My oil change to synthetic ester experience

[jonthechron]

Last week I changed my oil from mineral Motul 3000 15w-40 to synthetic ester Motul 7100 20w-50. Huge differences, but I don't know what to expect.. everything seems tighter, shifting is much different now, the clutch seems to want to grab on right away, the bike even sounds different when revving.

Are these normal symptoms? Or is something off?

[Sailariel]

Jon, I noticed all these things as well when I changed to Shell Rotella-T 15W40. Synthetic is just a lot more slippery. Changing every 3000 miles, the oil comes out much cleaner than mineral oil. Synthetic is also better for our planet.

[Alex]

I learned something new a couple of days ago about synthetic oil. Was anyone else aware that the base stock for virtually all synthetic can still be traced back to petroleum or natural gas? The main molecules that make up synthetic oils are still hydrocarbons. But they are broken apart / put back together in such ways that it can be called "synthetic". It's basically an engineered molecule. My wife (who works at Chevron down the hall from some of the lubricants folks) had a long discussion with one of them about this last week. The term "synthetic" is more of a marketing idea than any true description of the products.

Still might be a better lubricant and have all the benefits that it is purported to. But it's not any better for our planet. Comes from the same stuff. Is just as toxic after use.

[jonthechron]

thanks, for the info Alex, i heard something similar, but i heard that ESTER base (motul 7100) synthetic is a completely different story, could you ask your wife about it? its a dark RED (kinda like black cherry syrup) color oil and smells like no other oil ive ever seen

[Alex]

She'll ask about it this week. Esters can be made right from hydrocarbons (by adding oxygen), but they can also be made from organic material like some plants. She's not sure how that particular ester base is made.

[dubojr1]

I hear Amsoil is made completly in a lab, no crude oil. Can anyone verify this?

[Alex]

Made in a lab from what? Two snaps, press the magic button, click your heels together, and poof you have oil? The main Amsoil pages don't give details on it, they just say the base stocks are pure, and aren't refined crude. That last phrase is flexible, as depending on whether the crude is hydrocracked or not, it may be defined as newly pure.

This Amsoil page from one of their distributors says that it comes mostly from natural gas. Might be true, or it might be the distributor filling in some information that he believes. It doesn't say that anywhere on the main Amsoil page.

This link has a concise explanation (referring to Amsoil) of what synthetic means:

Synthetic lubricants differ from refined oil in three key ways: synthetics are pure, their molecular structure is uniform, and they may be designed to work in applications in which refined oils cannot.

Those statements seem accurate to me. But that doesn't say anywhere that the base stocks don't originate from oil. Pure doesn't mean "not oil". I'll see if she can ask about Amsoil directly with the lubricants folks.

[Banzai]

Another synthetic oil explanation

That link explains the differences between group 2 and 3s, PAO, esters, etc. Gives the whole history and process of getting from crude to base to synthetic oils and what it all really means.

One process for making synthetic base oils is to start with a chemical called an olefin, and make new molecules by attaching them to each other in long chains, hence "poly." The primary advantage of Poly-Alpha-Olefin "PAO" base oil is that all the molecules in the base oil are pretty much identical, so it's easy to get the base oil to behave exactly as you like. PAOs are called Group IV base oils.

Another type of base oil is made from refined and processed esters and is called Group V. Esters start life as fatty acids in plants and animals, which are then chemically combined into esters, diesters, and polyesters. Your vegetarian girlfriend should love that. Group V base stocks are the most expensive of all to produce. However, the esters are polar molecules and have very significant solvent properties - an ester base oil all by itself will do a very decent job of keeping your engine clean. So, people who are serious about making a superior oil will usually mix some Group V oils into their base stock.

Finally, there are new chemicals emerging which are made from liquefied natural gas called GTL (gas to liquid) base oils. These will be called Group III+, and many people think they will become an important part of the oils you buy by 2010. These GTL base oils have natural VIs of 140 or more, meaning for most applications they won't require any VII package at all. Natural gas is primarily made up of only one type of molecule, so the refining is already done for you. Most oil wells throw off a lot of natural gas. In many cases, it's more expensive to transport this gas to a large city than the gas is worth, so it's just burned off.

