Sludge in the oil

I am restoring a Farmall H. Today I drained the oil, and was disappointed to see all the sludge that came out. Some of it was thick enough that you could scrape it with a putty knife. The oil filter looked as if it has never been changed.

What is the best way to get the sludge out of the engine?

I have heard of people using automatic transmission fluid to free up a stuck engine. Should I flush the crankcase with transmission fluid?

I remember one person saying he filled the crankcase with kerosene; ran the engine for a couple of minutes; then drained and filled with lightweight oil; ran the engine for an hour or so; then drained the light oil and filled with proper oil.

None of my manuals addresses getting rid of the sludge.

Please share your suggestions. Thanks.

Bob

rlk said:

I am restoring a Farmall H. Today I drained the oil, and was disappointed to see all the sludge that came out. Some of it was thick enough that you could scrape it with a putty knife. The oil filter looked as if it has never been changed.

What is the best way to get the sludge out of the engine?

I have heard of people using automatic transmission fluid to free up a stuck engine. Should I flush the crankcase with transmission fluid?

I remember one person saying he filled the crankcase with kerosene; ran the engine for a couple of minutes; then drained and filled with lightweight oil; ran the engine for an hour or so; then drained the light oil and filled with proper oil.

None of my manuals addresses getting rid of the sludge.

Please share your suggestions. Thanks.

Bob

Click to expand...

rlk,
I have always used K1 to get rid of the sludge. Not too sure about running the engine with K1 in it though. Maybe someone eles will have an idea if this is possible or not. --Ed

Rectification(neat word) of heavy sludge accumulations generally involves the expensive and time consuming process of dismantling and cleaning the engine components in special engine cleaning baths. However some repairers at times attempt to clean lesser build ups by first removing the engine’s sump and oil pick up to clean out the worst of the build up, and after reassembly, filling the engine with a highly detergent oil to clean up any remaining sludge. This has been known to work given sufficient time and frequent oil changes. However there is a danger that the detergents will loosen sludge that will then block the oil pick up and starve the engine of oil. This process also overlooks the possibility that the engine may have already been damaged by lack of oil pressure. The only sure way to remove sludge is to dismantle the engine.

civesnedfield said:

rlk,
I have always used K1 to get rid of the sludge. Not too sure about running the engine with K1 in it though. Maybe someone eles will have an idea if this is possible or not. --Ed

Click to expand...

Ed, do you flush the crankcase with K1, or do you let the K1 sit in the crankcase for a while?

Thanks, Bob

rlk said:

Ed, do you flush the crankcase with K1, or do you let the K1 sit in the crankcase for a while?

Thanks, Bob

Click to expand...

It depends. I think in your case I might let it sit a while. But ya know what Paul said does make sense. If the sludge is that bad, you might want to at least drop the oil pan to see what you are up against. You might see that is worse or better than you thought.

I did my old truck last year by mixing 1/2 tranny fluid and 1/2 oil. My boy is a professional mechanic and he said if it's real bad you could run it for 5 minutes with all tranny fluid. Then change the filter and repeat ...then change filter again and put oil in. After I did it on the truck with 190k on it (chevy 350) I started running Mobil One in it. She's running fine.

Rlk,

How "restored" are you going? All the way as is in complete engine rebuild or are you on the more practicle new paint and if it aint broke don't fix it?

My knowlede coincides with paul's warning. detergent oil will knock loose way more than you want and plug it up or make it leak.

I have a 52 GMC yard truck and I just change the oil once in a while with non detergent (no filter to change on mine)

The recall a car guys episode where they did not recomend running it with kerosene and intuitevly that sounds pretty bad to me, but getting it hot, draining the oil and then filling with tranny fluid to IDLE for a few minutes sounds reasonably safe to me.

I have witnessed higher milage motorcycles getting synthetic though and begin to leak like the Valdeze so I can't say I would reccomend replacing the oil with anything other than non detergent if that is what it always had. Old motors have different types of bearings and gasket material.

I am sure there is an Farmall specific site that might help you with your specific motor.

Thanks to the suggestions so far.

Today I ordered a new oil pan gasket. I wanted to make sure I could the gasket prior to dropping the pan.

I believe I'll drop the pan to see how much sludge is in the pan, then make a decision as to what to do. Since the engine is running well, I would like to avoid tearing it down, if possible.

As a side note, I went to a Case dealer, and was impressed they were able to get most of the parts I needed; oil pan gasket, sediment bowl assembly; oil filter and gasket. The only thing they did not have is a fuel line from the sediment bowl to the carb. I can make up one of those.

I thought everything was reasonably priced except the gasket for the oil filter. The filter itself is roughly $6, and so was the little O ring gasket. Fortunately the new filters come with the O ring gasket.

The parts guy said everything will be in Friday morning. Not bad service at all.

Bob

Hi Bob, I think dropping the pan is a good start, you'll be able to see what the pick-up looks like and make any decisions from that info.

I'd clean out the pan real good and the pick-up, do several oil changes w/filters in quick succession, then drop the pan again for a look-see.

If things appear okay.....stay in tune with oil pressure for some time afterwards, even install an add-on pressure gauge if needed.

good luck....Tim