dinghyboy Posted March 7, 2013 Share Posted March 7, 2013 Thanks for answering the questions I've been posting the past few days, now here is why I was asking. I was trying to address oil leaks and removed my valve cover to replace the gasket and found some rather bothersome Oil sludge. I plugged the push rod holes and scraped off what I could access. My plan now is to pull the oil pan and clean that out and install a new rear main seal and pan gasket. while I'm in there I've been advised to check the timing chain slack and rectify if needed. I'll also replace the crank case ventilation components since the were sludged solid. My question to those who know more about this engine, is should I also remove the timing chain cover to remove sludge in that area. It seems the valve train sludge is sort of common but I haven't heard anyone mention sludge under the timing chain cover. After it's all back together I'll probably add some Marvel Mistery Oil or Auto-RX and do repetitive oil changes for the next several thousand miles hoping that the additives will clean out any oil passage sludge. Appreciate any input. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParadiseMJ Posted March 7, 2013 Share Posted March 7, 2013 Good God!! Surprised it was still running. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biotex Posted March 7, 2013 Share Posted March 7, 2013 If it were mine, i'd clean out what you can get to, and then run a high detergent oil such as Rotella for diesel engines. Just so happens this oil has high enough zinc content to provide anti-wear resistance for our flat tappet engines. The idea is to change the oil every couple of thousand miles, and the filter more. You want to clean out the sludge slow enough so that you don't risk clogging your oil galleries or the sump screen. I have had very good luck with a product called seafoam. Again, the more frequently you can afford to keep new oil inside with fresh filters, the better. edit: In the old days, sludge like that was common due to the fact that the oil refining process wasn't as advanced as it is today. Pennzoil and Quakerstate used a crude blend that just caused sludge buildup. With the modern chemicals and refining processes, and the cleaner burning engines, that kind of buildup is a thing of the past thankfully. Neglecting oil changes will cause that as well. Kind of shows you just how bulletproof these bottom ends are... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
54bobby Posted March 8, 2013 Share Posted March 8, 2013 + for seafome but for no more than 75 or 100 miles. then fresh oil change and then another in 1000 or 1500 more and see how it looks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimoshel Posted March 8, 2013 Share Posted March 8, 2013 Back in the good ol' days, sights like that were common. We'd drain the oil. fill the crankcase with kerosene and run it until the rods started knocking.Drain, Refill with oil. Run it for a couple hundred miles, pull the valve cover and check. If it was reasonably clean that was it. If not, then another kerosene treatment. Then that miracle treatment, STP came along and kind of reduced it a little. For now I got to go along with the Seafoam treatment. I've used it and was happy with the results. The biggy to watch for is don't let any globs get in the oil system. It'll clog up the oil gallerys and or any little hole it gets to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mvusse Posted March 8, 2013 Share Posted March 8, 2013 Use Mobil 1 High Mileage for the next few oil changes. API SL, so it still has zinc in it, full synthetic which cleans sludge out better than dino lubes. Heard good things about seafoam, but no personal experience with the stuff. Quaker State Defy is a synthetic blend and is also SL. Most 4 cycle motorcycle oils are API SJ, but don't usually come any lighter than 10W40. Something about running oil with an additive package designed for a diesel engine in a gasoline engine doesn't sound right to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Comanche County Posted March 8, 2013 Share Posted March 8, 2013 Pennzoil and Quakerstate used a crude blend that just caused sludge buildup. Yup, for years I used Penzoil. Probably from watching the Unsers...anyway I thought that kind of build up was normal. That was a while back before synthetics came around. Maybe I'm just biased against them but now, no penzoil product touches my engines anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dasbulliwagen Posted March 8, 2013 Share Posted March 8, 2013 I agree about using oils rated SL or earlier for the zinc content. Our engines were designed to be run with more zinc additive than what oils today have. And the Mobil 1 High milage oils are no longer all SL rated. Some are now SM or SN, so I stopped using it and will be searching soon for something else to run. Some people reccomend the diesel oils, and some reccomend Motorcycle oils, so I guess Ill be looking into them. Hope this helps for when you get her cleaned out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
54bobby Posted March 8, 2013 Share Posted March 8, 2013 bin running 15/40 in my bimmer for years now and i have 370,000 and the internals are clean as a whistle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruiser54 Posted March 8, 2013 Share Posted March 8, 2013 5 quarts of Rotella with one quart of Marvel Mystery Oil. Wix or Napa Gold filter. Monitor the progress by checking the oil's appearance on the dipstick. Check how quickly it's cleaning up by by shining a light through the oil filler hole. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minuit Posted March 8, 2013 Share Posted March 8, 2013 Once you get some of that crud out, you can't go wrong with running seafoam through it. I've never put it in my oil but it cleans through the cylinders and valves pretty well. I imagine the internals aren't very clean either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dinghyboy Posted March 8, 2013 Author Share Posted March 8, 2013 Thanks for everyone's input. From the comments, it seems like dropping the oil pan and cleaning it, then running Rotella with either seafoam (short period) or Marvel Mistery oil (maybe 1000 miles) would be the way to go. So you do not think I will need to remove the Timing chain cover and clean there. Right? I have already plugged the push rod holes and cleaned the top of the cylinder head to get all the cunky parts off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biotex Posted March 8, 2013 Share Posted March 8, 2013 No need to pull the timing cover. When you pull the pan, you will be able to look into it from the back side. Check the chain slop while in there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruiser54 Posted March 10, 2013 Share Posted March 10, 2013 I wouldn't even pull the pan if it were me. I'd just do the Rotella/MMO treatment with a good filter. I wish I could find the thread on another forum where a guy had sludge as bad as this, maybe worse, and monitored the progress using the Rotella/MMO recipe. Amazing how well it worked. He later removed the pan for a different reason and posted photos. It looked better than 80% of the 4.0s I've ever pulled the pan off of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
comanchedude Posted March 11, 2013 Share Posted March 11, 2013 Sludge can be from a few things. Least is oil. Not changing it as often as needed, running the engine in a lot of short trips ,running engine cold, non functions PVC system. . I think you cleaning the sludge by scraping is best. Remove your pan and start at top clean and wash through with solvent ,then clean pan and the pickup screen. . Then just run normal 10w30 and change it per owner book. Per your driving conditions. 3k is usually a safe bet. My 2cent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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