That cleaned up well

 

You didn't hand-clean some of the gunk out of the valve area while you had the rocker shaft out??

 

Tried to get as much as I could with a rag but didn’t feel comfortable using brake cleaner since I kept getting conflicting advice on whether or not to use it. I probably should’ve taken a brush to the inside a bit but didn’t even think about it. Valve cover is still off so I may re-pull it and try to get some more out.

 

@Kuenzig You will have to do an oil change anyway, so use a spray removes grease and wash it down with a bunch of cheap lightweight oil 0- something.

Spray, clean a bit, add oil and keep going. When you done dump a liter on top of each head and let it drain away, be careful some will pool so pour slowly

Pull the drain plug so it just drains clear for the most part.

 

With the rockers off, all the valves will be closed so you don't have to worry about gunk getting into the cylinders. If you're dropping the oil pan anyway, you should be able to not worry too much about debris draining down into the bottom of the engine -- although obviously you want to avoid excessive amounts. I've always sparingly used gasoline for that kind of cleaning, making sure to wipe everything down with oiled rags and apply decent amounts of assembly lube when I put everything back together again.

 

I'm still kicking myself in the (_!_) for cleaning the heck out of my 97 XD rocker arm assemblies!!!!!! That engine was completely quiet before I did a HG job, and found the rocker arm assemblies to look gross. I cleaned them up to looking darn near brand new. Ever since then I've had a lovely tick from the engine. I tore it down one time after the HG job to take a look, I did find one rocker arm clogged (guess debris moved around thru the system after I had the engine apart). Replaced that rocker arm and rod with a good used unit, and put it back together. Engine was silent for 1k, and now I've got a lovely tick again which doesn't go away with the engine hot or cold. If you play with the throttle you can make it go silent for a few seconds but it returns.

I plan on getting another set of rocker arm assemblies, new rods, and new lifters. If it ticks after that well she can just tick herself to death! But from now on if I tear an engine down that isn't making any noise = I'll be putting it back together exactly how I found it lol.

 

I think I’ll give this a shot, sadly we got hit with an ice storm here in Virginia and the shop I’ve got my Disco in hasn’t had power since Saturday night. A minor setback but I’ll hopefully be able to go hard on this tomorrow or Wednesday and let everyone know some lessons learned or, most likely, have more questions if I screw something up. Thankfully, it looks like there are enough replacement parts that it’s safe to say anything can be fixed. Even if that means a new engine.

 

UPDATE:

Put everything back together and filled the oil with a mix of 1 Gal cheap 15W-40 (NAPA Brand $10.99) and 1 can of Gumout Multi-System Tune-Up to do flush #1. Started it up, let it run for about 10 minutes and checked the OBD2, no codes populated but then the bleed screw on my upper coolant hose blew out...

So, since I haven’t gotten around to Extinct’s In-Line thermostat mod yet, I decided to order new hoses, fan clutch, and water pump. Then do it all at once. Went with Gates for the hoses and GMB for the water pump and fan clutch.

Decided to wrap up engine work there and instead take care of the leaking pinion seal on the rear diff, then called it a night. I’ll plug the coolant bleeder screw with a brass one as a temp fix until the new coolant parts come in then do a full rework of the system.

Lessons learned:
- Ensure your push rods are aligned properly between the rockers and valves. Luckily my buddy noticed one of mine wasn’t before I put everything back together.

 

Go ahead and make the brass bleed screw permanent.

 

Good idea, but it looks like the replacement one I ordered has a different setup.