What an oily mess!

[Mas (UK)]

I am using an assortment of tools to remove as much of this gunky mess as possible (Ralph - yes, I agree gunky mess is a better title!) Given that the valve train area is full of recesses, the most useful tools I'm finding are some loose blades and a couple worn narrow and wide flat screwdrivers. The other vital necessity has been a bucket to collect all this gunk in ... oh, and lots of old t-shirts. I only spent a couple hours degunking yesterday evening and hope to have some pics for you all to see the progress. The weird thing with this gunk is how thick yet dry and crumbly it is where it has accumulated. The whole area seems also to be covered in a varnish-like shiny black laquer - I guess this is just part of the combustion by-products which the oil has not been able to retain after the oil has past it's useful life. Finally, to remove as much of the bits I am using a vacuum cleaner with various sizes of nozzles, even a plastic pen housing, to get down into the awkward little pockets and hopefully suck up as much as possible. The vac works great and I highly recommend it - if even just to reassure yourself that you are collecting as much as possible from where your fingers won't reach.

Thanks Gayle for the auto-rx site - very interesting and will try to get hold of some (or similar stuff) here in UK.

As for oil, I already use semi-synthetic stuff. Would full-synthetic grades be better to keep this gunk build-up under control in the future? In the mean time, I will do a couple oil changes and engine flushes. How long should you run with the engine flush in?

Bill, what's STP oil treatment? Ok, I will check the crankcase ventilation system to ensure the plastic valve and tubes are clear.

Thanks to all.

Cheers,

Mas

[Bill R.]

slowly but manual cleaning is needed for most of it..Unfortunately you have no way of determing how gunked up your rings are other than oil consumption. There are a number of top cylinder cleaners out there that i would use just in case the rings are are gummed up with varnish and laquer also.. STP oil treatment is a thick honey like substance that people pour into their oil to help control smoking,oil burning etc,, some people were raised to believe that its a good thing to add at every oil change... its not, it frequently causes more harm than good on a good engine.. Wynn's , Bardahl and one called motor honey, I'm sure you have similar products.. They frequently will help contribute to this sludgy buildup.. Here's a link from one of the toyota pages regarding the sludging problem that their v6 has.. The one product that seems to work for them is called Kleenz it

I am using an assortment of tools to remove as much of this gunky mess as possible (Ralph - yes, I agree gunky mess is a better title!) Given that the valve train area is full of recesses, the most useful tools I'm finding are some loose blades and a couple worn narrow and wide flat screwdrivers. The other vital necessity has been a bucket to collect all this gunk in ... oh, and lots of old t-shirts. I only spent a couple hours degunking yesterday evening and hope to have some pics for you all to see the progress. The weird thing with this gunk is how thick yet dry and crumbly it is where it has accumulated. The whole area seems also to be covered in a varnish-like shiny black laquer - I guess this is just part of the combustion by-products which the oil has not been able to retain after the oil has past it's useful life. Finally, to remove as much of the bits I am using a vacuum cleaner with various sizes of nozzles, even a plastic pen housing, to get down into the awkward little pockets and hopefully suck up as much as possible. The vac works great and I highly recommend it - if even just to reassure yourself that you are collecting as much as possible from where your fingers won't reach.

Thanks Gayle for the auto-rx site - very interesting and will try to get hold of some (or similar stuff) here in UK.

As for oil, I already use semi-synthetic stuff. Would full-synthetic grades be better to keep this gunk build-up under control in the future? In the mean time, I will do a couple oil changes and engine flushes. How long should you run with the engine flush in?

Bill, what's STP oil treatment? Ok, I will check the crankcase ventilation system to ensure the plastic valve and tubes are clear.

Thanks to all.

Cheers,

Mas