Gunk Arghhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!! Anyone has a good tip to reduce the gunk inside my engine without having to pull it all apart? I just got a motor to get my car going while I rebuild the one in the car. Not only is it an unreputable 80's engine but it is full of oil gunk. When will I get a break?????? I am getting ready to get rid of the car altoghether only if I could bring myself to forget about my Mav. But i don't think I can. Please anyone tell me about a trick to get this out of the engine! Heeeeeeeeeeeeelp!
If it runs good, just leave it in there. The damage is done, and will only be worse if you put something in there and loosen it up and then it gets lodged in a oil passage or the pump itself. If you're really determined to clean it up inside, run a quart of atf with some good high detergent oil like Havoline. It will break down some of the sludge slowly.
Thats what my dad told me to do with my first car, worked for 6 months. Might of been longer I gave it away so don't know.
when dealing with slug motors in the past i will get the motor good and warm. then put a quart of atf in and let it idle for 20 min - 30 min. then drain the oil right away and let it drain for as long as possible. one car a buddy of mine had, we did this once a week for a month and the last oil change came out nice and clean. after that we used high quality brand oil and premium oil filters and never had any problems. the atf is really good at dissolving sludge.
it is.. and it also works to clean intake tract and combustion chamber deposits pretty well too.. if you pour a fair bit down the carburetor until the engine bogs and dies to let it sit and soak. Smokes to high heaven after the restart but it does actually clean the stuff off pretty well if you run a real high idle to get the motor good and warm afterwards. Then a couple of full throttle snorts never hurts to finish the evacutaion pocesss either.. or for that matter.. to keep a motor clean over the long run. The low RPM city driving, extended change intervals, and/or running the oil too low repeatedly due to leaks are the main cuases for that type of problem. Some of the older guys used to also say running a bit of water down the carb on occassion is good for cleaning too.. but I've always been leary of too much of that due to potential piston/wall scuffing. I do however run a bit of water down the carb after that trans fluid trick to help clean the residual crap a bit faster/better. Then I change the plugs and run it kinda hard to make sure its as good as it'll get.. short of using professional grade products/procedures. And as for the shelf based.. "one can of this will cure all your woes" type stuff.. there are some decent brands out there but I have had many oil leaks after running some of the more aggressive "cleans your whole engine in only 10 minutes" type products. Best to go to a dealer and spend the extra cash to do it better. In the end.. this stuff is like many other things auto related and everyone has a particular method to their madness. I rarely trust the advertising and just stick with what's always worked best for my engines... Change the oil consistently and keep the levels up between changes.. try to maintain a decent engine tune to avoid premature oil contamination caused from reduced combustion efficiency.. run the engine up into the higher rpm range at least occassionally to keep everything flowing freely and hot enough to burn off(on ramps are great for that).
