Now that I am waiting on the heads to get machined... I wanted to clean the sludge from the valley of the engine, around the tappets.. there is at least a half inch of this crap. I have spent a few hours gently scraping it out and dumping it in a bag. Can I use anything to clean it? Carb cleaner? What would be safe to use? I will be changing the oil of coarse, but don't want anything to eat my seals and gaskets away.

 

diesel fuel, you can fill the entire engine with it and let it soak overnight if you want.

 

Thanks. So its ok if the sludge and gunk goes south into the engine where the cam is? I mean I am not trying to put the sludge there, But if some gets nocked into the cavity then I will still be ok?

Since this engine is REAL gummy and gunky, should I consider pouring some into it, and letting it sit over night and then draining it from the pan?

 

That is what I would do, fill it right up to the valley and let it soak. You might want to do 2 soakings to make sure the oil screen is not plugged.

 

ok. Going to get diesel fuel and dump it into the valley. Scrub some more on the valley. Use paper towel and clean piston surface. Clean head matting surface (gently) All while being cautious and careful. Then get a new drain washer and drain oil, diesel, and crap from pan. Put old plug back in for a second round of diesel fuel. then drain again. Then put on new washer and tighten drain plug back to 24lbs.

That is my process, sound good? ... I should get my heads back in a few days. I have a baby coming REAL soooon. So, It might be next week before I get back in the garage to put everything back together again. Oh poor humpty dumpty.

 

I did this too when I did the head gaskets. Had to get all that white sludge out of there. I used K1. Let it sit in the block overnite, took out the drain plug and watched all that crap come out. Did it twice just to make sure. Glad I did it. Would hate to have any of that crap left in the block plug up the oil pump.

Eric

 

Sounds good, hopefully it cleans up good.