When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Funny i did this exact deal on my other 89 in 2006 except miles were 175k and it was knocking at low hot idle
so i rolled bearngs in it and proceeded to beat the **** out of it another 6 years till the truck just could take it anymore.
broken steering box, 3 radiator, 3 sets motor mounts, u joints, set of headlights etc etc
On ol yeller im putting new gaskets in, clean oil pickup screen, advance cam timing with mr gasket key
water pump and motor mounts
let the games begin
Got about an hour in this am and had to do tball with son. Got back at it about 3.
Have it out in driveway getting a bath now.
i sure miss my hot water pressure washer.
shes been a good truck so far. Put 14k on her in last year daily driving. Got most all the kinks worked out and staying on top of them as they come
Oh wow, yeah, that's some nasty sludge! (Although, I've seen worse). Otherwise, everything else looks nice and clean.
How far aw you planning on going with the engine?
If it were me, with sludge like that, I'd be really concerned about the small oil passages being plugged up, and causing oil starvation throughout the engine.
It's a bit of work, but might be a decent idea to break it all down and have the block and head hot-tanked, then put it all back together.
If nothing else, I'd definitely pull a couple crank bearing caps and take a look at your bearings to be sure they haven't been oil starved / burned up.
I'd also be concerned with the lifters being plugged. You can either replace, and break in a new set. Or disassemble all of yours and clean them out. I've done that before. Basically just takes a pair of needle nose pliers and some patience. There's a retaining clip on the top, and then all the internals just come right out. You might need to work the piston up and down if there's sludge, as well as some vacuum from the oil viscosity, to get it to come out. After two or three, you'll quickly get the hang of it and move right through the rest.
Lastly, run some pipe cleaners through your push rods and make sure you can see down through the centers of them.
For the sludge that depends on far you plan to tear down the engine.
If you are going to leave the long block together. Just clean out as much of it as you can. I would make sure to pull the oil pump pick up tube off and clean it out good.
Then when you get it back together and in the truck I would replace 1 quart of the oil with a quart of ATF. Then after a couple hundred miles change the oil. I would do that a couple times. The ATF will help dissolve any left over sludge. Another product that will also work is some stuff called Auto-RX. https://www.auto-rx.com/ But it's fairly spendy so I usually just use ATF. The ATF also works well for cleaning up engine parts. If you have time to let the parts soak in it for a few days.
You just don't want to run any of the flushing products in the crankcase. They can knock loose big chunks of sludge which can plug up oil passages.
Oh wow, yeah, that's some nasty sludge! (Although, I've seen worse). Otherwise, everything else looks nice and clean.
How far aw you planning on going with the engine?
If it were me, with sludge like that, I'd be really concerned about the small oil passages being plugged up, and causing oil starvation throughout the engine.
It's a bit of work, but might be a decent idea to break it all down and have the block and head hot-tanked, then put it all back together.
If nothing else, I'd definitely pull a couple crank bearing caps and take a look at your bearings to be sure they haven't been oil starved / burned up.
I'd also be concerned with the lifters being plugged. You can either replace, and break in a new set. Or disassemble all of yours and clean them out. I've done that before. Basically just takes a pair of needle nose pliers and some patience. There's a retaining clip on the top, and then all the internals just come right out. You might need to work the piston up and down if there's sludge, as well as some vacuum from the oil viscosity, to get it to come out. After two or three, you'll quickly get the hang of it and move right through the rest.
Lastly, run some pipe cleaners through your push rods and make sure you can see down through the centers of them.
The lifter galley was sludged just as bad, so was the timing cover, i took these pics after i had cleaned the big stuff out.
Man i would love to take this thing down and at least do a hot tank, hone, rings bearings and valve job. But im trying to keep this DD a budget DD. Not the snowball that every vehicle ive ever owned has become...lol.
If i hot tank it, might as well hone cyl and rings, polish crank and new bearings. Might as well new lifters and cam, then might as well bore .030 and new pistons, and 0 deck block. then might as well...........
My plan after thinking about it it to remove head cam and lifters. Pressure wash head to get rid of the bid stuff, and soak in kerosine, brush lightly and wash again. lap valves and put back together. Lifters i will clean in kerosene.
I will do bottom end depending on how bad it looks.
I plan to plastigauge a few rod and main bearings, and had planned on cleaning pickup screen.
Depressing to uncover something like this! I bought the truck with 124k miles on it, so if i had to guess it lived a life of a TON of short trips with OCI that reflected miles and not hours/time.
Originally Posted by fordman75
For the sludge that depends on far you plan to tear down the engine.
If you are going to leave the long block together. Just clean out as much of it as you can. I would make sure to pull the oil pump pick up tube off and clean it out good.
Then when you get it back together and in the truck I would replace 1 quart of the oil with a quart of ATF. Then after a couple hundred miles change the oil. I would do that a couple times. The ATF will help dissolve any left over sludge. Another product that will also work is some stuff called Auto-RX. https://www.auto-rx.com/ But it's fairly spendy so I usually just use ATF. The ATF also works well for cleaning up engine parts. If you have time to let the parts soak in it for a few days.
You just don't want to run any of the flushing products in the crankcase. They can knock loose big chunks of sludge which can plug up oil passages.
Im going to check out the oil passages as best i can, keep your fingers crossed.
Im hoping to just do a few flushes to get any loose debris out after i put it back together, with a method like you stated.
Ive torn apart alot of neglected engines, never had this before.....sigh. Sure is amazing how well this thing has run in the last year ive owned it.
IS it ok to use regular type in something exposed to crappy modern gas? I remembered when i checked my fuel pressure, that it began leaking as soon as the cap was removed, so the only thing keeping my fuel pressure in check was the cap, not the valve
Yeah man, I'm going through the exact same thing. Spent more on machining and parts than on a whole new remanufactured engine, which would have been better anyway.
I went to my local NAPA and asked for some plastigauge and the guys all laughed at me and said nobody sells it anymore because everyone just buys crate engines.
Kelowna, BC, Canada
