Sludge in oil pan

Steve Wastler

Steve Wastler

Well-known member
I had read numerous posts in the past, of guys recommending to remove and clean the pan before attempting to sart an engine that has sat for extended periods of time. Sort of thought to myself, how much crud could there be in the pan.Having been slowly getting the mail truck to be able to run after at least 25 years, I decieded to take others advice and remove the pan before attempting to start.

Boy, I am glad I did, at first, I just drained the old oil, very black, not too thick, no real sludge to speak of. I had put a couple of quarts of fresh oil in and ran out of time so it sat for a few months. Yesterday I drained the fresh couple of quarts, which was also turning black, removed the pan and was sort of surprised to find two inches of sludge in the bottom.

The sludge was thick, had been over the bottom of the oil pump and when i scraped it out, it had a lot of gravel bits, not metal but seemed to be gravel, sticks and some bug carcasses. The biggest stick was about 8" long and about 1/8" round. Pulled the pump and the screen was almost completely covered with leaves and bug carcasses along with the oil sludge.

The inside of the enginge looks good, everything is as should be, seems to be a nice engine. I am sure glad I took the time to remove the pan, no telling what damage could have happened in the first 5 to 10 minutes of running. I will always recommend this step and will never be one to just add a fresh battery and throw it some gas and see what happens.....:)
 
What a great sticky story. One never knows just what happened to an engine that sat for 25 years. People kind of loose track or die off. Better to look~see and learn where your starting from.

Dad always said the only difference 'tween "a new engine and a worn out engine is an ounce and a half of babbit in the pan."

So a fresh fill and a short run and another dump and refill will be like "a little lace and a little paint will make her what she ain't."

skip.
 
welcome to wonderful world of non detergent oil, thats the stuff the uniformrd tell you to use, now you see why you are told never use it, pull the side cover and clean out the valve chamber, it will be just as cruddy as the pan,change the oil ever couple of hundred miles for at least 3 times, if detergent oil had been use none of that would have been stuck in the engine, it would all have been drained out at every oil change
 
Steve, I read with interest your account. You are, of course, correct. The pan should be removed to get the bug carcases, etc out. However, in my 1930, I poured some fuel oil in it and let it sit for a couple of days. I did crank it over to slosh the oil and a little. I drained the oil and nothing came out to raise my suspicions except a few quarts of very dirty fuel oil and some sludge. I repeated the process twice more with out starting it.
Only then did I put oil into it and attempt to start it. Once it had chugged a few times, some as five minutes, I again, drained itand replaced it. This was a reccomended process when I was working on airplanes with an engine that had sat for too long. Oil dries off the cam and cylinder walls and you get rusting (iron Oxide). Also, with boat motors that are being stored for the winter. We would "choke" them with a squirt can of 50/50 oil and gas being squirted into the engine while running with the gasline disconected. They were running on the gas in the carburetor and what we squirted into it. As a solution, it was perfect, carbs were empty and upper cylinders were well oiled for hibernation till spring. there was never a problem with starting come spring. I have never heard of anyone taking this trouble for a car when they put one away.
Terry



Steve Wastler said:
I had read numerous posts in the past, of guys recommending to remove and clean the pan before attempting to sart an engine that has sat for extended periods of time. Sort of thought to myself, how much crud could there be in the pan.Having been slowly getting the mail truck to be able to run after at least 25 years, I decieded to take others advice and remove the pan before attempting to start.

Boy, I am glad I did, at first, I just drained the old oil, very black, not too thick, no real sludge to speak of. I had put a couple of quarts of fresh oil in and ran out of time so it sat for a few months. Yesterday I drained the fresh couple of quarts, which was also turning black, removed the pan and was sort of surprised to find two inches of sludge in the bottom.

The sludge was thick, had been over the bottom of the oil pump and when i scraped it out, it had a lot of gravel bits, not metal but seemed to be gravel, sticks and some bug carcasses. The biggest stick was about 8" long and about 1/8" round. Pulled the pump and the screen was almost completely covered with leaves and bug carcasses along with the oil sludge.

The inside of the enginge looks good, everything is as should be, seems to be a nice engine. I am sure glad I took the time to remove the pan, no telling what damage could have happened in the first 5 to 10 minutes of running. I will always recommend this step and will never be one to just add a fresh battery and throw it some gas and see what happens.....:)
Click to expand...
 
When I removed my pan, I found a similar amount of sludge that took me about four hours to remove with kerosene. Plus I found the spring holding up the oil pump had broken in two. The pump was still working, but its screen was pretty much clogged. I'm glad I took the time to remove the pan. The valave chamber was pretty sludge up, too.
 
Take that sludge down to the Gulf and get BP to cut you a check. Tell them it washed up on your lawn and killed all your roaches and trees (8" stick in pan).
 
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