My 2000XJ has about 85K on it--I know "what low milage" ( it was my stepsons who didn't make the payments so it sat for 2 years) ! Its time for the oil change and I was thinking of adding some trans fluid to clean it out. I just powerwashed the motor and it looks and runs great although It has the Cali 9 Cat system LOL.

 

Has the engine been neglected in the past? As in missed oil changes?

If not then IMO no you shouldn't. You could pull the valve cover to find out if you need to but that is probably more work than you want to do... Sitting with old oil isn't good for an engine but if it doesn't need sludge cleaned out then you might do more harm than good.

 

Valvoline Durablend.

 

I had a engine that had a substantial amount of sitting time resulting in a ton of buildup of degraded oil. I added .5 a quart of atf and filled the rest with reg motor oil. I ran it for 20 minutes then drained the oil and repeated the atf oil mix "flushing" it again another 20 minutes. Then drained it, changed the oil filter and filled it with just oil. the difference could be seen with a flashlight and taking the oil cap off and it was a substantial difference. I am not saying that it got it spotless but you could actually amke out the colors of the metal when before you couldn't. It took about 2 more oil changes (6000 ish miles) Now my oil comes out looking pretty good.

 

X2, I would follow the above answer and not be to quick to put transmission fluid into the crankcase. If push comes to shove there are products that are meant for that purpose. I don't like those products either.

 

Didn't we just have a thread on this subject?

 

ATF is just 30 weight oil, with a totally different additive package. On known gunky engines I have run 2 quarts of ATF and 3 of oil. This WAS a known gunky engine though. I would not be inclined to add anything, until you are sure of the insides. if you can see in the valve cover, whats it look like?

I have used ATF to clean hundreds of dirty parts? Go figure.

Ron

 

Its missed some oil changes in the past but now I change it every 3K miles to make up for it .
I run Mobil 1 or Penzoil plat full syn 5W-30W with a good oil filter ( Mobil 1 -pure 1). I was just throwing it out there. I'm not a big fan of running anything else in the motor since the oil is the cleaner.

 

If you are running a full syn, the only thing you will pick up is moisture. 20 miles at highway speed and the moisture is gone.

Dont add anything and QUIT changing the oil at 3k. 5k, 7.5k or even 10k depending on your driving is fine.

Ron

 

The valve cover will have to come off sooner or later since its leaking in the rear and all the bolts are tight.

Just took a look at the engine through the oil filler hole and its friggin clean. Don't know if I'm lazy or stupid today.

 

Give the engine a Sea Foam treatment.

 

The only reason I went to quick changes cause the oil was dirty as hell when I got it outta the driveway and I'm not a big fan of engine cleaners. I'll start tapering off the quick changes after this. At least what I've done seemed to have kept it nice and clean inside.

 

The only thing you should be adding to your crankcase is oil. ATF is a wife's tail and is NOT a lubricant.

If you want a protective/cleaning additive use Marvel Mystery Oil. Sea foam the engine, replace a quart of oil with the quart of Marvel, and put some in your tank at every fill up. Instructions are on the bottle.

For oil, just use Mobil 1 10w30 summer 5w30 winter, and do it every 3000 miles. This has been done for 150000 miles on my 200000 4.0 and it looks like it was driven home new yesterday under the valve cover.

They're tough as nails, and can last longer than forever with high maintenance.

 

NO snake oil required here. Just do a regular oil and filter change.

 

All you need to do is continue with reasonable oil change intervals, UNLESS you have evidence that you have sludge in your engine, and it doesn't sound like you have that.

Good luck!