"Semi-synthetics" are oils which are a blend of petroleum oil and no more than 30% synthetic oil. If the manufacturer adds no more than 30% synthetic oil and does not change the additive package, they do not have to recertify the oil. These days, since everyone has agreed that Group III base oils are "synthetic," I'm not sure "semi-synthetic" means anything at all. The manufacturers love this stuff: it costs about 15% more to make the oil, and they get to charge about double. I don't recommend semi-synthetics. Save your money and take your kids to McDonalds.

[dubojr1]

And Amsoil is 100% PAO right?

The entire Synthetic market switched from using Poly-alpha-Olefin's [Group 4], to the much cheaper Processed-Mineral Oil [Group 3] alternative, while retaining the premium PAO Synthetic price. AMSOIL is one of the few to continue using 100% PAO synthetic base stocks made with expensive pure chemicals.

[Alex]

Thx Banzai - I had forgotten about that page. But even the PAO's, when they are talking about "olefins", aren't the vast majority of olefins created by hydrocracking crude in the first place? How do those olefins come to be?

[Banzai]

Originally Posted by Alex

But even the PAO's, when they are talking about "olefins", aren't the vast majority of olefins created by hydrocracking crude in the first place?

Yes, that is my understanding based on checking today's various references!(I had a lot of time on my hands today at work!) It's simpler, faster, and cheaper to crack existing hydrocarbons from crude than to assemble them from base elements, although the base assembly method does get a more homologus final product (but the difference, based on spec, appears to be statistically and operationally insignificant in anything less tech/safety oriented than the space shuttle). Simple evaporative capture refining (the fracture towers that you see at the refineries) is one of the first steps that seperates the base products. They're cracked from there.

That's not to say that assembled molecules aren't worth the expense and time, they are, just that they have different properties, and thus different utility.

Also, it seems that crude from different areas lends itself, initially, to different overall ratios of final product based on specific chemical properties and pecularities of the deposit. Different types of coal also have this property.

In any case, cracking technology is a significant part of the industry, so it's a simple thing to spec a base molecule (although difficult to achieve from a technology standpoint being a mojo blend of mechanical action, heat, catalyzers, and pressure/vaccuum in the right proportions at the right time) to be used in a variety of different applications.

Bottom line is that "synthetics" as the petroleum industry defines them have a variety of sources, from man made molecules, to highly refined plant material, to highly refined petroleum products. It all comes down to understanding the differences and origins, so that you can understand WHY it is WHAT it is.

At the root of the definition is the fact that there is a homologus molecule that makes up the liquid. That alone puts an oil in the "synthetic" category, with the specific type based on origin and displayed properties. Group 3, 3+, 4, or 5 oils are no more or less "synthetic" than each other for their origin! Each base type displays different properties, overall, based on their origin, and all are useful in one capacity or another. These properties and the overall desiribility of the fluids dictates the final price, with market demand thrown into the mix.

The industry definition of "Synthetic", as the articles show, can be very different from the marketing definition of "Synthetic". To say that one is any better/worse than any other based on any marketing claim is to oversimplify the case. ANY test can be spec'd to favor the specific properties of one brand and/or base oil over another.

Unless you have access to very sophisticated oil anaylsis and data tracking equipment, likely as not the average consumer isn't going to see much, if any, difference in overall performance. There are places you can send off oil samples to to get an analysis, and large trucking companies routinely do this, but their oil changes are annually, have MUCH tighter (like 2-5 micron) secondary filtration, and they change literally hundreds of barrels of oil in their trucks annually, so they NEED to know what's making money, and what's breaking trucks.

