motor flush to clean out crud buildup (lifters for now)
 

Anyone use any with good results?
Specifically Motor Medics Motor flush
Among other instructions the one Im concerned with is the following:
" On engines over 75K ,R&R the oil pan or damage could occur. Mine has 145K and the other has 240K. OK.. I dont want to have to remove the pan as a precaution of too much gunk dumped into the pan, so I need to figure out an easier way. How about if I use half of the motor flush? In this case,it sould clean a tad less than 1/2 half the sludge? Then just do the procedure twice.
Should be close enough...? Opinions por favor. :D

I'm very leary of the engine "flushes". I've read too many stories of bad results from doing them at the quick oil change places. This is most likely similar product. The only difference - you can ruin your engine without anyone's help.
I look at this issue like this - if you truly have sludge build up in your engine, the quick flush is not going to miraculously dissolve all of it, and make your engine run like new again. It may dissolve some built up, but most likely it will just loosen up some of it and and eventually you will get a significant chunk of it going through the system and plug an oil passage thus ruining your engine.
If you do perform regular oil changes, you will not have sludge build ups. Why? Because engine oil is designed to keep the gunk particles in solution and remove them when you change oil. If on the other hand you (or previous owner) had neglected the motor with poor maintenance and you ended up with actual sludge build up, you need more than a quick engine flush. You have to remove the sludge by hand from where ever it is possible to get to. Then you need to check your oil delivery, etc. etc. etc.

Here is a real life example. Let me ask you this: would you expect sludge build up in an engine that is 25 years old and has 170k miles on it? No known history in this vehicle. At least two previous owners. CL purchase. All original, no previous engine rebuilds.
How much sludge was there? - NONE. I opened valve covers to do a valve lash adjustment - totally clean. Some varnish discoloration, but this is normal. Several years later for an unrelated reason, i dropped a pan out of that engine - no sludge again. I got probably close to another 45-50k on it by now and I don't even think about sludge.
Do the oil change and leave that snake oil on the shelf.

Yep,I use the same reasoning on the sludge issue. Im glad you mentioned the sludge breaking loose and lodging elsewhere and possibly clogging another oil passage. Just like an fatty embolus and other types,in a human. Look it up,cause one day a broken leg bone or any number of issues can destroy your brain,heart,lungs...resulting in death or severe disabilities.
Ok..moving on.. so I bought the MS at 125K approx and the engine gets 2500 miles to the quart. I just happen to have run it from oil change to oil change of 5003 miles (1000 mi over my norm)and 2 qts were used.
That is just an "indication" of the engine wear &/or sludge conditions. No guarantee,but short of looking at internals or oil analysis ,its just a safer guess in my admittedly "inexperienced" opinion. Please ,jump in if theres something Im failing to mention/overlooking on this viewpoint.

Your oil usage is not too excessive. It is normal for engine of that age/mileage. There are two likely areas where you could be loosing oil - burning oil in the cylinders and/or oil leaks. Most common oil leaks in Montero engines is at the rear of valve covers. Obviously you can check for visible oil leaks and deal with those. I do not believe that oil use by the engine will be an indicator of any kind of sludge formation. Just stay on regular oil changes and check oil levels every time or every other time you fill up and you'll be good.

Motor flush not recommended for my application
 

I got off the phone earlier from talking to a tech at "Gunks medic motor flush"who said with the condition& the symptoms and goals I had described,I shouldnt use medic flush since I didnt want to have to remove the oil pan to empty any dislodged sludge. Also my idea of decreasing the proportionality to 1/4 1/3 etc wouldnt work predictibly. He recommended adding a less agressive(than motor flush) high detergent cleaner or oil etc.should work since I had told him it was a mild tick that wasnt a problem yet, as I have explained here before. Well, first Im going to try Hunters suggestion of doing a VLA proceedure and follow with two other steps if that doesnt wrk. I posted the VLA procedure today after one of his posts in this thread somewhere incase interested.. Here it is and next to last post on that page https://mitsubishiforum.com/forum/mi...r-noise-50883/

Sounds sensible enough. Did you ever have the valve covers off? Taking a look under there would be a good indicator if you even have any sludge. You can take a peek in there through the oil filler opening using a flashlight and a denstist style mirror (to see at an angle under the cover). If you do not have chunks of sludge sitting there, you probably do not have the "sludge" problem. Just do a couple of oil changes on the early side of the required mileage and do a VLA bleed procedure few times along the way. Make sure your engine is nice and warm before doing VLA bleed. It works better with oil being hot.

Agree with Hunter D
 

Nope,havent viewed the valve cover innards yet.. Ive used HMileage oil last 20K miles which I understand helps clean up sludge.
Does adding a quart of synthetic oil on top of the HMO help much?

Don't know if it helps, but i'm sure it doesn't hurt :)

I do regular oil changes about every 6k miles with 10w30 Max Life and once a year I run a can of Seafoam in my oil for the trip to and from work (50 mi) then immediately change when I get home. I can tell you that the Seafoam additive definitely cleans internal parts. I've had the rocker covers off twice in it's lifetime and the aluminum internals only have a light yellow hue from mild varnish. It's at 265K miles and runs smooth as silk to this day. I'm the second owner, purchased at 35K miles in 2008. I've also been a Fleet Tech for 31+ years, if anything breaks loose your oil filter should collect it. If it's horrible with sludge I could see you running the risk of clogging the filter in which case you should get an indication from your red oil light and I would shut it down immediately, but that's an absolute worst case event and with that kind of neglect some level of engine damage has most likely occurred.