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My diesel must be really gunked up

A

Anonymous-0

Well-known Member
It's an industrial Isuzu C240 4 cyl diesel. After changing the oil it'll take an hour to get an accurate dip stick reading. It's impossible to tell if the oil's low. I drain off excess oil as often as add. Hasn't happened yet but I can imagine the pump running dry while the engine's full of oil. What should I do?
 
Can you pull off the valve cover and see what it looks like in there? Maybe see if you can push a wire down through the oil drains.
 
I would pull of the valve cover.Clean out as much of the gunk as you can. Maybe put some rags over the head drain holes and spray the rocker arms with some cleaner. Then try and clear out all the drain holes that you can. Reoil the rocker arms before you start it again.
 
I would pull of the valve cover.Clean out as much of the gunk as you can. Maybe put some rags over the head drain holes and spray the rocker arms with some cleaner. Then try and clear out all the drain holes that you can. Reoil the rocker arms before you start it again.
 
Drain it out over night,fill it up with diesel fuel and run it for a while. Don't worry about damaging it. Your motor oil gets that thin when it's up to operating temp anyway. Worried about it,dump a can of STP or something in with the fuel.
 
Like the other fellows said, the oil must not be draining back to the sump...........pulling the valve cover AND oil pan would be the best in order to remove as much sludge as possible...........at that point you can inspect the main and rod bearings to see if all the cleaning and re-sealing is worth it...........

If you get it all cleaned out and running a healthy dose of Rislone(oil additive very high in detergent) will help to clean out the remainder of the sludge...........
 
Why not just use diesel for motor lube then? I can't imagine anything good happening from using diesel even for a short period.
 
"It's not going to hurt it to set there and idle for a while."

You need to make sure you include that disclaimer in bold writing.........ONLY AT IDLE, FOR A SHORT PERIOD..........when that diesel gets hot enough and the viscosity drops, the lubricating film required to prevent metal on metal contact WILL be lost...........

Many people are fooled into thinking nothing is being harmed because the engine may still be registering oil pressure.........the prescence of oil pressure means nothing for the camshaft which requires the lubricant to adhere to the lobes providing wear protection which diesel certainly wont..........
 
Diesel fuel is NOT THE SAME AS THIN WARM OIL!!! You can get by doing this in a low compression gasoline engine, for a very short time. I wouldn't do it more than a minute. The camshaft will be the first thing to fail, as it definitely needs an oil film to survive. In a diesel the compression is way too high, and puts way too much pressure on the rod bearings, to run one with diesel in the crankcase.
 
I have saw guys pull the cover and pan use brake cleaner on the top end and use a 20 G shot gun cleaning brush and poke it down the oil return holes .Then use a mixture of motor oil and tranny fluid since it's also hi detergant to flush them out safer than running one on diesel .What marroon from a bugs bunny cartoon thought that one up .
 
put a quart of MARVEL MYSTERY OIL in it, start it and let it run until it warms up then draiin it and pull the valve cover and oil pan.
MMO will break the sludge loose, used it many times
Also I would stray far from the engine while its running with the MMO in it, had one that the sludge broke loose and plugged the screen on the oil pump, luckily i was standing there and saw the pressure drop.
 
i had a job at ford car dealer one summer.
the owner had bought a late model olds or pontiac
the usual prep was done to put car on lot to sell.
i walked past car on way to break room and saw oil running out from under it.
this just after oil change so i said to mechanic gerald did you not tighten dail plug on that car oil is all over the floor.
so he and service manger went to look car over oil was coming out from valve covers.
gerald took valve covers off all the oil galley were plugged with sludge.
they cleaned galley as best as could and took car back to auction. it was thought former owner never changed oil just added when needed some washed and put gas in.
car was 2 or 3 years old and had reasonable for age and looked good.
 
I think it's just the way it is. Valve cover was reasonably clean. Rinsed the engine multiple times with fuel. Couldn't bring myself to run the engine. Took seconds for the diesel to drain. Still took a long time to poured the old oil back in and the dip stick to show. I'll change the oil and filter after a couple engine hours. Don't think my hand's will ever be clean again. Thanks
 
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