Engine Flush?

Ive seen both sides, some recommend some dont, and most say if you do a flush that it should be on low mileage vehicles only, So im probably answering my own question but I just want some opinions. Ive got a 95 pickup 211xxx miles when going up hill theres a slight metal ticking noise, not quite clanking or rattling, pretty much ticking, well it sounds like what my van did a little while before it shot a rod through the engine. I was wondering if it would be a good idea to try it because i really dont want to replace an engine already, ive only had it 2 weeks. I dont know if its a "normal" sounds cause its older or if its a sludge build up. The mechanic that replaced the van engine said it was filled with sludge. But, ive heard that if you do a flush it could dislodge large amounts of sludge and clog the engine anyways and you still have to replace the engine.

Another option was to do oil changes more frequently (every 2000 miles) with a synthetic oil and it will slowly clean up the engine

Or the last one Ive heard of was when doing the oil change replace one qt of oil with 1 qt of tranny fluid since the tranny fluid has a high amount of detergent in it, that it would clean it up also.

I dont want to ruin my truck and I dont know a whole lot but I want to take any preventative measure I can to keep her running good without blowing my motor.

Also is it possible to remove the valve cover (i think thats what it was) to check the engine to see if its sludged? Oh its also a V6. Thanks in advance for your help guys!

 

if it worries ya I'd change oil and filter every 1000 miles (or monthly) for 4-5 changes
use slick50 or equivalent for the first change and dump it after 500miles

other than that i'd leave it alone

 

I agree with Dan0, swap the filter mid-oil change for piece of mind but I don't think you'll gain much by changing the oil at that short of an interval. Use good, quality filters so gunk gets filtered out (chris4x4 did a good filter comparison you should check out) and the debate on synthetics is well, a debate. I'm using synthetic in mine but I couldn't tell you all the pros/cons of running synthetic.

 

ok good enough, what is slick50 and its purpose?

 

It's an engine treatment. No experience with it personally, I'm weary of treatments and additives on old engines. Sometimes they can do just what you described in your OP and end up causing more harm than good. Some deposits within an engine may stay there until the day the engine dies. If you loosen it up, it may cause problems. I'm always a little weary on making drastic changes to an old engine such as cleaners, treatments, performance modifications, etc, especially when I don't know the engine's history. That's just me though, I might be a little paranoid
http://www.slick50.com/products/AdvFormulaEngineTrt.htm

 

Are you sure your noise isn't just some pinging? Symptom sounds pretty much like that. If so, might try higher octane gas and see if that helps or not.

 

what is pinging? when i was driving the other day it wasnt doing it, it was also cooler and raining, so maybe something to do with the heat?... i dont drive crazy or anything im super careful with it, never rev it up, never red line it...its my baby! I just want to keep him running like a champ. Im gonna take him in for a tune up in a month maybe, gotta restock the funds after him getting out of the shop.

 

Good article on pinging. Lurkin was going for a common cause of low octane. Might be worth a shot and could be a simple solution for you.
http://www.peugeotlogic.com/info/info1.htm