Do we really need that level of oversight on our daily drivers? Probably not, as we've all been going just fine for a long time on dino oil. Not too long ago, 10W-40 and 5K was the rule of thumb. Today it can be anywhere from 0W-20 and 8K to whatever the computer in the car or at the dealer tells you! Check you're owner's manual, you'll be surprised what it says! Mini's are notorious for oil related issues, and most modern cars have oil change intervals between 5-12K now, often with a specific filter and synthetic oil spec'd in the owner's manual. It's when the oil change interval is LONG and the TYPE of oil isn't specified that things get ugly....quick. Didn't Audi or Benz recently have a huge issue with extended oil change intervals, and the factory manual did NOT specify to use a particular synthetic ONLY! Cost them millions replacing engines under warranty becuase of an editing oversight!

Unless you're actually extending your oil change intervals, AND improving your filtration (the highly detergent nature of synthetics lends them to collecting and holding MORE contaminats than conventional oil, and basic filters do not have the ability OR capacity to remove and hold the additional contaminants collected. Thusly, many synthetic molecules are made to encapsulate the contaminants chemically to make them large enough to be trapped in a conventional filter of lowest common denominator quality!), you're not going to see much of an economic advantage, either. Price it out...conventional oil and filter change at 3K and synthetic oil and better quality filter at 5K intervals. About the same money, overall in the long run. Metals tech and machining tech have taken HUGE leaps in the last 50 years, too, and we're still carrying the burden of lots of 1960's thinking. Heck, the early motorvehicles were lubed with premixes of castor oil in the fuel, and worked just fine!

We see SOME performance difference in our bikes operation because of the operating properties of our wet clutch and linear shaft transmission. We put our oil through the engine and transmission with very little volume and slim opportunity to cool below break down temp before recirculating it. Bikes, like trucks, are hard on oil and beyond a shadow of a doubt can see the advantages of operating with it. To realize ALL of the benefits, though, as I said, you need to improve your filtration QUALITY or frequency of filter changes to oil changes.

At it's best, synthetics, with their better lube qualities and detergent properties, should help longevity of a given device more than anything else, assuming all other things remain equal.

I do have to admit, though, that I do like the Amsoil tests, just not the Amsoil price. Very convincing. For my uses, though, Rotella and high quality filters at 5K/annually intervals realistically does amazingly well in my bikes.

Caveat Emptor

[dubojr1]

Hmm...Is this guys info wrong then?

What is Poly-alpha-Olefin (PAO) and why is it better?
"PAO Synthetic" oil is created in a lab using scientific manipulation of non-conventional fluids. Everything in the oil has a purpose, unlike Mineral oil which has many inherent flaws, no matter the processing.

In the simplest terms, the base stock of "Synthetics," Poly-alpha-Olefin(PAO)starts as ethylene gas, a simple two-carbon molecule that is built up to a 10-carbon molecule. Three of these super molecules are combined to form PAO, a base stock that offers a number of advantages over Mother Nature's version.

Synthetics are more stable, flow at lower temperatures, are more resistant to boiling off, and less susceptible to oxidation, which causes thickening with prolonged high temperatures.

[API Group 1] Conventional - Mineral oil derived from crude oil.

[API Group 2] Hydroprocessed - refined mineral oil.
(Castrol GTX, Pennzoil, Havoline, QuakerState, Motorcraft, Lucas oil, Valvoline).

[API Group 3] Severe hydroprocessed - modified mineral oils.
(Mobil 1 Extended Performance, Castrol Syntec, RoyalPurple, Pennzoil Platinum, Quakerstate Full Synthetic, Shell Rotella T, Mobil Delvac 1, Petro Canada Duron Synthetic).

[API Group 4] 100% PAO Synthetics, chemically derived. Chemically built Poly-alpha-Olefins.

[Banzai]

Originally Posted by dubojr1

Hmm...Is this guys info wrong then?

(edit:sorry, this ended up way long in trying to find different ways to make it simple. Advertising has made it difficult, and they benefit from our confusion.)

