Ugh, maybe I never should have bought this one...

I had my '91 F-150 with the 302 in to have the intake gasket
replaced. When the mechanic had the parts off, he showed me
perhaps the dirtiest engine he'd seen in a long time. Seems that
the previous owner had never, or rarely changed the oil.

Of course the mechanic washed the removable parts and tried
to clean up the rest as best as circumstances would allow. He
sent me on my way with the admonition to change the oil
frequently, which I typically do. Anyways...

Is there something else I can do for this engine? Risoline?
Full-synthetic oil?

Thanks, Cliff

 

Full synthetic or a less expensive and just as good way is add a quart of MMO or SeaFoam when you change it next. Watch it carefully as it should get dark quickly and you will need to change well before the 3K mark. will probably take 3 change cycles b4 you get most of the sludge out.

 

Thanks, never heard of MMO or SeaFoam, but I'll ask the guys at the shop.

 

hey man no problem some one may have been adding differnt oil every time they toped it up. Before you change your oil add some transmition fluid before your next oil change. It will clean your engine out dame good. or blew a gasget at one time and got anti freez in the block.

 

also try chevron techron

 

MMO = Marvel Mystery Oil

 

I second the advice to add a qt of transmission fluid when you get down a quart, drive it for a while, couple hundred miles even and then change the oil. I have heard that 500 miles is safe, but I am a chicken. The trans fluid has much more detergent than motor oil and will help clean the inside of your engine.

The bad news is that some damage may already be done. This is a good reason not to buy a vehicle in my opinion. This may also result from a vehicle not getting adequately warmed up to boil the water out of the oil. Engines that idle a lot in cold weather sludge really bad.

 

There are many ways to clean the engine up, you could use a flush everytime before you change oil, or as stated above run some trans fluid in it but I wouldn't go more than a few miles, make sure the oil is good and hot before changeing, and there are other chemical cleaners that would work. One problem though might be that if you clean the gunk all out you may find more wear than normal and the engine will not run well. The gunk could actually be covering up the severe wear. If it is that bad might be worth just overhauling the motor or replacing it.

 

My suggestion is, if it's running good, just stick with regular oil changes and don't worry about the gunk. You might cause more trouble by knocking it loose than leaving it where it is.