/6 endowed with major GUNK

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barbee6043

barbee6043

barbee 6043
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just got it out off donor, turns freely, got off pan and valve cover, has probably 1/16 inch of pure GUNK! can I fill it with ???? to get rid of some of this stuff???? or get it runnin and soak with "sea form" and keep changing the oil??? thanks for any info.
 
Are you saying it has that inside the engine?
 
I would start with a shop-vac and a scraper.
 
You can get it running as is,and then start a thread on something like,"Why does my car keep overheating" ?

Sounds like a candidate for the hot tank.
 
If all that is on the inside, the only real way is to tear it down and have all of it hot tanked.
 
I am missing the "on the inside" in several posts above. Oil is all on the outside, except for the oil passages. Water coolant is on the inside. I should amend that slightly for the slant since the lifter galley is a bit sunken, but still accessible if a "drool tube" head (gee, the O.P. didn't tell us what motor he has, why do they always do that and expect answers?).

This is not atypical. I have seen photos of some newer Japanese engines where the valve cover was removed and the oil gunk formed a solid mass molded to the shape of the valve covers. Relative to that, 1/16" thick is not much.

My 273 was a bit gunky on top, but much less than yours. I removed the oil pan (jacked engine up 2"), brushedd the top (rockers, lifter galley) with gasoline until it was shiny and reassembled. I didn't remove the heads. The only engine work I did was change the timing cover, timing set, and rear main seal. Engine runs great now. Do not use a steel bristle brush, plastic or copper at most (and only an idiot would use sandpaper).

I must do better maintenance than most because whenever I remove the valve cover on any of my cars, classic or modern, it looks new under the valve cover. There are some amazingly negligent owners out there.
 
while you got the pan and the valve cover off get you a gallon of diesel fuel and a scrub brush. knock as much off as you can then when you get it running id fire it up for few min and then change oil and filter. then i would dump in about a pint of diesel into the oil cover and run it for few more min then drain it out again and then run a detergent oil thru it and change it again after about 250 miles then you can go back to a normal oil change cycle.
 
BillGrissom said:
This is not atypical. I have seen photos of some newer Japanese engines where the valve cover was removed and the oil gunk formed a solid mass molded to the shape of the valve covers.
Click to expand...

Bet it was a toyota they had real problems with that about 10 years ago. These days they can't make a water pump that will last 60K.

But to be fair sludge buildup is the result of poor maintenance with poor quality oil. I have been driving my 2001 accord for 4 years and 24k miles in that time I have changed oil twice with mobil 1. The last time was in dec 2011 about 9200 miles ago it is still full and honey colored. There are many import car haters out there, but I personally believe that honda is what chrysler was in the 60's the best engine builder in business. I worked at a honda auto dealer for 7.5 years never saw a worn out/oil burner engine.

Sorry if I hijacked the thread. If the OP is talking about a drool tube slant I would say just scrape off all the gunk you can reach, remove and clean the oil pressure relief valve/spring, and run a good solvent for a very short time and change the filter frequently until you get all the crud flushed out.
 
I did goggle and find a thing on sludge that had some good ponts. sorry I didn't mention it was 65 /6 goin in 65 dart and came out of Missouri 65 4 door coronet driven on Missouri back raods. ( also known around here as "ridgerunners") similar to back home in south Ga. where sometimes known as, well m,aybe I shouldn't say. LOL actually, accordin to the article, you need to be careful about craping off chunks that could clog the picpup tube.
it says use HD oil like rotella as it will work off the gunk, seems like soaking it in atf is good idea. i'd love to rear it down for rebuild, but does not look to be on my plate ( only one chili dog)!!?????
 
Exactly why it should be disassembled and done correctly.
 
RustyRatRod said:
Exactly why it should be disassembled and done correctly.
Click to expand...
Agreed. Every suggestion in this thread that doesn't mention tear down and hot tank will run the risk of clogging a pickup tube or an oil passage and then you will be tearing it down for a rebuild in the end anyways. Do it now instead of later.
 