As I understand it, not really, just not a complete or comprehensive explanation. Basic oil is usually cracked/fractured all the way down to base gases (such as the mentioned ethylene, which are easy to isolate from other gases or compounds), then reassembled with chemical processes once all the other impurities have been chemically isolated to make PAOs. Any hydrocarbon will do, really, wether it's oil, coal, or plant/animal material.

This is different in that PAOs are a man assembled molecule as opposed to a highly refined homologus vat of selectively filtered/seperated naturally occuring molecules. In the laboratory it's different, as they'll start with a pure base element and combine what they need into those base pairs to get 'proof of concept' lab pure gasses or whatever, then search in the real world for where they can get mega gallons/cubic feet/tons/etc of base material, refine to get what they need, then go from there.

Either way, the base origin for those hydrocarbon base pairs was usually at one time a drum of petroleum crude, as that's the most readily available commodity of base chain hydrocarbons that the petroleum industry deals in.

A barrel of crude oil is the easiest, cheapest way to get a bucket of nearly universal hydrocarbons. Coal, natural gas, and even plant and animal matter can be used as well. Again, depending on the final properties you want will depend on what base material you use to derrive your product.

Here's another analogy. Lets say you have a barrel of red 8-part rectangle lego bricks. Today our goal is to assemble a red robot with only 1-part lego bricks. Luckily, with a little work, you can trade in(read -seperate/fracture/crack) any 8-part bricks for 8 individual 1-part bricks. You can now trade in your entire barrel of 8-part bricks for 8 1-parts, making a pile of the most basic lego brick. Although it takes more work converting back and forth, you now absolutely, positively 100% have a barrel of the most basic, universal lego brick, a 1-part red, and to top it all off, the method you use to seperate them and trade them in CONVERTS anything that didn't start off as a red brick INTO a red brick, assuring NOTHING BUT red bricks!!!!
From there, anything you decide to make from red lego bricks is possible without any further conversion down. Also, should it become necessary to your project, you have the basic bricks available to convert to a 4 brick stick or a 4 brick square, or a 6 brick stick, or a 6 brick rectangle, or back to an 8 brick rectangle, or to an 8 brick stick, and so on and so on.
Clear as mud?

Quick summary:

• 1s are conventional dino oils (variable chemical soup, many different types of 'oil' molecules arranged in chemically different shapes)
• 2s are highly refined (read-cleaner) dino oils (less variability in the chemical soup, higher concentration of several different types of molecules)
• 3s are 2s that are further refined and man manipulated to get a slightly different molecule with specific properties, ALL molecules the same size and shape
• 3+s are man manipulated base hydrocarbon sets derrived from liquified natural gas, ALL the same size and shape
• 4s are (usually) crude broken into base hydrocarbons and reassembled into homologus molecules, ALL the same size and shape. Coal can also be the base origin for type 4s.
• 5s are man manipulated hydrocarbons from plant and animal fatty acids, ALL the same size and shape

3s through 5s are all in the 'synthetic' category because they are not naturally occuring molecules, and the fact that the molecules are ALL THE SAME SIZE AND SHAPE. See the lego story above!

Incidently, if you've never seen an oil molecule and wondered how they get 5 weight base oil to act like 40 weight oil when it's hot, the key is in understand the shape of the molecule and how flow works. When the oil molecule (long chain) is cold, it's all coiled/balled up, thus is flows like a light weight oil. When heated to operating temperature, the molecule unfolds/uncoils, thus effectively resisting flow due to increased surface area and size.

As synthetic oil molecules absorb contaminanats (most synthetics are made to capture anything that the filter media can't strip off of it mechanically), it stays open and forces other oil molecules to bond with the other sides of the contaminant molecule.

The reasons for this are two fold:

1. Covering the contaminant particle in 'oil' on all sides keeps the contamination away from operating surfaces.
2. Capturing the particle with multiple open (larger) molecules ensures that the assembly of oil-junk-oil on all side of the junk will be large enough to be caught and held by the media in the filter that otherwise would flow THROUGH the filter and back into your engine, ensuring that the filter captures LARGE contaminants and smaller ones that otherwise would always flow straight through the filter and back into your engine all the time.

