How Clean Was My Valley

jrhaelig

jrhaelig

Senior Member
OK - the word play may be a little deep unless you are a die hard Maureen O'Hara fan (btw - Technicolor was absolutely made for her red hair. Or was it the other way around?)

Anyway - I couldn't get any oil down the filler neck so I figured there was trouble in the valley. I was right.

An hour or so with a garden sprayer, solvent, rags & filthy hands I have a very clean & flowing valley.

I scooped out what I could, sprayed the solvent, captured the outflow from the oil drain, filtered & repeated.
 

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And that's a big deal, too. All of that crud was blocking proper oil flow and supplying junk to the oil supply. That was a creative way of cleaning it out without turning the engine upside down.
 
You need to get some of the striking miners to help clean it out and now that its done paint it green then you can say "How green is my valley"
 
AH!! the results of non-detergent oil, short trips, not allowing the moisture to burn off . Pull the pan, clean the pick-up screen and the oil pan really good, check the oil pump and use detergent oil in the future
 
It's not running yet. It is a 24,000 mile engine that was no doubt used for a lot of short trips.

I did this backwards, but I should be OK. I did the pan first and thought I was done.

Because of this I made sure that while I was cleaning the top end I got everything dissolved so it was more of a solution flowing than forcing sludge through.

I think it looks pretty good. I may put some spark to it next week.
 
i had a 65 Galaxie, they only used Penz oil in it, the inside of the motor looked like yours!
 
Years ago,with non detergent oil,short trips & poor maintenance it was common to see the valley far worse than that.At least you could make out the valve springs in that engine!
 
If you already had the pan out to be cleaned, it shouldn't be too much of a problem to yank it out once again just to be sure that none of that junk is still down there. You said that you got the gunk all dissolved before it went down into the pan, but, can you be sure that there weren't any chunks that snuck by without your attention?
 
I would be more concern with the valve springs with all the rust hopefully they will not break under a load. I also would change the oil a few times after you have the engine running making sure all of the crud is out. You may also have to change the oil filter as well.

Frenchy
 
Years ago teenager I drained a 46 P.U.engine hot over a sewer drain -filled with Kerosene -started it and ran a few seconds and drained again! Filled with #40 or maybe #50 AND RAN IT !! Should not admit it even today 60+ years later!
 
I wouldn't run that without vatting and disassembly. Where is the upside? The rings are certainly as rusty as the valve springs. BTW the sludge is likely full of lead, hope you wore gloves?
 
kerk, with all the sneaking around by the Feds the EPA may "come a knockin' "! Let us know if you need bail money.
 
Rust flakes are very abrasive, do yourself a favor and drop the pan again before you start it and fill the bearings with debris ---there is a big pile still laying in the pan ---even if you have a filter it will go through the oil pump,
 
I had a 60,000 mile original I did that to. I just kept flushing the whole thing trough with solvent repeatedly. I put a coathanger wire through the pan drain hole between flushes and moved it all around, loosening all the sediment. I didn't drop the pan until many years later when I did the rebuild. I didn't have the rust you had. Never had any bad consequences for having done it.
 
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I agree with others ...PULL THE PAN... it will have more gunk in there than you expect ... start clean it will out run...you .... OLD...BILL
 
I bought a 40 tudor back in the mid-70's. It was the proverbial little old lady car.right up til the little old lady took it to a quickee-lube for an oil change. Out went the old non-detergent, in went the new detergent oil. When I bought it, the owner said "it smoked a little." Talk about sludge in the pan. It clogged the oil pump pickup almost completely. That didn't help the smoking problem. There were no mosquitoes left in a three county area after I drove it home. (No brakes either, but it was rural North Carolina.)

I know if it's in the car it's a pain, but drop the pan.
 
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