Just curious but where is the sludge gonna hide on a drool tube slant with the valve cover and oil pan off? The oil drain passages in the head are massive, you can reach the cam from the top and bottom without pulling the head. In most cases I would agree that hot tanking is in order, but I would be tempted (depending on sludge hardness) to scrape, flush, and run it.
 
If you heard the motor run, I would clean the crap out of it, re-gasket the whole motor and run it.

If you did not hear it run, then tear it complety down and rebuild.

On the same subject, my uncle would buy a new caddy every two years when the tires wore out, and trade the old caddy in.
He never opened the hood to change or check the oil, I asked him why?
He said that why waste my money to give the next guy a good car, and if the motor blows up it is under warranty.........
I would hate to see what the inside of engines looked like.
He has done this for the last 30 years.
 
mcnoople said:
Just curious but where is the sludge gonna hide on a drool tube slant with the valve cover and oil pan off? The oil drain passages in the head are massive, you can reach the cam from the top and bottom without pulling the head. In most cases I would agree that hot tanking is in order, but I would be tempted (depending on sludge hardness) to scrape, flush, and run it.
Click to expand...
You cant acces the passeges from the oil gallery to the the crank mains while the crank is installed. Speaking of which how would you clean the oil gallery anyways?
 
I used to run into the gunge in the valve covers back in the day when we rehabbed bus engines into race engines. The bus companies would time the motors out at around 100k miles. The engines had regularly scheduled maintenance. The bottoms were usually okay but the heads were tired...and the valve covers had rocker imprints in the goo inside them. As the junior guy in the shop, guess who got to scrape them out? Yep. And why does that person recommend against *****-oil and Quacker State to this day?
 
Saw a 2007 Chubby LS mill,that died. The owner ran a high paraffin oil,rarely changed it. Looked like a classic 1975 engine ,taken apart. Unreal. As for the o.p: Pull,clean,and be safe lady. Money ahead,in the long run.
 
Sounds like it was a Pennzoil motor. Quaker State a close second; both are high in paraffin waxes and sulfites from what I'm been told and what I've seen & smelled from those motors 'treated' to a steady diet of either backs that theory up
 
I agree I would like to do it correctly, but as of right now I will try cleanin it some, run it and see. I have another core motor layin there that could be built later if $$ allows. I have 2 /6 dusters I will offer for sale with or without Good runnin clean motors. so will see what happens. like you guys say, why would anyone run a high paraffin was like P oil!??? I have to admit if I was gonna rebuid a motor I would spend the other $$$ and change over to SB.
 
We all know the Legend of the Slant motor.Pour sand in that focker,and it will take you to New York.Clean it up and it will run.Will it run as optimal as a fresh rebuild ? No.
But it will run. :)
 
Another option. Do nothing? Check that you if you have oil to the rockers and clean them only if needed. I would leave the sludge and run it. Cleaning, pouring stuff in is asking for damaged bearings. Or just rebuilt it as suggested. My 2 cents.
 
1/16? that's not much, let me see if I can find the pics of the 350 my brother pulled from a junkyard to cram into his s10. So much sludge in the bottom of the oil pan that the motor would only hold half of the oil it was supposed too. We tore it all apart, sludge in the lifter valley so thick and hard that we spent 2 hours doing nothing but scrapping out sludge. Not sure how that engine actually ran in the wrecked truck it came from. Finally just junked the engine
 
Take a look at my Feather Duster revival thread. My 225 was gunk, rust and chunky. I scrapped and vacuumed it all. Then changed the filter added 5 quarts of auto tranny fluid let it run at idle in driveway for 4 hours. Then changed to oil and filter. i did remove the valve cover after its all clean now not perfect but I will be changing the oil again after 1000 miles.

Not as good as a tear down tank and reassembly but its working fine.
 
Ever pulled the pan off a high milage tranny? Clean right?

ATF does a great job at cleaning.
 
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