Incidently, the current blend of dino oils that claim some amazing % of sludge removal on the first oil change have some Type 5 synth blended in with them becuase of the synth properties described above! It's especially evident in type 5 synth, that's why it's used instead of 3s or 4s.

Dino oils will bond with those contaminants, too, but where a synthetic will encapsulate it and still act like an oil molecule, dino oil will usually bond with one or two chemically compatible dirt molecules and allow that contaminant to be exposed to the operating surfaces you are using oil to protect! With synth, EVERY oil molecule is formulated to have polar and non-polar ends on it (in some cases, multiple ends), just like a soap molecule (which is why soap and water will clean up oil!!) and specifically set up to chemically target the expected combustion contaminants. Dino simply can't do that, as many of them are closed chain molecules and bond mechanically more often than chemically on the molecular level.

As any oil is heated repeatedly and exposed to combustion contaminants and mechanical forces, the molecule breaks into smaller pieces, thus effectively reducing the size of the oil molecule and it's ability to unfold/uncoil when heated. Also, since the molecule is 'broken' it won't bond with contaminants (which would make the assembly large enough to be caught in the filter mechanically) nearly as effectively and those contaminants are now free to flow around your engine!! They're too small to be captured by the filter and no longer chemically compatible with a 'broken' oil molecule. That's what the much touted 'viscosity break down' is all about and why it's so important.

Most synthetic molecules are formulated such that they recombine on their own when sheared by heat/contamination/mechanical action, thus effectively resisting 'viscosity break down'. In fact, some of them have sacrificial shear points in the molecule to ensure temporary breakdown AND guranteed universal recombination.

Dino oil does not display, even with complex additive packages, this recombination property as type 1 and 2s are really just a chemical soup of basic goo that we call oil. Although it's higly refined form the black gold coming out of the well, it's a light year away, chemically, from synthetic oils. The molecules in dino oil will all be chemically compatible, display similar characteristics, but be assembled quite differently in shape, size, and overall chemical formula. Synthetics will have molecules that are all, 100% assembled the same way each and every time, so they'll all perform the same way under the same circumstances, each and every time no matter what.

That's why I said above that when using synthetics, their primary advantages over dino oils are (in no particular order) :

• Thermal stability (holds chemical shape/size better under higher heat)
• Mechanical stability (holds chemical shape/size better under higher pressure)
  
  Both of the above properties contribute to a longer service life, thus longer oil change intervals over a SAME WEIGHT type 1 or 2 oil.
  
  
• Detergent action (removes more contaminant particles, regardless of orgin)
• Contaminant absorption (holds more contaminant particles)
  

SO UNLESS YOU CHANGE TO A BETTER FILTER AND CHANGE YOUR FILTER MORE OFTEN, YOU'RE NOT TAKING ADVANTAGE OF 2 OF THE 4 BEST PROPERTIES OF SYNTHETICS.

If the filter gets more contaminants, either though pure junk capture due to detergent action, or oil-junk-oil capture, it's going to clog faster with synth. If it clogs in fewer miles, it's going to open the bypass valve sooner, sending unfiltered oil through your engine. Several sources that I read claim that since most cannister oil filters are a generic spec for a variety of vehicles, the bypass valves are usually averaged to the lowest common denominator.

It seems that most modern engines build enough oil pressure with clean oil and a new filter to activate the bypass due to this somewhere about 3000-3500rpm. That means, even under the best conditions, you're only filtering oil in your car/truck below 3500rpm. Now clean more junk out of your engine with synth, and clog your filter in fewer miles. How hard do you have to work your engine to open that bypass valve now? You got it! SO CHANGE YOUR FILTER MORE OFTEN!!! Use a better quality filter, too. One with higher filter area and smaller filtration pores. Premium oils and filters are worth what you pay for them....BECAUSE THEY WORK!


