oily "dirt" under valve cover

[dbotos]

'54 TO-30 with 4-cylinder gasser. Bunch of this stuff under the valve cover. Been trying to get out all I can with small spoon and scraper made by pounding the end of some round stock flat. Any tips for removing? Was thinking I'd turn to WD-40 soaked paper towels after exhausting the spoon and scraper.



Thanks,
David

 

[TractorGuy]

Probably sludge from a lifetime of Quaker State oil that was never changed. I saw a guy pull a valve cover off a chevy one time that looked like the cover was still on. You could even read Chevrolet in the sludge.

 

[Jim Nelson]

Easy Off oven cleaner would probably get it with a couple of applications.

 

[3930dave]

My goto degreaser is Simple Green, partly because I usually have some around anyway.

But any name brand engine degreaser should do fine.

Ex. Engine Cleaning & Degreasing

In that line, I'd probably try either the Gel, or the Citrus version.

Rgds, D.

 

[PILOON]

Easy Off oven cleaner would probably get it with a couple of applications.

It also strips paint, so watch it, powerful stuff but great de greaser.

 

[Egon]

A little diesel fuel and a brush.

 

[TractorGuy]

I would stick with your WD40 idea or the diesel fuel suggestion. I don't think I would use any kind of soap or oven cleaner inside an engine I wasn't tearing down completely. The problem is the entire engine may be full of that crap. Might be worth pulling the oil pan if you can and see if the oil pump pickup screen is clear.

 

[dbotos]

Thanks for the replies. I will probably stick with the WD-40 / diesel - I'd like to avoiding pulling the valve train stuff / head. Sounds like an oil pan pull would be worth it and easy enough. This poor tractor's been down longer than I'd care for and I've been trying to keep it from becoming a full teardown / resto. I also came across a thread on a car forum about running some ATF in with engine oil and then changing it out to help clean up dirty engine internals. Perhaps I'll do that too when I get this thing back together.

Thanks,
David

 

[Sysop]

Oven cleaner would likely kill any gaskets or seals. Stick with Diesel.

 

[M5farms]

A little diesel fuel and a brush.

we used to clean Chrysler irrigation power units this way . we would open the oil cap fill engine with diesel fuel and pull the unit to new location which was several miles, drain and refill with oil and fire it up , sometimes those old engines would run a 7days a week

 

[1stDeuce]

We found the same thing when we tore down my dad's '66 Galaxy to rebuid it years ago. Dad blamed Penzoil. It turns out, ALL old non-detergent oils would do that over time.

I believe running detergent oil should slowly clean it out, but it'll take a LOT of running. The various motor flush additives (Or diesel, or ATF) will loosen it up and rinse it into the pan, but if there's a lot of it, it'll plug up passages, your oil filter, etc.

My $.02 is to clean out what you can by hand. After re-assembly, you can use a motor flush product, or run a few quarts of ATF in it for a while if you want to clean more out, and change the oil again.

Or just run good oil and don't worry about the antique deposits, which the good oil may reduce over time...

 

[TractorGuy]

That thing will probably run right on with the stuff left in place. When you start trying to free it up or dissolve it is when it is liable to cause problems. I would look into installing a manual oil pressure gauge and keep a good eye on it.

One of my uncles decided to do my granddaddy a favor and took his car to town for an oil change once. It had never had anything in it but non detergent 30W. They put detergent oil in it and it started burning oil. Had to add a quart every few hundred miles from then on.

 

[dbotos]

I wonder if it would be possible to flush the oiling system with diesel or some kind of thin solvent pushed along by a few psi of compressed air. But, like JD855guy said, it might get the crud into somewhere undesirable...

 

[Egon]

There are probably more than one person that have devised an at home engine clean out. They usually end up with a clean engine but it's a new one.

 

[3930dave]

Old engines are famous for leaking/smoking once converted off non-deterg oil.

That said, if I was going to put something in a running engine, I'd use Seafoam in the oil - with at least 6 spare oil-filters on standby.....

ATF has some popularity, but as much of it contains friction-modifiers, I'd prefer Seafoam....

Rgds, D.