The good news so far is that 1) the oil light hasn't flashed since cleaning the passenger side and the truck runs better even with only one side done, and 2) it's been raining all week but the heat wave is finally over so I can get the driver side done on Friday.

Will definitely change the oil/filter once it's done, and it's probably time for a coolant flush anyway while I'm at it. In the meantime, here's the passenger side after cleaning. I cleaned up all the sludge in the head, and unscrewed the separator plate (?) inside the rocker cover and man was there a ton of sludge! Bottom of the plate was caked with it. Glad I caught that.

UPDATE: Just turned the key to light the gauges and the oil light isn't coming on, and it's not coming on then going off after starting the engine. When it cools down I'll check the contact on the pressure switch. If the contact is good, then the switch is probably bad? I just replaced it a couple of months ago.

2nd UPDATE: Bad contact. The wire going into the connector has broken off. Looks like it's burned at the end as well. Should be an easy fix to splice in a new connector if I can find one or just repair the wire and reconnect it.

 

I hope it stays off when you get a new connector on it........

I didn't mention it before but when you do the hollow rocker shaft remove the bolts as they allow allot of sludge to build up behind them. The pic of the rocker assembly is way better, still some carbon left on the valve spring washers but it aint gonna go anywhere real fast just keep up with the oil/filter changes and it will catch that once it does loosen up. I run synthetic 5W40 Rotella (T6) and it keeps the motor's guts super duper clean. You can run whatever you want, just tossing it out there.

As you know the Drivers side is a pain. All you have to do is pop the plenum cover off along with everything attached to it to get the valve cover off. Shouldn't be a gasket between the plenum and trumpets. I use a very thin layer of High Tack to see any machining imperfections and it works. Usually the drivers side is worse because it's harder to get to so most let it go.

 

I just pulled the connector plug and opened up the crimp to pull the old wires out, stripped 1/2" of insulation off the harness wire and crimped it back together, turned the key to test the connection (good) and started it to make sure the light turns off after starting (good). Now the thing will light up again after 15-20 minutes of driving (not good)... lol...

If you mean remove the pedestal bolts, I did that and made sure to get all the carbon out of the holes and passages. Rinsed the Chem-Dip out with a high pressure stream from the garden hose nozzle and small pieces of carbon were running out of it, then let it dry thoroughly and lubricated everything with Lucas Oil Assembly Lube prior to reinstalling. (I could have used regular oil but decided to go the extra step.) I did manage to clean a little more carbon off the valve springs and washers before putting the cover back on.

I've been using 15/40 Rotella Diesel but not the synthetic blend. Is it safe to switch to that after running the dinosaur oil?

Good tip on using Hi-Tack on the plenum cover. Looks like there's RTV on it now and I was wondering what to reseal it with if anything.

 

It's not a problem mixing non-synth/synthetic, it would be a very small dilution of one or the other. Did you remove the rockers individually off the shaft and check the oil ports? I had to use a dental pic to remove the baked oil from those also there are oil passages up through the front and back pedestal, they also where occluded pretty well. I used diesel fuel in those to loosen them up, stuffed a stiff long wire down both until it wouldn't go further and then used acetone to break up the remaining carbon. I had the pan off though. I could get to everything because I was having heads machined at the time, kept rocker assemblies home to clean em.

Did you ever get to the bypass valve?

 

I was able to remove the front and rear rocker arms as they come off easily by just removing the cotter pins and washers, but if there's a trick to getting the pedestals off the shaft to remove the middle rockers, I couldn't figure it out. Same with the end caps on the shafts. They're on there pretty solid. I cleaned all the oil passages I found including those in the pedestals. On the middle rockers I just compressed each one on its spring, cleaned underneath it, and ran the high pressure nozzle through the oil ports on the arms and shaft. If you can recommend how to get those pedestals off, I can pull the passenger side assembly again since I'll have the top end apart this weekend to do the driver side anyway.

I haven't addressed the bypass valve yet. I'll do that when I pull the front cover so it'll be easier to get to.

 

The middle pedestals are tight no doubt, you sit either end of the shaft on something soft like white pine and using a dead blow with a short piece of oak you can walk em off the shaft. It takes patience and time without using too much force. Once you learn how it's not so difficult.

 

Good deal, thanks.

 

Switching over to Rotella T6 and wondering if adding a bottle of Seafoam would also be a good idea.

 

The best way to clean is the way your doing it, manually. Once it's bunged up it's bunged up until something is physically done about it. I don't add anything but oil and fuel and keep the breather open and air and oil filters changed. Just basic maintenance is all it requires once your cleaned up.

 

Done deal, thank you.