Oil sludge

[Capricious]

Am posting my continuing expoits with an old Mitsubishi tractor here:

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/mitsubishi-satoh/316342-mt160d-15.html#post3901196




Removed the valve cover yesterday to adjust valve lash and found this:



Lots of sludge.

I am not going to dissasemble this engine, so what are my options otherwise?

Use a flushing product in the oil, and maybe risk having a lot of the stuff come loose and plug something up?

Just go with frequent oil changes in the hope of gradually cleaning things up?

Engine appears to run OK as it is. So far.

Opinions ?


Thanks.

 

[kencunningham]

If you use something to flush the engine, all that gunk is going to end up in the oil pan and plug the oil pump screen. If you can remove the oil pan without too much trouble then flush it and then clean the oil pan. You really need to have a oil pressure guage hooked up to make sure the screen doesnt clog and starve the engine.

 

[Capricious]

If you use something to flush the engine, all that gunk is going to end up in the oil pan and plug the oil pump screen. If you can remove the oil pan without too much trouble then flush it and then clean the oil pan. You really need to have a oil pressure guage hooked up to make sure the screen doesnt clog and starve the engine.

I have the oil pressure gauge:



And that is exactly what I am concerned about; something plugging up, either the pump pickup or maybe an oil gallery passage, if i do the "fast flush."

Which is why I am wondering if I would be ahead to go through several short-interval oil changes instead.



EDITED TO ADD: I scooped/wiped up as much crud off the cylinder head as I could, while I had the valve cover off:

 

[puckgrinder85]

I agree, you don't want it all gone at once. I would be mixing the stuff we get from napa into the oil (engine flush) at a smaller rate, to up the detergents in the oil and then start changing it earlier to clean it out. Or you could use "high mileage" oil which typically contain a bit more detergents for older engines.

 

[Topher265]

Regardless if you do shorter oil changes or a flush all at once, you still run the risk of a passageway plugging up.

If it were my tractor, I'd spend the time to do one or two flushes consecutively while it's parked and remove/clean the pan in between. Perform one, then pull the cover and see how it looks. Remove/clean the pan then evaluate if you want to do another.

Or you could just clean it by hand and call it a day .

 

[The Fred]

Pull the oil pan and use a hot water power washer to get the majority of the sludge out; top and bottom. Clean and reassemble the oil pickup screen and good to go. Possibly you might need to pull the glowplugs to suck any water out after cleaning. Roll the engine over by hand to make sure you have not hydraulic locked a cylinder before you hit the key.

Do it once or keep trying with flushes, that's a lot of sludge there sir. If you insist on using a flush the best one I have seen is BG 103192. This is the flush that VW/Audi recommends to clean the sludge from 1.8T engines. It works I have tried it. It is a combination of engine oil and paint stripper. You run it for 4 hours at full throttle in the shop and monitor oil pressure and replace the filter 3 or 4 times during the process, I feel a power washer would accomplish the same thing only much faster.

Good luck, Fred

https://www.bgprod.com/bg-solves-volkswagenaudi-sticky-problem/

 

[Soundguy]

i collect and work on older tractors. not uncommon to see some that have an nch of sludge in them.

i try to remove anything i can get to. valve covers. side covers, oil pan if it is not a split job.

clean out mechanically all those areas.

then i will buy some bulk oil like cheap rural king or walmart oil in a pail, plus a few extra cheap brand oil filters. And while i'm not a fan of snake oil, I will usually get something like atf-f or dex/merc 3 and run a quart of that substituted for the regualr quart in the engine and then do an oil change after bringing her up to temp.

IE.. do the mechanical cleaning, then slap stuff back on, with new fitler and flush oil. start and warm up, then actually do an oil change and cut filter open. See what actually moved on that initial change since some would be disturbed during the mechanical work too.

I had a jd engine that was soo sludged it took 5 oil changes ( over time ) before it was clean!

 

[Capricious]

So far I've changed the oil three times & filter twice since I've owned the tractor, about 6 hours of running time.

I need it to run about 4 or 5 hours in the next week or so to finish-up mowing, and then it can sit until next spring.

Was replacing bolts in the drawbar yesterday and while underneath it was looking at how big a job to drop the engine pan- have to remove the front driveshaft along with some other things but doesn't look too bad.

Will probably make a winter job of flushing & cleaning the pan.

Thanks for the comments.

 

[jaotguy]

it runs well now right ? ... best to just keep doing your frequent oil/filter changes ...

if you ever pull the rocker again , remove as much gunk as you can before putting it back on ....

the rest will clean up over time ...


or the old fashioned way ... COLD engine ... mix 1 quart of varsol to 3 of cheap oil .... pour into engine and run ( no load) till the motor just starts to warm up.... stop and drain oil .... wait till engine is COLD again and fill with fresh mixture ... repeat till oil changes are relatively clean .... then change oil filter and put in good oil ....

note , if your engine is going to loosen up due to clearance problems , it will do it now when all the buildup is washed away ...

 

[tcreeley]

My old 48 Farmall Cub had oil that was black and sludge like. I did the frequent oil changes. After a time the oil was clean. I was worried about losing compression due to taking too much off the walls. A guy at work flushed his car with kerosene, ran it 3 minutes, and needed an engine rebuild job when he was done. The car ran great before he started. If the tractor runs, just do a bunch of frequent oil changes.

 

[jaotguy]

Straight kerosene has no lube qualities ... yes the engine would be toast after running it that way ....

there must be real oil to lube the bearings , no load , and no real heat build up ... when you "flush" an engine ....


I agree, he should just do more frequent oil changes and things will be fine.

 

[Capricious]

I have enough oil on hand, and also a filter, to change it. I will try to get around to changing tomorrow evening, then I am planning on running it about 4 to 5 hrs on Saturday. Then will change oil & filter again and basically put it away for the winter, as I won't need it again till spring (I start-up and run all my machines occasionally on warm days during the winter, so it will get run, just not worked hard).

I just do not understand how someone can pay money for a machine and not put some effort into taking care of it. When I bought this machine used, the guy had (2) pieces of lawn care equipment also in the shed, both broke-down (a zero-turn and I can't remember what the other thing was). Anyway, he was selling this tractor to get the money to have the zero turn repaired. I guess he just ran it to destruction. I really should have "walked' after seeing the other "dead" machines.

I suppose it's a tribute to the Mitsubishi that it was the only one of the three machines that this guy had that survived.

 

[Topher265]

My old 48 Farmall Cub had oil that was black and sludge like. I did the frequent oil changes. After a time the oil was clean. I was worried about losing compression due to taking too much off the walls. A guy at work flushed his car with kerosene, ran it 3 minutes, and needed an engine rebuild job when he was done. The car ran great before he started. If the tractor runs, just do a bunch of frequent oil changes.

I would have thought the danger with using any flush is thinning the oil too much and causing bearing damage. The cylinder walls would have been the least of my worries as they deal with far less force than the rod and crankshaft.

Good advice though