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Re: oil pan clean out

To: L Jordan <ay107@lafn.org>
Subject: Re: oil pan clean out
From: Thomas Walter <twalter@austin.rr.com>
Date: Sun, 03 Feb 2002 15:00:40 -0600
I thought I was picky, but never dropped an oil pan to clean it out! ;-)

Seriously, if there is a ton of sludge build up... you are best to
scrap out the rocker cover, and drop the oil pan and scrap it out.
If you start using a high detergent oil in a car that ran non-detergent
for years, it can be a mess.

When all that sludge comes loose in the oil pan, it can easily
clog up the oil pickup screen.

I had an old Jeep w/ "only 80,000" miles on it. Owner didn't believe
in detergent oil, and used just plain non-detergent 30W for years.
When I popped off the rocker arm covers (v8) I soon discovered a
quart of oil pouring out to the ground. Scraped the rockers, pan,
and got most of the sludge out. After that it was running a good
20-50W oil and changing oil & filter once a month to remove the
sludge that had built up in the rest of the engine. Big mess,
finally sold it...

On the roadster I have had to "whack" the oil pan with a good blow
from a rubber mallet to get the gasket to let loose. The cork will
dry and harden to the point the pan feels welded on! I used a dental
tool to scrap out a good portion of the gasket, and it still took
way too many hours to get the pan off. It is harder to remove while
in the car, but it can be done. On U20 engines I like dropping the
oil pan to inspect rod bearings. Cheap insurance to inspect the
rod bearings on a U20 with unknown miles.

Tom


L Jordan wrote:

> List,
> Has anyone ever found a way to clean out the oil pan without removing
> it? It's such a messy job and it appears that the gasket is "fixed"
> pretty well to the pan and block that if there was an easier way to go
> about it I thought I'd ask.
> thanks,
> Linda

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