I pulled the leaky valve covers off my F150 and was greeted with a bit of a mess. What's the best way to clean all this gunk off?

 

That looks like something my wife cooked. Sorry but someone with more knowledge will give you the info you need. Hang on. Sandy

 

Picks, scrapers, some solvent to soften it up, maybe a brush, a shopvac and lots of time. Have you pulled the other side? It's likely just as bad.
That my friend is lots of sludge. The entire engine oil system if gonna be coated in theat junk. Somebody didn't change the oil in that truck often... Or ever....

 

Is that simply the result of infrequent oil changes, or maybe it was run without a thermostat in the past, and then baked in? Or short trips?

Here's what I found about 23k miles after rebuild, I had neglected adjusting valve lash, but tried to keep clean oil in it.

 

I haven't pulled the other side yet, but I'm assuming it's just as bad.

I bought the truck 9 months ago and have been going through and fixing it as time and money allows. It has run surprisingly well with the exception to the oil leaks. Hopefully replacing the valve covers and gaskets fixes the leak problem.

 

Honestly I wouldn't touch anything. You can try to clean it but you have to be really careful and diligent about getting it all. Anything knocked loose and not picked up can go to the oil pickup and plug the screen.

 

I'd wager that every bit of your motor looks like that. For me it would be time to tear it down, and rebuild it.

 

That's what I was thinking. Getting **** where it doesn't need to be and maybe blocking an oil passage.

 

It isn't worth the time required to do it myself or the money it would cost to have someone else do it. I'll drive her until she dies and then I'll throw a 351 in her.

 

Just doing more frequent oil changes may clear that up a bit over time.

 

Mix in a quart of ATF every oil change and it will clear up after a few changes.

 

I'd use a shop vac and a pick to try to get the big/loose-ish stuff where I could, but I'd not go crazy. That said, like others, I suggest that you don't knock stuff loose that you can't immediately remove.

Run more cost-efficient oil through it with seafoam/ATF and change frequently, like every couple of thousand miles. I'd probably change the filter every thousand miles when running the ATF/seafoam treatments. I'd say after about 3 rotations of that you'll have cleaned much of that out of there.

That said, I'd check the compression and see where you are at - if it's been really abused/neglected it might not be worth the trouble to really go through the trouble of cleaning it out.

 

It seems like a small amount of sludge might be normal with older motors unless you religiously run quality synthetic oils.

It's also important to keep the PCV (positive crankcase ventilation system) in top working order, as it can also be partly responsible for the sludge.

Good luck!

 

Drain back on top of a head is worse that the crank case. (Lifter valley is second) More heat there than anywhere else coupled with infrequent oil changes/poor quality oil means it cooks & solidifies. Hi-detergent synthetic will over time reduce it.

I stripped off the pan & VCs' on mine a couple of years back. The upper looked like that (PO was real cheapskate) but the lower half of the engine was great.

You could plug the drain back holes & with a selection of small screw drivers & paper towels carefully remove about 90% without fear of clogging the pick up. It takes time & patience but you said it wasn't worth it, so slap the VCs' back on.

Wouldn't add anything but about a cup of Marvel Mystery oil to the crankcase though.

 

You'd have to plug the holes for the pushrods too. Safest bet would be to use a vacuum that could handle the oil, and a really small attachment to fit in the nooks and crannies.