Savannah, I too have been wondering about some way to circulate a solvent thru the block during an oil change.

It seems like a little electric pump might be a good way to sort of gently power flush the system.

Zeropoint: I WOULD NOT WANT TO PUT ANYTHING LIKE THAT IN MY MOTOR. (OVEN CLEANER OR SOAP BASED). Taking the part out and cleaning them may be fine, but you do not want any residue remaining in there.

 

Good job zer0Point, seriously.

Sounds like you have common sense.

Keep up the good work and you'll be rewarded many times over with your Rover.

Now would be the time to run a gauge to establish an initial number and thereafter every oil path renewal......

Most run 15W40 to overcome wear, keep pressure up. Just a suggestion, you do what makes you comfortable. I ran 10W30 for over a year, loosened allot of chunks.

 

I switched to 10W40 with this last round of things. I still have 10W30 on hand and perhaps that, as you say, loosened a lot of chunks.

 

There are some non caustic solvents that can help with the varnish, you want to avoid things that bring off grit and pieces that find their way into the "soft" bearings. Many replace the O-ring for the pickup, and some use locktite on the threads for the pickup mount, so it can't loosen.