure we can get it done before the weekend which means he will have to drive the car 3 more days. "We are in a bad place with this one"

it makes the oil thinner, so it can't lubricate parts properly and that causes excessive wear.

Dude. Jiffy lube. 20 bucks. Not hard.

And this story sounds kinda fishy. I'd i were to vandalize someones motor, i'd be putting iron filings in the oil or something. Not engine cleaner...

I hate how kids think they can take the law into their own hands, seriously, if they did this, they should get charged with it. If you fight them your parents will find out and it will SEVERELY look bad on you.

This whole things sounds like the 'punk' is trying to act cool in front of his friends, but know that if he did this, he's gotta pay for it.

my question is why would he spend money on this? i could destroy a car for free if the guy left in unlocked. i doubt the guy did it but if he did, just like everyone said, get a oil changed asap.

by the way, why are you afraid of your parents finding out that a guy vandalized your friends car, it's not like your firedn did anything.

My friend is afraid to take it to a garage or tell his Dad.
and in the next post...
Now, we have to find a way to get the oil changed without our parents finding out.

...something fishy indeed

If you're planning on vandalizing someone's car, it's you're decision to do so, just remember if you get caught, you (or probably your parents if you're underage) will have to pay for all the damages/legal fees/bail.

An extra quart (almost a litre?) would show up on the dipstick as being way overfull.

If it's not overfull and the oil looks normal, then the punk is full of it.

wouldnt it evaporate at running temps?
i thought that this stuff was very thin.

wouldnt it evaporate at running temps?
i thought that this stuff was very thin.

Your oil doesn't get that hot.
Even if it did, you'd have to do a lot of hours motoring to evaporate off that much fluid.

it would "eventually" evaperate. Not quickly.

It most likely doesn't matter assuming the person in question changes their oil at proper intervals. The amount it would thin the oil would be nothing dangerous, assuming they change their oil in a reasonable time frame from when they learned of the....modification.

Your oil doesn't get that hot.

oil can get above 200*, and i'd say 200*F is pretty hot. thats about 96*C for you metric folk.
i thought around 250* was normal

180* F is considered the minimum by most. This is enough to remove condensation.....slowly

The highest allowed....well, depends on the application. oil/air cooled bikes see 300* F now and then, even higher, for motors that have been played with/are messed up. The biggest issue with the higher oil temps is oil break down. The higher it is, the quicker it breaks down. If you have crappy oil, such temps could cause the oil to break down very rapidly.

I don't think most cars run anywhere near that though. Not a common thing people check.

oil can get above 200*, and i'd say 200*F is pretty hot. thats about 96*C for you metric folk.
i thought around 250* was normal
96*C doesn't even boil water.

I have a friend who just found out that a teenager at his school vandalized his car. This punk poured a whole quart of engine flush in my friends motor last week "Or so he has been bragging" My friend has been driving his car like normal, it is a new 2006 Chevy AVEO his Dad bought him. My friend is afraid to take it to a garage or tell his Dad. Will driving around with this engine flush in his car damage anything? If so, should he and I change the oil ourselves and say nothing about it?

That sounds and smells kinda fishie.
If it actually happened it sould be reported to the police and insurance company and to his parents.
If any damage happened to it it wouldbe covered under comp insurance.
And like said the oil sould be changed and and he should have a sample of the oil sent off to be checked.

As mentioned earlier engine flush will break down the oils viscosity - even if the flush evaporates the oil is no longer molecularly sound. The molecular structure and properties of the oil don't return to normal once the flush is evaporated.

...and engine flush has been known to dislodge sludge in the engine...sludge which accumulates in the oil pan and gets sucked up and clogs the oil pump.

Who the fu(k cares if daddy finds out? He'll be more pissed if the car throws a rod because there's no oil - especially if he finds out you knew about it.

As mentioned earlier engine flush will break down the oils viscosity - even if the flush evaporates the oil is no longer molecularly sound. The molecular structure and properties of the oil don't return to normal once the flush is evaporated.

I doubt it'd break down the oil molecules. I think it just dilutes the oil which reduces the viscosity.

I doubt it'd break down the oil molecules. I think it just dilutes the oil which reduces the viscosity.

Engine flush is designed to breakdown the long carbon-chain molecules found in a petroleum product such as oil. That's how it works.

The ONLY way to change an oils viscosity is to change it's molecular structure - whether by heat or by chemical reaction to engine flush. You can't "dilute" oil with something that doesn't change it molecularly, such as water. Oil and water don't mix and can be seperated easily because the molecular structure of the oil remains intact.

The ONLY way to change an oils viscosity is to change it's molecular structure - whether by heat or by chemical reaction to engine flush. You can't "dilute" oil with something that doesn't change it molecularly, such as water. Oil and water don't mix and can be seperated easily because the molecular structure of the oil remains intact.

No you can dilute oil and it reduces it's viscosity

Take some heavy weight oil, mix in some lighter weight oil and see what the result is.

