Too much sh** to clean by hand?

[DoubleDingo]

Add MMO, drive it around for week. Change the oil and filter, adding MMO again. Repeat until the oil is not black after a week of running MMO in it.

 

[trukman1]

We used to add a quart of kerosene till warmed up good, drain, repeat. Cheap oil to start till clean then good oil after that. Just what we used to do in the old days but that was when oil was cheap and synthetic oils weren't even around then. Still run a good oil filter (no Fram filters, ever!) YMMV

 

[AuroraGirl]

I LOL'ed

I was desperate to not have to rebuild a rare all aluminum DOHC V6 from 2001.

It didnt work, but it DID work.

It didnt fix my issue by my god so much crap came out of that engine. Would I do it again? Maybe as a pre clean to an engine i planned on redoing soon, so i had an idea of what kinda sludge or job I had ahead. Or if the engine was super super sludged up and maybe didnt suffer damage yet but was really pushing that line.

But I cant see myself doing it to a strong runner or something not TFG for sure.

ALso, it was 12 gallons for a v6. i dont want ot know how keroesene fits in a SBC crankcase up to the holes in the valve cover.

 

[Billy]

I mean, not to the service of ANY other aspect of this engine, but if you are looking to clean it out you could fill it with kerosene.

Mind you, this would need to be cleaned out perfectly or i could see it from keeping main bearings from getting proper lubrication, because it would wash any and all oil away i think.
but as a last measure attempt, not afraid of every external oil seal leaking, and wanna clean the ****** out?

Go ahead. Flush it with kerosense.

I was able to fit about 12 gallons in the crankcase of a LX5 V6, which is a V6 northstar essentially. Aluminum. I imagine a SBC could fit quite a bit.

I drained all the kerosene(get an oil sucker for this... drain plug was a BAD idea) and put oil in it, and turned it on.

It smoked for about 15 minutes just pure white clouds.

Oil was full of junk, too. Not just the kerosene.

Valvetrain was squeaky clean.

Still didnt have oil pressure, my last ditch effort failed.

So it didnt help me, but i didnt really think it would either. But it cleaned the **** out of the engine which i could see having A benefit somewhere, maybe not you tho

Or diesel fuel

 

[idahovette]

When I started at the Chevrolet store, i worked the lube rack and we always used a couple of quarts of diesel and some cheap 30 weight to flush the used cars out that were really gunked up. Drain the oil, fill with the mixture, fire up and listen to it rattle for a minute or 2(no revs). See what came out and either fill with the good stuff or flush it again. Seemed to always work!

 

[Dave M]

When I started at the Chevrolet store, i worked the lube rack and we always used a couple of quarts of diesel and some cheap 30 weight to flush the used cars out that were really gunked up. Drain the oil, fill with the mixture, fire up and listen to it rattle for a minute or 2(no revs). See what came out and either fill with the good stuff or flush it again. Seemed to always work!

Well, l reckon that about sums up how good some of these engine cleaning practices are, if used car yards are resorting to it, it must be good!

 

[idahovette]

Well, l reckon that about sums up how good some of these engine cleaning practices are, if used car yards are resorting to it, it must be good!

@Dave M , this was a LONG time ago!!!! I started at the Chevy store in July of 1968 and worked there til they shut it down in September of 1980. But engine flushing WAS a common practice then, there wasn't much technology about it either!!!

 

[Grit dog]

FWIW, cleaning the gunk out of the engine is not a Fix for a bad oil pump. No oil pressure = permanent condition and the fix is a new oil pump. Do not try hydro locking your engine with a half drum of kerosene.

 

[Grit dog]

If it runs fine, I’d clean up the heads, let the solvent just drain into the pan, and clean out the intake valley.
Fresh Cheap oil with MMO Or Seafoam once or twice and let er rip.
Not much experience with LS motors but the intake valley is supposed to be dry, isn’t it?
I replaced the knock sensors on our 01 and don’t recall oil in the valley. ICBW but don’t understand where all that oil and sludge came from.

 

[Taylorb27]

If it runs fine, I’d clean up the heads, let the solvent just drain into the pan, and clean out the intake valley.
Fresh Cheap oil with MMO Or Seafoam once or twice and let er rip.
Not much experience with LS motors but the intake valley is supposed to be dry, isn’t it?
I replaced the knock sensors on our 01 and don’t recall oil in the valley. ICBW but don’t understand where all that oil and sludge came from.

This is underneath the valley cover, you wouldn't have had to remove the plate to replace the knock sensors.

Oil pan was pretty sludgy and the pickup screen had a good layer of gunk on it. Waiting on an oil pump, cam, springs, and some misc gaskets now. Then it will get slammed back together and painted. I've got a color scheme that I'm pretty excited to try out

 

[Matt69olds]

Automatic transmission fluid is another good cleaning band-aid. It’s not nearly as aggressive as the kerosene or diesel fuel. Maybe used the kerosene/diesel methods to clean out the major trash, then drain and change the filter. Refill with cheap oil and a couple quarts of ATF. Transmission fluid has a lot of detergents, it will clean out a lot of debris. It also doesn’t handle the heat nearly as well as engine oil so don’t beat on it.

 

[Grit dog]

@Taylorb27
Ok makes sense.

 

[AuroraGirl]

Automatic transmission fluid is another good cleaning band-aid. It’s not nearly as aggressive as the kerosene or diesel fuel. Maybe used the kerosene/diesel methods to clean out the major trash, then drain and change the filter. Refill with cheap oil and a couple quarts of ATF. Transmission fluid has a lot of detergents, it will clean out a lot of debris. It also doesn’t handle the heat nearly as well as engine oil so don’t beat on it.

Yeah for sure. The kerosene made everything spotless without much other than sitting for a bit, which is a great way to prep parts or maybe severe situations, but that poor oil pickup tube.. I verified mine hasn't clogged after , but I could see how it would if I hadn't already cleaned the gunk in the pan