If the lego thing didn't work for you, then think of people as oil molecules:

• No two humans are exactally the same, but all have a head, two arms, two legs, etc, and capable of doing anything that a human can reasonably be expected to do. That's type 1 dino oil.
• Now think of an isolated island of people. Pretty soon, genetic variation narrows down to just a few blood lines, but they're still human. That's type 2 dino oil
• Now think of a DNA manipulation shot that you give to just the men from those people on that island to make them stronger, smarter, faster, and all the same after birth. That's a type 3 oil.
• Now think of stronger, smarter, faster clones built from DNA made from base hydrocarbons from crude oil. That's a type 4 oil.
• Now think of stronger, smarter, faster clones built from DNA made from base hydrocarbons from plants or other animals. That's a type 5 oil.

Type 4 and 5 clones should be 100% the same, but for some reason, because of the orgin of the molecules, they will look the same, act the same, but still be demonstrably different.

Until we can cheaply, quickly and easily assemble oil on the ATOMIC level, that's where we're at.

But then again, once we get to the point where we can assemble ATOMS at will into any configuration we want, well....then we're pretty close to having the Star Trek replicators and holo decks! We'll be able to build life in the form of hand assembled DNA, too. No more extinctions, and humans from plastic parts.

[Alex]

Great work, Banzai! I sincerely hope that google starts ranking this page on a search for synthetic oils, as I haven't seen a better discussion in one place anywhere, ever.

[Banzai]

Originally Posted by Alex

Great work, Banzai! I sincerely hope that google starts ranking this page on a search for synthetic oils, as I haven't seen a better discussion in one place anywhere, ever.

Thanks. Probably a technically incorrect overview in the finer points, but it'll suffice.

Told ya I had a slow day at work! Read on synth all day, and took like 4 1/2 pages of notes! Summarized above. Incidently, all the sources seemed to agree for once. I was rather surprised. Either there's a lot of good info available, or LOTS of internet plaigerize going on.

Mostly, it confirmed what I've learned all along but never really put into one lesson, and the stuff that seemed too good to be true, is!

As to that info today, very little of it came from manufactureres web pages. At least two sources I used were doctoral thesis that I found with google search hosted on college web servers, and most were current/former chemical or petro or automoblie/aviation engineers.

Oh, I added some more, so make sure you review it all! LOL

Incidently, that's gotta rank in the top 5 longest posts for me, and I've had some LOOOONNNNGGGG ones here!

Edit to add: I'm open to the idea that I got some of the above wrong, or misunderstood something that I read. It's a lot to try to understand in only a day, and I'm certainly NOT claiming to be a subject matter expert! NO wonder it's all but impossible to cut through all the marketing crap on the store shelves!

Edit to add: Wish I'd paid attention to making a Wiki page here, too.

[dubojr1]

Originally Posted by Banzai

Thanks. Probably a technically incorrect overview in the finer points, but it'll suffice.

Told ya I had a slow day at work! Read on synth all day, and took like 4 1/2 pages of notes! Summarized above. Incidently, all the sources seemed to agree for once. I was rather surprised. Either there's a lot of good info available, or LOTS of internet plaigerize going on.

Mostly, it confirmed what I've learned all along but never really put into one lesson, and the stuff that seemed too good to be true, is!

As to that info today, very little of it came from manufactureres web pages. At least two sources I used were doctoral thesis that I found with google search hosted on college web servers, and most were current/former chemical or petro or automoblie/aviation engineers.

Oh, I added some more, so make sure you review it all! LOL

Incidently, that's gotta rank in the top 5 longest posts for me, and I've had some LOOOONNNNGGGG ones here!

Edit to add: I'm open to the idea that I got some of the above wrong, or misunderstood something that I read. It's a lot to try to understand in only a day, and I'm certainly NOT claiming to be a subject matter expert! NO wonder it's all but impossible to cut through all the marketing crap on the store shelves!

