oily "dirt" under valve cover

[dbotos]

'54 TO-30 with 4-cylinder gasser. Bunch of this stuff under the valve cover. Been trying to get out all I can with small spoon and scraper made by pounding the end of some round stock flat. Any tips for removing? Was thinking I'd turn to WD-40 soaked paper towels after exhausting the spoon and scraper.



Thanks,
David

 

[TractorGuy]

Probably sludge from a lifetime of Quaker State oil that was never changed. I saw a guy pull a valve cover off a chevy one time that looked like the cover was still on. You could even read Chevrolet in the sludge.

 

[Jim Nelson]

Easy Off oven cleaner would probably get it with a couple of applications.

 

[3930dave]

My goto degreaser is Simple Green, partly because I usually have some around anyway.

But any name brand engine degreaser should do fine.

Ex. Engine Cleaning & Degreasing

In that line, I'd probably try either the Gel, or the Citrus version.

Rgds, D.

 

[PILOON]

Easy Off oven cleaner would probably get it with a couple of applications.

It also strips paint, so watch it, powerful stuff but great de greaser.

 

[Egon]

A little diesel fuel and a brush.

 

[TractorGuy]

I would stick with your WD40 idea or the diesel fuel suggestion. I don't think I would use any kind of soap or oven cleaner inside an engine I wasn't tearing down completely. The problem is the entire engine may be full of that crap. Might be worth pulling the oil pan if you can and see if the oil pump pickup screen is clear.

 

[dbotos]

Thanks for the replies. I will probably stick with the WD-40 / diesel - I'd like to avoiding pulling the valve train stuff / head. Sounds like an oil pan pull would be worth it and easy enough. This poor tractor's been down longer than I'd care for and I've been trying to keep it from becoming a full teardown / resto. I also came across a thread on a car forum about running some ATF in with engine oil and then changing it out to help clean up dirty engine internals. Perhaps I'll do that too when I get this thing back together.

Thanks,
David

 

[Sysop]

Oven cleaner would likely kill any gaskets or seals. Stick with Diesel.

 

[M5farms]

A little diesel fuel and a brush.

we used to clean Chrysler irrigation power units this way . we would open the oil cap fill engine with diesel fuel and pull the unit to new location which was several miles, drain and refill with oil and fire it up , sometimes those old engines would run a 7days a week