Engine owners eventually need to make an important decision about how to best care for their engines, with detergent oil or non detergent motor oil .  Detergent oil has been used for more than 60 years, and is still a great lubricant for specific engines today.  Non detergent oil is not best suited for all applications, oil distributors normally recommend engine types for specific oils.

Oil enthusiasts sometimes pontificate about whether detergent oil even contains detergent.  Oil specialists often disagree about the content of detergent oil, whether or not detergent is actually present in oil is not the issue, however what is important is the engine deposits remain suspended in the oil and do not stick together to create a problem for oil distribution.  Changing your oil filter regularly is the other half of regularly scheduled maintenance to remove carbon deposits that build motor oil sludge.

Non detergent oil may be used for more than simply engine lubricant, non detergent oil may be used in a wide variety of uses, like as a transmission oil and as a gear box oil.  Before adding motor oil to your engine, verify the best motor oil to use for your engine type as a precaution.  If you have access to an Internet connection, you can get almost any information about your engine, motor, or transmission online, direct from the manufacturers.

Engine users have many choices for oil type, they may choose from non determent motor oil, to detergent oil, to high detergent oil.  If you run an engine that needs to stay clean, you may want to consider using high detergent motor oil to keep sludge from developing inside your engines.  Before using a high detergent motor oil, make sure that your manufacturer has approved the use of that type of oil before use.  HD oil does not mean heavy duty oil, rather it refers to include a higher level of detergent for cleaning the inside of engines.  Instead of using a more harsh engine cleaner, some like to use motor oil with a higher level of detergent because the cleaning process is more subtle and will be less likely to separate chunks of carbon that could harm engine lubrication.  Some auto mechanics are adamant however that flushing oil should never be used as it may be harmful to older seals.