Edit to add: Wish I'd paid attention to making a Wiki page here, too.

So Banzai.... are you a synthetic oil user? Just curious

[Banzai]

Originally Posted by dubojr1

So Banzai.... are you a synthetic oil user? Just curious

Yes, cars and trucks and bikes. Also, I use the best recommended filters I can find. They're more expensive than generic orange/blue/white brand filters (sometimes, depending on what your looking for). Come to find out the Champion brand filters are some of the best out there for generics, and the WalMart brand is simply relabeled Champion stuff!!, but all research shows that better filtration is necessary, especially if you're switching to synth AFTER using dino, for all the reasons stated above. The new nano fiber Amsoil filters have been independantly confirmed to be some of the best filter technology available for passenger vehicles, and are essentially only an adaptation of filter media used in the second stage of diesel rigs for oil and the primary hydraulic filters used in heavy earth movers and other such equipment. Caution, though, they're NOT cheap!!!!

I run vehicles until they rust out from underneath me, though. My investment is in longevity. The longer my vehicles last after they're paid off, the more they pay me back in money saved on not replacing them or having to do wear/mileage related internal engine work. If you change cars every three or four years (hard to do in today's economy), synth oil may not have any long term benefits to you other than padding percieved resale value to a private party.

Some engines are so prone to sludge build up that the factory actually recommends a full sludge flush BEFORE switching to synth. The new little MiniCooper is one such vehicle, as it's SUPER vulnerable to sludge build up even under moderate conditions and low miles. This is as much a result of the design of the engine, the volume of oil, the type/brand of dino oil used, the quality of filtration used, the overall miles, and the frequency of oil and filtration changes. Some engines, by design, resist sludge build up, some encourage and trap it, no matter how much you do to combat it. Bummer, huh?

Be careful when you take a vehicle in for a sludge flush, too. There are several ways to do it, some good, some not so good. The budget place does it like this: Drain dirty engine oil, fill engine with recommended volume of 0 (yes, ZERO) weight detergent oil (which is usually a synth oil, or a blended dino/synth oil much like ATF fluid) and then idles the engine at operating temperature for a specified period of time, then drains the cleaning fluid, changes the old filter that you drove in with for a new one, and installs new clean oil.

In fact, my dad tells me that the old shade tree mechanic way of doing a flush was to substitue one quart of oil with two quarts of ATF (yeah, that would overservice the engine), run at idle for a beer and cigarette or two, and drain, then change out oil and filter like normal.

The other end of the scale is the full flush machine. It has a plate that installs between the oil filter pad and the oil filter on your vehicle. A supply and a return hose connect the plate to the machine. After hook up, a NEW purpose built cleaning filter (with more media and tighter pores) is installed, and new, clean flush fluid is filled into your engine after your dirty oil is drained out. The car is started and run at operating temp for a specified amount of time. The synth cleaning fluid circulates through your engine, cleaning out sludge, getting filtered by the cleaning filter, and by the cleaning machine, recirculating cleaner cleaning fluid all the time. )

Since it's a higher volume of fluid (the resivoir in the machine is like 5 gallons of fluid), it'll grab more sludge and crap from your engine, fliter it better, and give you a cleaner engine. The adapter and the machine also usually use delta p type filter cannisters, so if the filter becomes clogged at any time during the process BEFORE completion, instead of activating a bypass (which would circulate dirty cleaning fluid), the operator knows to stop, change the clogged filter with another clean one, and restart the cycle until a complete run is achieved without clogging a filter or popping the delta p sensor.

After the cycle is done, they drain the cleaning fluid from your engine, remove the cleaning filter and adapter plate, and install a new filter and new oil and you're off on your way. This method, while SIGNIFICANTLY better, is NOT cheap. And, you run the risk that they're not changing filters or fluids at the correct service intervals.

You can have it right.
You can have it fast.
You can have it cheap.

Pick any TWO!