Started cleaning sludged engine

[Jon Chimpo]

Hey all,

Figured I'd start a thread about my 04 tahoe Z71.

Last week I bought unknowingly with a heavy sludged engine. I gave myself 4 days to gather facts, and to calm down from wanting to destroy everything that the guy sold to me loves.

so pulled the other valve cover off tonight and started washing with diesel, and a brush. it's actually cleaning up pretty damn good. It's soaking over night is diesel. I didn't pull the pan, just letting all the drippings run down to collect.
I did build a catch can to run with my shop-vac, however my vac is far to powerful, and pulled sludge/diesel into the vacuum... Crap, just another thingreat to clean.

the valve covers had a bit of milkshake in them, they are also sitting in diesel to clear out the breather passages.

 

[Jon Chimpo]

this is after a brushing, and diesel wash tonight. I need to pick up a few detail brushs at ACE tomorrow, and a few more gallonso of diesel.

 

[Pachanga02]

Wow that's a lot of sludge. Good luck with it

 

[undy]

Over the years I've added a quart of kerosene to my sludged up engines and let them idle for about a half hour and then drained them with good success. DO NOT drive them with the kerosene in them though as it reduces lubricity somewhat.

 

[4WDTRK]

Looks good, keep us posted!

 

[rockola1971]

Id just continue what you are doing and then run engine with regular 5w-30 oil(dont use synthetic yet) and subtract a quart of oil and add a quart of tranny fluid. Drive it for 100-200 miles and drain, change oil filter and repeat until oil filter doesnt look like someone threw up hersheys chocolate syrup in it. Then run synthetic. Probably wouldnt hurt to try some engine flush before you start running the tranny fluid mix. If its that bad on the heads just think what the oil galleys and bearings look like.

This reminds me of a 3.8l back in the late 80s that I saw after years of penzoil ran in it.

 

[Jon Chimpo]

in case anyone is wondering, the 5.3 vortec holds 7 gallons of liquid.. did my first diesel drain today after work. it came out real thing, and black as midnight. Got inside the valve covers with a detail brush, was able to clean a lot more goop out.

I saw an idea on YouTube today about hooking up a compressor to the dipstick tube to agitate the diesel. So it's running now at 15 psi. going to turn it off at 10, so it will have ran for 1.5hrs. Then let it sit overnight.

 

[Jon Chimpo]

My garage is tore up!

 

[Jon Chimpo]

Everyday is a little better than the last.. frozen fuel filter nut, wont budge.

 

[Jon Chimpo]

Good amount of shavings also.

 

[MrBalll]

Wow that is a mess.
Glad you have gotten so much crud out of the engine.

Hopefully you can get that fuel filter nut off. Suck's it fuel and you can't take a blow torch to it to loosen it.

 

[PG01]

My '01 was like that, i see you sprayed it with penetrating oil or something, i ended up with 2 pairs of vise grips on either side- pressure, spray again, pressure spray again......it eventually broke loose....

 

[M1Gunner]

Wow that is a mess.
Glad you have gotten so much crud out of the engine.

Hopefully you can get that fuel filter nut off. Suck's it fuel and you can't take a blow torch to it to loosen it.

That's the perfect job for a heat induction gun!

 

[Jon Chimpo]

That's the perfect job for a heat induction gun!

I have that!

 

[Jon Chimpo]

it started to bend the nut, even with a line wrench. I had to stop, and regroup.

 

[iamdub]

Where did those metal shavings come from?

 

[Jon Chimpo]

Where did those metal shavings come from?

put a magnet in my 7qt oil catch can when I drained the diesel from the engine. that was what was attached when the draining was complete.

 

[iamdub]

put a magnet in my 7qt oil catch can when I drained the diesel from the engine. that was what was attached when the draining was complete.

Hmmm. That may or may not be so bad. If the oil wasn't changed in a while, that could be a collection over a long time period. Or, it could be more recent from the oil breaking down from being ran so long. No sense in fretting over that just yet. Get her cleaned up on the inside and see where your oil pressure is. Don't forget to remove the oil pressure sensor and remove the screen under it to clean or replace it. It being clogged can make the oil pressure read lower than it actually is.

 

[Jon Chimpo]

Yeah man, I was thinking the same thing. It was more of just an observation. I'm hoping for the best, expecting the worst.

Good call on the sensor, ill order one up tonight. Either way I'll need a new one. I still can't believe someone would abuse a car like this. We really do need to thin the herd in America.

 

[HiHoeSilver]

Yeah man, I was thinking the same thing. It was more of just an observation. I'm hoping for the best, expecting the worst.

Good call on the sensor, ill order one up tonight. Either way I'll need a new one. I still can't believe someone would abuse a car like this. We really do need to thin the herd in America.

Make sure you order the Delco one. The aftermarket have been known for trouble.