Noone but you has mentioned water.

but engine flush is just that... REALLY light weight oil like stuff with a LOT of detergents.
i dont see what the big problem is.
people are saying he should have the oil sent to a LAB and be CHECKED???
fine. do it if it makes you feel better, but CHANGE THE FKUCER... and be done with it.
thats my opinion.
really, why risk engine damage? if a quart of engine flush was poured in, it would do some serious damage if not treated.

No you can dilute oil and it reduces it's viscosity

I never said you can't. But whatever you dilute it with has to change the molecular properties of the oil to change it's viscosity.

Take some heavy weight oil, mix in some lighter weight oil and see what the result is.

You should try this for yourself...the two oils will not blend - the lighter oil will float on top of the heavier oil. That is not diluting if the two liquids aren't blending. I mentioned water as an example, but your example of two different oils proves the same point. A simple example is salad dressing - olive oil and vinegar. They don't blend, that's why you have to keep shaking the bottle.

but engine flush is just that... REALLY light weight oil like stuff with a LOT of detergents.

Engine flush isn't an oil - oils are lubricants. Engine flush is almost the exact opposite of a lubricant - it is a solvent.

Lubricants and solvents are two different things.

The point isn't really worth arguing...believe what you will...but I suggest you try your oil experiment for youself.

I never said you can't. But whatever you dilute it with has to change the molecular properties of the oil to change it's viscosity.
what do you mean by the molecular properties? do you mean the atomic/molecular structure (how molecules stack up with eachother)? if that's what you mean then whenever you dissolve anything it changes the molecular structure


A simple example is salad dressing - olive oil and vinegar. They don't blend, that's why you have to keep shaking the bottle.
this example is irrelevant to the discussion because oils and acids are different. oils contain no polar bonds whereas acids do.


Engine flush isn't an oil - oils are lubricants. Engine flush is almost the exact opposite of a lubricant - it is a solvent.
exactly so it'll dissolve things, like oil, carbon, etc.

Engine flush is designed to breakdown the long carbon-chain molecules found in a petroleum product such as oil. That's how it works.
if this is true then it's not being used as a solvent, it's being used as a reactant.

The ONLY way to change an oils viscosity is to change it's molecular structure - whether by heat or by chemical reaction to engine flush. You can't "dilute" oil with something that doesn't change it molecularly, such as water. Oil and water don't mix and can be seperated easily because the molecular structure of the oil remains intact.
oil and water don't mix because water is a polar molecule but oil is non-polar. and you can dilute oil with something that doesn't change it "molecularly" if you mean it doesn't break it down. just because water doesn't dissolve it doesn't mean it can't be dissolved.

As mentioned earlier engine flush will break down the oils viscosity - even if the flush evaporates the oil is no longer molecularly sound. The molecular structure and properties of the oil don't return to normal once the flush is evaporated.
if it's a solvent like you once said, then it dissolves the oil, if the engine flush is evaporated then the oil will be normal. take salt, dissolve it in water, evaporate the water, what's left in the pan? salt. just plain old NaCl, just the way it was before you added it to the water. now if it reacts or breaks down the oil, then you will not be able to evaporate the engine flush because it will no longer exist, it will have reacted with the oil and is no longer the same chemical.

also, you can't "break down the oils viscosity" you can break down the oil, you can change its viscosity by dissolving things in it or dissolving it into other things, you can change the viscosity by changing the surroundings (ie temperature, pressure humidity, etc) but you can't break down a property.

but engine flush is just that... REALLY light weight oil like stuff with a LOT of detergents.
i dont see what the big problem is.
people are saying he should have the oil sent to a LAB and be CHECKED???
fine. do it if it makes you feel better, but CHANGE THE FKUCER... and be done with it.
thats my opinion.
really, why risk engine damage? if a quart of engine flush was poured in, it would do some serious damage if not treated.

i just looked at AMSOIL's engine flush website, google engine flush and you'll get it, and it's "made from a carefully selected blend of solvents and special cleaning agents that dissolve and disperse harmful deposits formed in the crankcase, cylinder walls, pistons and rings of an internal combustion engine."

just to clear up a few things. but i think the big consensus it that he should change the oil if he hasn't already because it'll reduce the lubricating abilities of the oil and could ruin the engine.

I never said you can't. But whatever you dilute it with has to change the molecular properties of the oil to change it's viscosity.
You should try this for yourself...the two oils will not blend - the lighter oil will float on top of the heavier oil. That is not diluting if the two liquids aren't blending. I mentioned water as an example, but your example of two different oils proves the same point. A simple example is salad dressing - olive oil and vinegar. They don't blend, that's why you have to keep shaking the bottle.

Engine flush isn't an oil - oils are lubricants. Engine flush is almost the exact opposite of a lubricant - it is a solvent.

Lubricants and solvents are two different things.

The point isn't really worth arguing...believe what you will...but I suggest you try your oil experiment for youself.

I have tried it many times, I mix suspension fork oil often. Different brands will sometimes seperate out due to differences in density, but using oil with the same density they never do.

When you measure viscosity (by any method, even pouring it) you are seeing the average viscosity.
You cannot see the different effects of the small and long chain molecules.

Diluting oil adds more small chain molecules and reduces the average viscosity.

Comparing engine oils to water, olive oil and vinegar is stretching things a little. Your analogies are lacking, your chemistry is too.